29/06/2008 10:04. A book I wrote got a sniffy review on Amazon the other day. I considered tracing the amateur critic and posting him some waste matter and a copy of my next book as a punishment, but after some moments' reflection, I decided to look on it as a blessing. A shitty review is a useful thing for someone like me who takes cheap shots at inanimate targets like cars every week. Unlike book or film reviewers, car critics can pretty much let rip, safe in the knowledge that the modern industrial process renders the object of their derision, for the most part, impersonal.

Most new cars are a team effort, often encompassing a rainbow nation comprising engineers, designers, aerodynamicists and grab-handle damper technicians. My petty grievances are dispersed relatively harmlessly among them. When we... // Independent