Turning round to look at the radio whenever it says anything questionable

“You mean when you think you can’t have heard right?” asks Quot Reflexologist, Sean Drench. ”Like hearing on the news about kids taking music lessons from  ‘ violent teachers’ , United Nations ‘Beekeepers’ in the Sudan , or the health service unable to recruit ‘nudist strict nurses’ ( try saying them). Glowering at the radio in these circumstances ( presumably one also glowers at it ) is a natural reaction though there are many people who have to stare at it all the time they’re listening and many more who compulsively shout back at it when it says something which they violently disagree with – and at the television too – which can be dysfunctional . Being talked to and even bossed about by mechanised voices is something we have had to get used to in a world of public address systems like in airports, railways stations and supermarkets – even in lifts – and in private too with sat-nav and talking cell phones.

Normally one doesn’t look to the source of live loudspeaker announcement  unless it’s  your car  they’re saying is parked across the fire exit or your child which has turned up in the Lost Children’s Tent in which  case it’s the natural thing to do , just as you would turn round  instinctively when you hear a friendly car toot in the street. But it takes something unusual like a station announcer with Tourettes  or a  lift with a lisp     (‘ Doorthe Clothing’) to turn heads towards the source of the sound.   Ancient tribal  hunter-warriors were trained to over-ride this kind of reflex on hearing ominous sounds on the grounds that any sudden movements could easily give their position away. So it can be done but even compulsive radio-glowerers can live otherwise normal and fully functional lives.”  

(Tilda Plank, Nuneaton) - QQQ**