It's been a good week for ...

dogging school

Schoolchildren have long been masters of the excuse: "the dog ate my homework"; "my gym kit was stolen from the washing line"; "my wee brother took the batteries out of my alarm clock" and so on. Tyler Sullivan, however, has excelled. The 11-year-old from Minnesota skipped school for the first time in his life when his father took him to see US President Barack Obama, who was in town for an official visit.

Tyler explained that he said "hi" to the President, who twigged that the lad was playing hooky and asked an aide for a pen and a card with presidential letterhead.

"Do you want me to write an excuse note?" asked Obama. "What's your teacher's name?"

A Mr Ackerman duly received a note saying: "Please excuse Tyler. He was with me. Barack Obama, the President."

While one would never condone playing truant, if you're going to bunk school you should do so in style. I just hope young Tyler doesn't get a taste for getting one over on his teacher. Train them as you might, dogs never really develop a taste for jotters.

It's been a bad week for ... the telly

You've got to hand it to Simon Cowell ... he certainly has an appetite for making money. Having subjected the viewing public to The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, he of the high-waisted trousers wants to get his finger in another pie – a cookery show.

Rumour has it that he is teaming up with M&S to produce a cooking talent show, with the winner snaffling £20,000 and the chance to have their meal sold in Marks & Spencer stores.

Apparently, the food on the show – dubbed the Eggs Factor – is to have a home-cooked British theme, so gird your loins for pies, sausage and mash. Since it's a Cowell production, there will no doubt be a few dog's breakfasts along the way that we can all snigger at. But there are bound to be stars, too. How else would you make money out of those hopefuls hungry for fame? Maybe there's even a Susan Broil out there simmering for culinary stardom.