Tulisa getting the boot from the X Factor shows how precarious life can be for TV talent show judges. Last year, Tulisa’s chosen act won the competition, but the replacement for Cheryl Cole – herself hooked off the US version of the show after two minutes – was thought to have underperformed this time around and that was that.


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But who would have thought being a bishop was an even more hazardous occupation? Pope Benedict XVI is reckoned to have wielded his axe “two or three times a month” on the necks of slack bishops and then got so caught up in the process that he reached around to administer holy justice on his own clerical collar.

The real jobs world isn’t exactly safe, of course. Something like one in seven British workers have been made redundant since the credit crunch in 2008. Funnily enough, about the same ratio (three out of twenty) of Premiership football managers have been shown the door this season and that was a job that used to be the benchmark for insecurity.

This is what’s behind the touching tale of ‘Rafa’s Rant’. The Chelsea boss thought, “We can’t have popstars and Popes stealing our thunder”, so bravely decided to do his bit to take his (interim) profession back to the top of the axe-wielding league table.