Britain picks X-Factor over remembering iPhone creator

X-Factor gets more publicity than major headlines this week.

It has been yet another manic week in the world of news, 2011 does not seem to stop with headlines which catches all of our eyes. The famous Meredith Kercher murder case has faced a fresh twist in the last seven days after suspect Amanda Knox is set free after four years in prison being initially guilty of murdering the English exchange student in Perugia, Italy. Now she's home in the States emotionally scarred, the Kercher family return to square one in search for the murderer of Meredith.

Meanwhile, Sarah Palin has announced she will not become the Republican candidate to compete against Barack Obama in the White House next November. Much to world's relief, Mrs. Palin says she is to focus on her family than politics although I imagine she will be part of Mitt Romney or Michele Bachmann plans when they hope to be Republicans representative next year like when she was John McCain's number two in 2008.

The third headline this week is truly tragic. Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs dies at the age of 56. He has been battling with pancreatic cancer in the past several years and leaving his CEO role with the technology company giants in August was not enough to save him. Masterminding the idea of iPad, iPod and iPhone are moments he can be proud of and he is appreciated across the world. He will be missed and I hope that Apple will recover and continue to produce products which have impressed a generation.

These stories seem to link with the United States. No doubt broadcasters, newspapers and radio will concentrate on those headlines, but what about Britain? Yes, Steve Jobs will get a worthy mention. Amanda Knox has been a focus for the first couple of days this week but now almost forgotten and the UK media wouldn't really focus on Sarah Palin's decision not to run as President. Instead, they'll be having their eyes peeled and ears open to something more compelling, more important and life-changing for millions of Brits. I am talking about talent shows X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing.

The countdown towards Christmas will start on Saturday when ITV and BBC battle for the most popular show in the run up towards the festive month. ITV has psychological advantage after their Downton Abbey so far, convincingly defeating Spooks in the TV viewer ratings for Sunday nights. Now, Saturday night will be dominated with tweets and Facebook updates on who will be the next singing prodigy and who's going to win Strictly?

My answer to both is "I don't care". I don't want to be too serious but these talent shows have been going on for far too long and the contestants are getting repetitive.

Let's take Strictly for example when they announced the line up, you can tell who was to be the next John Sergeant (Russell Grant) and Ann Widdecombe i.e. Edwina Currie while Robbie Savage follows the sports stars such as Peter Schmeichel and Colin Jackson who have done rather well in recent years so the Welshman could waltz his way far into the tournament.

Same applies to the X-Factor as without watching the auditions or boot-camp, you can tell Nu Vibe are similar to JLS and One Direction so we could possibly see them in a lot of Saturday nights and Sami Brookes to be like Mary Byrne. I can assume all day but the point I'm trying to make is that the plot and contestants are almost the same. There's nothing unique about each year. Although there is "no Simon Cowell" this year on the judging panel, but you can tell there is a presence of him there so it's as if we don't miss him anyway. And this "twist" which the show promises for us on Saturday may be what people expected.

Personally, I don't think X-Factor is a fix but the show is completely predictable, same applies to Strictly. The public have the same voting pattern such as the younger audience would vote for teenage groups or the younger contestants. Some of these viewers were appalled over Luke Lucas being omitted from the live shows and perform. He's 16. Gary Barlow, the man who made this decision and now the public hate slammed the age limit for being too low. Robbie Williams told the Mirror he would never push his children in performing at such a young age which I agree. I remember a few years ago this one contestant, aged 16 again, tried to perform a song but stuttered and began to cry. Then judge, Sharon Osbourne tried to calm this boy down but he wept and wept. They put him through to boot-camp after they let him audition again but it's unethical to show children at their most vulnerable on the television which the producers know 10-odd million would see. It's cruel. Putting the age limit up to 18 would provide a much fairer competition rather than the programme being a sympathy show.

There is escapism that we all need and the X-Factor and Strictly offer that but when I see headlines of that dominating our headlines rather than a man who revolutionised technology and our well-being passing away, I can think which is more important.