CORRESPONDENT Elsie Rowland ("Time TV critic came clean", April 16) is clearly grasping the wrong end of the remote control.

The "Box" in Mike Badham's "On the Box" column isn't the telly - it's a soap box! He's using the column as a soap-box to broadcast his social comment. Naturally, Mr B's reflections on our society include those from the TV screen (no pun intended) because that medium is as good a barometer of how we regard ourselves as any other, whether it be radio, press, advertising or the behaviour of shoppers in Bury Market on a Saturday afternoon. If "On the Box" is occasionally not a good match with what people are saying, then I'll bet a pound that it's what a lot of people are thinking.

As to whether Mike Badham is a good TV critic or not, I couldn't say. I never watch the telly myself because there's nothing worth watching. But I do make a bee-line for "On the Box" every Friday because it makes me laugh and it makes me think, in that order. Carry on Mr B, you're doing a good job.

IN IOCO VERITAS EST

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