A huge success or just another case of a middle class industry happily patting itself on the back. The chattering classes seem obsessively pleased and smug about getting books out to the masses (might as well say proletariat). Publishing seems so comfortable with itself with no good reason. The industry is in a mess, unable to cope with change but happily selling itself down the path of self-destruction. Listening to the gushing sentiments about World Book Day pouring or should I say spewing forth from the chatteratti is like listening to the banality of Labour declaring a bi-election win in Barnsley Central as an achievement and indictment of the government. Both of them nothing more than sickeningly self-serving verbal masturbations.

I am not knocking the idea of World Book Day, just the execution. I would rather have seen 1 million books given to libraries which are currently under threat from spineless councils who would rather close much needed community services than sack half a dozen highly over-paid county council leaders earning twice as much as the Prime Minister. I would also rather see the current Government putting pressure on these councils to ensure that libraries are protected. 

There is something patronising about the way WBD is handled and covered in the media. On the one hand it is portrayed as reaching out to the poor and downtrodden (bile inducing) and on the other a marketing gimmick to increase sales. Where is its true sentiment?