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Radio

Radio reviewing is based on a lie – that Radio 4 is brimming with fascinating programmes

Is there, for example, anyone on radio more irritating than Eddie Mair? Yes, her name is Anita Anand

4 June 2016

9:00 AM

4 June 2016

9:00 AM

There are few jobs more dishonest than being a radio critic in Britain. I know this because it was how I got my first break 25 years ago as a columnist. In those days you used to get sent huge yellow envelopes full of preview cassettes, whereas now it’s all digital, but the fundamental lie is just the same: essentially you are telling the reader something they know not to be true — that BBC Radio 4 is a wonderfully civilised place to hang out, brimming with all sorts of marvellously fascinating programmes that transport you to another realm.

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