“The satisfaction of a list: Who doesn’t love a list?”

Who doesn’t love a list indeed? They are apparently one of the most popular genres of posts in the blogosphere, almost guaranteeing more views than might normally be expected. This fact alone is enough to explain why there are so many.

I’m quite partial to a list myself, from a consumer perspective. I’m a sucker for those cheap TV clip shows with titles like ‘The top 100 one-hit wonders of the seventies’ and those tabloid fillers such as ‘Five ways to a healthy lifestyle’.

Although ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ wasn’t quite what I was expecting.

However, my readers – enlightened sophisticates all several of them – are unlikely to be impressed with anything along the lines of ’10 best Grateful Dead shows’, ‘My five favourite Luis Suarez goals, season 2013-14’ or ‘Britain’s best-loved cardigans’.

Given their ubiquity, it’s tempting to believe, in much the same way that there’s a website for everything, there is equally nothing that cannot end up on a list of some kind or other.

Frankly, given the plethora of lists out there, it’s more of a challenge to think of things that you’re never likely to see a list of. Here are a few that came to mind, though:

• 10 quilters who think they have too much fabric in their stash
• 1 quilter who thinks they have enough fabric in their stash

• 10 investment bankers who earned their bonuses
• 1 investment banker who earned his base salary

• 10 Beliebers with a braincell to rub together
• 1 valid reason for the existence of Justin Bieber

• 10 fascinating facts about train-spotting
• 1 trainspotter you would have as a dinner guest

• 10 delicious parsnip recipes
• 1 reason I would knowingly allow parsnips in the house

Now, give me five good reasons why I shouldn’t hit ‘Publish’ right here.