thoroughly enjoyable schadenfreude over the embassy cable revelations. none of the so-called secrets that i've read about so far have really been secrets at all, just confirmations of what most people already knew if they read far enough into a decent newspaper (members of the afghan government are siphoning millions of dollars out of the country, prince andrew is a loose canon who'd prefer the government not to investigate overseas business fraud, berlusconi is taking kickbacks from putin… this looks like a herd of bears crapping in the woods to me).
trawling through an encyclopaedia of c.1939 for red house stuff i stumbled on this extraordinary vehicle of which i had never heard before. it was real, it was built and ran in glasgow in the mid 30's and carried people, albeit for just over a hundred yards before its inventor went bankrupt halting any further development.
curious incident has been chosen as one of the 25 titles that will make up the million books to be given away on world book night january. the whole idea is rather brilliant, not least because it seems fabulously crazy. best of all it's about reading not just as a magical private experience but as a communal one. giving books, sharing books, talking about books. doing something else instead of watching i'm a celebrity get me out of here. it's about getting nervous / unwilling readers reading more and getting avid readers reading differently.
the red house (the next novel, halfway complete, though it's probably bad voodoo to say so) contains lots of found text and images. old books, prints, banknotes, bus-tickets, maps, diagrams... some of it i haven't used but can't quite bear to abandon, so here seems as good place as any to share it. this was a book that my father (a very good swimmer) had as a boy:
a fascinating book about an artist whose work i love (most of it, and the etchings especially). freud is a notoriously private man and seldom gives interviews and i'd never previously read anything about his studio or his working practice. looking / thinking intently about how he makes his pictures while reading the book made me realise several things...
i'm fascinated by this stuff (professor david nutt was sacked from the advisory council on the misuse of drugs by the then health secretary, alan johnson, specifically for criticising the re-upgrading of cannabis to a class b drug, and more generally, for telling the truth about drug-matters in a way that contradicted the government policy). we live, most of us, safe in the conviction that our lives are guided by rationality and common sense, but when these are contradicted by strong emotions the latter trump the former every time.
there are many depressing things about the recent government cuts. the increased homelessness and the de facto 'social cleansing' as poor people are moved out of big cities to cheaper b & b accommodation by cash-strapped councils looks like being the most pernicious result, but who knows precisely what's going to happen in the longer run?
my co-speakers from two weeks ago have finally appeared online. lemn sissay, kate daudy, andrew parker, ruby wax, louise doughty. now i can enjoy their performances. i was the final speaker on the night i was far too busy pacing, panicking and practising while they were doing their stuff. on the page there are some other fine speakers for your browsing pleasure. brian eno, andfrew o'hagan, yotam ottolenghi...
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