Letter: 'Anderson Country' sounds defeat of Radio 4

Sir: While agreeing with Mark Lawson's general point about Anderson Country - the programme is clearly doomed - I take exception with his assertion that the show's unpopularity is in large part down to Anderson's Ulster accent.

Where is his evidence for this? I was born in Belfast, speak with an identifiable Ulster accent, and have been contributing to Radio 4's Kaleidoscope without, to the best of my knowledge, a single complaint about my north Belfast patois. Isn't it more likely that people hate Anderson Country because its bizarre mix of saloon bar folkiness and supposedly heavyweight issues is so wholly unsuited to Radio 4, whatever regional accent it might be delivered in?

Yours faithfully,

BARRY McILHENEY

London, N16