Media Diet Week 15

Press: it's been a busy week, meaning I've had little time to do more than just skim my papers online over the last 7 days. I've not even opened a magazine, apart from Press Gazette, which arrived late as usual.

Blogs: Roy Greenslade pointed me in the direction of Kristine Lowe, who has an intelligent and thoughtful take on hacking and blogging. Meanwhile, those delightful Churners managed to churn themselves. Foot, mouth, etc... never mind, lads - keep up the good work!

TV/radio: so, farewell Hotel Babylon for another year. You kept me mindlessly entertained for 2 whole months and I shall miss you. And with Torchwood gone for more than a whole week already, my evenings are infinitely duller. Compensation arrived in the form of a new series of Doctor Who, although after a better-than-expected start last week in episode 1, the very annoying Catherine Tate reverted to being Shouty Chav Donna (as in the Xmas special in 2006) in episode 2. Tut. How depressing. If she carries on like this and Tennant goes too, I may skip season 5 altogether. At least the recreation of Pompeii was good and the script was fabulous - I lost track of the number of in-jokes and witty references to other classic TV series. The only redhead more irritating than Tate is, of course, Bianca in EastEnders. My eardrums are still ringing from Friday's slanging match with Riiiiickaaaaaay!

Books: I'm close to finishing Martin Edwards' The Cipher Garden and (for once) I think have worked out whodunnit well ahead of the ending. I will definitely be seeking out the next in the series and also looking out for his Liverpool series of crime fic. I also have the new Val McDermid on my stack to be read. I always love a good rummage in the huge number of charity shops in my vicinity. They are a great place for finding out-of-print titles - this week, I picked up a copy of Gerard Depardieu's cookery book, as well as Claudia Roden's Mediterranean Food. Yes, apart from the ridiculous number of dictionaries and crime novels at Wordsmith Towers, there is a vast collection of cook books....