Joan Bakewell’s Hetherington Lecture at the University of Stirling in November 2008 is a good example of how a single essay can define a moment. Earlier in the month, the BBC had been plunged into a crisis of confidence by a few stupid things that a couple of comedians had said when they got excited in the studio. Their remarks should never had been transmitted, but because the producer in charge was even younger than they were – in the case of one of them, he was a lot younger – the dumb patter went to air. If the young producer had actually been working for the BBC, he might have picked up a phone and checked in with upstairs. But he was working for one of the comedians.