by Sandra Piddock

Created on: May 15, 2009   Last Updated: February 02, 2010

Susan Boyle is living proof, if it were needed, that substance is much more important than style. We've become used  to fancy window dressing which masks  the quality of the goods on offer, so it's a refreshing change when someone like Susan Boyle comes along  - promising nothing from her appearance, but delivering the goods the moment she opened her mouth. What a refreshing change, and what a valuable lesson for a young generation who have grown up believing presentation is all. If something - anything - looks good and is hyped up enough, our youngsters believe they are getting quality when what they're really getting is a large serving of mediocrity.

You can't blame them for that. They've been brought up in an era where sound bytes have been glossily packaged and marketed as the answer to the nation's prayers. If you haven't guessed already, I'm talking about New Labour here. When they swept into office on a landslide in 1997, with their theme tune of 'Things Can Only Get Better,' they promised a new dawn for Britain, and indeed the world. Where are we now? We're in a recession, and while New Labour aren't exclusively to blame for it, they must take their share of the blame, because they looked the part, but they didn't know the script well enough to deliver an Oscar winning performance. Style triumphed over substance.

Susan Boyle is the Ugly Duckling whose voice transforms her into a swan. That's another aspect of her fascination. She's a modern day fairy tale in action. By today's standards, she has nothing going for her. she's middle aged, overweight and single. 'She needs a stylist to get to work on her,' you can hear people saying. Actually, she doesn't, because you can't manufacture what she has, and that is a rare and God given talent. To Susan, what she does is more important than how she looks, and that is a rare quality these days. Cinderella has come to the ball without the glass slipper and the pretty frock, so there's hope for us all.

Susan may look like a 1960's housewife, but she has the feisty attitude of a 21st century girl. Now she's enjoying the stardom she so richly deserved, she's making more of herself, and looking good for it, but she still has that 'Take me as I am or forget about it' attitude that so endeared us to her. She cares about her singing and her life, not what others think of her. And we're taking her in spadefuls, aren't we? We may not admit it, but we're sick of the constant diet of vacuous, empty-headed wannabes who believe that because they look good they have a career in the media for the taking. Our palates are jaded by mediocrity but, like a good sorbet, Susan Boyle's talent has stimulated our taste buds. That's why we're so fascinated by her.

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