Hahaha bleddy ha ....

... at the looks on the faces of the 'judges' of Britain's Got Talent when Susan Boyle opened her gob and belted out I Have a Dream on the show last week.

I absolutely LOATHE reality shows and things like Britain's Got Talent as a rule as I think everybody's time would be better spent getting off their butts and DOING SOMETHING more positive (either for themselves or for the community, I don't care which) as opposed to necking back cans of lager and packets of crisps and watching a bunch of usually third-rate bods lining up for potential future exploitation on TV. In short, most of the time all the show proves is that Britain HASN'T got talent, well, at least if we have it hasn't been prepared to turn up for the auditions. The show as I whole I would suggest is brazenly narcissistic, adds absolutely nothing to our lives and is a symptom of the generally pointless and navel-gazing attitude which seems to have infected just about everything over the past couple of decades in my humble opinion.

For Susan Boyle, however, I am prepared to make an exception. Here is a lady who through no fault of her own has had to deal with the ridicule of her community for the entirety of her 47 years on the planet; reading between the lines it seems she's had an extremely tough time of it. And yes, she is not the most aesthetically pleasing bundle of humanity to have crossed the Angevin TV screen it has to be said. However, and unlike the vast majority of participants in this sort of show, she DOES have talent, and, speaking with my singing-teacher hat on, could be even better if she got some decent training. A fact which even the mostly ignorant, jeering and prejudiced studio audience managed to recognise within 10 seconds of Susan singing as they did a consummate volte face and changed from resembling the crowd at the Roman Colisseum waiting with keen anticipation for the 'thumbs down' humiliation of a protagonist, to giving Susan a standing ovation which was richly deserved. The look on that ghastly ape Simon Cowell's face was worth a thousand words, although I note only Piers Morgan had the grace to actually look ashamed of himself and it took Amanda Holden to vocalise the guilt they all SHOULD have felt for the oh-so-obvious prejudice they'd seen when they'd just looked at Susan rather than listening to her first.

And this, in my opinion, is Susan's greatest achievement; whilst not taking away anything from her singing, the naked courage and composure she showed in dealing with the overt, crude jeering of both judges and audience deserves every award which can be thrown at her. In being 'different' it's obvious she's had to endure a level of abuse which would probably make our more tender younger people these days head off to find the pills, gin and razors after about 10 minutes. She's experienced it all her life and has obviously managed to retain both a sense of humour and develop a level of quiet dignity which even I find awe-inspiring.

Is it too much to ask that this could not just be an individual flash in the pan and that it could be the start of us, as a society, having a 'wake-up call', to quote Amanda Holden. Because there's no doubt we need it - just how many people, like Susan, have been nursing an exception talent of some sort which has been completely overlooked because they don't fit the bill with regard to what we've been brainwashed into believing is 'beauty', 'camera-presence' or whatever label you want to put on it? Does everybody really have to have the perfect nose/teeth/skin/figure before any talents they might possess can be considered? What a pathetic waste if we continue down the road of saying 'Yes, they DO'. I'll use the usual example given whenever this is discussed and point out Roosevelt, wheelchair bound, would undoubtedly not even been considered as a candidate for the lowermost rung of government had he been born later, into the media-obsessed 'modern' world. And he is by far from being the only example.

Ultimately, it's all about 'respect'; a commodity sadly lacking most of the time. Had Susan Boyle been shown more respect during her life, despite her conventionally unattractive appearance, she could have developed her talent and been given a chance to fulfil her dream well before her current 47 years. Had Susan Boyle been given more respect she might not have had to admit she's 'never been kissed' (although what that has to do with her singing is beyond me) and somebody out there would have seen her qualities and loved her for them. Had Susan Boyle been given more respect she would not have had to expose herself to crude humiliation on national TV to get her voice heard. Respect is the most fundamental and precious gift we can give to another human being.

How many more Susan Boyles are out there? I guess we will never know unless we all give ourselves a mental kick in the pants and start looking around us with fresh eyes. A profound thought indeed for Low Sunday.