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Opinions and subjects of interest to Riviera expats as well as letters sent to the paper magazine. You can comment any entry without registering but you must register on the right in order to post your own subject by using the "Talking Points Dashboard" link.

We reserve the right to delete any submission without notice or explanation. We may also edit at our sole discretion for any reasons including profanity, defamation, racism or otherwise inappropriate content.


Reality shows, harmless drivel or evil exploitation?

Posted by: MikeP in Uncategorised  on

I believe it was in Victorian times that some people's idea of a fun day out was to visit a lunatic asylum and ridicule the inmates, taunting and mocking them.  We are supposed to have moved on since then. ‘Lunatic asylums' as such no longer exist, and more politically correct terminology is used for the institutions that replaced them.

I would


Who put the CON in air-conditioning?

Posted by: MikeP in Uncategorised  on

One of my great pleasures in younger days was travelling by train, not with an Ian Allen notebook and an anorak, but simply to enjoy the countryside from those lovely old coaches with windows that opened so that you could smell the sulphuric tang of the engine’s exhaust mixed with farmyard, and the bits of sooty grit got into your eyes and hair.  


Ignorance Unlimited

Posted by: MikeP in Uncategorised  on

Sitting in a terrace bar in Barcelona at the weekend, I overheard the conversation amongst two English couples at an adjacent table, as they sorted through several piles of Euro bank notes.

It went something like this :

"These are the ones wot Fred brought back from France last year, so these must be the Spanish ones .... "

I wasn't quite sure


Vote... and be damned.

Posted by: MikeP in Uncategorised  on

An election, and I’m using the term purely because this is how it has generally been referred to, has just been held in Zimbabwe. Of course it wasn’t really an election, as there was only one candidate, and in order to make sure that nobody thought of not voting for him, he made sure that people were beaten into submission. Just in case that

Riviera Radio in poor taste?

Posted by: MikeP in Uncategorised  on

I am no admirer of Riviera Radio's Elizabeth Lewis' presentation style or idea of humour, but her comments on Wednesday morning, 28th November, plumbed new depths of bad taste and poor judgement.

I refer to a piece about twins being born from different fathers. This type of discussion, referring to intercourse and semen, has no place on a morning programme to which children are likely to be listening, particularly when accompanied by crude, inane, and infantile comments about 'pussies' and 'hussies'. This might be more appropriate for a late evening programme although personally I found the comments totally unamusing.

I am not a prude or old fogey but I do not think children should be subjected to this type of material. The “off” button is there to be used but when kids are in the car on the way to school this is not really an option. Turning off the station permanently is an option.
I hope other people have taken the trouble to express their disapproval of this and similar drivel in the station's programme content.

My email concerning this, sent to Riviera Radio in November,  did not even get the courtesy of a response, something I find irritating to say the least and which makes me wonder why they elicit input from listeners and then only respond when it is positive. Any complaint to Riviera Radio is usually ignored while I am always pleased to see that the Reporter is mature enough to acknowledge and often publish critical feedback, sometimes with an appropriate response.

On 10th January, 7 weeks after my original complaint, I emailed Morris Communications, the owners of Riviera Radio, and by an "amazing coincidence", on 14th January I had a rather defensive email from Riviera Radio's managing director in which he commented that no-one else has shared the same opinion as myself on this matter. Perhaps the whole world is out of step with me, or too apathetic to comment.