Last Monday the Guardian newspaper bravely went public with a rumour long disseminated in the grim dives where film writers swarm. More than a few British critics, the paper claimed, assess films without actually seeing them, and a certain prominent tabloid reviewer is particularly culpable. "It's well known in the business that the Sun's Johnny Vaughan hardly goes to any screenings of films he reviews," an un-named fellow critic claimed.

But if the whistle-blower's allegations are accurate, then surely the distributors' public relations people would have complained? "This is well known [ within the industry]," another aggrieved critic confirmed. "And of course the PRs aren't that bothered so long as mostly favourable reviews appear."

Of course, this could never happen in our own country.