Incidentally..

Byline: Shari Lows

HEAR that noise? That's me pressing my X Factor buzzer until Simon Cowell is forced to use Cheryl Cole's hair extensions as earmuffs. Sir Simon of the High Waisters announced this week that the minimum age for contestants on the next series of X Factor has been lowered to 14.

Let's count the ways this idea should be banished from the stage. If a kid is talented at 14, they'll still be talented at 16 but at least then they'll have a couple of years more maturity to deal with the exposure, the pressure and, of course, the inevitable criticism.

Hopefully Cowell will change his mind. Maybe now he's a dad, he'll resist building up wee Eric's trust fund on the broken lives of child stars who crumble under the glare of the spotlight.

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Title Annotation:	Features; Opinion Column
Publication:	Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland)
Date:	Apr 17, 2014
Words:	137
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