Who died and made me king?

A year ago I was happily sitting in the Shrewsbury office of the Shropshire Star as a not very big fish in a small (and badly in need of a makeover) pond, writes our News Blogger, David Burrows. I was chief reporter with a happy band of reporters who all looked to me for guidance and direction (yeah, right).

Then the chance came to join the newsdesk - a move I had previously resisted. This time, however, I decided it was the right move at the right time. If I had known there would be days like today I may have reconsidered.

My day to day role is supposed to be looking after national news and the Shrewsbury office, but on days when the lead news editor is away, as was the case today, I take over that role.

What I wasn’t prepared for was suddenly becoming acting editor! Who could have guessed that the editor, deputy editor and assistant editor would all be away from the office this afternoon? Not me. I would have phoned in sick!

It meant not only was I flying solo when it came to the later editions of the paper, the responsibility of what tomorrow’s will look like was left in my hands. Me! I’ve spent years waiting for someone to realise I don’t know what I’m doing and now they leave me in charge.

Hopefully I haven’t done too much damage. If I have, I’m sure I’ll hear about it . . . one way or another.