Simon Cowell: creator of false expectations or the man who keeps British pop solvent?

In the week the Syco svengali was honoured by the music industry – and signed a six-year deal with Sony – two writers put the case for the prosecution, and the defenceAn alien sitting down to play the gold disc on the Voyager probe would likely feel much as I do when watching an episode of Simon Cowell’s The X Factor. I don’t understand the wailing, the tedious life-affirming stories straight out of Take a Break, the artificial tension, the purpose of Rita Ora. Despite al