Talent

The son and heir to 4 Fuks Saké has changed the dynamic of Friday mornings. Pre and post his arrival the net effect is the same. Thursday night drinking has been replaced by Thursday night screaming. The walk to the station is melancholy. Today I long to sit in silence at Chester-Le-Street under two jumpers and switch my phone off.

I spent 90p on The Guardian. 60 minutes later, all change. I was spat out of the Northern Line at Tottenham Court Road, spirits lifted, and thinking ‘what excellent value for money.’ What the digital / media debate continues to forget is that I spend my 90p on talent, not on sheets of paper or a format. Talent has a price and it's worth paying for. 

Whilst the parallels are often drawn between the revenue models of news media and music (why pay when you can get music/info for free), the debate also conveniently avoids other entertainment vehicles.

Take sport. Should we perhaps convince Arsenal fans not to spend fifty quid on an Emirates ticket on the grounds that there's plenty of football to watch on Hackney Marshes? It's not going to happen.

So why would anyone NOT want to pay for good writing? Reading isn't a function, it's a pleasure.

For my 90p and mood shift I got Marina Hyde’s clinical knifing of Trudie Styler.

Or Harry Pearson…“An English-style centre-forward,” words which are to football what the phrase “contains mechanically reclaimed meat” is to fine dining."

Try The Eurovision “night of a thousand key changes,” guide.

Or Tim Dowling’s MPs expenses quiz.

Paul Calf once said, “you can’t buy class.” He’s right. Newspapers may change their formats and delivery systems, but as long as they supply collections of high quality, talented writing, people will pay. I don't give a monkeys whether I give my 90p to a man in a shop or I drop the coins in the slot on my computer - I'm paying the brand that brings it to me.

These people are professionals. We are amateurs. They’re worth a few quid. 90p's a steal.

Comments

[Spiros]

Paul Calf, the people's poet.

"If you wanna pull bird buy a Jag
'cos there's room in the back for sh*g."

You can't buy class. Apart from the (headlights from Halfords.)