Akela Predicts

Here we have an apparently innocent story about 13 year old singer Faryl Smith singing the national anthem at Twickenham at the weekend. Yet here's the rub, since I read it a few days ago there has been something slightly unsettling about the wording of this story. I can't put my finger on the exact words or sentence but it's there all right. Just a feeling that suggestions are being made that are inappropriate in the context of a 13 year old child.

Over the next 3-5 years this is one to watch. Much like Charlotte Church and Emma Watson we will see the stories become increasingly about how she looks and how she's "growing up" until she's 18 when suddenly the gloves will come off and she will be treated as nothing but a sex object. At least though that wont be quite as creepy, at least then it's all in the open and not just suggested but not openly spoken.

There is something creepy about the tabloid attitude to teenage girls in the public eye, and I will be watching this story develop with interest.

Watch this space.