Sir, - I read with utter disgust Kevin Myers's "An Irishman's Diary" (May 27th), lamenting the fact that the "idiot-savant" Frank Sinatra did not die 30 years ago.
It is shameful that what passes for witty commentary today has to be so wry, so sardonic, so condescending, that it is completely devoid of true depth and style. Covering a lack of content by using such a mean-spirited angle is reflective of the shallow take on journalism we are consistently fed. It is a terribly cheap and easy approach for a journalist who lacks any real ideas.
You wish to be spared a performer's old age? I'll see you in the newspapers in a few years, Kevin, when your youth and your sharp, bitter, little criticisms have lost their edge. That is, of course, unless you take your own advice, and retire at such an age that the rest of us are not subject to your decline.
Feel free to contact me and I can let you know when I think that might be. - Yours, etc., Deborah A. Loring,
Burlington, VT, USA.