In a week where a TV advert has had to be released to illustrate that being drunk is not a licence to do what you want to whoever you want, you have to wonder how we're supposed to react to Shane Warne's confessions of a bed-skipper.

The charismatic Aussie announced/admitted/just plain pointed out that he will never captain his country because of his high-profile extra-marital antics over the years.

Should we be surprised? Sympathetic? Outraged, even, at the lack of distinction between one man's public and private(ish) lives?

His marriage has been eroded by a destructive habit that has come about through his own doing.

And the response? What amounts to little more than a shrug of the shoulders. So the love of my life is gone, but I still love cricket and I've still got that.

It doesn't do much for the New Man brigade.

Neither does the arrival of little Corey Flintoff 21 days early - with dad thousands of miles away.

Lots of fathers miss the births of their children for various reasons - every soap has some 'wacky' storyline alluding to the comedy of errors that is everyday life - and to be fair, captaining England on Test duty in India would stump even the best scriptwriters (unless it was the England pint-drinking/serial killing/bad hair team).

But you have to feel for Rachael Flintoff, reduced to quite literally lying back and thinking of England as the next best thing.

Men will protest at the implication but I would put money on at least one bloke using Freddie as an excuse when the last few seconds of a nine-and-a-half month Countdown clock started the tell-tale bonging.

"But Freddie wasn't..."

The thing is it's not just kids who need role models. Everyone needs them and everyone has them. Frustrated stay-at-home mums look at Gwyneth Paltrow and take strength from her attitude to motherhood, thousands of car drivers have a secret stash of F1 vids and Colin McRae Rally on the PlayStation2, and hands up who doesn't own at least one keep-fit DVD. Probably a celebrity one at that.

We see people making something of themselves and we look to emulate it, whether that's in sport, life or our dreams.

And when the personal lives of big name characters like Warney and our Freddie come into focus, we judge them alongside the person. If we like the person then maybe we'll like the way they acted. Maybe we'll want to emulate it.

Maybe, just maybe, everyone should take a little more responsibility for their actions.