Who's your favourite commentator? It's the biggest debate in my postbag

The biggest postbag I've had for a year has come in response to a question I posed on Monday about favourite commentators.

This is a subject we journalists never really approach in public, partly because there is no formal award for those who plough this particular furrow, which makes commentators the odd men out, now that there's tinsel everywhere and the awards season is in full swing.

"Who is your favourite commentator?" I asked in my daily newsletter The Front Runner, expecting a handful of Hoileses and Holts. If the thing really caught on fire, there might also be a sprinkling of Bartletts and Machins and perhaps a cheeky Tommo or two.