Dr Angela Smith has recently returned from a trip to Sweden where she was invited to give a paper at Örebro University's Media and Communication research symposium. The paper, based on a chapter in her forthcoming book, Belligerent Broadcasting (co-authored with Michael Higgins), dealt with the phenomenon of argument as entertainment in the form of banter as found on shows such as Top Gear, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and many other comedy-quiz formats. Angela suggested that the particular form of banter found in such shows is primarily masculine in character.
