Madam, – To avoid a surfeit of conflicting and confusing signals on Nama and other taxing issues of life and death, I have taken to reading only the opening and closing sentences of your Editorials, Opinion Analysis pieces, episcopal interventions and even Obituaries. This has freed (up) my time and mind wonderfully. I recommend it to your readers and (humbly) suggest that, in the interests of clarity and white space, all the intervening matter could be dispensed with.
The Editorials of September 22nd afford a near-perfect example of my method.
“At a time when the public is crying out for a clear sense of direction and decisive leadership . . . Does anyone believe that the Government will pursue €4 billion in salary cuts or redundancies in the public sector this December?” And, “There is a dreary inevitability to the announcement that the Government will introduce a nationwide system of postal codes by 2011 . . . What about know thy neighbour?” Some slight slippage there, I grant you, but I’ll wager that (unlike the Government’s) my behaviour all day has been less befuddled than that of your readers who have ingested your paper from cover to cover, yet I feel I have the gist of your Leader and second Editorial at a not inconsiderable saving of time and effort.
If any readers wish to get in touch with me about my method, my postal code is N4 1RJ. – Yours, etc,