"Reading Between the Lines " R4 was a good attempt at a balanced view of issues in reading teaching by the BBC, but Michael Rosen stretched credibility past breaking point with an analogy, not to driving a car, but to reversing it. When we're reversing, we can't see where we're going without either relying on mirrors or giving ourselves a sore neck. We do not read backwards, but move our eyes in the same direction as the developing meaning of the text.
Reversing might have been the first idea that occured to Mr Rosen - if so, he should have thought twice. Driving forwards and using all controls would have been a better analogy. But hey - Mr Rosen is a celebrity, so can say what he likes, whether it means anything or not. Where's that bear?
One of my key teaching ideas came from a similar source. I was not an easy driving pupil, and passed my test third time. The instructor before last said, "We believe everything the mirror tells us, but we don't believe the mirror tells us everything". I used this with pupils until I found they could not quite believe everything the letters told them, and changed it to "We use what the letters tell us, but we don't believe the letters tell us everything." This fits the facts, and is very helpful.