During an uncharacteristically relaxing weekend, I settled myself to a serious going over the Observer newspaper and associated printed material whilst consuming numerous cups of coffee and munching on various high-calorie, low-fibre fast food meals.
It wasn’t long before I found myself fuming at Barbara Ellen’s dismissal of the forthcoming National Portrait Gallery Gay Icons exhibition 
(yes Barbara, not all of us jump up and down excitedly about the prospect of disco balls and handbags and that *doesn’t* make us dreary and academic) and at Nick Cohen’s criticism of the BBC and it’s priorities regarding serious journalism.
With bile rising, it took all my self-control (and a considerable amount of persuasion from my partner also sitting on the sofa and observing how much nicer I am to be around when I am relaxing) not to reach for my laptop and start penning something in response.
One of the key reasons I didn’t was because I don’t necessarily feel myself equipped with sufficient information to offer a well-researched response. More importantly, I’m not really senior enough at the BBC to deliver a suitably well-scripted and fair response either. It would only get me into trouble. I’d already fallen foul of one BBC / Proms fan who took me to task about me and my thoughts about music in opera. I also couldn’t be bothered thinking it would probably cause more trouble than it was worth.
No problem though. Richard Sambrook, Director of Global News has committed his thoughts in response on his blog instead thus freeing up more thinking time for me to devote to responding to Barbara Ellen.
Take my advice, it’s probably not a good idea to read any kind of opinion piece over a weekend if you’re trying to relax. It will only end in tears, or at least some mild heartache.
