During his time at the Guardian James Morrow was involved in helping computerise the production of the printed paper. He was one of those whom I trained, reluctantly and rather badly, in the new system.
At the time he was chief subeditor on the City desk, and while he was a very good colleague, neither he nor the rest of his team had grasped the huge benefits to be gained. So I joined the desk for a few days, and they rapidly got on top of it.
Hamish McRae, the City editor, and his reporting staff did not really get along with James and his staff until Hamish and Frances Cairncross, his wife, had the brilliant notion of hiring a snooker table for their house over a weekend and inviting the subs to a party. It went very well – and that side of the work improved immeasurably too.
