I see also that the BP bosses are now facing charges of “gross negligence or wilful misconduct” – does the same apply to Eng-er-land Manager Fabio Capello.

After last night’s lacklustre performance (the poor souls are only paid £160K per week) as the “importance of being earnest and ethnically northern” commentator intoned; “they’re frustrated; they look haunted by the England shirts; they’re playing poor club football in international shirts” I’m now looking to Lord David Young to look into my ‘Elf & safety.

I’d say that current trends in short story collections appear (at least to me) to be moving away from the ‘sock it in your eye’ reveal. In fact (as quoted), Ali Smith said: ‘A short story’s end isn’t an end at all, but always a kind of beginning.’ Certainly the Bridport winner last year, Jenny Clarkson’s ‘Something’ (which I love) ended very quietly and pensively, with a sense of continuation, and no great denouement, surprise or resolution.

This is not to suggest that Ian doesn’t have a point, because, I think, in a way, he does. It’s your point 8, Jon, ‘I Don’t Just Want a Meaningless Fling’. A good short story has to have meaning – it’s got to deliver a consummation – it must be a changing experience in some way. And with an eye to the word limits now demanded in most competitions, it’ll probably have to do that in under 2000 words. So I guess there will be a ‘Ta da!’ – But maybe it won’t be appreciated all at once in a climax of a few seconds!!

And apologies to Ian if I sounded a bit brusque. But I really don’t think that your point about “ta-da” endings applies to a lot of the short story collections that I’ve read recently – by people like Vanessa Gebbie, Elizabeth Baines, David Gaffney and Sara Maitland, to name but a few.