Up to a point... print *FH .... causes Perl to throw up, where print $FH .... doesn't.

It appears that a $STDERR is more general.

Well, yes, I put my hand up on the inconsistency. But, declaring $STDERR and exporting it to everywhere it's used is a bit ugly.

...but brother ysth points out the error in my thinking, $STDERR does need to be exported after all. So I don't need the sub trick after all.