Sir, – Mick Heaney's comparison of the familiar sound of the trolley crisis to the The Joe Jackson Tapes Revisited programme on Leonard Cohen is unjust ("Radio review: no cure for the common hospital crisis", Weekend, January 6th).
Joe opted to weave two stories, one of a young ambitious fan and would-be reporter, taking his first major steps in his career, and the other a portrait of Cohen as a songwriter. The series is most definitely pitched to Cohen fans and music fans. Joe could easily have opted to run with the interview tapes alone as the main programme content, but he dared expose the naive nature of a young reporter erring in his ways and in his ego-driven ambition. It made for more interesting radio and undoubtedly a far more entertaining programme that an hour-long debate on the rumbling trolley crisis. I look forward to more of Joe’s documentaries and fewer trolley crisis debates in 2017. – Yours, etc,
JEROME TAHENY,
Riverstown, Co Sligo.