Who is Leon Jackson?

Still whoever he is, I doubt he goes about imposing ever higher taxes and government borrowing - and ever more regulations (both E.U. inspired and non E.U. inspired).

So I wish he was more influential than Prime Minister Brown.

Now it will turn out that Mr Jackson is an axe murderer or something.

No never fear Paul, he is not an axe murder
nor a torturer of a tune.He can sing fairly well.
He won because of his back story rather than his talent.
The Welsh guy was by far the best singer, and lest we forget that's supposed to be the bottom line there, but he was much wierder and easier to dislike.
People like fairy stories, that's why they have voted labour for the past 11 years!
That is the weakness of Democracy (for that is what voting on these shows is supposedly all about)
People will always vote for a smaltzy story rather than obvious real talent.
Alas Leon will be a long and distant memory inside 6 months.

I don't agree with RAB. The Welsh guy, Rhydian, would make an ideal Songs of Praise presenter but his singing was irritating. True, Leon definitely benefited from his "likeability factor" but he's up there with people like Michael Buble.

I see - Mr Jackson won a singing contest.

Is that what the "X factor" is?

I do not watch British television much, even though I live here - it is a matter of watching British television tending to put me into a rage, and the danger of smashing things I can not afford to replace. But I seem to remember a show called the "X factor" - but was it not a sports contest?

RAB: May I recommend "Chart Throb" by Ben Elton? The ending may be a disappointment but otherwise it is a wonderfully savage take on the aforementioned "talent" show.

His Christmas number one, When You Believe, does something that Gordon Brown has never managed: it inspires people. It talks about daring to dare, of overcoming fear, believing in yourself and achieving your dreams.

Well as you can see from the above quote, the article is a little short on substance and long on rhetoric.
The little one parent familied shaver is supposed to inspire us and touch us in places Gurning Gordon cannot seems to be the thrust.
Well I must confess that the fact he had the Christmas No 1 slipped under my radar. The only way I would be affected by Leon, is if I had contibuted to his pension plan by buying his record(oops download! age showing there!)
Gurning Gordon on the other hand, has already affected my pension fund, and I certainly didn't get consulted.

Wait....people ACTUALY watch "those type" shows?

And all along I just thought it was because they were cheap to make that they got on air at all.

(side note- not bragiging, and I may watch the PBS show on Andrew Jackson this evening -7:30pm CST local time-I've spent about 4 hours in front of a TV-mostly on US style "collage" football games...sigh the past 5 years...)

Most TV hacks me off and, to echo Mr Marks, makes me want to shoot it! (shades of Elvis)-or at least fling empty beer bottles at the bleedin' , schreeching thing

Come come Ken. TV is just a utensil. You can turn then on off or over. ;-)
But like you and Paul, I watch very little these days.
Mainly only to monitor the poison being pushed at my fellow Planet dwellers.
The audition stages of those pop Idol type shows are seriously funny though! I have no compunction about laughing my socks off at some seriously delusional poor sod who has walked into my living-room and asked for it.

Of course it's just a "utensil". One, that like most "fast food" outlets-and how wrong is it to say "fast" and "food" in the same context?-I choose not to use most of the time.
Not to say that TV or FF should be "done away with"-where else wolud I eat on the road trips I take sometimes- if other people like it, well, Hummm, no wonder I can't do small talk about "pop culture"-my bad. Still, IT IS EXTREMLY satasfing to fling empty beer bottles at the annoying things-

So some F-list celeb has more pull with the telly watching public than old Gord. Its not going to make the blindest bit of difference as he won't say anything that might rock the gravy train.