:00:00. > :00:00.beings. That is nasty. I did think that is a fair reading of his
:00:00. > :00:00.speech. That is what people hope he said but it is not a fair reading of
:00:00. > :00:17.what he said. Thank you all very much indeed.
:00:18. > :00:22.Newsnight Scotland, what is the best Scottish novel written in the last
:00:23. > :00:25.50 years? We will reveal all and ask whether it really matters if fewer
:00:26. > :00:30.and fewer of us are reading any books at all. We will discuss that
:00:31. > :00:33.with Christopher Brookmyre and Irvine Welsh among others. If you
:00:34. > :00:36.are fed up with a high pressure political debate, pause for a
:00:37. > :00:42.moment, sit down and read a good book. But not now, please! Thousands
:00:43. > :00:52.of readers have just voted for their choice of the best Scottish novel of
:00:53. > :00:55.the last 50 years. We will announce the winner in a
:00:56. > :00:57.moment. But first Huw Williams has this report. So what is the Scottish
:00:58. > :01:01.novel? The Scottish Book Trust decided it is a book written here or
:01:02. > :01:09.by an author born or who now lives in Scotland. These are our top ten
:01:10. > :01:12.favourite titles as voted by nearly 9000 people from a long list of 50
:01:13. > :01:21.contenders written over the past 50 years. This is where I'll live. My
:01:22. > :01:30.family. My mum and dad run the shop. This is my brother's bedroom. Katie
:01:31. > :01:36.Morag first delivered the mail back in 1984, but stories of life on this
:01:37. > :01:45.fictional isle off the West Coast continued to captivate generations
:01:46. > :01:49.of children. Hello! These youngsters met her creator at the BBC in
:01:50. > :01:55.Glasgow today. There was not much enthusiasm for the idea of a beauty
:01:56. > :01:58.parade of books here. In this particular poll there are no
:01:59. > :02:07.children's books. It is just adult books. I wonder at that. I do have
:02:08. > :02:11.that kind of stigma that I do actually do grown-up books that they
:02:12. > :02:19.are never commented on. It is just children's books. I have come to
:02:20. > :02:23.meet some students of Scottish literature at the University of
:02:24. > :02:30.Glasgow. I am delighted that there is science fiction there. Iain M
:02:31. > :02:35.Banks is probably my favourite Scottish author and I am delighted
:02:36. > :02:39.that he is in the list. Why is that important? The way that he writes
:02:40. > :02:44.science fiction is how it should be written. He has no careful scale. He
:02:45. > :02:49.creates a fantastic world where you can do or see anything but he
:02:50. > :02:54.manages to keep tension and drama in paradise, where you think it would
:02:55. > :02:58.not exist. I am delighted he is on the list. Anything strike you about
:02:59. > :03:01.the list, anything that is there or not there? I am not surprised
:03:02. > :03:04.Trainspotting did so well. I think it has become one of those books
:03:05. > :03:11.totally synonymous with Scottish identity. Whether or not that is a
:03:12. > :03:14.good thing or a bad thing is not relevant. I think Scots identify
:03:15. > :03:19.with the voice in Trainspotting and many people view it as Scotland
:03:20. > :03:23.being encompassed by Trainspotting. No doubt the film being so popular
:03:24. > :03:31.was something to do with it as well. Only one woman on the list. Is that
:03:32. > :03:38.a surprise? Tricky To Keep Breathing is very good. Psychological but very
:03:39. > :03:42.good. I don't know if other writers have fallen out of the 50 year
:03:43. > :03:47.timeline, like Muriel Spark. If you go back a bit further back there are
:03:48. > :03:51.many good women. I think more women could have made the list but it
:03:52. > :03:55.could be because more women write poetry, like Liz Lochhead and
:03:56. > :04:00.Kathleen Jamie for example. They could have made the list if it was a
:04:01. > :04:04.poetry one, no doubt. What does the poll and the books that made it into
:04:05. > :04:13.the top ten tell us about the state of literature in Scotland today? I
:04:14. > :04:15.think writers take Scotland seriously and Scotland takes its
:04:16. > :04:20.writers seriously, as it should, looking at the legacy of Scottish
:04:21. > :04:24.writing, especially in the last 50 years, which this legacy has
:04:25. > :04:29.covered. We have seen a flourishing of talent. Not just fiction but
:04:30. > :04:34.academic writing, poetry, and let's not forget playwrights as well. So
:04:35. > :04:40.it must be boomtime for publishers, two. They are two very different
:04:41. > :04:43.things. Writing always continues. Writers inspire writers, books
:04:44. > :04:48.inspired books, poets inspire poets, but publishing is a very
:04:49. > :04:53.different beast. We see publishing model is changing. Next week
:04:54. > :04:59.Mainstream is having its closing party. Things are changing. There
:05:00. > :05:03.are new publishers in Scotland like Cargo and Freight, but publishing is
:05:04. > :05:07.much more perilous than writing. Only one of these ten titles can be
:05:08. > :05:14.the ultimate winner, so which one will it be? If you are sitting
:05:15. > :05:20.comfortably, we will tell you in a moment.
:05:21. > :05:24.I am joined in the studio by Marc Lambert, Chief executive of the
:05:25. > :05:28.Scottish Book Trust. We are on tenterhooks. We are such cheapskates
:05:29. > :05:35.that we do not have an envelope for you to pull out a card! We will use
:05:36. > :05:44.our imagination, literary spirit. Who won? Trainspotting came out top,
:05:45. > :05:48.so it is the overall winner. 9000 votes cast from 57 different
:05:49. > :05:52.countries, which is pretty remarkable. This was an internet
:05:53. > :05:58.thing where anyone could join in? Correct. It is fantastic that people
:05:59. > :06:01.from 57 countries were voting for their favourite Scottish book. Hey
:06:02. > :06:10.presto we can talk to Irvine Welsh because he is on the line from
:06:11. > :06:18.Chicago. Congratulations. Thank you. Why do you think Trainspotting hit
:06:19. > :06:24.the mark with people in the world in general in the way that most novels
:06:25. > :06:28.just don't? It is almost impossible for me to answer that question. A
:06:29. > :06:38.fine new, I would replicate that formula. -- if I knew. You write the
:06:39. > :06:40.books that you want to write and anything that happens afterwards is
:06:41. > :06:48.not something you have any control over. I think any books that has
:06:49. > :06:55.very strong characters, that people can instantly identify with, that is
:06:56. > :07:00.what I hear everywhere I go, whether it is in South America, the United
:07:01. > :07:13.States or South Africa or Australia, Russia, Eastern Europe. Everybody
:07:14. > :07:26.says they recognise Renton, Spud, and Sick Boy. They are archetypes.
:07:27. > :07:31.They recognise the flush of youth. Like catcher in the Rye. That time
:07:32. > :07:34.when everything is possible. If you mess up it does not matter that much
:07:35. > :07:42.because you get second and third chances. I would say that is the
:07:43. > :07:47.appeal but I really don't know. OK. We have Christopher Brookmyre, too.
:07:48. > :07:53.Don't look downhearted because your book was number five, One Fine Day
:07:54. > :08:01.In The Middle Of The Night. Title Normal Top Six Finish. Do You Think
:08:02. > :08:14.There Is Any Point To This Sort Of Exercise? One Of The Immediate
:08:15. > :08:24.Successes -- one of the immediate successes is generating publicity.
:08:25. > :08:30.We are also joined by Professor Linda Dryden from the University of
:08:31. > :08:37.Edinburgh. Do you think there is any point in this sort of exercise? He
:08:38. > :08:41.is right because it has got us talking about books, which is always
:08:42. > :08:45.a good thing, and it makes us concentrate on what is happening in
:08:46. > :08:49.Scotland in the book trade, which is a good thing. Would you like to have
:08:50. > :08:55.a stab at telling Irvine Welsh what he himself says he does not know,
:08:56. > :09:00.quite Trainspotting is such a goer? I was thinking about that. I thought
:09:01. > :09:03.the young people on earlier were interesting because they recognised
:09:04. > :09:07.Trainspotting as a great book. I think it appeals not just to adults
:09:08. > :09:11.but young people as well. They find something in that book that they can
:09:12. > :09:20.identify with. The subject matter is terrific anyway, which is part of
:09:21. > :09:25.it. You all have a problem. I think I am right in saying that reading
:09:26. > :09:27.rates are going down. That is true. The latest survey of literacy from
:09:28. > :09:35.the Scottish Government, published in May, shows that Scottish
:09:36. > :09:40.teenagers and Scottish children as they progress through school are
:09:41. > :09:45.losing their enthusiasm for reading. That is a thing we have to take
:09:46. > :09:49.seriously. I wonder, Christopher Brookmyre, our youngsters not
:09:50. > :09:53.reading or are they just not reading books? I am conscious of the fact
:09:54. > :09:58.that we live in an era where young people communicate via the written
:09:59. > :10:05.word anyway that they did not 20 years ago. Perhaps, MA seem
:10:06. > :10:08.surprising, that they are therefore resistant to reading fiction or for
:10:09. > :10:12.pleasure but it may simply be that when it gets to the end of the
:10:13. > :10:17.school day, or the end of their other activities, the notion of
:10:18. > :10:24.reading more prose is unattractive. Irvine Welsh, youngsters read in a
:10:25. > :10:28.different way perhaps and perhaps maybe writers like yourselves and
:10:29. > :10:35.others, it is something you have to come to terms with, perhaps read
:10:36. > :10:41.shorter verse. Again, I don't either. I think that one of the
:10:42. > :10:51.interesting things now, you have this tremendous plethora of, this
:10:52. > :10:54.already end of courses and Master of fine arts programmes and people want
:10:55. > :10:59.to be writers. They don't necessarily want to read. When I go
:11:00. > :11:08.and talk to people, it is like surprising how many people you meet
:11:09. > :11:15.that are actually doing postgraduate courses and wanting to be writers
:11:16. > :11:20.but they have not actually read. Some of the novelty would probably
:11:21. > :11:23.describe as indispensable. So that is a kind of interesting phenomenon,
:11:24. > :11:30.we have less readers but more writers. Or more people wanting to
:11:31. > :11:36.be writers. Why is that? There must be an incredible dispersion of what
:11:37. > :11:41.was once a fairly unified industry, people self publish on the
:11:42. > :11:45.Internet, OK, much of it might be rubbish but some of it has become
:11:46. > :11:48.good and commercially successful. That is done for the publishing
:11:49. > :11:54.industry but everything is much more dispersed. Yes, it is. I don't know
:11:55. > :11:59.that we are not reading as much as we used to. Some of the figures that
:12:00. > :12:01.the Scottish Book Trust published an interesting and in Scotland, it
:12:02. > :12:07.seems there is more reading taking place than other parts of the UK. If
:12:08. > :12:09.you like, the Harry Potter books, they do a lot for children's
:12:10. > :12:20.literacy and getting children reading. Candles, whether you like
:12:21. > :12:27.or don't like them... -- Kindles. Should we give it a virtual prize?
:12:28. > :12:30.That is unanimous. Sorry. I see a lot of people that reading on
:12:31. > :12:36.Kindles and I see that as a good end. In the sense that they are
:12:37. > :12:41.reading. -- I see that as a good thing. There is lots of stuff
:12:42. > :12:44.available on the Internet to read. People might not read books but they
:12:45. > :12:48.go and read articles on the Internet. They have got access to
:12:49. > :12:52.the printed word and probably use the printed word compared to 20
:12:53. > :12:55.years ago, when youngsters might spend four hours in front of a
:12:56. > :13:02.television, now they are spending four hours on the computer and the
:13:03. > :13:07.art in front of text. That is true but it also is important what text
:13:08. > :13:12.they are in front of and while it is very true to say that a lot of
:13:13. > :13:15.children are reading and writing more than they would have 20 years
:13:16. > :13:19.ago because of social media and because they are organising their
:13:20. > :13:22.lives and constructing their personas online, if you like, there
:13:23. > :13:30.is not any substitute to actual engagement with a fantastic novel.
:13:31. > :13:32.Whether that is on a computer, a Kindle or in printed format, it does
:13:33. > :13:40.not matter, what matters is engagement with books. Children are
:13:41. > :13:44.inclined to associate text with communication or work and they are
:13:45. > :13:49.not encouraged enough to associate the written word with entertainment.
:13:50. > :13:53.They do not categorise... When I grew up I categorised the fiction I
:13:54. > :13:56.was reading alongside movies, television, pop music, I saw it as
:13:57. > :14:03.part of popular culture, one of the things I looks for to spend my free
:14:04. > :14:07.time on. That is one of the things that is missing now. -- one of the
:14:08. > :14:12.things I looked for. Tell me if you think I am wrong, but it strikes me
:14:13. > :14:16.that we are now in an age when perhaps the whole future of the
:14:17. > :14:19.novel is at stake. There probably is not as much experimentation with the
:14:20. > :14:25.form of the novel and what a novel should be as there was in the 1960s.
:14:26. > :14:32.I don't know. I dispute that. There is a lot of great experimental
:14:33. > :14:37.stuff. If you look at, one of the great books, it was not on the list,
:14:38. > :14:45.it probably should have, was a book that came out last year or the year
:14:46. > :14:51.before last called Tales from the Mall die UN Morrison. It was a very
:14:52. > :14:59.innovative experimental book. -- by Ewan Morrison. He used lists of
:15:00. > :15:06.websites that you keep into. It was exploring the story. And so there is
:15:07. > :15:12.innovative work. It just is not necessarily embraced are accepted.
:15:13. > :15:15.All right. Unfortunately, you just pre-empted my next question. I was
:15:16. > :15:19.going to ask you, ask all of you, you are not allowed to say one of
:15:20. > :15:23.your own books or one of Christopher's. If there is a book
:15:24. > :15:27.that you think, other than the one you have just mentioned, should have
:15:28. > :15:36.been on that list of 50 books, that has been published in the last 50
:15:37. > :15:43.years, what should it be? I think there is quite a few I would love to
:15:44. > :15:47.have seen. I think it is sad that a writer of James Kelman's stature, I
:15:48. > :15:52.know he is not everyone's cup of tea, he has contributed so much to
:15:53. > :15:58.Scottish writing. I would have loved it to have seen that one of his
:15:59. > :16:02.books, probably A Disaffection, on the list. I am delighted William
:16:03. > :16:09.McIlvanney and Alistair Gray made it onto the list. I think that there
:16:10. > :16:18.are other books. Alan Warner is, his book, The Man Who Walks is one of my
:16:19. > :16:25.favourite Scottish novels. You pick one book from everybody, you choose
:16:26. > :16:28.Iain Banks because he writes in a John and he is also a mainstream
:16:29. > :16:34.writer, but what is interesting is that a lot of books have become the
:16:35. > :16:39.first novel, a lot of books selected have been the first novel of a
:16:40. > :16:44.writer. Like myself and Alistair Gray and Alan Warner. You don't want
:16:45. > :16:48.to have more than one, it kind of splits the ticket, basically, in
:16:49. > :16:54.terms of the book. I think that is interesting, the way that it tells
:16:55. > :16:59.you something about the novel, especially if you are not writing
:17:00. > :17:05.genre fiction. William McIlvanney's novel Doherty was a Scottish novel
:17:06. > :17:11.as well. It is accepted that you have to make... I am sorry to cut
:17:12. > :17:14.across you, but I want to get the first choice from everyone else. We
:17:15. > :17:25.are almost out of time. Linda Dryden. I think James Robertson, his
:17:26. > :17:42.novel And The Land Lay Still Sent In Smack. -- And The Land Lay Still. I
:17:43. > :17:50.would suggest a novel by Iain Banks. And so would I. One of his books has
:17:51. > :17:55.the greatest twist I have ever read. Thank you all very much indeed.
:17:56. > :18:03.Let's have a look at tomorrow's papers. The Guardian, bank puts
:18:04. > :18:12.brakes on fear of house price bubble. The independent, there we
:18:13. > :18:17.have it, the new MI6 connection. That is all from me. Join Gary on
:18:18. > :18:24.Monday for a special debate on Scottish media. Until then, good
:18:25. > :18:31.night. Hello. Quite a change for our
:18:32. > :18:34.weather on Friday, brighter and breezy for many. Strong winds very
:18:35. > :18:38.much a feature across Scotland, sunny spells and scattered showers.
:18:39. > :18:42.The cloud being chased away by the strength of that wind, sunny spells
:18:43. > :18:45.and scattered showers likely across England and Wales into the
:18:46. > :18:49.afternoon. Most frequent to the north and west of the Pennines,
:18:50. > :18:51.sheltered eastern areas should do better with some sunshine, it will
:18:52. > :18:55.feel pleasant but add on the strength of the winds, Devon or 10
:18:56. > :19:01.degrees, you will need an extra layer. A few showers clearing the
:19:02. > :19:04.south coast. -- seven or 10 degrees. A few isolated showers throughout
:19:05. > :19:08.the afternoon across the North Devon coastline and through much of Wales.
:19:09. > :19:12.As for Northern Ireland, sunny spells and just a few showers to the
:19:13. > :19:16.coastline, further inland it should be largely dry but it will feel
:19:17. > :19:19.quite cold because of that strong north-westerly wind and if you get
:19:20. > :19:23.caught in the rash of showers across the Western Isles, here it will feel
:19:24. > :19:24.disappointing. Some of them