Crass Love Island antics put X Factor in the shade

How sweet to see that The X Factor still exists. I was thrilled to find that, this year, Simon Cowell will be joined by some people whose music I’ve never heard. No, no, that’s not true! There’s Robbie Williams, and I know every song of his between 1992 and 1994 off by heart. He will be judging with wife Ayda Field, an actress who has never released any music.

Remember when we used to be so critical of shows such as X Factor, because they took young people’s dreams and crushed them under the high heel of someone who was once famous in the Eighties? When it launched in 2004, it was vilified for creating a generation of kids who just wanted the limelight.

But now we have shows like Love Island, where young people with plastic surgery willingly allow their emotions to be crassly manipulated for their five minutes of fame, the singing contest seems rather quaint and – dare I say it – old-fashioned, doesn’t it?

New role: actress Ayda Field has been hired as a judge in a singing contest