Time to give TV shows an intelligence rating

Our government is keen to put warning labels on everything from food to electrical goods. So why not TV programmes? They could be rated according to the intelligence required from the viewer. So the X-Factor could have a ‘Really dumb’ rating; BBC News an ‘Average intelligence’ score; Channel Four News an ‘Above average intelligence’ and Mastermind or University Challenge a ‘Working brain required’ label. This would enable people in today’s dumbed-down Britain to choose programmes that would not overtax their particular capabilities and warn them away from programmes they might find difficult to follow and therefore possibly damaging to their self-esteem and mental health.