This festive yuletide season, I kept a pledge that I made to myself a long time ago, when I used to work in newspapers.
I did not buy a paper on Christmas Day. I did not buy a paper on Boxing Day. I did not buy a paper on Ne’er Day. I did not buy a paper on 2 January.
I did not buy a paper on these days because I remember how bloody miserable it is to work in a newsroom over the festive season. I clearly remember the lonely misery of having to work Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Hogmanay when every normal person is having fun and relaxing. The misery was made pointless by the knowledge that sales on the festive days are pitifully small.
And I remember harbouring a seething hatred for those selfish morons who created the demand by deciding that what they really, really wanted on Boxing Day morning was to buy a very, very thing newspaper filled with wire copy and half-assed tales scrimped and saved by the newsdesk since October.
Ho ho ho.
