Product placement is an occupational hazard of writing a betting column.
I realise that; as I tap into my Apple Macintosh computer while munching on a packet of Golden Wonder cheese and onion and quaffing on a fine Chilean sauvignon blanc. I write these words not to pre-empt the delivery of a new laptop gratis nor do I do with the intention of securing a butter-mountain sized supply of lightly fried snacks (which just happen to be available from most supermarkets and newsagents).
No, I muse on marketing matters for an entirely different reason. The Tenner Bet once had a rather heated discussion with an advertising executive who singularly failed to understand the reason why we plugged prices for various nationwide bookmakers. I stopped short of pointing out that her advertising team hadn't sold this column to a suitable company and instead elaborated on the process of gambling.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
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