15 minutes starts here

What about the furore that has greeted Susan Boyle’s performance on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent?  Despite being far, far from under-30, whippet-thin, or beautiful enough for a Hello spread, the West Lothian crooner has inadvertently found herself to be flavour of the moment.  Nevertheless, it is the scale of the judges and spectators’ reaction to her that tells the true story: she is the exception that proves the rule.  There is a certain quirky novelty value to a ‘down to earth’ or ‘dowdy’ or ‘ordinary’ person (delete least offensive) winning the hearts of everyone from Opray Winfrey to Demi Moore, not to mention Simon Cowell’s accountant.  But an exception Susan will remain, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Simon breathed a sigh of relief when the next talented performer in the conveyor belt was also an obvious sex object…