I USED to know a hospitable fellow called Joe who was married to a charming wife, Gwen.

Next door lived Gwen’s unmarried sister, Mary. They all got on so well that Mary would often pop round to watch things like Sunday Night at the London Palladium on the TV.

But a funny thing would happen whenever a chorus line of dancing girls came on.

Joe would leap up and switch off the set. Why? Because he and Gwen wanted to protect spinster Mary, 90, from being corrupted by the sight of the women in skimpy outfits kicking their legs.

It was well-intentioned but sweetly ridiculous.

The reaction of many people to the performances of two guest singers on the X Factor final last Sunday reminded me of that situation. Adults have voiced understandable concerns about the risque outfits and raunchy moves of pop stars Rihanna and Christine Aguilera. But I’d bet that, these days, parents may have found it embarrassing but not many youngsters. Sign of the times.

Children may be impressionable and Rihanna’s and Aguilera’s performances questionable but I reckon that most children have seen music videos many times before showing cavorting pop stars with their backsides and boobs hanging out.

Bombs in Stockholm matter. NHS spending plans matter. X Factor publicity-fuelling rows don’t. I’m guessing it will all turn out, like when Hot Gossip first featured on the Kenny Everett Show on TV all those years ago, to be a storm in a tea cup. Or B-cup. And no big deal to children.

Mary, by the way, was not as naïve as her family believed. I always suspected that when Joe turned the telly off she would just say cheerio, go home… and watch it on her own set. Just like kids today.