Winter On The BBC

How do you fancy Three Doctors, one fake Doctor and a bunch of the best British talent ever to grace our screens? Here's winter on the BBC, offering us - what looks like - the best cold, telly months ever! Doctor Who Christmas Special, Single Father, The First Men In The Moon, Outcasts, Lip Service and Upstairs Downstairs are just a few of the great shows that will be splashed over the box.

Take a look at this...



Lovely!

Scientology - What A Load Of Bollocks

Believe what you want. It's not my place - or anyone else's - to tell you what to put your money, your faith and your time into. I'm not a religious person; I'm almost religiously non-religious. However, I do have a mouth, a mind and a soapbox. So, read that first sentence again... "It's not my place - or anyone else's - to tell you what to put your money, your faith and your time into". THIS is why I am against religion as a "thing".

But - forgetting what reasons I might have for attacking religion - the big three have a basis in legend, myth, history even. Islam, Judaism and Christianity have age-old texts behind them, written by now-long-dead documenters of the acts and words of prophets and messiahs, around which a solid - if blindly obedient, in many cases - following has gathered. What the hell, then, is Scientology all about?!

A "religion" based on the belief that an alien warlord and the spirits of extraterrestrial beings from many generations past has as much clout in "the way" as a genuine and sometimes helpful "philosophy for life" written - not passed down, or mythologised, or "given" - but actually, transparently created by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. I have not read much about the theory. But I have read enough to see that - at base - the ideas of Scientology (what does that even mean, by the way?) are not evil; quite the opposite. They are a valued and valuable set of suggestions about what may - that's may - make life a little nicer to live. Of course, for this to work you must suspend disbelief somewhat. Now, that's something I have no problem at all with when I'm watching Doctor Who, but when it comes to living my life everyday it's something I can't justify.

Then, like all religions, there's the money thing. Donate and thou shall be saved. And lo, the people did giveth plentifully, and the greasy, boy-buggering, hypocritical reps of [insert deity of choice here] on Earth smiled and thought it good. Well, of course they bloody did! GOD says give us all your money. If you don't - well, you're just not that into Him. At least the older religions give all they have and ask for the money later, though! With Christianity you get the book, the teachings and the support and you're encouraged to give what you can. That's almost a charity. With Scientology, absurdly, you're given the teachings in tiers, based on how "ready" you are and how "engaged with the way" you may be - for which read "based on how much money you've given us...". As one fellow Tweeter so eloquently put it earlier, using the unlikely, yet surprisingly apt "social networking analogy": "They only reveal the secret to the religion once you've clicked "Like" and invited 100 friends. #StupidScientology"

I don't have a conclusion to this post. I don't think there would ever have been a conclusion. The post itself may well have read just eight words and saved us all a few minutes' reading time. It may well have read SCIENTOLOGY IS A LOAD OF SHIT, ISN'T IT? Well, isn't it? If YOU'RE a Scientologist, or whatever you call yourselves, then please - get in touch with me using Twitter. Let me know what I'm missing. Set the record straight. Saying that, if you're a Muslim, a Jew or a Christian - or anything else - tell me your side! Why's religion helped you? I guarantee you won't tell me anything I've never been told before... I abhor religion and think it dangerous. Especially when the power is taken from the many and given to the few.

I'm also resigned to the fact that, if there is a hell, I'm going there... But just think how much better the conversation will be, than above, when I get there.

The X Factor - Bootcamp And Beyond

This year's X Factor has given little in terms of excitement and eye-catching auditions... Okay, so that girl punched her mate in the chops, Cher Lloyd (pictured) blew us all away with a song that I'd never heard before and "Storm" (also pictured) was told that that wasn't his name after all!

And now, as we head towards the last challenges of Boot Camp - where the wheat is well and truly sorted from the chaff - there are but a handful of stand-out contestants. There's Cher. As I've mentioned, she blew me away. She doesn't HAVE to win to become a mega-pop-star now, because really, she already is one!

She has something different. She has the X Factor in it's true guise... She's not brilliant, but give her a flashy light show, a skimpy outfit and some "buff backing dancers" and she's made. I will be very, very surprised if she doesn't sail through Boot Camp, Judge's Houses and into the live shows. And she would deserve it.

Then, there's Mary. An Irishwoman in her 50s who, she admits herself, is overweight and arthritic. But full of beans! The most fun I've seen anyone have is when she realised that the choreographed dance routine at Boot Camp was really too much for her knees to take, so proceeded to shimmy and shake her ample bosom at the judges, grinning, with a look of "oh bugger it, let's just let loose" on her face. Magic!

Then there's the aforementioned "Storm". It is his name... But Simon still refuses to acknowledge the fact... It's funny. And he's incredible. He IS a rock star. When I see him standing with the other contestants I'm reminded of the times when stars like George Michael or Barry Manilow come in to mentor... He just jumps out.

His voice is different, rocky, yet mainstream enough to pull off Abba Week. He's bound to go far, as long as they don't try to stick him in a tux and have him croon "Have You Met Miss Jones?" on Big Band Week.

And then, we have Diva Fever! Two lads who clearly love what they're doing and don't take themselves too seriously (a bit like Jedward, but with actually very good voices and impressive stage presence). They've got to get through too! Because, let's face it, apart from a handful of other impressive contestants who I've omitted - either for being too ordinary to mention or too bland to remember right now, despite their vocal talents - there aren't many other acts jumping out at all...

Apart from my favourite. Matt Cardle. Quite possibly the most unassuming of the contestants and truly a talent like no other on the show. He's a painter and decorator, by trade, living at home with his parents at 27. And if he doesn't win - if they give it to one of the countless Beiber-Clones contending this year - then something is terribly wrong with television and the British public. I've decided to include his entire Boot Camp challenge below. It's almost five minutes long, but please... have patience, watch to the end. It is beautiful. I only hope that they don't shave him and plop him into a white suit, having him sing "Picture Of You" while strutting like an uncomfortable toilet-roll.