I’ve never met a WAG, but I confess – having read the coverage of Coleen McLoughlin’s (and Wayne Rooney’s) wedding plans - to have developed growing irritation at a the way they are treated in the press.

To call the coverage unfair would be a gross understatement. Sure, Wayne and Colleen are having a massive party in Italy with their friends, and the cost of pretty well every item is being outlined in the Press. Usually without any mention of the biggest item – the £2 million plus that is going to a children’s hospital. A donation that contrasts sharply with the recent royal wedding where there was no sign that any part of Hello’s half million went to charity.

It’s hard to what WAGs have done wrong. Typically, they are young, good looking, seem excellent parents and are generally loyal to their partners. The media’s favourite target – Victoria Beckham – is bright, articulate and a successful career-woman in her own right. Watching her, David and their children together seems more like an ideal family than a cause for the hostility she provokes in much of the media. Steven Gerrard’s wife, Alex Curran, bravely tackled four thieves in her home but the press seemed reluctant to give her any credit.

I suspect part of their problem is their background. The press are reluctant to criticize the alleged excess of the wives and girlfriends of the rich and famous if they are royals, upper or middle class, bankers, stockbrokers or the largely talentless rich.

I don’t remember any newspaper listing the costs of Autumn Kelly, Kate Middleton, Chelsy Davy, Gabriella Windsor, Sarah Chatto, Jackie Aubie, Zara Phillips and Susannah Toynbee’s dresses – not even Princess Beatrice’s hat! No-one asked how much Vera Wang or Sue Palmer charged for their designs.

Of course the royals didn’t need to fly to Italy to find a castle or palace for wedding – the British taxpayer provides them at home. Asking if Autumn had a hen party would be simply too tacky – it was probably a Falcon party anyway – after the Royal bird of prey.

But of course, WAGs are often talented, good looking and working class – like their partners. The media are far less likely to talk of excess when bankers make fortunes that dwarf those of footballers – even if their money is made from sub-prime loans, asset stripping or speculating against the pound. Our sportsmen who fail are pilloried, while bankers who fail are bailed out by the taxpayer.

Of course, Adam Applegarth – the man behind the debacle at Northern Rock - went to prep school in Durham, Sedbergh boarding school and Durham University. Wayne Rooney went to De La Salle School in Liverpool and Everton’s School of Excellence. Little wonder that one’s partner is described as a Classics scholar, and the other’s – too often – a chav.

City bonuses of over £13bn so far this year - as the economy spirals downwards – are defended by business leaders. The parties of the public school and Oxbridge educated super-rich on private Islands in the Indian Ocean get surprisingly little coverage while their wives and girlfriends – even when they are the same – get little coverage.

This lack of curiosity is even more remarkable when we contrast their wider contributions. I mentioned Wayne and Colleen’s donation to a Liverpool children’s hospital. Phil Neville’s wife is a major supporter of the Manchester Children’s hospital. The Beckhams back a wide array of charities from Africa to Edmonton in London.

There is hardly a club in the top flight without at least one player and his partner totally committed to a charity and involving their teammates.

In contrast, the lack of philanthropy by Britain’s super rich is an international embarrassment. The contrast between the priority given to philanthropy by the richest Americans in the Forbes 400 and the richest Brits in the Sunday Times Rich List is stunning. Bill Gates wants to eradicate Malaria in Africa, Warren Buffett is backing him. Philip Green, in contrast, wants a bigger yacht and Richard Branson – a bigger balloon?

Of course, the WAGs spend money on clothes and parties. But they often support British designers and producers. Coleen, Victoria and Alex make their clothes look good. Their parties – like that given by the Beckhams before the World Cup – raise a fortune for good causes. They make mistakes – but they are young – and isn’t that allowed? So lets ease off of the WAGs and ask some harder questions of the tightwads in Britain’s super-rich – they don’t even look good.

Filed under: Predjudices by Tom Cannon