My View: A woman of substance – but are they serious about the others?

No-one disputes the No 1 choice, because top is Harry Potter author JK Rowling, self-made single mother, philanthropist and creative genius with a gift for modesty, common sense and humour – a worthy winner with a magical influence, not just in Britain but around the world, and for many generations to come.

But then the list takes an alarming nose-dive, because No 2 is Victoria Beckham. Are we to believe this former Spice Girl is the second most influential woman in Britain, presumably because she is married to a fabulous footballer, totters about in tight shift dresses that emphasise her pitiful thinness, and has designed some clothes that are surprisingly quite nice? Depressing.

The list improves, briefly. No 3 is the Queen, who had to be there. No 4 is Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty (the human rights organisation, not the department store), whose engaging, no-nonsense, breakfast-friendly manner has rightly seen her become an influential voice of sense and reason.

But No 5 is Cheryl Cole. Now, we all like Cheryl, but the fourth most influential British woman? And here's me thinking she was just another beautiful girl-band member turned WAG, now watchable TV talent show judge.

No 6 is Samantha Cameron, a political WAG who has designed posh handbags and knows how to look suitably non-threatening in a Boden dress.

No 7 is Cath Kidston, who has given us lots of cheerful floral and dotty mugs and tea towels. No 8 is Kate Moss, a model who has also churned out a few clothes.

Thankfully, No 9 is Vivienne Westwood, a real designer of influence for decades, and No 10 is Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson, another pioneering achiever.

It's a mixed bag, but then it has been chosen by a panel of editors from The National Magazine Company, which publishes Cosmopolitan, She, Good Housekeeping and Reveal. It says much about what the British consumer media believes we value most in women.

It's not surprising, in the land that produced Jane Austen, George Eliot and Charlotte Bront, that a novelist should be judged the most influential woman in Britain.

It is surprising that more novelists are not on the list. Hilary Mantel is there, as is Jilly Cooper, but where is Jacqueline Wilson? Where, especially, is PD James, who this week won the Nick Clarke Award for Journalism, for her interview with BBC director general Mark Thompson, conducted while she was guest editor of Radio 4's Today programme. She had him squirming on the topic of corporation salaries, and proved herself, at 90, to be a formidable and inspiring woman of influence.

These omissions and others show that this is not a list to be taken seriously.