From what we know however (as opposed to what we’ve been told) the Iranians are likely to have had some justifiable grounds for their action.

Who would know for sure are the US government, the British government, the Russian government …. and maybe a few other governments that just happened to have their for-peaceful-purposes-only satellites over, above, near, close-to and around the area at that time on that day. You can bet every single image of that particular part of Planet Earth at that time has been gone over with a fine-tooth comb …… so there would probably be a few hundred people who actually do know but absolutely NONE of them are going to share that with ordinary folk like you and me. The Royal Navy ship would nave its own log of course but the British won’t say too much until they get all 15 of their sailors back.

Perhaps there’s a reader out there that hasn’t listened to them so if I could just reach out for a second… Credited with being pioneers of the soft/loud school of rock, the Pixies developed a simple template that could be easily replicated to a very good standard and offered an alternative to the following schools – loud/loud; loud/noodle; soft/soft; noodle/noodle. In a lot of ways they picked up on the Jesus and Mary Chains attempt to get a lighter use of noise and hiss without needing the Beach Boys. The material is the mix you’d expect from a pasty white Spanish obsessed singer , a female bassist, a Filipino guitarist and a drummer that didn’t self-combust. Songs about rockets, lifts, catholicism, activists, physics, and love – all in mostly under three minutes. They sound as good in the originals as they do on the demo tape, as they do acoustic, as they do on a Japanese tribute album. Great album covers, shite videos, but if you can get your hands on a copy of their Newport acoustic set you’ll have yourself a lovely afternoon.

a twice-divorced air-conditioner repairwoman who lives in a renovated schoolbus in Perth, and who discovers she’s descended from a secret clan of altruistic werewolves. On your marks, get set… write!

Maybe we could do the LP short story contest!

a twice-divorced air-conditioner repairwoman who lives in a renovated schoolbus in Perth

Hey!

The point is well taken about works written trying to ingratiate themselves to a prize not being so great, but that’s only because the criteria are still too vague, so people write what they think the judges will want to hear, on a hunch, instead of knowing *exactly* what the judges want to hear.

I think it would be fun if there was, say, a literary prize, where each year the (yearly-changing) criteria and subject of the work was bewilderingly intricate and exact, and only open to already-published writers. Then we would really see an equal test of skill, a joust for the prize as such, as each writer tried to clear the hurdles of writing about, say, a twice-divorced air-conditioner repairwoman who lives in a renovated schoolbus in Perth, and who discovers she’s descended from a secret clan of altruistic werewolves. On your marks, get set… write!

Re-education camp for you, young man.

So, how does that work then? Obviously we have our hands bound so we can’t use the handball any more, but then what?

I hope I was not suggesting anyone would write anything with an eye on a prize. Rather, that Australians are too smart to do such a thing. In other words, the ‘nets’ are not going to stand in the way of good writing. But I was not very clear, I’m sorry.

Genevieve — one can, in fact, pick a novel that has been written with one eye on winning the Miles Franklin, or any other prize with conditions, in a heartbeat. Almost by definition, it won’t be a good enough novel to win that or indeed any other prize.

PC, pisstakes aside… you’re shitting me, right? I could no more intend to win the MF or Aus/Vogel etc than I could milk a bull – apart from satisfying the age qualifications attached to the latter.

I remember going through THTSTP after getting the MF nomination forms from the publisher and counting the number of pages set in Australia. Didn’t have a hope in Hell was my considered view.