Blogs

Our judge at Granta, Francisco Vilhena, read and reread the submissions to this summer’s competition, 100 Years On , in search of the voices that spoke loudest to him of the conflict that changed the course of the 20th century. And it was a difficult decision, a very difficult decision. When I asked Francisco on the sixteenth for his verdict he demanded a deferral to go over his short-list a few more times. It was a very close heat. As often...

It's wrong! I sold BI for four months in 1999 and we were simply given the rules, badged up and allocated a pitch. Then we worked. I spoke to a new vendor in my town asking him where the last vendor was. He told me she had been moved because she had not met her targets. She was a friendly lady and a lot of us got to know her and her dogs. The new guy said the changes had been recent 'These days it's more like a business.' Anyone can become...

This Wednesday we had one of the liveliest ABCtales get-togethers I’ve ever been to. From prison-narratives to eerie accordion-accompanied poetry to a stunning set from a handful of My Baby Shot Me Down authors it was ABCtales at its best, and I’d like to thank everyone who came out and took part. One of the things that I was most impressed by was the sheer variety of the work read. From an utterly impressive stream-of-conscious narrative by...

Published posthumously Bulgakov’s classic is one of those books I kept meaning to read. The Master is Satan, or Woland, making a visit to Moscow, to have a look at mankind to see if they’ve changed much. But the master is also a would-be novelist, and the lover of Margarita. He is writing about Pontius Pilate, the astrologer’s son and fifth Procurator of Judea. At the trial of Christ Satan, of course, was there and had a front row seat, so when...

I love the World Cup. Simple match report. Rooney is not Suarez. England have a dog’s chance. Gerard, like Cassilis has been guilty of big game errors (think of his pass back that cost Liverpool the league). Here he missed an easy defensive header. Suarez didn’t miss the goal. Two goals of exquisite beauty. One a header. Suarez, Suarez, even a half-fit Suarez, is the top man. Rooney tap in. He peaked too early, three World Cups ago. Scholes was...

Hello good people. I am trying this out for the first time, and somehow hope to join up with my Blog on my website: www.wsprog.com/rp/ .

I first went mid-December. I arrived in the farm minibus to darkness. I did not know I would be sharing a yurt. The yurt stove would not light, the matches provided were soggy. Sunday was torrential rain. After my first night I loved every second! Such a blissful getaway from all the commercial baloney of the build up to Dec 25th. I was back last weekend. It was brilliant again. The deal is you pay £26.50, help with the farm chores, taking a T-...

Anyone seen them?

As a species it comes naturally to us: the taking apart of things in order to see how they work. And we are ruthless at it. Hardly anything has escaped our curiosity. The atom. Plants. Laboratory animals. Insects. Old pocket watches. We do it to everything. Our forbears even stole cadavers to slake their thirst for what makes things tick. It should come as no surprise that we do this to poetry as well. I remember long, dreary afternoons with...

People often ask me what its like to be a butcher. Words can't describe it. But this small youtube video captures it brilliantly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd9UDKCU47M Its hilarious. Sorry about the language!