Letter from the editor: Futile ramblings

So there I was, walking to work through one of the world’s great parks under a cloudless sky. The daffodils were out, the flower garden was bursting into life and everyone seemed to have a smile on their face.

I wasn’t even irritated by the people shouting into their mobile phones on the grounds that if you’re walking, you have to talk louder. It felt wonderful to be alive, and I arrived at the i offices full of the many joys of spring. And, of course, I had your letters to look forward to.

First up was Graham Nicholls. “Dear Sir, I have bought i from the start,” he began. (It’s quite a common introduction, that one, and I never tire of it.) I sensed a dark cloud was about to pass through my sky. “It is a good newspaper,” he added, “with one exception: Letter from the Editor, which is futile ramblings from you about your daily life, which sounds extremely dull to me.”

He then points out a (relatively minor) mistake in the graphic illustrating our Budget coverage before ending with a direct exhortation: “Please do your job and let’s have a better paper rather than you massaging your ego in an extremely poor daily letter.” Futile, dull, extremely poor.

At first I thought it must be one of my colleagues using an alias. And then I thought he had a point: my daily life is dull and he’s certainly not the first person to suggest that I do ramble on a bit. I suddenly felt all gloomy. But then a kind soul in our circulation department tried to cheer me up. “He just wants his name in the paper,” she said. “No one thinks it’s that bad.” Somehow this didn’t quite put the spring back in my step. Oh well. In the meantime, have a good weekend. More futile ramblings on Monday!