OKAY, the headline is a tad inaccurate, since an awful lot of people – including me – care about the Oscars, and an awful lot of Brits are celebrating the success of Kate Winslet and Slumdog Millionaire.

I love movies, and I get as absorbed as anyone in all the glitz, glamour and drama of Oscars night (well, perhaps not quite as absorbed as anyone, since I haven’t watched even a few seconds of coverage yet). But you know something? It’s really not important. It’s froth. It’s as substantial as tinsel.

The massive wall-to-wall coverage that such awards schemes are guaranteed every year is nothing to do with their importance and everything to do with the acknowledgement that news is no longer about “the public interest” but about “what interests the public” (in other words, celebrity).

And what exactly was being honoured last night? Yeah, he or she’s a tremendous actor and all that, and wow, what a great director, and that script was really… enjoyable…

It was always thus, that those who are famous are given greater attention and more honours than those who undoubtedly contribute more to the world: scientists, doctors, aid workers, engineers, military leaders, soldiers, industrialists, bankers…

And the reason it will always be thus is that, as a society, we’re actually quite bored by real distinction and achievement; it’s much easier to be interested in someone who makes a movie and who is instantly recogniseable. That’s what we really value.

I don’t seek to change that: I know it never will change. If anything, our obsession with celebrity will grow even greater in the years ahead. And I certainly wouldn’t tune in to watch a awards ceremony for microbiologists.

But it’s worth remembering that the terms “important” and “entertaining” are very often confused.