An Orwellian nightmare?

A warning from the Gaurdian's Marina Hyde who uses her Saturday column to advise that

If Simon Cowell's idea succeeds, the UK will be one vast reality show with leaders too weak to resist his nightmarish referendums

Earlier this week the pop guru had suggested that the UK's political debates could take a leaf out of his top rated show

A "political X Factor", in which hot topics are voted on by members of the public in instant referendums? A red phone in the middle of a shiny floor studio, just daring No 10 to call and explain its position on the death penalty, or why lethal force is not always the right response to the theft of a DVD player? Once again, our thanks are due to Simon Cowell, the first post-sentient human – not for simply showing us the people we could be, but for planning a lucrative deal with ITV that will make it all happen.

I am not a celebrity but PLEASE get me out of here

On X Factor

With thousands of barbeque's cancelled over the weekend it must have surely been the bad weather that led to the opening episode of X Factor pulling in 10.7m viewers(half of the TV Audience) on Saturday night.

I will admit that I was on them although watching it delayed on Sky plus after catching up on the brilliant "Wilde" starring Stephen Fry.

Just what attracts people to the show,I am not sure.It certainly isn't the music,for as the show continues we put up with half rate musicians whose fame will rarely extend past the Xmas single market.

Shrouded in controversy this year,surely nobody believed that the scenes involving the comeback of Luis Walsh were anything other than manufactured.

The heart pulling moment of the singer who found her entry form whilst clearing her dead father's belongings has now been diminished by the fact that she was signed to Pete Waterman 18 years ago.

Maybe we just like laughing at the hopeless cases that are put before the camera including the pensioner that played tunes down her nose.

I wait to see how the viewing figures hold up in the coming weeks