Letter from the editor: Continuous improvement

OK, I was wrong. Again! You have been quick to point out that the real sign of growing old is not sharing our parents’ clothes, but their musical taste.

This is more complex than it used to be. OK, no parent actually likes Justin Bieber or Miley Cyrus, but mothers and daughters have been filling Take That gigs all summer (the mothers behaving worse by far) - JLS gigs too. Many a father-son combo has also been seen at Blur, Pulp and U2.

Your recent votes for i’s company song reveal music really is breaking down age barriers. Young and old alike suggested both the inevitable: (I did it) My Way (thank you, Margaret Wallis and others) and Billy Joel’s (I love you) Just the Way You Are (Peter Hughes); or the quirky: Carmen Miranda’s I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi like you very much (Eileen Tong). Bob Dylan’s I and I (Dr Albert Williams) is the sort of leftfield idea we’d expect of i readers – as is my elder daughter’s nod to our parent ship via the Killers’ Glamorous Indie Rock n Roll.

But the winner, endorsed by many readers including Gill Kirkham, Kevin Sayer and Ian Dicks, was the defiant disco anthem I Will Survive. In the original article about a company song, I mentioned the philosophy of Kaizen, or continuous improvement.

In keeping with its spirit, I have spent so many nights thinking how to improve the paper, and came up with the great idea of taking some time off (always risky; I’ve twice lost a job while on holiday. You’ve just got be strong, and hold your head up high). In this slot you will see somebody new: the wise and wonderful Victoria Summerley. Vicky will edit, while I eat my way around southern Italy. Whether or not she belts out Gloria Gaynor every morning is up to her. Arrivederci.