FOR someone who's meant to work in the news industry, I'm sometimes woefully out of touch.

Take Anna Ford, for example. I'd been blithely going about minding my own business when someone casually mentioned to me that she had packed in the newsreading stuff. What? Anna Ford retiring? Apparently true, and apparently it happened last month, without me even noticing.

I find it hard to describe what a cruel blow this was to me - not so much that I hadn't spotted her waving goodbye, but that lovely, elegant, grown-up Anna will no longer be on our screens, telling us the news in that beautiful voice of hers, without distracting us with some bonkers hairdo or wildly inappropriate jacket.

I'm not saying Anna hasn't had her moments. I think Sir Robin Day once said that every man wanted to sleep with her, and poor old Reggie Bosanquet was meant to have written poetry about her.

When she wore a white bikini on the beach, the nation was amazed. Hard to say why; after all, she was on holiday in Spain, not reading the news at the time.

Am I the only one who thinks that if some GMTV bird appeared before the autocue in a similar outfit tomorrow morning, none of us would be the slightest bit surprised?

I find GMTV particularly exasperating, as a matter of fact. I sometimes wonder if landing a job on that show involves anything more than sending in a hair swatch to make sure you don't clash with the studio's regulation shade of blonde.

Anyway, back to Anna. She very publicly chucked a glass of wine over someone once, an almost modern piece of drama-queen behaviour. But here's the rub - it was over business, not extramarital fun and games.

And, best of all, she had the good sense and foresight to make Jonathan Aitken the object of her distaste.

Apart from that episode, and the minor offence of stepping out with Jon Snow and the occasional astronaut, Ms Ford has pretty much kept herself to herself.

There's been none of this Stars In Their Eyes or Strictly Come Dancing nonsense, although I've just read that she does regret never having taken Morecambe and Wise up on their repeated entreaties for her to go on their show.

I don't know. She'd probably have made a classier fist of it than Angela Rippon, but I can't help thinking that her refusal makes her a more interesting person.

Sadly, Ms Ford is not the only mature woman hanging up her earpiece. I've heard that Moira Stuart is also said to be phasing herself out of the public eye, and even Sue Lawley is giving up her day job on Desert Island Discs.

I can't say Sue's ever been entirely my cup of tea - that voice might be slightly too posh, perhaps.

But she and Moira both helped to dispel my growing impression that telly newsreading is wall-to-wall airheads and egomaniacs.

Apparently, Anna is sick to death of checking her face in the mirror and buying newsreading outfits, and who could blame Moira and Sue if they felt the same way?

But all the same, they were among the few signs on British TV that women do exist once they pass their fortieth birthday, and I shall miss them when I'm channel-flipping to try to escape Natasha Kaplinsky and her clones.