A portmanteau word I haven't seen before appears in Marina Hyde's "Lost in Showbiz" column (Guardian, G2) today - "celebocracy". What a dreadful thought! Maybe if I read more about these individuals I'd be familiar with the term. I always read Ms. Hyde's column so I am au fait with some of the antics of these creatures, the Misses Hilton, Spears, Lohan ("good Irish name", as my old mother would say). Also it's a rare news programme that doesn't feature one or more of these "world famous nonentities" (Mad Magazine, c. 1960). Today we hear more of the thuggish behaviour of a "supermodel"/novelist-by-proxy.
I remember a coinage of the old reactionary Tom Wolfe, "lumpenbourgeoisie", identifying a different sub-culture, but the term seems appropriate here.

Still with "Lost in Showbiz", a recent description of the ITV1 schedules as resembling "a grotesque Hieronymus Bosch painting" bears repetition.