UNBELIEVABLY High Wycombe has witnessed a pensioner's alleged murder and a drive-by shooting and that's just these past two weeks.

But what I find more staggering than the town's transformation into gangland America is an apparent attitude of apathy among people.

Take for example the attitude of drinkers in my local pub.

Over the weekend there were a few token gestures spoken about the 74-year-old, the odd word of sympathy, but all in all no one seemed particularly shocked or surprised.

It didn't take long to find out why.

Makosi Musambasi, High Wycombe's very own Big Brother house mate, has apparently been hogging the limelight in the first week of the Channel 4 reality show.

Now according to pals Big Brother, like all reality shows is outlawed in our house the Zimbabwean nurse was on a mission to avoid eviction by repeatedly annoying her housemates.

Now if there was nothing else going on in the world, there was no house work to do, and I had no desire to visit the loo, then I might just consider watching this tripe.

For some people it seems Big Brother is more important than life itself. These sad individuals honestly arrange their day around this television freak show.

One lass, for example, has no shame in admitting she reads all the newspapers and magazines featuring Big Brother gossip.

Her work day is frequently punctuated by visits to the Big Brother website. And her evenings are spent glued to Big Brother Live.

Despite this being the sixth series there is apparently no sign of people's interest waning. Indeed Ms Musambasi's inclusion has only served to intensify interest among Wycombe's viewers.

Whatever happened to make the bookmakers' Big Brother eviction odds more topical than those dramatic local incidents?

Is it because people have become more tolerant of society, more accepting of people's behaviour, or is it because people are harder to shock?

That I don't know the answer to. But what I do know is random shootings and fatal assaults are reality. They're no longer just acts of violence we can turn off with the press of a button.

How can society expect to tackle these problems when the very people who should be concerned are more involved with a TV show?

After all where is the "reality" in a show that locks people away from the real world and showers them with gifts and money.