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Weblogger in Home secretary kerfuffle shock 

One of the interesting side stories to the David Blunkett resignation is that a UK blogger is at the centre of the affair.

Stephen Pollard‘s biography of Blunkett contained the nasty comments about cabinet colleagues that some people reckoned did the former Home secretary more harm than the rushed-through visa. Pollard has gone silent on his weblog for two days, but there is understandably comprehensive coverage of the coverage of his book in the preceding days.

I’m disappointed, however, that he isn’t giving his weblog readers some insight into the centre of the storm, as well as the background to the Blunkett revelations. I suspect he’s saving the best bits for newspapers that will pay for the words.

Literary DNA 

The Paris Review has opened a free archive of its famous interviews with authors. There are teasers and the (dreaded) pdfs of the complete interviews (via The Econoclast).

Sadly, they couldn’t obtain the rights to the 1953 interview with Graham Greene. Here’s his reply on being asked whether he took characters from real life:

  No, one never knows enough about characters in real life to put them into novels. One gets started and then, suddenly, one cannot remember what toothpaste they use, what are their views on interior decoration, and one is stuck utterly. No, major characters emerge: minor ones may be photographed.

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