Thirty governments and groups including Nato and Arab League recognise Libya’s transitional council as ‘legitimate authority’ Libyan rebels fighting to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi have won recognition as the country’s “legitimate authority” from the entire international contact group co-ordinating policy on the crisis. Franco Frattini, Italy’s foreign minister, announced the largely symbolic move at an Istanbul meeting of the group – one of a swath of political and economic measures designed to ratchet up pressure on Gaddafi. Britain also announced it was deploying four more fighter aircraft to take part in Nato’s bombing campaign. “The entire Libyan contact group decided to recognise the NTC [national transitional council] as the legitimate authority of Libya,” Frattini told reporters. “So [there is] no other option but for Gaddafi to leave.” The recognition will be officially announced when the meeting’s final document is released later on Friday. Diplomats billed the move as a boost to the Benghazi-based rebel council, though it is legally complex since most contact group countries still maintain diplomatic relations with the Gaddafi regime and have embassies in Tripoli and Libyan missions in their own capitals. Britain has said for some time it regards the NTC as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people but it recognises states, not governments. “It’s a strong signal of support for the NTC and reflects the growing consensus that it is increasingly competent, is reaching out to Libyan people across the country and reinforces the point that Gaddafi must go,” said an Foreign Office spokesman. For some countries the decision may have legal implications with regard to making Libyan state assets frozen by UN sanctions available to the NTC. The UN envoy on Libya, Abdul-Elah al-Khatib of Jordan, is to be authorised to present terms for Gaddafi to leave power in a Turkish-drafted package that will include a ceasefire to halt fighting and usher in a political transition. It is unclear whether Gaddafi will be required to leave the country. The Libyan leader, wanted for crimes against humanity by the international criminal court, has repeatedly insisted he will not stand down. The contact group, meeting for the fourth time since the crisis began in March, is made up of more than 30 governments and international and regional organisations, including Nato, the EU and the Arab League. Libya Nato Arab and Middle East unrest European Union Middle East Africa Ian Black guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Thirty governments and groups including Nato and Arab League recognise Libya’s transitional council as ‘legitimate authority’ Libyan rebels fighting to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi have won recognition as the country’s “legitimate authority” from the entire international contact group co-ordinating policy on the crisis. Franco Frattini, Italy’s foreign minister, announced the largely symbolic move at an Istanbul meeting of the group – one of a swath of political and economic measures designed to ratchet up pressure on Gaddafi. Britain also announced it was deploying four more fighter aircraft to take part in Nato’s bombing campaign. “The entire Libyan contact group decided to recognise the NTC [national transitional council] as the legitimate authority of Libya,” Frattini told reporters. “So [there is] no other option but for Gaddafi to leave.” The recognition will be officially announced when the meeting’s final document is released later on Friday. Diplomats billed the move as a boost to the Benghazi-based rebel council, though it is legally complex since most contact group countries still maintain diplomatic relations with the Gaddafi regime and have embassies in Tripoli and Libyan missions in their own capitals. Britain has said for some time it regards the NTC as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people but it recognises states, not governments. “It’s a strong signal of support for the NTC and reflects the growing consensus that it is increasingly competent, is reaching out to Libyan people across the country and reinforces the point that Gaddafi must go,” said an Foreign Office spokesman. For some countries the decision may have legal implications with regard to making Libyan state assets frozen by UN sanctions available to the NTC. The UN envoy on Libya, Abdul-Elah al-Khatib of Jordan, is to be authorised to present terms for Gaddafi to leave power in a Turkish-drafted package that will include a ceasefire to halt fighting and usher in a political transition. It is unclear whether Gaddafi will be required to leave the country. The Libyan leader, wanted for crimes against humanity by the international criminal court, has repeatedly insisted he will not stand down. The contact group, meeting for the fourth time since the crisis began in March, is made up of more than 30 governments and international and regional organisations, including Nato, the EU and the Arab League. Libya Nato Arab and Middle East unrest European Union Middle East Africa Ian Black guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Stephen Colbert wrapped up this segment on our debt ceiling kabuki theater by explaining Mitch McConnell’s brilliant strategy for putting an end to the negotiations. COLBERT: Also, none of the above is the leading Republican presidential candidate. But McConnell… none of the above looks good. None of the above looks good to me. But, McConnell has a simple way out of this whole mess. To keep the Republicans from being blamed for raising taxes or defaulting, all they have to do is ask the President to submit a request to Congress to raise the debt ceiling. Then vote yes on a resolution disapproving of the thing they just asked the President to do. Then Obama would veto the disapproval and since the Republicans don’t have the two thirds majority to override a veto, the debt ceiling gets raised and the Republicans get to say they voted against it, twice. Just like in the classic Jimmy Stewart movie, Mr. Smith gives up and starts shooting people. It’s brilliant! It’s brilliant. The GOP gets everything they want, except everything they asked for, and Obama gets stuck with what he wanted to begin with. And McConnell has got their nuts out of that vice… by cutting their nuts off and leaving them behind for Obama to hang from his rear view mirror as an air freshener.
Continue reading …Stephen Colbert wrapped up this segment on our debt ceiling kabuki theater by explaining Mitch McConnell’s brilliant strategy for putting an end to the negotiations. COLBERT: Also, none of the above is the leading Republican presidential candidate. But McConnell… none of the above looks good. None of the above looks good to me. But, McConnell has a simple way out of this whole mess. To keep the Republicans from being blamed for raising taxes or defaulting, all they have to do is ask the President to submit a request to Congress to raise the debt ceiling. Then vote yes on a resolution disapproving of the thing they just asked the President to do. Then Obama would veto the disapproval and since the Republicans don’t have the two thirds majority to override a veto, the debt ceiling gets raised and the Republicans get to say they voted against it, twice. Just like in the classic Jimmy Stewart movie, Mr. Smith gives up and starts shooting people. It’s brilliant! It’s brilliant. The GOP gets everything they want, except everything they asked for, and Obama gets stuck with what he wanted to begin with. And McConnell has got their nuts out of that vice… by cutting their nuts off and leaving them behind for Obama to hang from his rear view mirror as an air freshener.
Continue reading …Only 2% of Network Reports on Debt Ceiling Battle Mention Public Opposition to Increase
July 15, 2011 No CommentThe 2010 elections, which changed the balance of power in the House, were driven by popular opposition to government spending, debt and the threat of tax increases. Yet even with the federal debt limit already breached and only days left to prevent a national default, the media continue to ignore the public's wishes. The theme of network reports on the debt ceiling battle is that some agreement MUST be reached so that the limit can be increased, but many Americans disagree with raising the debt limit and are more concerned about government spending. But that has barely been mentioned in stories. Polls taken by Gallup, CBS and AP have all registered significant worry about federal debt and opposition to an increase in the debt ceiling. But ABC, CBS and NBC coverage of the debt limit battle being waged on Capitol Hill has not reflected that fact. Out of 45 reports on the broadcast network's evening news programs between June 16 and July 12, only one mentioned a poll that showed public opposition to raising the debt ceiling. That's a mere 2 percent of reports. An additional two stories had some reference to what the public might think, but without polling data. Those two other stories included a politician and journalist's respective opinions about public sentiment. In one, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said that that the public opposes tax increases but supports a balanced budget. In the other, Bob Schieffer claimed he knew what public opinion was without giving any poll to back it up. He declared, “I doubt that many people would argue with the president when he says it can only get worse if Congress does not find a way to raise the debt ceiling.” The network's willingness to ignore public opinion on the issue is shocking given the poll numbers. Gallup found that nearly twice as much opposition to an increase than support for one. In that July 7-10 poll, 42 percent of Americans indicated that they want their representative to vote against raising the debt ceiling, compared to only 22 percent who want them to vote for such a bill. A June AP/GFK poll taken between June 16 and 20 also showed more public opposition to raising the debt ceiling than support for increasing it. Gallup also found widespread fear of runaway spending. When asked “Which concerns you more – [the government would not raise the debt ceiling and a major economic crisis would result (or) the government would raise the debt ceiling but without plans for major cuts in future spending]?” A 51 percent majority said their greater concern would be raising the debt ceiling without plans to cut spending, compared to 32 percent worried about an economic crisis caused by not raising the limit. Obama's Social Security Threat As the debt limit debate has grown more heated plenty of unfair rhetoric has been tossed around, but President Obama's threat on July 12 that he ” cannot guarantee ” August Social Security payments “if we haven't resolved this issue” should have been soundly debunked by network reporters. After all, they had earlier cited experts who said that there was enough money “in the coffers” to pay for Social Security payments. There wouldn't be enough money for everything, but Social Security, disability and veterans' payments could be paid out according to numbers from MarketWatch and the Bipartisan Policy Center. Sadly on the networks, it did not incite outrage or much criticism. CBS “Evening News” aired the conversation between Scott Pelley and the president, which included Obama's refusal to guarantee those payments. But Pelley did not offer any criticism, contradiction or debunking of the social security threat during the broadcast. The next morning, only one of the broadcast morning shows was skeptical of Obama's statement. “The Early Show” on CBS replayed the Pelley interview and warned that ” it's about to get personal for many Americans. ” ABC's George Stephanopoulos uncritically summarized the president's remarks. Only NBC's “Today” thought Obama might be using it as a “scare tactic.” Mark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner did the math in his Beltway Confidential column July 12. Using numbers from MarketWatch and the Bipartisan Policy Center, Tapscott proved that there will be plenty of money in federal coffers to make August Social Security payments. He wrote that the government takes in $200 billion each month. Subtract $29 billion for interest on the national debt, $49.2 billion for Social Security, $50 billion for Medicare and Medicaid, $2.9 billion each for active duty military pay and veterans programs and you are left with $39 billion each month. “This is demagoguery of the worst sort because Obama has to know what he is saying is false. When you and I say something we know to be false, it's called a 'lie,'” Tapscott declared. Before Obama made the claim that Social Security payments might be at risk if a debt ceiling deal isn't reached, the networks knew that the third rail program wasn't at risk. Just two nights earlier on the July 10 CBS “Evening News,” Whit Johnson reported numbers from the Bipartisan Policy Center. “It says in the month of August the Treasury has to make $306 billion in payments, but it will take in only $172 billion. Under one scenario, that's enough to pay interest on the debt, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, defense contractors and unemployment benefits. But there would be no money left for active duty military, federal workers and a slew of other programs,” Johnson said. Economist Mark Zandi was also interviewed by “Evening News” on June 28. He told Anthony Mason that the government would be forced to prioritize if the debt ceiling wasn't increased. “On August 2nd, the government won't have to cut Social Security payments or Medicare. But if it drags on for a couple or three, four weeks then yes, I think they'll have no choice but to cut almost everything that the government does, including Social Security and Medicare,” Zandi said. Obama's statement also exposed the government's misleading claims about the viability of Social Security. A blogger for Forbes.com reacted saying, “Well, either Obama and Geithner are lying to us now , or they and all defenders of the Social Security status quo have been lying to us for decades. It must be one or the other.” That blogger, Merrill Matthews, continued saying, “Here's why: Social Security has a trust fund, and that trust fund is supposed to have $2.6 trillion in it, according to the Social Security trustees. If there are real assets in the trust fund, then Social Security can mail the checks, regardless of what Congress does about the debt limit.” Faith in the Social Security ” trust fund ” however, is misplaced. For years there has been a pervasive myth spread by politicians and journalists who described Social Security as a “trust fund.” Matthews went on to expose the fallacy of the trust fund in his column, as many others have done before. The reality of course is that the government has been spending that money and replacing it with Treasury bonds (IOUs) for years. In 2010, the Business & Media Institute reported that as Social Security turned 75 years old, it was also running a $41 billion deficit (ahead of estimates). Back then Cato's Michael Cannon criticized media outlets (specifically The New York Times) for claiming the program can still “pay full benefits until 2037″ and current attention to the red ink does not “endanger benefits, because any shortfall can be covered by the trust fund.” Cannon reacted: “No. It. Can't. Because there are no funds in the Social Security 'trust fund'.” He characterized the entire idea as “an institutionalized, ritualized lie.” One that BMI found news outlets continued to promote.
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The author will be joining us for a live webchat on Friday 15 July between 1 and 2pm. Post your questions now This week’s live webchat by very popular request is with Sarah Waters, whose second world war novel The Night Watch was televised only this week . She sprang straight to the top in 1998 with her Victorian romp Tipping the Velvet , and wrote two more gems of sapphic Victoriana – Affinity and Fingersmith – before turning her gaze forward a century for the quietly impressive The Night Watch , which was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2006. Her most recent novel was The Little Stranger , a haunted house story set against the postwar decline of the aristocracy and the birth of the welfare state. She will be online to chat on Friday 15 July between 1pm and 2pm . Feel free to start posting your questions now, so Sarah can have a full hour to answer, and log back in on Friday to join in the conversation. nattybumpo asks: Do you think that there can be too much sex in a novel and does the amount of sex in a book influence Lit Agents and Publishers? P.S. Congratulations on Fingersmith. It’s a once in a generation novel…. truly excellent! Sarahwatersreplies: Glad you enjoyed Fingersmith! Sex in fiction: I think that most agents and editors would agree with me that there should be as much or as little sex as is right for each individual story. Sex is a part of life, a rather visceral and compelling one, so any author telling a story of grown-up lives and relationships is probably going to want to depict it. But if a sex scene has been shoved in a novel just for the sake of effect then, yes, of course it can feel a bit gratuitous. I can’t off the top of my head think of a novel that does that, however. But I can think of lots of novels – Hollinghurst’s The Swimming Pool Library, Michel Houellebecq’s Atomised, for example – where the many vivid sex scenes feel absolutely right and necessary. henrytube asks: As an unpublished author, how worried were you about submitting a novel so full of sex (in the second half at least)? Were you at all concerned that you wouldn’t be taken seriously enough because of that? Did any publishers who rejected it suggest you try submitting to pornography-orientated houses? Were you confident that the literary quality would outshine the – ahem – let’s face it, in parts, quite unusual sex scenes? Were you ever told you were betting too much on the pornographic element? Or did you simply feel you were writing a story that should sell on its overall merits, regardless of the pornography? Although many adult stories contain romances, and more than a few feature sex, you must have been aware that Tipping the Velvet has a lot more than the average. sarahwatersreplies I wasn’t worried about it at all. I sent the rudest bit out as one of my three sample chapters, and none of the rejection letters mentioned the sex. (One thought the book was too long; another suggested that historical fiction might be going out of fashion – oh dear…) I have to say, I’ve never thought of Tipping as being pornographic, for the reasons outlined in my answer above: the sex is there because it’s part of Nancy’s story. She’s exploring her sexual identity and at the same time becoming a grown up, discovering what deeply serious fun grown-up sex can be. I wanted to write about the sex with the same relish and attention to detail that I wrote about eating oysters or going to a music hall. I don’t think the sex scenes are ‘unusual’, by the way. I don’t even think, now, that they’re especially rude. Shatillion asks: Do you ever write short fiction between the big novels and if so can we read it? If no, would you ever try? Oh, and I’m a massive admirer of all of your work. sarahwatersreplies: Glad you’ve enjoyed the books! But no, I never write short fiction. Apart from ghost stories, I rarely read it, either – it’s just too, well, short. I honestly wouldn’t know where to start. It’s like being a marathon runner or a sprinter – you need different writing muscles. (Though yes, I know, some writers can do both, damn their eyes!) Tarantella asks: I was screen-glued to the TV dramatisation of ‘The Night Watch’ – but it should have been twice the length, at least. Who made the call here and did you agree (or have any say)? This relevant to the BBC allegedly dropping/shrinking their investment in drama – what a dumb move… sarahwatersreplies: Glad you were glued. The adaptation has some wonderful performances in it, and it’s got a great look, and a great sombre mood; but yes, some extra time would have been lovely. Not at all my call: the BBC originally planned to do it as two ninety-minute episodes, then changed their minds. Very frustrating. And, to pick up a later question here: Anna MM was mesmerising as always but, no, she wasn’t my butch Kay. (Though there is a nice moment when she takes off her mannish-looking wristwatch before getting into bed.) She lost her lovely little butch friend Mickey, too. I think it’s just that mainstream tv and film don’t really ‘get’ butchness. Joannewalker asks: Help,Am plagued by the ambiguous ending to The Little Stranger! Was the Doctor actually the ghost/disturbance all along? sarahwatersreplies: Sorry! I get asked this a lot. Here’s a link to an article I wrote for the Guardian Book Club, which might help (a bit): www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/07/bookclub-sarah-waters-little-stranger?intcmp=239. translated asks: Dear Sarah, I’ve done a bit of googling and found that your books are published by Virago (uk) and Riverhead Trade (us). Hope that’s correct. Lots of well-known authors are published by Harper Collins or Fourth Estate, both owned by Murdoch. Do you think this kind of thing matters? Are you glad Murdoch doesn’t profit from the sale of your books? sarahwatersreplies: I do indeed think this kind of thing matters and, yes, I am glad. But I’m saying that as an established author: when you start off as a writer you feel so powerless and grateful – I would probably have sold Tipping the Velvet to Vlad the Impaler if he had offered me a publishing deal. And I can’t be too pious: I’m sure I’ve supported Murdoch’s empire in a thousand thoughtless ways. (I used to be an enthusiastic subscriber to Sky tv, for example.) But actually making money for him – that’s a grim thought. Liano asks: Hello! Would you ever consider writing a book that is based in Pembrokeshire where you (and I) are from? sarahwatersreplies: Ah, lovely Pembrokeshire. It was a fabulous place to grow up, and I still have very strong links with it – all my family are there. But I’ve never lived there as an adult, so I’ve lost touch with what makes it tick. I’d have to go back and spend some proper time there in order to write about it – maybe I will, one day. One thing I’ve always had a hankering to write about is all the UFOs that were supposedly spotted there in the ’70s – the so-called ‘Broad Haven Triangle’ – just writing those words makes me excited! I never got to see a UFO myself, and have been disappointed ever since. Fawley asks: When is your next book coming out. I can’t wait to read another one of your books as you are my favourite author. sarahwatersreplies: OK, the next book… I’m right in the middle of it at the moment, so it’s very much in my head. It’s set in London in the 1920s, and is full of lesbian passion and angst – great fun, especially after The Little Stranger (which, though I loved it, was a rather ‘flat’ book to write – mainly I think because of the slightly affect-less narrative voice). One thing that’s unusual about this new book for me is that I honestly don’t know whether it’s going to have an upbeat ending or an utterly tragic one. I’m normally a bit of a control freak as far as plotting is concerned, but I’m enjoying going with the flow with this one… Libertarianlou asks: One of my favourite things about your books is that your characters are rarely all good or all bad. Even seemingly villainous characters have moments of sympathetic behaviour or humanity. However Richard in Fingersmith is extremely horrible and I do feel like punching him at times. Do you pass moral judgments on your characters or do you just portray them in such a way as to accurately reflect human nature? What do you think of writers like Jane Austen whose narrative voice tells you plainly what to think of the characters by making jokes about them etc? How do you pace out your plots? They are always so perfectly timed and structured, it is almost mathematical. Have you ever read Carol (originally the Price of Salt) by Patricia Highsmith, as her style reminds me slightly of yours. Just curious. I think Affinity is possibly one of your best novels. Why do you think it received so much less attention than the others? Some people denounce Tipping the Velvet as “just erotica” or “just lesbian porn.” To me I think it IS largely a piece of great erotic fiction and I don’t see the problem with it being so. What do you think about that; do you think fiction always has to serve a broader point or is it ok to just be erotic sometimes? I realise TTV does have more to it than just sex but at the time I feel that is the best bit! Do you worry about being seen a predominantly a lesbian author thus detracting from some of the social comment in books about non-gender non-sexuality topics like poverty, property, etc? (I don’t think it’s an issue and think you tie these things together well anyway but I’d be interested to know what you think.) Is ownership of property meant to be a key theme to Fingersmith or is that me imagining it? Which character do you love the most, Sue or Maud? I change my mind everytime I read it. Is Mrs Sucksby inspired by any real historical figure? I have read that such situations were not uncommon in Victorian times. What do you think of the Harry Potter books? Can I buy you dinner please? sarahwatersreplies: Blimey – lots of questions here! To answer just a few: Yes, I love The Price of Salt. I’m a big Highsmith fan. If there’s one book I wish I’d written, it’s The Talented Mr Ripley. Affinity has its fans and detractors (as comments here reveal), but it’s probably the quietest of my novels – maybe that’s why it’s slightly slipped under a few radars? Also, I think the timing of its publication didn’t help it: it came out pre-2002, which was the year that my career began to take off, with Fingersmith and Tipping getting lots of attention because of shortlists and tv. Maybe if it had come out after Fingersmith rather than before it would have made a bit more of a splash? I dunno. No, I don’t tend to pass explicit judgements on my characters; in fact I do that less now than ever – I’m getting increasingly interested in emotional untidiness and moral mess, in the muddiness of even apparently positive currents, like love. But Richard/Gentleman was great fun to write, precisely because he was such an out-and-out blackguard! He gets some of the book’s best lines. (‘The fashionable couple on their wedding night’: that still makes me laugh…) Mrs Sucksby isn’t inspired by any actual historical figure – but yes, indeed, there were lots of real Victorian baby-farmers, some of them notorious for mistreating or even murdering the infants in their care. (One was Margaret Waters – eek! She was hanged in London in 1870.) The baby farmer cases reveal so much about nineteenth-century poverty, and about the desperate situations of women and unwanted children, they really deserve a serious novel, rather than the pantomime treatment they get in Fingersmith… Harry Potter – I only read the first one. Like many things in modern life – facebook, twitter, blogging, Lady Gaga – the whole Potter business has rather passed me by. I’m not proud of it. Dinner: why, that would be lovely, thank y– Yikes! Here comes my girlfriend! Gotta go! sharleenj asks: I consider The Little Stranger to be a lovely example of a psychological ghost story. Would you call it that? When you were writing Stranger, how much (if at all) were you influenced by Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House? sarahwatersreplies: I love the Haunting of Hill House (and the rather terrifying ’60s film based on it). It’s got one of the great opening paragraphs of all time (‘…whatever walked there, walked alone’). And it was certainly an influence on The Little Stranger, to the extent that I kept it in mind while I was writing – along with things like ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ – as a paradigmatic haunted house story. ‘A psychological ghost story’ – hmm, depends what you mean. Is it all in the characters’ heads? No, I don’t think so. Does the haunting come out of their heads, or out of the heads of one of them? Yes, that’s more like it. I was less interested in ghosts whilst researching the book than in poltergeists and ‘phantasms of the living’: spectres as repressed energies, or as manifestations of psychic distress… slatternly asks: I’m also interested to know if there’s a time period you’d love to tackle but haven’t got around to yet, and if you’ve ever considered setting one of your novels in the present/the future? sarahwatersreplies: I’ve never been drawn back further than the Victorians, and I can’t imagine writing a novel set in the future – not at all, I just haven’t got the right kind of brain for it. But I would be really interested to see what would happen to my writing if I took on a contemporary setting… Maybe a contemporary ghost story? That does appeal. Not just yet, however. I think I’ve got another historical lined up for when I’ve finished the one I’m working on now. (To answer another question on this thread: I usually do have a dim sense of the book after next. The only time I didn’t was after Fingersmith – very unnerving for a while.) catshmoyne asks: If you had the ability to travel back in time and plant one of your novels in a bookshop in the historical period it is set in, which one would you choose and how do you think readers would react to it? sarahwatersreplies: What an interesting idea… I think it would have to be Fingersmith: it’s the one that would sit most comfortably alongside the sort of novels that inspired it, things like The Woman in White and Uncle Silas and Lady Audley’s Secret. But it would be under-the-counter stuff by Victorian standards, alas… And, of course, to 1860s readers all my historical and cultural details would be wildly off target – as if we were to read a novel set in 2011 that featured people saying ‘Top hole, me old china! I’ll just turn off this wizard Bay City Rollers gramophone disc and eat some spangles’ – or something… Michaelmack asks: Hello SarahI hope that you are well and that your brain is not too bamboozled by Granuaid readers! Affinity is one of my faves among your novels. It scared the bejaysus out of me. I remember being frightened to go upstairs to bed alone. That said I admire all your novels tremendously. So thank you for many hours of reading pleasure.I, like you, am a great admirer of the work of Elizabeth Taylor. Currently I am rereading A View Of The Harbour. What I would like to know is how much of an influence do you think Taylor is on your work? I sense her in The Night Watch and The Little Stranger in the way characters are seemingly emotionally restrained, in public anyway, in that typically British (of its time) way. Cheerio! sarahwatersreplies: Glad you’ve enjoyed the books! I take your night terrors as a great compliment. Yes, I love Elizabeth Taylor. My favourite is her first, At Mrs Lippincote’s. Oh, but they’re all good, even the less-good ones, if you know what I mean. She’s such a subtle and precise writer – often seen as a bit middlebrow and cosy, I fear, but really her books are quite bleak and sometimes devastating. She respects all her characters – I like that about her. She has a great grasp of subtle social and emotional currents. I don’t know if she’s been an influence on me, exactly (I wish she had been!) – but she was certainly a writer I read a lot of when I was writing The Night Watch, not just for period detail and idiom, but for her handling of the third-person narrative – she seems to move effortlessly between perspectives, and I really struggled to get the hang of that. And yes, that restraint, with it all going on under the surface… ’40s films were great for that, too. Casablanca, Brief Encounter… roseyposey asks: Have loved all your books but The Night Watch in particular. I kept thinking of the Well of Loneliness while reading it – also a favourite. I’d love to know your thoughts on it, and whether The Night Watch sits as almost a companion piece to it? (Also – thanks for talking part in this, have had a rotten day so far at work but my lunchtime has been great thanks to reading this thread!) sarahwatersreplies: At least it’s Friday… The Well of Loneliness: I haven’t read it for years, and must re-read it now that I’m working on the ’20s – but yes, of course, its shadow stretches a long way, and it’s hard to write a butch lesbian character without invoking the spirit of Stephen Gordon. Actually, Hall’s short story ‘Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself’ was probably more of a reference-point for The Night Watch. And the really rather fab The Unlit Lamp is proving very inspiring for my new novel. legerdemain What are you reading at the moment for research, and for pleasure? sarahwatersreplies: For pleasure – well, one thing I’m doing is working my way through the novels of Muriel Spark, in chronological order. Such a treat! I’m about halfway through. I’m being struck by what an oddly gothic writer she was – not in the obvious (ie my) way of creaky doors etc, but in the sense that there’s a mildly hallucinatory quality to her books – secrets, unhealthy relationships etc… I also just read Tim Pears’s Landed – a mavellous book, I can’t praise it too highly – I read it twice and it made me cry both times. For research – I’m reading lots of Virginia Woolf, which is fabulous. Novels, diaries and letters – every observation so brutally perfect – she’s got a mind like a skewer! But I’m also reading middlebrow fiction from the ’10s and ’20s – authors who were fantastically popular in their day but very unfashionable now, like Warwick Deeping, and Robert Hichens (who’s unexpectedly rather wonderful, with lots of ‘women on the edge of a nervous breakdown’-type female characters). ronsonol asks: Flaubert famously read and took notes on hundreds of sources to prepare the historical background of l’Education Sentimental and included practically none of this material in the finished novel. I found the Little Stranger to be a similarly successful exercise in conveying the texture of a period without giving a history lesson. Can you say a few words about your research for this book and whether you felt the same anguish as GF over how to stop the quiet personal lives of your characters being swamped by the facts you had to manoeouvre them around? Did the supernatural element help in balancing out the weight of the history? sarahwatersreplies: I do a lot of research for my novels, but I’ll always get to a point where my characters and their stories take on a weight and a substance that makes me want to leave the research behind for a bit; and after that, when I do more research, its much more focussed – the story drives the research, rather than the other way around. There are always wonderful nuggets that you wish you could use, and can’t. If you try and shoehorn them in it never works, they stand out because they haven’t emerged organically. And yes, in The Little Stranger the supernatural element did help, because in lots of ways the world of Hundreds Hall was quite detached from its period – it became a sort of generic ‘haunted house’, obeying rules of genre rather than of history – if that makes sense. Capell123 asks: I think it’s fair to say that, in the crudest possible sense, ‘not a lot happens’ until a good part of the way into The Little Stranger, and yet I was still unable to put it down despite my accursed modern attention span. Do you think that as your skill as a writer has increased, you feel more able to bend some of the perceived rules of modern fiction, ie ‘open with a bang and don’t risk losing your reader?’ Fingersmith, for example, got to its true intrigue a lot quicker. sarahwatersreplies: I was worried with both The Little Stranger and The Night Watch that there wouldn’t be enough to keep a reader interested until the ‘pay-offs’ arrived – ie the spooky stuff in one, and the wartime drama in the other. But I wanted both to have slow-burner starts: in TLS I felt we really needed to get to know the characters before anything odd started happening to them, and in TNW the point of the first part is that the characters are all ‘stuck’, all jaded and static. I didn’t feel like I was bending any rules – the books just had to be that way, in order for them to tell the stories I wanted to tell. Sorry – not very articulate! I actually find beginnings hard; I think I’m much better at endings. I look at Muriel Spark and she’s so nimble and economical; my narratives lumber along, full of phrases like ‘and then’ and ‘that morning’ and ‘on the Friday of that week…’ At the same time, I do like a leisurely pace, both as a writer and a reader. I like to feel I’m entering a whole narrative world, full of physical and emotional detail. Sarah Waters Fiction guardian.co.uk
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Men charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and grievous bodily harm were arrested near Joss Stone’s home Two men have appeared in court in connection with an alleged plot targeting the soul singer Joss Stone. Junior Bradshaw, 30, and Kevin Liverpool, 33, both from St Stephen’s Close, Manchester, appeared for a preliminary hearing at Exeter crown court charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm. The pair were arrested on 13 June near the Ashill home of 24-year-old Stone, whose hits include Super Duper Love and Fell in Love With a Boy and who has an estimated £9m fortune. Neither man entered a plea and they were remanded in custody until 24 October. The pair were arrested on the St Andrews estate in Cullompton after being seen acting suspiciously in the area around the village of Langford. A samurai sword and notes mentioning Stone were found in their car, the court heard. The singer said at the time of the arrests: “I’d like to thank everyone for their concern but I’m absolutely fine and getting on with life as normal while the police continue with their inquiries.” Joss Stone Crime guardian.co.uk
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Sellers pulling out after failing to get the price they wanted contribute to 29% of transactions being abandoned Almost one in three house sales collapsed in the first six months of 2011, according to data from the UK’s largest conveyancer 1st Property Lawyers . The firm said the rising number of sales falling through was due to buyers and sellers getting cold feet, the elimination of Home Information Packs and economic uncertainty. The 29% of abandoned transactions were chiefly the result of sellers withdrawing properties from the market (39% of the sales that fell through), with the elimination of Hips another major factor. Now a Hip is no longer a requirement, the cost of selling has fallen by £500, making it less of a financial burden to pull out of a transaction. This means less serious sellers can put a property on the market without suffering serious losses if they fail to get the price they are hoping for. HM Revenue & Customs figures show that there were 173,000 house sales in the UK in the first three months of the year, well down on the 459,000 recorded in the last quarter of 2006 when the housing market was nearing its peak. Buyers pulling out of the purchase is the second most common reason (23%) for abandoned sales, driven by nervousness in the marketplace about house prices and fuelled by fears over finances, general economic uncertainty and job security. On a more positive note, fewer purchases were dropped because buyers failed to secure a mortgage. Just one in 10 collapsed sales this year were caused by difficulties gettinng a home loan – down half from 15% in 2009 – as people have shifted their expectations around mortgage finance and know they need to get mortgage finance in place before house-hunting. Sales have also fallen through because of a chain collapsing (9% of failed transactions), unfavourable surveys (8%) and sellers withdrawing properties for sale and deciding to rent them instead (6%). Mark Montgomery, the 1st Property Lawyers commercial director, said: “A lot of this is about temporary changes to perspective and circumstance; where people have started a process, decided to sit tight for a bit, before eventually coming back to the market.” He said that real world factors of family sizes, schooling and personal circumstance drive the market, causing more sellers to sit tight and watch how the situation develops. “Expectations have not always been met,” he added. “Modest price rises after the initial post-credit crisis fall had raised the hopes of property-owners regarding what they might get on the market. This unrealistic idea of property values was reflected in the number of sellers aborting transactions once they realised they wouldn’t be getting what they wanted.” Just 3% of buyers withdrew their offer, according to 1st Property, while the same percentage of sellers said they had been gazundered, when buyers replace their original bid with a lower offer at the last minute – the opposite of the gazumping that took place when house prices were rising. Property House prices Housing market Real estate guardian.co.uk
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Student son of David Gilmour jailed for 16 months after admitting violent disorder at student fees demonstrations The son of the Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour has been jailed for 16 months for going on a drink and drug-fuelled rampage at a student fees protest. Charlie Gilmour admitted violent disorder after joining thousands demonstrating in Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square in London last year. During a day of riots he was seen hanging from a union flag on the Cenotaph and leaping on to the bonnet of a Jaguar car that formed part of a royal convoy. He pleaded guilty in May to violent disorder and was warned by the judge Nicholas Price QC that he could face prison. “You must understand that your plea of guilty to violent disorder is a serious matter and it may be that the proper course would be one of immediate custody.” Gilmour was found on Friday to have also hurled a rubbish bin at the vehicle. The court heard that the Cambridge University student had turned to drink and drugs after being rejected by his biological father, the writer Heathcote Williams, and had taken LSD and diazepam in the hours leading up to the violence. Gilmour’s rock star father and his mother, the writer Polly Samson, watched from the public gallery as the 21-year-old was told he must serve half the jail term behind bars. Passing sentence at Kingston upon Thames crown court in Surrey, Price accepted that Gilmour’s antics at the Cenotaph on Whitehall did not form part of the violent disorder, but accused him of disrespect to the war dead. “Such outrageous and deeply offensive behaviour gives a clear indication of how out of control you were that day,” he said. “It caused public outrage and understandably so.” Gilmour’s conduct at the war memorial had prompted a deluge of “vituperative and in many cases obscene” emails and other forms of communication, the judge told him. These were, the judge added, “not just to you but, it is with deep regret, to your whole family, who were of course totally blameless”. Gilmour, who apologised afterwards for his behaviour, had claimed he had not realised the significance of the Cenotaph – an excuse the judge scoffed at. “For a young man of your intelligence and education and background to profess to not know what the Cenotaph represents defies belief,” he said. “You have shown disrespect to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, to those who fell defending this country.” Crime Pink Floyd Tuition fees Higher education Students Student politics guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2: ‘Maybe all finales have an in-built drama?’ – video
July 15, 2011 No Comment
The Potter franchise finally comes to life as Harry, Hermoine and Ron go out in style, says Xan Brooks Xan Brooks Henry Barnes
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