"...in the real scale of things it's trivial nonsense, just entertainment - rather like Strictly Come Dancing, The Voice, and X-Factor - but the inescapable fact is that it's harmless fun..."

Well I wouldn't know about the X-Factor or The Voice as I've never tuned in, but I watch Strictly avidly and I would never miss Eurovision. I love Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, Queen and the Beatles. I can't be doing with Mahler, Steve Reich, Benjamin Britten, Bob Dylan, almost all films and novels, or any boy band. I hesitate to call things I don't like, or just steer clear of, trivial nonsense. There's a danger inherent in that. I think it's better to see the arts and entertainment (which should be the same thing, sort of) as a huge spectrum encompassing all of human culture. It's very democratic in that you can take from it and interact with whatever you like (affordability can, admittedly, be a limiting factor) and ignore the rest. At least you can once you leave school and can cease from having Shakespeare and Wordsworth thrust down your throat by bores.

I suppose you could call Blackadder and Basil Fawlty trivial in the overall scheme of things, but begod they've temporarily lifted me out of life's vale of tears many a time. That'll do me!