WHAT MAKES A GOOD SPEAKER?

Just got back from three wonderful weeks in British Columbia. While there, I was invited to speak at the Rotary Club of Trail, BC.

My subject was the art and science of public speaking. As most Rotary Clubs invite speakers on a regular basis, I figured that their members would all have their own views, so I phrased my title as a question: “What makes a good speaker?”

I included two of my favourite quotes on the topic:

On the importance of having a passion (or at least some enthusiasm!) for your subject: “Most people will forget what you say and even what you do. But they will not forget how you made them feel.”

On the importance of being clear why you are making the presentation: “When Aeschylus speaks, we say: ‘how well he speaks.’ But when Demosthenes speaks, we say: ‘let us march against Philip.'”

I enjoyed it greatly. More importantly, as far as I could tell nobody fell asleep.

It was also a useful dry-run for a talk I’m giving on the same subject next month, at the Rotary Club of Bristol Bridge (UK). Looking forward to that!

BRING BACK BRITISH RAIL?

On Monday I was interviewed on Clifton Down Station in Bristol for a YouTube video. It was commissioned by FoSBR (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) in connection with a campaign called “Bring Back British Rail”. It is so-called because many people now believe that the only way to get decent and affordable rail services in this country is to put the railways back in public ownership.

The Economist magazine was, I believe, the first to reveal that although our rail-fares are the highest in Europe, the level of public subsidy is nonetheless  five times higher (inflation adjusted) than it was before the railways were privatised. It is now £5bn per annum. That is outrageous, surely. (unless you own shares in one of the Train Operating Companies to which we grant regional monopolies)

Anyway, my small contribution to this video was to relate a frequently problematic suburban rail journey I used to make here in Bristol, when I would try and travel the short distance from Clifton to my job in Ashton Vale on the other side of the city. Three miles maybe? It sometimes took an hour and a half because of inconvenient or non-existent connections; or late or cancelled trains. It never took less than 45 minutes; in fact I could walk it faster. By car it took only 15 minutes. I rest my case.

When the video is finished I’ll post it here.

That same evening, I attended a fascinating transport debate at the Colston Hall, hosted by Bristol Civic Society. I was intending to make a separate post about that but judging by the amount of expertise and strong views on display I am sure there will already be plenty of coverage in the blogosphere.

Much of the discussion was on bus services and the most depressing fact was the admission that the local authority has very little power on a range of issues, as 90% of the bus services are provided on a commercial basis by the virtually monopoly provider First Bus, who pay lip service to consultation and then do exactly as they please. A wag of a local journalist once described them as “Worst Bus”; but I didn’t say that.  (“You might very well think that. I couldn’t possibly comment”, as has famously been said on many occasions)

Interestingly I have often travelled on buses owned by First Bus in London but there the situation is totally different, in that they don’t have a monopoly. As far as I can understand it, Transport for London tells the bus companies what to do. How different from the situation in our fair city; but according to statements from the Colston Hall platform that’s a situation we are stuck with due to the differences between regulation in the two cities.

 

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

The Bring Back British Rail organisation was formed to campaign for publicly-owned railways. Their promotional material says they intend to “learn from the mistakes of BR of the past, remind the UK of the broader services that were available and the virtues of public ownership, and form a new, integrated rail system with a progressive, participatory structure”. www.bringbackbritishrail.org

Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways (FoSBR) campaigns for improved, integrated and sustainable local rail services in the Bristol area and for the reopening of closed-down passenger lines such as Bristol / Portishead. www.fosbr.org.uk

RETURN OF THE BRISTOL CULTURE-VULTURE

I have been reminded that your previously devoted and (mostly) assiduous Cultural Attaché has been silent for a while. This digest of one-liners is an attempt to reverse that shameful trend.

*****

Health & Safety warning: I make no claims of objectivity. The items listed here are simply those I fancy.

All events are in Bristol (that’s the UK one) unless otherwise stated.

*****

NOVEMBER

9th                    ConnectOne exhibition preview at the Create Centre, 5-8 pm. Includes work by Angie Kenber, who’ll be there from 6 pm.

until 10th           “The Ides of March” (film) at the Watershed, Harbourside. I don’t normally plug movies but this one is on my personal wish-list! 0117-927-5100

10th                   Hot Club of Cowtown at St George’s Bristol, 8 pm.

0845 40 24 001

11th                   Kirris Revere Blues Band: music for dancing at the South Bank Club, Dean Lane, Southville. No other info available at this time.

12th                   Carmina at Colston Hall 2, 8 pm. 0117-922-3686

14th                   Lilian Boutté at the Coronation Tap, Clifton, 9 pm

 14th-16th            “A Clockwork Orange” at the Tobacco Factory, Southville, 8 pm. I’ve never seen a stage adaptation of that ground-breaking novel; probably worth a look! 0117-902-0344

17th                   Denny Ilett & Ruth Hammond at Rainbow Café, Clifton. Dinner show, so booking essential: 0117-973-8937. Further details on Facebook.

20th                   The Randy Swindlers at the Coronation Tap, 4 pm

24th                   Jeremy Paxman at the Watershed, Harbourside, 1 pm: “Empire: what ruling the world did to the British”. A Festival of Ideas event.

www.ideasfestival.co.uk

26th                   “Hannah’s Concert”, charity event at Tockington Manor School.  Buffet; music by Chimera featuring Ruth Hammond and special guest Pete Josef. jenny.king@edgecumbe.co.uk

27th                   Instant Wit improv comedy at The Brewery Theatre, North Road, Southville, 7.30 pm. 0117-902-0344

30th                   Steeleye Span at St George’s Bristol, 8 pm. 0845 40 24 001.

DECEMBER

3rd                    Chumbawamba at the Folk House, Park Street. 07855 826 228.

 

BOOK REVIEW: “MAKING FRIENDS WITH MONEY”

When I first started to plan and write my own book on debt (“Back to the Black” – see below) I naturally trawled the bookshops to skim, then buy and read, other books on the topic. I wanted to find out to what extent the subject had already been covered.  Was it worth writing another book, or had the subject been done to death already?

VERY FEW BOOKS?

I found, to my surprise, that there were very few books on how to deal with personal debt problems. I bought and read most of them, because I didn’t want my book simply to rehash what had already been said. When I say there were very few books, I mean print books by British authors on the shelves of British bookshops. Of course there are far fewer British bookshops nowadays, but that’s another story.

UK / US DIFFERENCES?

I then found there were a few more that were only available as e-books, which is the way I decided to publish first. What I also found was that there were many, many more e-books by US authors. Of course that’s a bigger market (population five times higher) but there must be other reasons for the difference because it’s out of all proportion to that ratio. When I’ve figured it out I shall get back to the question in another post.

“MAKING FRIENDS WITH MONEY”

All that was a couple of years ago. Sitting on my desk today is a more recent addition to the market and I think it’s a valuable one. Its remit is wider than mine, which was simply about debt and how to handle it.

Sanni Kruger is a financial coach. She runs the local (Bristol, UK) branch of Debtors Anonymous and she’s published “Making Friends With Money: how to start feeling wealthy without waiting till you’re rich.” As the title suggests, her message is that it’s not just a matter of how much money you have; it’s also about attitude, about mind-set. Her chapter headings give a flavour of the content: feeling better about money; getting a grip on your finances; using cashflow planning to build your wealth; getting on top of debt; cashflow management from day to day; surviving the money jungle; the light at the end of the tunnel; and finally: achieving what really matters to YOU.

LEFT-BRAIN THINKING FIRST

Ms Kruger’s background is in book-keeping and accounting, so it’s no surprise that there is plenty of detail here about budgeting and cashflow planning. That’s a subject that is a challenge for many people, including me. Perhaps it should be taught in schools but that’s another question. The coverage of this subject is sound, as you’d expect. However, the advice I liked best in this section of the book was to have two bank accounts; one main one which was simply and in-and-out vehicle for one’s regular / predictable income (be it wages or salary, benefits, pensions etc) and one’s committed / predictable expenditures, which should exit via direct debits; then you work out what’s left after the regular / committed expenditures and transfer that amount to the second account, which Ms Kruger calls the “D2D” (Day-to-Day) account. That way you get a better handle on how much you have available for discretionary purchases and for any expenditure which is regular but variable if you get my drift, e.g. food shopping. Keeping an eye on the balance in the D2D account tells me when I ought to go to Lidl / Aldi and when I could afford an occasional splurge at Waitrose.

RIGHT-BRAIN THINKING

That was very useful but in the last few chapters the book gets more into the bigger picture, or longer-term goals; right-brain thinking or whatever you want to call it. I liked the final chapter on “achieving what really matters to YOU” (Ms Kruger’s capitalisation) because that includes a kind of “hierarchy of needs” approach as it applies to money. To take as an example the specific area my book covers, she suggests these levels of debt repayment:

Level 1: nothing can be repaid

Level 2: more than zero, i.e. £1+ per month: (Ms Kruger, like me, knows that paying £1 / month to every creditor still has value)

Level 3: More than £25 / month to each creditor

Level 4: More than £200 / month to each creditor

Level 5: no debt to repay – ever again.

OK, the numbers will vary according to each person’s circumstance but the principle of working one’s way up the different levels seems good to me. Similarly on transport, she suggests that one might visualise progress (“a journey”, as they say)  from Level 1: “enough money for public transport; lifts from friends”; to Level 5: “new car of my dreams and the money for running costs etc etc, plus enough money in car replacement fund to change it at least every 2 years; public transport (first class) or taxis when desired.”

As you might guess from this section, the book closes with a further section entitled “living your dream.” Lots of other self-help books talk about that topic but Ms Kruger’s book gives people the practical tools to achieve it and the mindset to start feeling wealthy even before you become rich. Just as it says on the tin; or in the subtitle anyway. A worthwhile read.

 

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

On Sanni Kruger’s book “Making friends with money: how to start feeling wealthy without waiting till you’re rich”

Go to www.holisticmoneymanager.com to order. Hard copy (comb-bound A4) £12; downloadable .pdf £7.20, or in four sections each £1.99

On my own book about managing debt, “Back to the Black: how to become debt-free and stay that way”.

eBook only. To sample for free, or purchase (all versions around £0.70 / $0.99):

  • Available in the Kindle store; click HERE:
  • Available in all e-formats, including .pdf, at Smashwords. Click HERE:

ANOTHER BRISTOL CULTURE-VULTURE

I’ve been reminded that your cultural attaché has been silent for a while. To correct that situation, here’s a selection of items I favour.

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STOP PRESS: TODAY! (Sun 28 Aug) at the Coronation Tap, from 12 midday. MINI-FEST in support of the Charlie Derrick Bursary.

Jan Gale at the Cori says: “It’ll be a day packed absolutely full of sensational performances by hugely talented musicians from Bristol, exciting newcomers from London, and very special guests who are all giving their time to raise awareness of and support for this very special cause.

“There’ll be plenty of CoriTap ciders and a scrumptious buffet”. [The latter is supplied, by the way, by the world-famous Rainbow Café]

Ffi: www.thecoronationtap.com for the lineup, also www.footprint.org.uk. This is a wonderful cause.

*****

Thurs 1 Sept at View Gallery, 159-161 Hotwells Rd: Postcard Art Auction in aid of The Prince’s Trust.

6 pm for 7; complimentary ale, wine and cheese.

*****

Sat 10 Sept, all over Bristol: Doors Open Day. Vultures of long standing will know I am a fan of this:  http://www.bristoldoorsopenday.org/

*****

11 & 12 Sept (Sun / Mon) at the Brewery Theatre, “Telling Tales of Drunkenness, Cruelty and OFSTED”

A one-man show by former professional actor (ex-RSC), teacher and poet Tony Rowlands. Music by the Henri Passat Band, with vocals by my daughter Madeleine.

8 pm, 291 North St, Southville, Bristol BS3 1JP. Tickets via the Tobacco Factory Box Office: Tel 0117-902-0344, or go to: http://tobaccofactorytheatre.com/shows/detail/telling_tales_of_drunkenness_cruelty_and_ofsted/ .

 

*****

Thursdays throughout September: music at the Rose of Denmark, Hotwells, Bristol. This is a newish innovation as a regular event and it’s being programmed by the ubiquitous and brilliant Pete Judge. Some of our faves in Sept: Dave Griffiths with Brejeiro; Jim Reynolds with Gina Griffin; John Pearce with Dave Newton; finally Moscow Drug Club. Sounds good!

*****

Fridays throughout September: music at El Rincon, North Street, Southville, Bristol (that’s opposite the Brewery Theatre; see above). Note that gig times are still 8-10pm sharp and the bar has to close at 10pm too!

*****

… and for poetry fans:

Sat 17 September, midday to 3 pm: TWENTY POETS PERFORM at Bristol Central Library, Cafe Area. They will be reading their own work for slots of either 5 or 10 minutes.

*****

Finally: you may well be aware of Bristol University’s Public Engagement programme. I’ve just received a weblink that’ll take you to their September calendar:

<http://bristol.ac.uk/public-engagement/pdfs/whatsonguide.pdf/>

*****

Finally finally: REMINDERS DEPARTMENT. Items already mentioned in an earlier edition of The Culture-vulture

September

5-7        “Acting for camera”: one of several short courses at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School throughout the summer. http://www.oldvic.ac.uk/short-courses.html

8 “TEDx Bristol” at M Shed. Don’t know about TED? You are missing out! This Bristol version is an innovation. See link: http://tedxbristol.com/about .

11-12        “Telling Tales of Drunkenness, Cruelty & OFSTED”, at the Brewery Theatre, 0117-902-0344. One-man show by Tony Rowlands (Buckingham in Richard III at the Alma). Music by the Henri Passat Band, featuring my daughter Madi. (Several people have asked me to remind them, so here it is!)

17         The Unthanks / Brighouse & Rastrick Brass Band at St George’s Bristol. I gotta hear the “Briggus” and anyone who loved “Brassed Off” will too. 0845 4024001

“Bewitching, dream-like, down-to-earth … music as tough as it is gentle, as ancient as it is modern, as coldly desolate as it is achingly intimate … joyous, virtuous and luscious un-folk” (The Observer)

30         “Recession” Fashion Show at the South Bank Club, Dean Lane, Southville, Bristol.

 

MONEYWISE CUSTOMER SERVICE AWARDS 2011: BOUQUETS FOR FIRST DIRECT, BRICKBATS FOR SANTANDER

This month’s edition of the “Moneywise” magazine carries a supplement showing all the winners (and losers!) in their annual awards for service and trustworthiness. At a time when banks, and the financial services industry in general, have had many knocks to their corporate reputations, any good news is good news, if that makes sense.

Here is my totally unscientific extract, i.e. the awards that interested me most. And don’t worry, if you don’t subscribe to Moneywise (which is very good value; and I am not on commission!) you can access the info online; scroll down for the link.

In summary: First Direct dominated the awards, winning many categories. There were also awards for several organisations I’ve mentioned on this blog: Zopa, Yorkshire BS and Coventry BS.

“MOST TRUSTED” AWARDS

Current account provider:

Winner: Smile. Highly Commended: First Direct. Trusted Providers: Clydesdale Bank, The Co-operative Bank, Nationwide, Yorkshire Bank

Credit card provider:

Winner: First Direct. Highly Commended: John Lewis. Trusted providers: Co-op Bank, M&S Money, Nationwide, Tesco Bank

Mortgage provider:

Winner: First Direct. Highly Commended: Coventry Building Soc. Trusted providers: Britannia, C&G, HSBC, Nationwide

Savings provider:

Winner: First Direct. Highly Commended: Coventry Building Society. Trusted providers: Britannia, Nationwide, Post Office, Yorkshire Building Society.

Personal loan provider:

Winner: Zopa. Highly Commended: First Direct. Trusted providers: Nationwide, NatWest, Sainsbury’s Bank, Tesco Bank

Overall “most trusted” provider: First Direct. Highly Commended: Nationwide.

SERVICE AWARDS

In addition to the “most trusted” awards, there are also six service awards in each of 15 categories: go to the link below for details.

NAMING AND SHAMING

The magazine also named and shamed the outfits with the worst record. Sadly, out of seven categories, Santander came out worst in five and worst equal (with Halifax) in a sixth.  Moneywise got an interview and an apology from Steve Williams (Santander’s Director of Service Quality, not the Bristol West MP of the same name)

 

WANT  TO KNOW MORE?

Awards details

For the full lists of all the Moneywise awards (winners, Highly Commended and shortlists / “trusted providers”) in all categories, with info on the survey’s  methodology; plus contact details for the companies they endorse (but not for those they name and shame!), go to: LINK

“Back to the Black”: my eBook on managing debt

To sample or purchase this debt advice book (£0.70 / $0.99):

REVERSING BEECHING: WEST OF ENGLAND COULD FOLLOW SCOTLAND’S LEAD

My local paper, the Bristol (UK) Evening Post, has thrown its influential weight behind a cause in which I believe strongly; the need for better public transport. The first five pages of yesterday’s issue (30 June) focus on the theme and the first two sentences on the front page sum it up:

“It’s time Greater Bristol had a transport system fit for the 21st century.

Most experts believe the key to this is railways, and our map shows a bold vision for the future.”

(I would have reproduced the map but my editing skills are yet up to it)

The paper also states its support for the creation of an Integrated Transport Authority for the Greater Bristol area; an area covering four different local authorities that don’t at present all agree on the rail option.

See below for link to their full story.

Scotland takes the lead

About a week ago I heard a fascinating programme on BBC Radio 4, about the recent trend to expand railway services in Scotland: reopening lines that had been closed during the Maudling / Beeching cuts of the 60s and since.

There was talk of the “business case”, e.g. reconnecting St Andrews, with its university, golf and tourism, but also much talk of the social case, when there was not a strong business case. Strangely to my ears, it seemed that the social case had more traction in Scotland than it does in England. Or am I wrong about that?

High-speed rail interesting; local rail boring?

However … the coalition has restated its commitment to HS2, the high-speed line from London to Birmingham, subsequently to Manchester and Leeds. The cost? £37bn, maybe. But wait … Philip Hammond, the Minister responsible, said in the Financial Times (June 24) that it will probably be much less than that. Why? Because we don’t have to pay for the whole project ourselves. In other words, we can move most of the cost off-balance sheet. So, to summarise: it could be £37bn. It could, of course, be much more, judging by our track record in such projects. Or it could be less; but only if we hand the private sector a “licence to print money”. Sorry, I meant a PFI project.

When it comes to rail, it seems that the Westminster village can only get interested if the project is big enough and the sums are eye-watering enough. Improving services and reducing fares on 95% of the country’s lines, where we pay the highest fares in Europe for arguably the worst service, is clearly a boring matter.

Sketchy local rail in Bristol

Where I live (in Bristol, surely one of the UK’s major cities and a mere 120 miles from Westminster) we have a pretty sketchy suburban rail service, with trains that should have been pensioned off 30 years ago. That’s why I’ve joined a lobbying group called FOSBR, which stands for Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways.

Severn Beach Line success

FOSBR’s lobbying has been successful in improving frequency and reliability on one of the local lines, from Bristol Temple Meads to Avonmouth and on to Severn Beach. After that positive outcome, there is another focus of interest for those in favour of expanding access to local rail in this area: the former passenger line from Bristol to Portbury, on the North Somerset side of the Avon Gorge.

That’s a wonderfully scenic run that’s experienced by no passengers, as freight trains constitute the sole traffic. There has for years been a proposal to reintroduce passenger services and to extend the line a mere three miles to the rapidly-growing town of Portishead.

Portishead: growth and congestion

When I arrived in this area I was told that Portishead was the fastest-growing town in the West. In fact, according to local railway lobbyists, its population has doubled in recent years.

I’ve been told that Portishead is now the largest town in the country without a rail link. It has one congested single-carriageway road connecting it with Bristol, to which a high proportion of residents commute. The rush-hour journey of eight miles (via a predictably congested junction with the M5) often takes well over an hour; a headache highlighted by a 2008 BBC4 programme. In fact, on the day presenter Simon Calder made the journey it took over two hours. Two hours for eight miles?

Despite this, the rail proposal has got nowhere. Instead, the local planners have been proposing to address the commuting problem by means of a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) scheme. The words Rapid Transit sound impressive and modern (and rapid), don’t they? But will the vehicles be the bendy buses London doesn’t want? And where exactly will these rapid buses run, without taking a fair chunk of Green Belt?

Hope for the future?

However, I am optimistic that with the very strong support that’s been shown by the Bristol Evening Post and of the local MPs there is now a hope that the BRT decision can be reversed and the funding reallocated to rail. After that, why not a real 21st-century transport system for the Greater Bristol area? After all, if it makes sense to reverse the Beeching cuts in Scotland, why shouldn’t we emulate that trend in the West of England?

Watch this space!

 

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

For the Bristol Evening Post’s coverage 30.06.11: http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bristol-s-metro-far-track-think/story-12854178-detail/story.html

About “Reversing Dr Beeching” (BBC Radio 4 programme): http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0120783/Reversing_Dr_Beeching/

About rail pressure groups in the Bristol area:

About former Bristol / Portishead / Minehead line (BBC4 TV programme):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/content/articles/2008/10/16/beeching_feature.shtml

 

CAMPAIGNING FOR BETTER RAIL SERVICES IN THE WEST

On Sunday I had my first introduction to an organisation I’d read about many times in the seven years since I moved to Bristol and started using the public transport here. The organisation’s full name is Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways; admittedly a bit of a mouthful, so they tend to be known by their initials FOSBR. (well, OK, acronym, as it could be a word)

Celebration

The occasion was a celebration of progress made in several of FOSBR’s campaigns and the location was a pub near Bristol’s Temple Meads station. Being fond of trains and pubs, I found it an easy decision to attend; I also found that FOSBR has even produced a guide to pubs along the Temple Meads / Severn Beach line, called FOSBEER of course.

Serious content

Enough of the fun side of it; the content of the meeting, even though billed as a celebration, was deadly serious, i.e. the possible / probable negative impact of the recent McNulty Report. I was impressed with the presentations by three local rail union officials (RMT, TSSA and ASLEF respectively); incisive and fact-filled.

Correction; I’d assumed they’d be local union officials but in fact two of them had national status: Alex Gordon is national President of the RMT and Manuel Cortes is Assistant General Secretary of TSSA.

They also had a local councillor speaking; importantly, he represents an area in North Somerset that could be served by rail once more if passenger services are restored to the (currently freight-only) Portbury branch and it’s extended a couple of miles to Portishead.

Subsidy five times higher since privatisation

I’ve often read, (e.g in The Economist) or heard it said verbally (Richard Wilson’s recent impassioned plea on behalf of harassed British rail users on Channel 4) that the level of public subsidy of our railways was now higher than it was pre-privatisation, despite our fares being the highest in Europe. However it was not made clear in either of those sources if the comparison was inflation-adjusted.

At this meeting, though, the guy from TSSA filled in the blanks; the subsidy is now five times higher; £5 bn, compared to £1 bn at today’s prices back then. How can that be? McNulty apparently thinks that staffing levels and pay costs are a big part of it, which concerns the unions, naturally, including the possibility of DOO (driver-only operation). Maybe his brief didn’t allow him to conclude that the fragmentary and thus potentially chaotic way the railways were privatised had a big impact on costs and that should be addressed first.

Loophole?

I learned some other interesting stuff, all of which I shall check out in the interests of balance; for example that First Group will be able to exploit a loophole and avoid large subsidy repayments by giving up the Great Western rail franchise three years early.

The feeling of the meeting was summed up for me by FOSBR member Mike: “McNulty is Beeching Mk 2”.

I’ve now joined this worthwhile and effective organisation and will be blogging about rail in the West, so watch this space.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

On the McNulty Report:

http://www.togetherfortransport.org/content/what-surprises-will-mcnulty-come

On Driver-Only Operation (DOO):

http://www.scot-rail.co.uk/page/Driver+Only+Operation

On FOSBR: http://fosbr.org.uk/

BAD NEWS SELLS PAPERS: BUT RADIO PROGRAMMES TOO?

Please indulge me, dear reader, if I take a short canter on one of my favourite hobby-horses. We all know that the thing that best sells newspapers (after sex) is bad news. I once listened to a media consultant speaking at a conference here in Bristol, saying: “News is what somebody, somewhere, doesn’t want you to know. Everything else is advertising.”

OK, so newspapers have to be bought or the publisher will go bust. (alongside “bought”, you can now include subscribing to a website pay-wall, in the case of the Times group of papers). If we complain, as I often do, about the relentless sensationalism of which our media is so fond, the remedy is in our own hands: don’t buy that particular paper.

What really gets my goat (Why “goat”? Answers please!) is when the same policy is adopted by the BBC, which, the last time I checked, is funded by licence fees.

The thing that got me going was just a snippet and I am not even 100% sure of the motivation of the presenter in this case … but I can make an educated guess. The subject was, I think, the London Olympics.

Presenter: “what do you think of these recent rule changes?”

Interviewee: “I am sure that the people who are responsible for those rules have made the changes for a good reason, so it’s up to us to get on with it.”

Presenter: “That’s a very diplomatic answer.”

(Presenter’s thought-bubble: “Rats! No controversy? Very disappointing answer.”)

OK, the presenter’s actual response to the answer was spoken softly, in the very polite voice that particular presenter always uses for her most penetrating questions. I could be adding two and two and making 57 … but I doubt it.

WORLD BOOK NIGHT, SAT 5 MARCH

If you live in the UK you might have heard of World Book Night, when a million books are being given away by volunteers in one day. If you live elsewhere you probably won’t have heard about it; despite that “World” tag, it seems to be an exclusively UK event. (I suppose this is our answer to the Superbowl being called the “World Championship”)

Anyway, I’ve been chosen as an official “book-giver” for the event, which is on Saturday 5 March. So I’ll be giving away copies of my chosen book, “Toast” by Nigel Slater, all that day at Rainbow Cafe, Waterloo St, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 4BT.

When they’re gone, they’re gone.

Looking forward to it!

Want to know more?

I can do no better than to quote the back-cover “blurb” for this brilliant book:

“Toast” is Nigel Slater’s multi-award-winning story of a childhood remembered through food. Whether relating his mother’s ritual burning of the toast, his father’s dreaded Boxing Day stew or such culinary highlights of the day as Arctic Roll and Grilled Grapefruit (then considered something of a status symbol in Wolverhampton) this remarkable memoir vividly recreates daily life in sixties suburban England.

Go to Toast | World Book Night