Tom Roper's Weblog

CILIP speaks out on Hackney's ban

More on l'affaire Sinclair: there's a well-argued letter from Caroline Moss-Gibbons in today's Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/oct/27/olympics-2012-iain-sinclair

censorship, hackney

Hackney bans Iain Sinclair's book launch

On the Today programme this morning, Iain Sinclair, the author, psychogeographer and bookseller, was interviewed. His new book Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire: A Confidential Report was to have been launched at an event at Stoke Newington Library, by invitation of the library. Hackney Council has now banned the event. The book, as Sinclair points out in the interview, will not be published until next February, so it is hard to tell how it can have caused offence so long before publication. The truth, it seems, is the councillors and officers are upset by Sinclair's scepticism about the benefits the Olympics are supposed to bring to the borough, expressed in his essay in the London Review of Books, The Olympic Scam.

Whichever latter-day Alderman Foodbotham on Hackney council took exception to a novelist daring to appear in a library must be rather behind in their reading. The article appeared in June.

I'm not surprised. Once a Hackney resident, when I lived there the borough had fifteen or sixteen public libraries; it now has eight. And, as Sinclair reports, Stoke Newington library then had a strong local history section. It now consists of a few pamphlets in a carrier bag under a desk.

Thanks to Robert Greenwood for spotting this. You can hear the interview again here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00dywq8 It starts at 49:40 minutes and runs through to 54:20. This link may not work after Wednesday morning's programme is broadcast.

Update, Wednesday 22 October: Iain Sinclair writes on being a banned author in the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/oct/22/hackney-library-book-ban

Cesarewitch

It's a gorgeous day, enough to stop me grumbling at corporate marketing ninnies who have hidden the identity of one of Newmarket's oldest races under the name Champion's Day.
My selections:
205: Stimulation
235: Rip Van Winkle
310: Twice Over
350: Mamlook

Dogs and vapour trails

I ate my lunchtime sandwich in the park on a sunny October day. As I finished and prepared to go back to work, a young man appeared, accompanied by a slatterny girl. He led two Staffordshire bull terriers on leads, their bodies encased in elaborate leather and brass harnesses. The girl had another, smaller beast with her. This part of London seems to lead the capital in fierce dogs: see Andy Beckett in the Guardian a few weeks ago: Andy Beckett investigates the rise in rough-looking mutts on Britain's streets

The young man hailed me. His eyes were wide and his pupils wildly dilated. I had not seen such pupils since the night Colin, Nigel and I took acid outside the Cambridge Corn Exchange in 1972 or 1973. He waved at the clear sky. Did I know what those are, he demanded, pointing at some fluffy vapour trails? They're condensation, left by aeroplanes, I replied. He shook his head. The girl was expressionless.
'They're chemicals, man, look it up on the Internet', he said.
'I certainly shall,' I said, as I moved towards the park gate, watching the dogs closely.
'It's on the Internet, man, chemicals'.

Open Access Day

It's Open Access day today; one of the things that I find strange about working in further education is that the open access debate seems to have passed many of my colleagues by.

I was alarmed to see that the journalist Richard Poynder, whose thoughtful, probing interviews with key figures in publishing and the open access movement may be seen at his Open and Shut blog, is facing a libel action. I shall not comment on something that may be sub judice, but I think I can refer anyone interested to Peter Suber and Stevan Harnad's joint statement in support of his investigative work.

Crise de foie

I'm reading Will Self's Liver. I avoid posting book reviews as a rule, but may do so in this case. For the moment, I must record my astonishment that Ángel Gurría-Quintana, writing the Financial Times, could get the fourth of the four stories, Birdy Num Num, so wrong. He claims it is narrated by the HIV virus, but it is clear to any attentive reader that it is hepatitis C who tells this junkie story
FT.com / Home UK / UK - Bile bodies

Books as History

Through Lorcan Dempsey's blog, I find that David Pearson, Director of the University of London Research Library Services, has published a book about books. It goes straight onto my must-read list:

Books as history: the importance of books beyond their texts
Pearson, David.
New Castle, Delaware and London, England : Oak Knoll Press and The British Library 2008
ISBN 9781584562337

I also found the text of the first Charles Holden Memorial Lecture, sponsored by the Friends of Senate House Library, which he delivered in October 2007, on the theme, Libraries as history: the importance of libraries beyond their texts (pdf)

The mark of Cain

A passing reference in Robert Scoble's blog to the CEO of an American company who, to show his faith in his company in the face of the slump, had the company badge tattooed on his leg, set me worrying. What if this were to take off over here?

In Britain such behaviour would meet more scepticism than admiration. Can one imagine a British worker having the company's emblem engraved on his or her body in indelible ink with a vibrating needle? I think not. Imagine the anguish if image consultants were called in to change everything, or the mirth in the HR department when deciding who to sack:

'You can't sack Jenkins. He's had the company logo tattooed on his forehead'
'Oh, but think how funny he'll look in the JobCentre queue'.

Artisanal library services served on a bed of dawn-picked baby spinach

I have been preparing documents for an impending inspection. Offering my SAR (Self Assessment Review) and QIP (Quality Improvement Plan) up for criticism, they tell me that I need to pepper my statements with adjectives, in the manner of the worst restaurant menus. I find this difficult. Perhaps it is because of something beaten into me by an English master at school, perhaps a lingering attachment to objectivity that I would be much better off without, but surely ιt is for the inspectors to judge whether our services are in fact high-quality, responsive, state-of-the-art, or deserve any of the other epithets I am urged to use?

Ascot, Chepstow and Musselburgh

Ascot 110: Light the Fire
Ascot 145: Regal Parade
Chepstow 200: Crack Away Jack
Ascot 220: Young Mick
Musselburgh 315: Ishetoo
Ascot 330: Mishrif