For a woman who has declared her heroes to be the authors of the US constitution, Ronald Reagan, and members of the Tea Party, the most obvious role model is not Simon Cowell. But in the new book that some observers see as the launching pad for a putative presidential bid, Sarah Palin has cited the brusque X-Factor judge as an inspiration.

On Susan Boyle's second album, the balance between hymns and popular songs that characterised I Dreamed a Dream tilts more decisively churchwards, with a preponderance of carols now peppered with just a smattering of secular material, and an overly religiose tone applied to the likes of "Perfect Day" and "Hallelujah", songs at least partly written about heroin and orgasm, respectively.

A former Britain's Got Talent hopeful who blamed health problems for her poor audition said today that she holds Simon Cowell personally responsible for her public humiliation.

Simon Cowell blushed as he was grilled by Jay Leno about his relationship with Mezhgan Hussainy.

X Factor runner-up Olly Murs signed a record deal today which will see him working jointly with Simon Cowell's label.

Simon Cowell has publicly declared he is "smitten" with new girlfriend Mezhgan Hussainy and believes "she's the one".

The invention of "Operatic Pop" may be Simon Cowell's musical legacy. Togged up in Armani, the quartet Il Divo here run through their repertoire – pop ballads like "Nights In White Satin", "Without You" and "My Way" given Italian translations and belted out with orchestral accompaniment – in front of 20,000 fans in Barcelona.

The success of Susan Boyle provides an interesting metaphor for the decline of manufacturing in the information stage of late capitalism.

X Factor judge Simon Cowell may have saved John and Edward, but today he blasted them as "deluded" and declared: "They're not aware how bad they are."

Simon Cowell's former girlfriend was granted a temporary restraining order against a woman accused of choking her outside the American Idol finale.

The Three Tenors with boy-band looks, singing The X Factor's karaoke songbook: the equation Simon Cowell made to arrive at Il Divo seems simple enough. Thirty million album sales later, the sum adds up, commercially. But for the three thirtysomething opera singers and one minor French pop star who answered Cowell's latest talent search, something rings hollow. The opera men – American tenor David Miller, Swiss tenor Urs Buhler and Spanish baritone Carlos Marin – were established singers, committed to honing their art, before being able "to pay my rent for a year", in Buhler's words, diverted them. That was five years and four albums ago. Il Divo is their artistic life now: operatic vocals shorn of opera's epic emotional sweep, but gifted with a huge audience. Unlike the desperate hopefuls Cowell toys with on TV, these men have given something up to be here, and know it. Every note is compromised. But within Il Divo's weird musical shackles, they give everything they can.