Sometimes I wish I could include celebrity gossip and tat on these pages as, quite often, it looks far more interesting. For example, I could be writing about Britney Spears possibly trying to shoot her children in a stand-off with the po’lice. Instead, I have to tell you about a different kind of carnage… and that’s Jamie Oliver and his mass slaying of chickens. Doesn’t have the same drama does it?

Anyway, in Oliver’s new show, we’ll get to see the slaughtering of chicks in an attempt to educate viewers about factory-farmed fowl. The chef has revealed that he hopes his Jamie’s Fowl Dinners (next Friday, Channel 4, 9pm) will encourage viewers to buy free-range chickens. In the show, Oliver gasses chicks, and stuns and slaughters adult birds. Sounds horrendous doesn’t it? “I hated it… but I don’t think it’s sensational to show the reality of how chickens live and die,” Jamie told The Mirror. “If it changes shopping habits of just five per cent of the viewers, it will be worth it.”