My Big Decade: Any point to critics in the digital age?

Check out this invigorating scrutiny by the AFR’s Chris Power of the role of critics in what we call the digital age. Is a review just an opinion, equivalent to your fellow book club member’s drunken judgement, or is a well-made (whatever that means) review something of societal value? Me, I say yes to both extremes: humanity needs a new stream of independent, intelligent reviewers but of course reviews are, in the end, just personal views. Why is this important to me? Next year, hopefully, I hope to include a Big Year that launches a new reviewing service/website. Stay tuned . . .