Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill, below, has turned his attention to the inequalities in the Scottish book retail trade, lambasting WH Smith for a purchasing policy that means that what is stocked in Scottish shops is decided by a cabal in Swindon of all places.
What surprises me about this laudable intervention is a press release I received 18 months ago, when the Scottish Publishers' Association claimed a historic victory in convincing WH Smith to stock a chart of 30 bestselling Scottish books. Perhaps the
y didn't notice the cunningly crossed fingers of Smith's bosses. Since he's on a roll, perhaps Mr MacAskill would care to look at the range of books available in tourist information offices as well, which is frankly embarrassing. On a recent visit, it seemed as though The Wit And Wisdom Of West Highland Terriers, Porridge: Oats And Their Many Health Benefits and Famous Scottish Crimes were the extent of our cultural showcase to visitors. There wasn't even a copy of Burns – roll on the Homecoming for the 250th anniversary of the Bard's birth. That this is supposedly the City of Literature makes it all the more shaming.
Where fools very nearly Rushdied inI've been mildly entertained by Rod Liddle, former editor of the Today programme and aspiring contrarian, for his "red-mist list" of books: all those titles we thought were ineffably profound when we were younger, that now seem unspeakably vapid. Various luminaries pitched in their tuppence-worth to bemoan Hesse, Powell, Pirsig et al. It struck a chord – the day beforehand Mrs Browser and I had been discussing defending Salman Rushdie, inset, when we were students – even after we got round to reading The Satanic Verses. The cruel vagaries of literary fashion are endlessly interesting, especially if you're a critic. Do e-mail in with your shameful former favourites (I'd nominate Iris Murdoch, Solzhenitsyn and VS Naipaul straight off).
You've read the book, seen the film, now read the book againI doubt I'll be going to see Prince Caspian any time soon, but am intrigued at all the new books cropping up in bookshops. Best of all is the "book of the film of the book", which fills in those moments (such as the return of the White Witch, or Susan's snog with Caspian) beloved of filmmakers but unfortunately not in CS Lewis's original. Speaking of the locked lips, I'm sure they're aware that it's exactly that kind of behaviour that earned Susan an afterlife-time ban from Narnia in The Last Battle...
And the loser is...It's good to know that Scotland isn't unique in terms of cultural bureaucracy naffness. At the Wales Book of the Year awards last week, culture minister Rhodri Glyn Thomas, above, announced that the £10,000 prize had gone to Tom Bullough for The Claude Glass – only to fluster, flush and hastily apologise: in fact Dannie Abse had won the 10 grand for his book The Presence, and Bullough had to content himself with £1,000.
If you want to watch the full, excruciating detail, it's all available at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7485572.stmThe full article contains 529 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
