OPINION - Lauren Laverne has ruined Desert Island Discs: bring back Kirsty Young

It seems like the same programme. The dreamy opening theme with its soaring strings, the cosy tête-à-tête between host and guest, the interspersed tracks ranging from classical to pop to world music. But there is something wrong with Desert Island Discs, whose guest today is Delia Smith. Like other fans of the programme I have kept on dutifully listening through its latest iteration, hosted by DJ Lauren Laverne, but with an irrepressible sense of disappointment. I snapped recently when, tuning in at the usual time, I learnt that the castaway was a businessman, barely known outside the pages of the Financial Times, who ran an energy company. It didn’t even make good background radio.