In the run up to Christmas, there was a programme on television called the X Factor, in which viewers were invited to vote by telephone for the act they thought was the best.

The pre-contest favourite, Rhydian Roberts, did not win – so what do people who voted for him do?

They whinge and moan, radio stations ban the record of the singer who won – as if it was his fault! – and an investigation is launched into what happened.

Have these people nothing better to do with their lives? Does it really matter which five-minute wonder wins these programmes? Is the whole thing deliberately stage managed to ensure maximum publicity for the winner and runner-up?

This is, of course, not the first time there has been "controversy" – the national press's choice of word, not Mr Pendle's – over telephone voting in reality TV shows, and it will not be the last. There were even such laughable comments about the result such as it being a "major miscarriage", "Rhydian was robbed" and "the biggest shock in reality TV history". All utter nonsense, of course.

At the end of the day, it was nothing more than a storm in a teacup over a television programme that five out of six people living in this country did not watch and who could not care less who was the winner.#

THERE has been much talk in recent weeks about new England football manager Fabio Capello restoring pride in the players wearing the national strip.

Doesn't that tell you a lot of what is obscenely wrong with the "beautiful game" these days?

That being capped by one's country – once regarded as the pinnacle of a player's career – is no longer regarded as important, just as long as the pay cheque at the end of the month drops through the letter box.

Mr Pendle wishes Mr Capello well – but the fact that the country which gave football to the world has only won one tournament in 140 years perhaps shows that our overhyped, overpaid and over-rated players are nowhere near as good as they and their followers think.

Indeed, the only World Cup that England have any chance of winning is the one to be played in Australia at the back end of the year – that in Rugby League, a sport where the players chosen to represent their country still regard the wearing of the three lions badge as an honour and not as just another four-figure pay day.

AS Mr Pendle was driving to work on Monday, he heard on the radio how some stores were filling their shelves with Easter eggs – on Boxing Day!

Now Mr Pendle knows that Easter falls early this year, but he cannot accept that this is an excuse by traders for trying to cash in by selling eggs 86 days beforehand.

It is ridiculous – and it is something that is getting worse year by year, with Christmas paraphernalia appearing in the shops earlier (or so it seems) every 12 months. But it is not the traders' fault – as long as gullible shoppers are prepared to part with their cash and buy the goods on offer, they will continue to sell them, whatever the time of year.