In a ceremony long on sequins and short on edible canapés, the American group PETA has again anointed its King and Queen. Every year at around this time, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals takes pause from its important work of saving Our Broken Earth to recognise The World’s S-xiest Vegetarians.

Every year at around this time, I take pause from the important work of blaspheming on a personal weblog to recognise The World’s Most Pointless Activists.

Having received its annual Vitamin B12 shot, an organisation that regularly relieves me of any lingering omnivore guilt named two marginal television personalities as its Sexiest. These are Carrie Underwood, a country-lite blonde singer from Oklahoma and Kevin Eubanks, a guy who plays in Jay Leno’s Tonight Show Band.

I have squandered the better part of a morning looking at pictures and moving images of these two putative celebrities and trying to work up some lust. I can report, neither of them is particularly “S-xy”. And, ask any leftover from my Salad Days, my standards are pretty generous.

Kevin, frankly, just looks like a nice Dad type in clumpy shoes and American catalogue-wear. I tried to imagine him pulling my hair and calling me his beyatch. No. By eleven, all that had occurred was an elaborate and uns-xy fantasy which ended with him usefully painting my cornices. By which I mean: he usefully painted my cornices.

Two time title holder Underwood, although physically lovely, is every bit as s-xy as the typewriter for which she was named. In fact, I decided this long ago as she reprised Love Is a Battlefield during the ’04 season of American Idol. Those of a certain vintage will recall the AWESOME boozy jiggle enacted by Pat Benatar in the original version of this powerful tune. Miss Underwood, sadly, drained a massively s-xy song of all its s-x.

Just as PETA continues to drain real activism of any actual might.

For years now, this organisation has colluded with famous idiots. Using the vacant mechanism of celebrity, it has attempted to jam the machine of animal slaughter. It has asked Naomi Campbell (still an unapologetic fur-wearer and Very Hot Criminal) to pose nude for its anti-fur campaign. It has lured vegan Playboy models into its employ and draped them publicly in lettuce leaves. Yes, girls, it’s apparently fine to inject poison into your t-ts to uphold the phallic standard and show your a-se-hole to Hef and the world for money. But eating little lambies is Just Not Cool.

Amid all of this hypocrisy and shallow, selective World Saving, PETA never misplaced my interest so utterly as when they named Mr Paltrow, AKA Chris Martin of Coldplay, as 2005’s Mister Herbilicious.

Coldplay? S-xy?!? He contains all the strapping s-xual protein of char-grilled eggplant and I shan’t be eating a slice of him any time soon.

If PETA wishes to engage the attention of myself and other potentially principled foodies, they might start by engaging our intellect rather than l-bido. Cos, try as I might, I’m just not seeing Caz, Kev and I in a Jacuzzi.