I resolve ...

Resolutions, resolutions, resolutions. New Year resolutions are, like male erections, quite often unreliable.  Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.  The media has been full of advice today about whether people should have them or not.  Oliver Burkeman argues for abandoning them entirely because, he says, 'willpower is a unitary, depletable resource'.  He suggests instead focusing on 'one new habit every month'.  Other commentators argue for the value of positive thinking even if it has negative results because it helps you to get up and out of bed in the morning.  I lean towards the latter point of view, every day is a fresh start sort of thing, but I also see the sense in the former.  (So, my 2011 resolution to 'be more decisive' has clearly fallen at an early hurdle.)

I remain to be persuaded about the wisdom of the Radio Three wall-to-wall Mozart season that has just started.  Now I like Mozart as much as anyone and I voted for the (non-winning entry) in their 'favourite bit of Mozart' competition recently.  I am then willing to play along.  I don't even switch off the Breakfast programme when it becomes infuriatingly 'interactive' and presenters read emails from listeners or, worse, play requests.  (Why don't radio producers have faith in their own  professional judgement and to hang with asking Mardge from Woking for her opinion?)  But non-stop Mozart?  I'm not sure about that.  Perhaps the argument is that people dip in and out through the course of a day and so don't really listen to the entire output.  They cannot therefore be overwhelmed by it.  However one of the glories of BBC radio is its variety and this is clearly lost when R3 devotes itself exclusively to Mozart.  I know there are documentary interludes (perhaps too many?), but even so.  I suspect the Radio Three message boards are buzzing with comment.  I must find one and add my own point of view.  If the BBC wants its listeners to be truly interactive then truly interactive I shall become.

P.S. It will be interesting to see if my opinion of the Mozart season changes over the next few weeks.