Red rag but no bull?

EDITOR—I waited patiently for the response to Young and Philp's editorial on future directions for geriatric medicine,1 imagining that the BMJ's postbag might be swollen by responses to their speculations.

Why did this not seem to be so? Was it that the authors so perfectly put into words the feelings, thoughts, and hopes of their colleagues, such that there was no tinge of red in the rag being waved or no bull in the ring to be provoked? Unlike me, no one in the crowd seemed to have been expecting a contest.

Or …