I am an avid fan of radio. Most of my news intake comes from radio, whether it's the BBC, RTE or Newstalk.
I am frequently attracted to talk radio. The quality of the presenters, the content, the guests and panellists and the reasoned arguments make for good analysis. BBC Radio Ulster and Radio 4 gets most of my attention.
Good Morning Ulster sets the news agenda. Talkback and Evening Extra seem perfectly timed for my pattern of travel.
On Thursday past as I awaited a delivery, I tuned into the Nolan Show.
I listened until I could take no more.
The debate (although baiting would be more accurate) was about the removal of the Queen's portrait from some Northern Ireland Office building.
The story has been in the media for three weeks having been raised rather bluntly by Ken Maginnis in the House of Lords.
Initially, when I heard the story about someone being compensated because he was 'offended' by a portrait of the Queen at his place of work - which happens to be a UK government department... - I shuddered in disbelief.
The growing claim culture in the north for being offended or taking offence has become outrageous.
Three weeks on I am amazed, annoyed and indeed incredulous that anyone in the Northern Ireland Office signed off on this. There must be a wider backstory.
We have patients being treated on the corridors of hospitals; we have special needs children not getting proper support; we have teachers buying basic supplies for schools out of their own wages; we have a roads network that resembles a developing country; we have a water and sewage system crumbling for lack of investment; and we have actual victims of sexual and physical abuse awaiting compensation so long that many of them have died waiting.
And then we have something that seems so petty, so mischievous, so ridiculous - but hey, this is broken NI.
The further revelation that a suggestion to replace the portrait of the Queen with one of her shaking hands with the late deputy first minister Martin McGuinness wasn't acceptable either, demonstrates that we have totally lost the plot.
Of course we should strive to have neutral workspaces. We have strong fair employment and equality legislation for a reason.
Safe spaces are important but so too is learning to live alongside multi-cultural symbols and demonstrating respect for identities which are not our own.
As a former employer I always encouraged my diverse staff to live with and learn from difference.
Any visitor to my offices were greeted by smiling portraits of the Queen and the President of Ireland - first Mary McAleese and then Michael D.
I never had a single complaint from a member of staff or visitor in over 15 years. If anyone was traumatised they hid it well.
The summer is usually the silliest season of the year in Northern Ireland as people get all too easily offended and wound up over flags, bonfires, commemorations and even festivals like Féile or celebrations like Pride.
It seems that there is always some blockhead all too ready to get their dander up.
The loyalists who felt that the removal of this portrait was an attack on their culture or an erosion of their identity seemed unaware that the actual event seems to have occurred in 2012, and that for the past seven years no-one noticed the removal of the 'offending' portrait - beyond parody even for this shambolic cesspit.
But as I listened to the Nolan show with its regular cast of the habitually and culturally concerned verbally clobbering each other for the coveted title of who is the most offended, this son of a joiner despaired.
We are better than this. There is a huge chasm between facilitating voices as a media portal and providing a digital colosseum for tribal bouts.
Even the media must lift its game if we are to ever to escape sectarian shackles.
