At issue was an article published in its pages, by the newspaper's restaurant critic. One establishment in West Belfast fell foul of their critic, and he was not slow to point out its failings.

A libel case was taken, and the newspaper was ordered to pay £25,000 in compensation. The decision was recently overturned on appeal, and newspaper critics of all types breathed a communal sign of relief.
The relationship between performing artists and their critics has always been a thorny one. Indeed, it has been said that asking an artist what he thinks of a critic is like asking a lamppost what it thinks of a dog! On occasions, the repartee can be amusing. The playwright George Bernard Shaw once sent to Winston Churchill two tickets for an upcoming performance of one of his new plays.

Enclosed with the tickets was an explanatory note: "I enclose two tickets; one for you and one for a friend - if you have one".
The great man, who was rarely worsted in such exchanges, replied promptly: "I am sorry I cannot attend on the opening night; but I will be present on the second night - if there is one!!
Not everyone can handle such exchanges. The theatre critic, Lyn Gardner, once wrote a review of a play by a writer whose work she had previously enjoyed.

Her next play was disappointing, and the critic said so. One day she encountered the young writer, and asked what she was working on. "Nothing", she replied. "I haven't written a word since I read your review." If she was speaking truly, she was revealing how easily talent may be crushed.

Jesus underlined the dangers of criticism in the Sermon on the Mount. "Judge not, that you be not judged", He warned (Matthew 7;1).
He was not telling us to dispense with the whole panoply of the judicial system; nor was He suggesting that we should suspend our critical faculties, and the power of discernment. He is making an appeal for generosity in allocating blame and responsibility.
The truth is that we never know how we ourselves should behave with confronted with a situation which others have handled less than satisfactorily.

That is the wisdom of the prayer of the Sioux Indians, "Great Spirit, help me never to judge another until I have walked for two weeks in his moccasins."

C.S. Lewis asked a pertinent question: "Can we be quite certain how we should have behaved if we had been saddled with the psychological outfit, and then with the bad upbringing, and then with the power, say, of Himmler? That is why Christians are told not to judge."