Simon Berlusconi?

It's neck and neck for the UK Christmas No. 1 in the singles charts. Fed up with the hegemony of endless X Factor winners hogging to spot, an online campaign to thwart Joe McElderry's The Climb from achieving the summit has been launched: Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name is in with a decent chance.

So what's going on? While 10m-plus people voted in the X Factor final (more than voted for the Labour Government at the last election), a significant chunk of the population think Simon Cowell is getting too powerful in the culture. Hence cocking a snook at a man who is used to getting his own way.

This means two future scenarios are unlikely.

First, Mr Cowell's kite-flying today that he's looking to move the X Factor formula into politics is a dead parrot. People can spot a Berlusconi-wannabe a mile off, and he won't get any viewers even if the show gets green-lighted.

Second, the licence fee for broadcasting in the UK is beginning to look like a useful barrier to anyone wanting to totally swamp the airways. The thought of just how powerful Simon Cowell would be in a deregulated television market is scary, especially if he de-camped to Sky to join forces with the Murdoch empire.

The British character will ensure that Simon Cowell remains a very large fish in his own music format, for however long the viewing public want to be entertained by his franchise. The little man in the UK has always been powerful, which is why we haven't had loads of civil wars down the centuries.