And so once again to Geri Halliwell, whose attempt to gain ownership of the nation's sweetheart Cheryl Cole is as maladroit an attempt at undermining as you are likely to encounter this week.
Cheryl, you will recall, was discovered on the talent show Popstars: the Rivals. You will most likely not recall that Geri was a judge on that same programme - but that is no matter. Madam is on hand to remind you. "I'm so proud of Cheryl Cole," says Geri. "I really fought hard to put her through. I love that I opened that little window of opportunity for her and now she's run with it."
Indeed. Without exposure to Geri's sunshine, so many of our brightest young talent show judges would have simply withered on the vine. We can only hope that even now, Cheryl herself is identifying a future talent show judge amongst this year's crop of X Factor hopefuls, who will in turn earmark their own protege judge on whatever talent show eventually puts them on its panel. Thus the reality-industrial complex will perpetuate itself, until the star we knew as the Sun is extinguished in 2018, as the last human offers up a pitchy rendition of I Will Always Love You.
