I wanna be like you

New Editor DOMINIC ROSKROW explains why he's qualified for the job

So here I go. My first column, and if the typing looks shaky, well that's because I'm just a tad nervous. Whenever you start on a new venture such as this, people ask what qualifies you for the job. But do you really need special qualifications to oversee a specialist magazine? After all, did the new Editor of The Financial Herald arrive in his job knowing the world of stocks and shares inside out, or the new chief at Housing International know his subject back to front? Probably not.

But I am nervous. Stepping into the shoes of Marcin Miller, who has moved upwards to concentrate on publishing matters, is bad enough. Serving the needs of such a quality readership makes it more difficult still. I think it would be politic to declare from the outset that I'm not in the least bit Scottish. There isn't even a thimbleful of Scottish blood coursing through my veins. I've searched hard enough for some, and believe me, if it was there I'd have found it. It's long been a standing joke among my kith and kin that I'm a cultural magpie, with a chameleon-like ability to fit in by any means necessary.

This might mean tracing my family roots back to the 17th century, or developing an appallingly feigned accent overnight.

It's not a new affliction. When I joined Yorkshire newspaper The Sheffield Star some 20 years ago, I perfected a way of speaking that not even people from the county could understand. By the time they sent me to the mining heartlands to work, I had taken to coating mysel...

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• By : Dominic Roskrow
• In : Editor's View
• Issue : 6
• Page : 3
• Words : 808