Sue Townsend: My Week in Media

This week I read...

I'm registered blind, so have to read newspapers under a large, illuminated screen. I always read Simon Carr in The Independent. He is a particularly savage and funny writer, especially when he writes about the disgust he feels for cowardly Parliamentarians. I can really relate, because of my anger with what happened in Iraq. I do also like The Guardian because, like The Independent, it's written for and by intelligent people. I also buy Private Eye and The Oldie, but they are very difficult to read because the print is so tiny.

This week I watched...

I think I was the only one in the country who watched the last series of Gavin and Stacey on BBC3 (starring Matthew Horne and Joanna Page, right), so I was delighted when the new one started. I watched Small Town Murder on More4, which is a beautifully shot French police documentary. I also watch Harry Hill's TV Burp on ITV1 – he is incredibly funny and it's so good to have a programme that can laugh at television. I also watched The Apprentice on BBC1; Alan Sugar is my favourite capitalist! I think the programme is a perfect metaphor for how Britain has lost its foundations in manufacturing.

This week I listened to...

I listen to the radio all day and all night, it's always on, murmuring away in the background. I mainly listen to Radio 4 and 5, and I always listen to the Today programme. I think that the presenters were a lot more tenacious and vigorous before the story of David Kelly and Andrew Gilligan came along. It angers me that so many ministers refuse to go on Today, because it highlights really important issues. This week, I listened to In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg. They talked about the dissolution of the monasteries – it destroyed so many public services, and that's fascinating because I think it has parallels with the post office closures. For the sake of a few million quid, the Government could end up losing power.

This week I surfed...

I don't really use the internet; in fact, I've only just learnt how to use a word processor. I'm not one of those registered blind people who become masters of the universe. My philosophy is to keep it simple. The funniest thing in this week's Gavin and Stacey was when Stacey's Uncle Glyn was so happy because he had 17 friends on Facebook (www.facebook.com). I can't imagine anything worse than Facebook, because I'm such a reclusive person.