News

It's been another eventful week in national and international affairs but I wasn't surprised to read some recent research which reported that 38 per cent of us choose not to engage with the news any more.

It's so difficult to process with one 'unprecedented' event following another. 

A News Literacy Network has launched to help young people understand the role of news, its impact on us and how to develop a more accurate worldview without becoming overwhelmed with negative feelings.  

I haven't watched the news, or television generally, over the summer, but this week as I hunkered down in the darker evenings, I decided to watch programmes with presenters whose books I've read recently.

On BBC Two Bob Mortimer had joined his friend Paul Whitehouse for some more fishing. It was beautiful 'slow' tv with gentle banter and glorious scenery, and the concluding episode introduced a bit of activism from the musician Feargal Sharkey as he highlighted how our rivers have become polluted through neglect and commercial gain by the water companies. 

Meanwhile the reporter and documentary maker Simon Reeve embarked on a less exotic journey than is his wont, with a short series of programmes about the Lake District.

Here again there were wonderful shots of the stunning landscape, but also some amazing interviews with fascinating, inspiring people. They were ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

There was a young man, for example, still a teenager, who was running the family farm alone, with a little help from schoolfriends, after losing both of his parents to illness within a period of two years. And there were a couple of middle aged men who, seeking a solution to the flooding of Carlisle, had recognised that the course of the river had been altered by government intervention hundreds of years previously.

It was so encouraging to find serious issues covered in sensitive, thoughtful ways highlighting the problems but also showing how people were trying to find solutions. It was uplifting, inspiring, enabling, and refreshing!

But time is flying by and, though we're not quite at the end of the month, the book group will be meeting next week, on Monday 24 October, so do please let me know if you hope to join in the discussion. We'll be talking about 'We Have All Lived in the Castle' by Shirley Jackson. It's a slim book, so there's still time to read it if you'd like to come along to the meeting!

Thank you for reading.

Our lives seem dominated by politics and politicians at the moment and last week it was all about the Conservative Party Conference.

I was interested to follow the debate over the choice of anthem accompanying Liz Truss as she walked on stage to deliver her speech.

The song playing was 'Moving on Up' by M People. Apparently the party hadn't gained permission to use the track and members of the band weren't happy for it to be associated politically, and particularly not by our present government. Interestingly they also pointed out that some of the lyrics don't make this such a desirable theme tune after all!

Many songs have become associated with certain occasions and movements which the originators did not intend. This led me to think of poets who find their work quoted widely without acknowledgement and illustrators, too, who have had their images replicated in other media or used to inspire other pictures.

It is said that the artist should be flattered their work is so popular but, overlooking the financial implications, what is the relationship between the creator and their work when it has been released into the world - can they retain ownership or control?

Novelists often acknowledge that once their words are published, their story or message takes on a new life through the relationship with the reader and this may be different from the one the writer intended. 

After spending years perfecting, crafting and refining a story, song, poem or piece of art, it can be a hard lesson to learn that how the work is received or interpreted may be far from the original objective. It may be frustrating when it is misunderstood or misappropriated, but exciting and exhilarating to see it adopted and appreciated?

Now, if you have a story to tell, you might like to enter the New Anglia Manuscript Prize.

The Laxfield Literary Agency is once again working with the National Centre for Writing in seeking the best new writers in Norfolk and Suffolk and submissions are being accepted until the end of November.

The judging panel will comprise Chris Gribble, CEO of the National Centre for Writing in Norwich, publisher and author Phoebe Morgan, and Emma Shercliff of Laxfield Literary Associates. Find out more here.

Fnally, I was very sad to learn of the death of the crime writer Peter Robinson this week. Peter visited us at Woodbridge Library five years ago and we had a very enjoyable time listening to him talk about creating his detective DCI Banks. He was a softly spoken, thoughtful man and will be much missed.

Thank you for reading.

Things continue to look rather topsy turvy, don't they? This time there's general bewilderment about the government's decisions regarding financial affairs...

I was interested, then, to see how the French government has responded to unfair practices in one sector of business there, ensuring a level playing field for the high street and e-commerce in the book trade.

Companies like Amazon have been offering free delivery on books for years and when the government stepped in six years ago to prevent this, the online firms applied a legal loophole and made a nominal charge of just one cent instead. 

While these vast businesses can absorb postage costs to attract customers, the high street stores with smaller margins and additional expenses have to pass on these fees and are therefore not competitive. The government has subsequently proposed a fixed fee of three euros for all deliveries of orders under the price of E35.

This initiative is part of the French “cultural exceptionalism”, which has sought "to shield books and independent booksellers from the ravages of free-market forces," according to a report in the Guardian.

The French government also ensures that all booksellers, whether chains or independents on the high street or the online retailers, have to sell books at the prices set by the publishers. "It has helped preserve France’s 3,500 independent bookshops – more than three times the number in the UK – which account for 12,000 jobs."

It is encouraging to see the book trade and the high street being valued in this way, with such practical and effective action taken. And it's a valuable reminder of the importance of paying a fair price to ensure staff are looked after, taxes are paid and we retain vibrant communities through our high streets. 

As France waits for the law to be approved by the EU, I wonder if this example might be followed elsewhere?

Thank you for reading.

In the past week the media channels, newspapers and conversations have been dominated by Pageantry (and Pens), the Queen and the Queue.

Whatever emotions have been brought to the fore, and whether or not we enjoy ritual and tradition, it has been rewarding to see and celebrate precision, splendour, respect and excellence when so much of life in recent times has felt shoddy and sloppy. 

Tomorrow we will have the final occasion to bid farewell to a woman, a monarch who has brought such positive sentiments and responses. I wonder what we will take forward from this in the coming days and months.

We will soon be returning to our usual routines and activities so there are a number of events to highlight in the next few days.

On Wednesday, the University of Suffolk will be hosting Dig It! Unearthing Agatha Christie’s Crime Fiction Legacy, with guest speakers, a panel discussion and Q&A at The Hold in Ipswich. Scroll down for my review of the new biography of Agatha Christie by Lucy Worsley.

On Friday, John Sheeran will be talking about My Life in Art at Thomas Mills School in Framlingham. John has entertained and informed audiences in Suffolk for many years and this is an opportunity to find out how he has gathered his extraordinary knowledge, insight and passion for art.

Then, next Monday the book group will meet again after our summer break. We will be discussing 'Cecily', the debut novel by Annie Garthwaite. If you would like to come along, please reply to this email so that I have an idea of numbers and can let you have all the details of the meeting.

And if you're wondering what our group concluded about the Booker Prize longlist this year, I can tell you that we were quite attuned to the judge's decision but not entirely for the right reasons.

After sharing our reviews of the 13 titles in the longlist, we drew up two shortlists.

The first was our preferred shortlist (which agreed with the judges on two titles - The Trees and Small Things Like These). 

Then we compiled a list of the titles we felt the judges would choose for their shortlist. This matched three of the six titles - The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, Glory and Treacle Walker. None of these our reviewers particularly enjoyed!

We were given two exceptionally enthusiastic, passionate and detailed reviews for the titles Nightcrawling and Map of Our Spectacular Bodies which caused us all to want to read the books immediately, yet neither made the judge's final six. And although a number of us enjoyed reading Oh William!, we didn't think it was a contender, yet this made the prize shortlist.

So the judges put forward the following six titles as their shortlist - Glory, Small Things Like These, The Trees, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, Oh William! and Treacle Walker. We'll have to wait until 17 October to find out who triumphs as this year's winner.

Thank you for reading.

Unlike those in the media and the establishment, or in businesses and organisations, I hadn't planned for these days.

I hadn't drafted words of tribute, gratitude or loss because, though it was both inevitable and imminent, I hadn't anticipated the time would come. 

As our lives have become increasingly more uncertain, fragile and unsettled, the constant, calm and dignified presence of the Queen has become more and more vital and valued.

If wisdom, integrity and reliability have seemed to be lacking in our leaders today, she stood both as a reminder of higher standards in the past, and better times in the future. 

Alhough we no longer have her faithful, unifying, steadying presence, perhaps we can hold on to some of the messages she shared over her 70 year reign:

"It has always been easy to hate and destroy. To build and to cherish is much more difficult."  Christmas speech, 1957

"When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future." Christmas speech, 2008

"It's worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change." Christmas speech, 2019

"For Christians, as for all people of faith, reflection, meditation and prayer help us to renew ourselves in God’s love, as we strive daily to become better people." Christmas speech, 2013

"Our modern world places such heavy demands on our time and attention that the need to remember our responsibilities to others is greater than ever." Christmas speech, 2002

"Grief is the price we pay for love." A message of condolence to New York in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, 2001

There are no book recommendations today. It didn't feel appropriate. And I'll share a report of the Booker Book Group discussion next week. But the title we're reading together this month seems strangely fitting - 'Cecily' imagines royal events centuries past.

Thank you for reading.