I thought I'd say some things about failure. Frankly, I'm busy at the end of the month and you should know I am writing this before the outcome of this silly little vote we're having on who should be editor. So I don't know who won and, although I'll vote for Fran because I think her heart's in the right place, I don't much care if I'm honest.

However, it's obvious that one of them must fail. And it's going to be very public. If Fran wins I expect that girl in the Events section is going to be impossible to shut up. If Doreen Davies wins, we'll see an entire issue (if not several issues) of refined crowing and pomposity. In either case, the loser will feel very bruised.

But that is no surprise - Everyone fails. Often we can cover it up. But sometimes its just too big and obvious. So how do you handle it? The only real answer is time.

You're going to fail. You're going to look like a prize poltroon. You're going to wake up and not want to stir from your duvet. But it'll pass. You have to face it out - or face the music or whatever.

What I recommend is this - set yourself some rules: get out of bed every day before noon; one tub of icecream a day (dropping to a tub a week after a month); don't buy more than one bottle of Lambrini each time you go to the shop; if you're going to cry, make sure you go to the loo first - that sort of thing.

After a month everybody other than you will have forgotten what happened. Look at that girl who had a date with some filmstar who didn't show. Who even remembers that now? So - last it out.