Browse content similar to 18/10/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Tonight at 10pm: The squeeze on household budgets as inflation | :00:05. | :00:10. | |
rises sharply. It reached 5.2%, the highest for three years, driven | :00:10. | :00:18. | |
mainly by energy prices. I never know if I am going to have enough | :00:18. | :00:23. | |
money by the time I get the tail, so I'm having to put stuff back and | :00:23. | :00:26. | |
go without basics. But the Bank of England says tonight, inflation | :00:26. | :00:30. | |
will fall back sharply early next year. We'll be looking at the | :00:30. | :00:32. | |
impact of high inflation on the Government's finances. | :00:32. | :00:35. | |
Also tonight: A joyous homecoming for an Israeli soldier, held by | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
Hamas for the past five years. In a controversial exchange, hundreds of | :00:39. | :00:41. | |
Palestinians are released by the Israelis. | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
It's official. Liam Fox did break the ministerial code in his | :00:45. | :00:50. | |
dealings with friend Adam Werrity. In Bahrain, protests against the | :00:50. | :00:57. | |
killing of a teenager by government troops. We have a special report. | :00:57. | :01:04. | |
There is so much tension in these villages, that when processions | :01:04. | :01:09. | |
like this... Often it ends in tear- gas, and more animosity. | :01:09. | :01:15. | |
The winner of the 2011 at Man Booker Prize is Julian Barnes. | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
And the sense of a triumph as the favourite scoops the Man Booker | :01:19. | :01:27. | |
prize. Later on the BBC News Channel, we | :01:27. | :01:31. | |
have the reaction from the Champions' League games. Manchester | :01:31. | :01:41. | |
:01:41. | :01:51. | ||
United and Man City have been Good evening. The rising cost of | :01:51. | :01:54. | |
gas, electricity and fuel has driven the rate of inflation to | :01:54. | :01:59. | |
another high. As measured by the consumer prices index, inflation | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
reached 5.2% last month, which could have big implications for the | :02:02. | :02:08. | |
Government's finances. But the governor of the Bank of England | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
says he expects inflation to fall back sharply early next year, as | :02:11. | :02:18. | |
Stephanie Flanders reports. Inflation in Britain is supposed to | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
stay at around 2% but it would be easy to forget, whether it is the | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
gas bill or the price of a weekly shop, it has all been going up and | :02:26. | :02:35. | |
up. The result? Inflation at 5.2%. The old RPI, which includes housing, | :02:35. | :02:43. | |
it is at 5.6%. That is the highest since 1991, when Alex in Wakefield | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
wasn't even born. She is on benefits and the rising cost of | :02:47. | :02:53. | |
living is forcing impossible choices. Do I buy her new shoes or | :02:53. | :02:59. | |
do I get some gas? Do I get new clothes or food? That down the road, | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
shop owners face tough choices of their own. His family have owned | :03:04. | :03:10. | |
but she shops in Wakefield for over 100 years. Fuel costs, energy costs, | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
it is having a dramatic effect. We are having to absorb some of the | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
prices ourselves but unfortunately we have to pass it on to the | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
customers as well. There were no apologies from the Governor of the | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
Bank of England tonight. Instead, he spoke about the global forces | :03:28. | :03:33. | |
that are making life difficult for everyone. The British economy, too, | :03:33. | :03:39. | |
has enjoyed the benefits of globalisation. Now we are seeing | :03:39. | :03:46. | |
some of the costs, as they played out in a global financial crisis. | :03:46. | :03:51. | |
The Bank of England doesn't like to see inflation so high for so long | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
but the way they tell it, they didn't have a better alternative. | :03:55. | :03:59. | |
If they tried to get inflation out of the system more quickly by | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
jacking up interest rates, that would have done more harm than good, | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
they think, by causing a recession. Critics say the causation runs the | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
other way, that higher inflation has heard growth by cutting family | :04:12. | :04:20. | |
budgets. -- hurt growth. This does need to be put at the Monetary | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
Policy Committee's door and it is a sign of failure for policy because | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
the United Kingdom as much higher inflation than most competitive | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
countries. That is damaging competitiveness and demand at home. | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
If you are on benefits, it is good news the September inflation rate | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
turned out to be so high because that is the number they were used | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
to increase benefits next year and the other piece of good news for | :04:42. | :04:48. | |
all of us is that inflation now should be on the way down. When | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
inflation rose this high three years ago, everybody expected it to | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
come down quickly, and it did. Now it is back up again and again, | :04:57. | :05:02. | |
everyone, including the banks, says it will fall back towards 2%, but | :05:02. | :05:07. | |
that is not entirely good news. are in an era of fundamental | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
economic weakness and demand is very weak, out but is very weak, we | :05:12. | :05:18. | |
have a serious threat of a new recession -- out but is very weak. | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
We would normally expect inflation to drop back sharply and I think we | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
will see that. The debate about who to blame will continue but the | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
relentless rise in inflation should now be coming to an end. The bad | :05:31. | :05:37. | |
economic news continues. Stephanie Flanders is here. | :05:37. | :05:40. | |
You heard Mervyn King saying that inflation will come down | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
dramatically next year and yet he is still listed lots of | :05:44. | :05:53. | |
uncertainties. Are they on track? We have often heard a very vigorous | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
defence from the Bank of England of the government's policies. We only | :05:57. | :06:01. | |
had a bit of that today and I think it because it was a sober speech, | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
talking about the global economic situation and the constraints that | :06:05. | :06:10. | |
it puts on our policy makers and our recovery. He is thinking not | :06:10. | :06:15. | |
just of the eurozone crisis, although he does want ibid solution | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
from the eurozone summit this weekend, but also he wants the G20 | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
leaders next month to be addressing the global imbalances, which he | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
says are at the heart of the financial crisis. Until we get that, | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
he thinks it will be even harder for the government to bring down | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
borrowing as fast as it wants to, and bring down the deficit, and it | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
would put off the day when the Bank of England could finally get back | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
to interest rates that could actually encourage savers to save, | :06:43. | :06:48. | |
to reward them for saving, so it was a pretty sober speech for them. | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
The Bank of England would rather not have interest rates so low | :06:52. | :06:57. | |
three years after the crisis and would rather not be talking about | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
still injecting emergency money into the economy. | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
After five years in captivity, the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, has | :07:03. | :07:05. | |
been released by the Palestinian group Hamas and re-united with his | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
family. It's part of a controversial prisoner swap, which | :07:10. | :07:12. | |
will eventually see more than a thousand Palestinians released in | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
exchange. They include some who had been serving life sentences for | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
killing Israeli civilians and soldiers. Jeremy Bowen sent this | :07:19. | :07:28. | |
report. This evening, Gilad Shalit was | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
flown home. His family campaigned for five years to get him back and | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
they won the sympathy of Israelis, for whom military service is a rite | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
of passage for every generation. He was smiling as they drove him in. | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
Most Israelis support the deal that was made his freedom, even though | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
his ransom was the release of people they regard as terrorists | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
and murderous. This morning, as his family was picked up, he was waking | :07:54. | :08:00. | |
up in Gaza for the last time. Then Gilad Shalit, pale and thin, was | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
marched to freedom by the head of the Hamas military wing and his | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
bodyguards. He gave an interview to Egyptian TV. Of course I missed my | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
family, he said, and freedom, meeting people. | :08:13. | :08:20. | |
He hoped the deal would end wars between Israel and the Palestinians. | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
From dawn, Hamas fighters were deployed across Gaza, a show of | :08:24. | :08:30. | |
force ahead of what they saw as a victory. And Palestinian families | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
were gathering to welcome the prisoners' home. Men and women who | :08:34. | :08:39. | |
were jailed for taking up arms against Israel are exalted in | :08:39. | :08:45. | |
Palestinian society. Their action is seen as legitimate resistance | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
against occupiers. This 11-year-old was waiting for her mother, | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
imprisoned for ten years for helping suicide bombers meet their | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
targets. Her father was not been released. Back in Israel, Gilad | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
Shalit was being welcomed by the Prime Minister, Netanyahu. He | :09:03. | :09:09. | |
needed some good news after a difficult political summer. His | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
father ran a tenacious campaign which helped the Israelis pay, | :09:13. | :09:20. | |
which for them, is a high price for Gilad Shalit's freedom. In Gaza, | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
Palestinian prisoners were welcomed by Hamas leaders, whose own need | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
for a victory meant they cashed in their Israeli asset for left then | :09:27. | :09:32. | |
they had hoped. Other prisoners have been deported, and illegal | :09:32. | :09:36. | |
Israeli Act say human rights workers. On the West Bank, clashes | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
started as they waited for the prisoners. No sign of a new | :09:40. | :09:46. | |
positive atmosphere here, just the old one. The West Bank welcomed -- | :09:46. | :09:53. | |
welcome was led by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. But other | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
Palestinians celebrated, they all knew that Hamas had succeeded where | :09:58. | :10:04. | |
Mahmoud Abbas had failed. After 12 years inside, this man, a Hamas | :10:04. | :10:10. | |
fighter, summed up the mood. Our enemies, he said, only respond to | :10:10. | :10:17. | |
force. These men are being treated as conquering heroes. What freed | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
them was a transaction between Hamas and the Israelis. It doesn't | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
in itself get them closer to a peace agreement because there are | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
still all the big issues of war and peace and the future of this land | :10:28. | :10:36. | |
that remain. In Gaza tonight, they are still celebrating victory. Not | :10:36. | :10:41. | |
a chance for peace. That will have to wait, for Palestinians and | :10:41. | :10:46. | |
Israelis. Jeremy is in Jerusalem now. Some | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
people today are seeing this as a major step forward in the search | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
for a peace settlement at some stage. How do you see it? | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
I don't see it like that to be quite honest. It didn't take a big | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
political leap of faith to make this deal. Effectively Gilad Shalit | :11:02. | :11:08. | |
was always effectively the sale, as long as the price was right. It so | :11:08. | :11:11. | |
happened that this summer they managed to agree a price that | :11:11. | :11:18. | |
suited them both. Also, big deal Wiggins President Mahmoud Abbas. He | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
asked for Israel to release prisoners as a gesture of good | :11:22. | :11:28. | |
faith. It did not do that. It did it go for Hamas, who were holding a | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
man by force. So I think to wrap it all up, I would say it is a good | :11:33. | :11:38. | |
day for family reunions on both sides. It may not make things worse, | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
although some Israelis think that is possible. But what this does not | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
do of itself is help any renewed attempt to get back to the | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
negotiating table because don't forget, at the moment, there isn't | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
a peace process of any kind worth mentioning. | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
Fang Kew, Jeremy. -- a thank you, Jeremy. | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
At Bristol Crown Court, a jury has heard that the man accused of | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
murdering Joanna Yeates confessed to the killing to a prison chaplain. | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
Vincent Tabak is said to have made the claims shortly after he was | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
arrested in January. Miss Yeates, who was 25, was found strangled in | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
December last year. Mr Tabak has admitted manslaughter but denies | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
murder. Two men jailed for using Facebook | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
to incite people to riot in August have lost appeals against their | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
four-year sentences. The judge said decent citizens had been appalled | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
by the actions of 21-year-old Jordan Blackshaw of Northwich and | :12:28. | :12:36. | |
22-year-old Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan The former Defence Secretary Liam | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
Fox ignored official warnings about his relationship with his | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
unofficial adviser, Adam Werrity. That's one of the findings of the | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
Cabinet Secretary, whose report into the Fox affair was published | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
today. He concludes that Dr Fox did breach the ministerial code but | :12:50. | :12:56. | |
didn't gain financially from his links to Mr Werrity. James Landale | :12:56. | :13:03. | |
has the details. It was a friendship that cost Liam | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
Fox his job. A friendship that saw his best man pose as his unofficial | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
adviser. A friendship that blurred their professional and personal | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
lives. Dr Fox resigned last week after it emerged that Adam Werritty | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
had been funded by some businessmen with defence interests, funds which | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
on one occasion the former Defence Secretary had solicited himself. | :13:25. | :13:30. | |
Since last week, Sir Gus O'Donnell, on the right, has been | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
investigating and today his conclusions were unequivocal. He | :13:34. | :13:38. | |
found no evidence that Dr Fox gained financially from his | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
relationship with Mr Werrity, he was given no access to classified | :13:42. | :13:48. | |
documents, but he said Dr Fox's blurred official and private life | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
was not acceptable. It created a perceived conflict of interest and | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
that was the failure of judgment on his part. The report also reveals | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
that top officials at the MoD warned Dr Fox about this | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
relationship but he ignored them. He kept them in the dark about the | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
extent of the meetings and put his staff at risk by revealing details | :14:08. | :14:14. | |
of foreign visits to Mr Werrity. Labour said all this was not enough. | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
We need a much wider inquiry that looks at all of the details. Not | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
just Liam Fox's diary and relationship with Mr Werrity, but | :14:23. | :14:27. | |
which other government ministers met Mr Werrity and why? Who was | :14:27. | :14:33. | |
giving Mr Werrity all of this money and why? This report did not answer | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
all of the questions but it did say that divorce in Whitehall should be | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
tightened. Officials should accompany ministers to meetings, | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
civil servants should talk to ministers about acquaintances and | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
if they are not happy, ultimately tell the Prime Minister. It is | :14:48. | :14:54. | |
damaging for Liam Fox. We are relieved there was no financial | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
gain and impact on national security. It is a warning to all | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
ministers that the ministerial code is there to be honoured and if you | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
greeted, there are serious consequence is. The consequences | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
for Liam Fox is that he has had to spend a few days consigned to his | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
Somerset constituency but he is back in Westminster now it is | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
expected to make a statement to MPs tomorrow. This report is damning to | :15:18. | :15:23. | |
Liam Fox and MPs say the rules out an early return to office, but it | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
is not the end of the affair. Adam Werritty has hired some lawyers and | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
the Prime Minister will face questions on this in the Commons | :15:31. | :15:34. | |
tomorrow. There is still the possibility of police | :15:34. | :15:44. | |
:15:44. | :15:50. | ||
Coming up, we're live at the Man Booker ceremony in London. The | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
Guildhall is buzzing for what is the most contentious prize for | :15:54. | :16:04. | |
:16:04. | :16:06. | ||
years, which has taken place amid An independent report into | :16:06. | :16:08. | |
allegations of beatings, torture and murder in police custody in | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
Bahrain will be published shortly. It was commissioned by the King of | :16:11. | :16:13. | |
Bahrain following international criticism of his government's | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
reponse to the failed uprising in the spring. Our security | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
correspondent, Frank Gardner, has returned to the Gulf state to | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
assess the human rights situation and hear the testimonies of some | :16:24. | :16:34. | |
:16:34. | :16:38. | ||
who have given evidence to the They say this boy was a martyr. | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
Villagers from Bahrain's Shia majority protest against the | :16:42. | :16:51. | |
killing of a teenager in a recent clash. There is so much tension | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
Indies Shi'ite villages that when the there are processions like this, | :16:56. | :17:02. | |
often it ends in tear gas, more animosity and Matthew Bates. To see | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
the other side, I joined a patrol of the special security force, the | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
people feared by the protesters. This is what they do every night, | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
going out to the villages and checking out the demonstrations, | :17:13. | :17:20. | |
the protests, the road blocks. They're confronting sporadic civil | :17:20. | :17:29. | |
disobedience. Road blocks and rock throwing by youths who government | :17:29. | :17:39. | |
supporters call traitors. Back in February, at the height of the | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
uprising, the security forces' heavy-handed tactics caused | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
international outrage. One of those attacked was this doctor, who gave | :17:49. | :17:56. | |
the BBC a bedside interview at the time. They started beating me with | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
sticks. I told them, I am a doctor, but I believe they were not | :18:00. | :18:10. | |
:18:10. | :18:13. | ||
listening. So, they started beating me. They said, we will kill you and | :18:13. | :18:20. | |
let you die here. The King has responded to all of these | :18:20. | :18:22. | |
allegations by commissioning an international inquiry. The | :18:22. | :18:32. | |
:18:32. | :18:34. | ||
government is on something of a Even by the demonstrators it was | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
not just by the government and those issues have been faced... | :18:38. | :18:43. | |
the demonstrators are not in charge. What I am saying is that abuses | :18:43. | :18:49. | |
happened from everyone but were they systematic? No. They were not. | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
They agreed to let me see inside a police detention centre. This is | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
not the main prison and nor is it where most of the interrogations | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
have taken place but this was the first visit by the media. Most | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
inmates said they were well treated all the one, a convicted criminal, | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
whispered he had been beaten. This countries harbouring thousands of | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
human rights allegations, many investigated by the Commission. How | :19:16. | :19:18. | |
the government reacts to their findings will help determine what | :19:18. | :19:28. | |
:19:28. | :19:30. | ||
Two British teenagers have been arrested in Kenya on suspicion of | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
having links with an Islamist group in Somalia. The men, both aged 18, | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
were picked up close to the border with Somalia. The father of one of | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
the teenagers travelled to Kenya and worked with police to find his | :19:40. | :19:45. | |
son. A vaccine against one of the world's biggest killers of children, | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
malaria, has come a step closer. Results from a major clinical trial | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
in Africa show that the vaccine cuts the likelihood of getting the | :19:53. | :19:57. | |
disease by half, raising hopes that there may soon be a more robust | :19:57. | :19:59. | |
defence for the billons at risk worldwide. Our medical | :19:59. | :20:09. | |
:20:09. | :20:09. | ||
correspondent, Fergus Walsh, This is a, and sight in many | :20:09. | :20:16. | |
African hospitals, children laid low by malaria. The parasitic | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
infection is spread by mosquitoes. An effective vaccine would | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
transform the life chances of millions. This nine-month-old is | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
one of those to receive the experimental jab being trialled in | :20:29. | :20:36. | |
several African countries. Malaria is a global threat, about 3 billion | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
people in the areas covered red are people in the areas covered red are | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
at risk of infection. But most of the nearly one million deaths every | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
year are in Africa. Nearly 6,000 children under two were involved in | :20:48. | :20:54. | |
the trial. Results showed malaria cases were cut by about half, but | :20:54. | :20:56. | |
the effectiveness may have waned the effectiveness may have waned | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
after about one year. Over the next couple of years we will get a clear | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
view over what is really happening with protection, is it just that | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
people are acquiring natural immunity, do we need a booster dose | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
or not? All of that will become clearer in the next couple of years. | :21:12. | :21:17. | |
Bill Gates has given billions for vaccines in the developing world, | :21:17. | :21:23. | |
and is encouraged by the results. It is very promising, the very fact | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
that this vaccine works gives us data about how to build better | :21:27. | :21:35. | |
vaccines, and it gives us a tall to combine with the other measures, to | :21:35. | :21:44. | |
help us bring the number of deaths down. Nets and insecticides will | :21:44. | :21:50. | |
remain vital. The vaccine is no magic bullet. But even a jab that | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
was 50% effective could save huge numbers of lives in the years to | :21:54. | :22:03. | |
Europe's highest court has ruled that stem cells from human embryos | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
cannot be patented, because of ethical concerns. A group of | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
leading scientists in the UK has criticised the ban, saying it could | :22:12. | :22:20. | |
force research to go overseas. Within the past hour, the winner of | :22:20. | :22:27. | |
this year's Man Booker Prize has been announced. It is worth �50,000. | :22:27. | :22:35. | |
This year, the standards have been questioned by some. For the latest, | :22:35. | :22:41. | |
we are joining our arts editor, Will Gompertz. There is much | :22:41. | :22:46. | |
excitement and some amusement here, because Julian Barnes, the man who | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
said a few years ago that the Booker Prize was nothing more than | :22:49. | :22:57. | |
a game of "posh bingo" or, was the man who won. The 65-year-old has | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
been shortlisted three times before, but this is the first occasion he | :23:01. | :23:08. | |
has won. The winner of the 2011 Man Booker prize is Julian Barnes For | :23:08. | :23:15. | |
The Sense Of An Ending. He took the opportunity to speak his mind. | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
Those of you who have seen my book, whatever you may think of its | :23:19. | :23:25. | |
contents, will probably agree that it is a beautiful object. And if | :23:25. | :23:30. | |
the physical book, as we have come to call it, is to resist the | :23:30. | :23:33. | |
challenge of the book, it has to look like something worth buying | :23:33. | :23:39. | |
and keeping. Young writers dominated the short list, which | :23:39. | :23:44. | |
included two thrillers and a western. All six books were written | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
in the first person. But it was a writer of great experience who | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
triumphed. The concise, 150 page novel have long been the favourite | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
with the bookies, and, as it turns out, it was also the favourite of | :23:57. | :24:02. | |
the judges. It spoke to us in the way of great literature. We all | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
agreed that this was almost an archetypal book of our time. It is | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
a book which speaks about what it is like being a human being in 21st | :24:12. | :24:18. | |
century Britain. Later on in life, you expect a bit of rest, don't | :24:18. | :24:24. | |
you? The main character is Tony Webster, a late middle-aged man | :24:24. | :24:28. | |
looking back on his life, the events of which he discovers are | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
not quite as he remembered them. The decision to choose an | :24:32. | :24:36. | |
established literary figure will help to deflect some of the | :24:36. | :24:39. | |
criticism directed at them for dumbing down the prize, an | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
accusation emphatically refuted by the chairman. All of this criticism | :24:43. | :24:48. | |
has been a load of nonsense, in my opinion. I did use the word | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
readability, and I shall stick with it. At the end of the day, you have | :24:52. | :24:58. | |
to ask yourself, what is a novel for, if it is not to be read? | :24:58. | :25:03. | |
debate will probably rumble on. But tonight's event is really about | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
celebrating writing itself, and giving an opportunity for | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
publishers to raise awareness of their books, something Julian | :25:10. | :25:15. | |
Barnes is now unlikely to have to worry about for some time. I | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
suppose the thing is, if the judges' intention was to pick books | :25:19. | :25:25. | |
that were popular, one has to say, they succeeded. This year's | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
shortlist has sold nearly three times more printed books than last | :25:29. | :25:37. | |
year's did in the same period of time. Tonight's football action, | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
and both Manchester United and Manchester City have been playing | :25:40. | :25:43. | |
tonight in the Champions League. Our correspondent Joe Wilson was | :25:43. | :25:48. | |
Our correspondent Joe Wilson was watching. Manchester City have | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
started to swagger around the Premier League, as their wealth | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
demands. In Europe, they are strangely uncertain. Villarreal | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
took the lead with Manchester City still sleeping, just three minutes | :25:59. | :26:04. | |
gone. Mancini looked at his most Italian. He started making | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
substitutions before half-time, but he was indebted to the Spanish | :26:08. | :26:14. | |
defence, an own goal levelling the game. City's fans misdirected their | :26:14. | :26:19. | |
support, repeatedly throwing rubbish, whilst their team kept | :26:19. | :26:24. | |
wasting chances. Three minutes into injury time, a last, desperate | :26:24. | :26:29. | |
opportunity. Sergio Aguero, an Argentine substitute who was quite | :26:29. | :26:39. | |
:26:39. | :26:39. | ||
prepared to play, and a manager whose European season was saved. | :26:39. | :26:41. | |
Romania's Otelul Galati are so obscure, there is debate about how | :26:41. | :26:45. | |
to pronounce their name. They held Manchester United for about an hour, | :26:45. | :26:50. | |
but then their captain tried to hold the ball. It was a test for | :26:50. | :26:56. |