Simon cowell
Playing chicken with your conscience
Jade Goody appeared on Big Brother in 2002. She was a short, loud, blonde-haired woman who broadcast her every thought…
The X Factor made all the right people cross
On hearing that the X Factor is no more after our 17 years together, I reflected on what a journey…
The year of the cad
From Lord Sewel to – let’s not be sexist – Sally Bercow, there’s life in the old rogue yet
The man who wouldn’t be king
Not that long ago the BBC trumpeted a new Stakhanovite project to big up the arts in its many and…
Music for the masses
As pop music drifts away from many people’s lives, so its literature grows ever more serious and weighty, as though…
High life
Thick snow is falling hard and heavy, muffling sounds and turning the picturesque village postcard beautiful. I am lying in…
Spectator sport
You know what the world needs most right now? What it needs is five good-looking-ish, talented-ish blokes dressed in a…
Songs of praise
I Can’t Sing! is a parody of The X Factor, which already parodies itself at every turn. Quite a tough…
