A day of relief, thanks, debate and flowers

I thought I'd start by writing about a conversation I had with a friend last night, and I will come to that, but something more pressing overtook the ponderings I had after that chat.

This morning I was listening to Victoria Derbyshire on BBC 5Live. I often have the radio on in the background while I'm at my desk. Normally something will catch my ear, but very quickly I've forgotten what that was.

Not this morning.

Victoria was interviewing the former partner of Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable - who died after a 3 day drinking session. She wants to see spirits labelled with the message 'alcohol kills', just like the warnings on cigarette packets.

But it was the last 20 minutes of the programme which stopped me in my tracks. I realised I had stopped what I was doing and was urging Victoria to ask the questions in my head - which she did.

The interview is raw. It's real. It's tough. It's powerful.

I urge you to listen here

It's also available on Victoria's podcast page.

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So, that conversation from last night. A friend asked me how you can persuade a radio presenter to use social media outside their working hours. I have to admit the conundrum stumped me. Surely a presenter would appreciate the value of engaging with their audience via Twitter or Facebook or whatever. But how to persuade someone to see that value?

Is it enough to highlight the benefits of camaraderie, increased profile, more stories and possible contributors, a bit of fun, that ego-boost when you pass 100 followers, networking, being in touch, being social, being useful?

I asked a group of young people (20 - 22 years old) recently how many of them had blogs. Around three-quarters said they do. Around half said they tweet. One person (out of 80) said they didn't do Facebook. I'd hazard an easy guess that in five years if I asked the same question the numbers would be higher.

So, that radio presenter who's happy to tweet in an 8 hour window each weekday may well find himself out of touch quite quickly. Maybe that will be enough for him to get going?

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I like this website - guaranteed to brighten up a day. Thanks. That is all.

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I love my Kindle. A treasured Christmas present. It won't replace books entirely in my life as I'm sure there'll still be some 'real' books I'll want to see on my shelves, but it'll save so much space in my holiday luggage. So I was glad to come across this little accessory