Saatchi tells it how it is: ‘It’s the best of times, it’s the worst of times.’

Another view, not by Maurice Saatchi (The Times, February 13).

“In advertising today there is still no magic lamp to tell you when harsh winds will blow.”

That’s what Descartes once told Bertand Russell. Or was it Willy Russell? Maybe it was Willie Thorne. No matter.

In advertising today you experiment, reject, go down the pub, get drunk and get someone else to do it. This is how the best advertising works. At least, it worked for me. And my brother. He’s called Charles.

Attempts to place advertising within the canons of scientific objectivity have failed.

In conclusion, the advertising thread on which we hang is tied to the elastic on Aristotle’s underpants. And, trust me, nobody wants to see that cut.

I wish I had time to be shorter, as Mark Twain never said of Blaise Pascal. But I don’t, so this will have to do.