Appetite for distraction

High stools are the enemy of short people, pregnant women, those with disabilities and those nursing injuries. So why do so many panel events force participants to use them?

Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Sajid Javid and Rory Stewart perched upon high stools during last week’s Tory leadership debate

As an author and one half of a mildly comic duo, I’m regularly asked to take part in events, speak on panels or appear on the odd television show. One such event was a summer festival last year, or maybe the one before. It was Body and Soul or Electric Picnic – one of the ones in a field anyway. I was unable to attend and sent my regrets. A good friend of ...