Neil Forsyth kindly sent me a copy of his new book, thinking that I might like it. Neil’s with a small publisher and doesn’t have an Evil Pr company to do his Pring for him, so I said that I’d write something about it if I enjoyed it.

I then spent the next week kicking myself for being so stupid, as I immediately realised that it would probably be shit. The concept, you see, is that Neil, under the guise of cheeseburger van tycoon ‘Bob Servant’ has been replying to spammers, engaging them in convoluted email exchanges and then printing them up in a book. I know, I know – ‘prank call’ humour. So it seemed horribly clear that Neil and I would have our own awkward exchange of emails, which would probably then be adapted for the sequel – ‘Conversations With People Who Thought The First One Was Shit’.

Happily, I’ve been laughing myself silly at it. Bob’s a superbly rounded character, there’s a natural sense of the intrinsically funny and the author knows how to pace a gag. There are some beautifully dry annotations, and a picture of an ostrich that is perfectly, perfectly placed.

Take that as a recommendation for the Christmas pile, then. “Delete this at your Peril” – more information here.