Latest news with #EnidBlyton
Irish Examiner
5 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Keep on truckin': Where to find Ireland's best food trucks and street food options
As shockingly high summer temperatures seem to become the norm across mainland Europe, the Irish summer staycation takes on a whole new level of allure. In many ways, we are blessed, for Ireland is a world class tourist destination but there is no denying that holidaying here can take a toll on the wallet — especially if with a young family in tow and there are times when you'd be better off herding cats than trying to corral a bunch of young 'uns into a packed restaurant. This is where the casual dining of food trucks and street food outlets really comes into its own. Food trucks and street food stalls are the epitome of casual dining but it is worth focusing on the 'casual' aspect for a moment and learning a few handy tips if you aim to include them in your holiday dining plans. The daily commercial life of a food truck operator can be very precarious. With no booking systems and often at the vagaries of the weather, an operator can prep for a busy day and return to base with the bulk of it. A single bad weather day can wipe out a food truck's profits for a whole week. This means many choose to supplement their income with catering jobs or private dining gigs, and sometimes these gigs clash with what is supposed to be a trading day in a regular location. Or some days a trader just wakes up with the mother of all flus and can't get out of bed, with no one to cover for them. It can be deeply frustrating to go to the effort of travelling to a particular location to find the food truck failed to show though it is generally a rare occurrence — food trucks value their customers just as much as fixed restaurants do and hate letting them down, especially regulars. So, if you are planning on visiting a particular food truck, take a minute on your smartphone to ensure they will actually be there. As is obvious from all the Instagram handles over website URLs below, most have active social media presences, valuing the immediacy of connection with their dining public — often using it to confirm the day before that they will be at a regular pitch and will sometimes even answer direct queries. Many post weekly changing menus if the offer varies. Also, keep in mind, it may be casual dining but it is not 'fast food'; these aren't burger franchises churning out meals 24 hours a day. A food truck has a finite output and it is not unusual for the more popular ones to sell out early — plan accordingly and arrive in plenty of time. As Enid Blyton's Famous Five were want to declare over tongue sandwiches, fruit cake, and endless bottles of ginger beer, 'food always seems to taste better outdoors'. Insufferable though they were, I've never disagreed. And if you happen to be in a glorious location, even as rain pelts down, dining on a lobster roll from Julia's Lobster Truck while drinking in the Burren scenery, or eating fresh fish from Murphy's Dursey Deli while building up the courage to take the cable car over Dursey sound … well, that's just about the finest sauce of all. CORK Caitlin Ruth: Cork's culinary genius. Caitlin Ruth One of Ireland's finest food trucks, popping up all over West Cork, including 'residencies' delivering extraordinary and uniquely original menus, as the best local produce encounters Ruth's culinary genius — eg purple rain potatoes tater tots, pineappleweed, and jalapeno jam. Instagram: @caitlinruthfood Ceapairí, The Gourmet Grill, Ballydehob Simon Kershaw's toasties are the best I've eaten in Ireland and his new stall is equally magnificent, using his own 48-hour sourdough bread to make Reubens, Cubanos, and, veggie options — eg his Crown Prince squash special. Instagram: @ceapairi_the_gourmet_grill The Spice Genie Battle of the Food Trucks winner Chris Braganza's delivery of authentic and delicious dishes from his native Goa is further elevated by his mother's own fresh spice mixes. Look for dosas — recently with potato, sweet corn masala, coconut chutney — lovely samosas, beef masala, and vegan lentil potato sambar masala. Instagram: @spice_genie The Curly Stu, Cork The Curly Stu My contender for some of Ireland's best pizzas, all delivered from a tiny horse box with souped-up Gozney ovens. Stuart Bowes' ingredient sourcing and advance prep — 48-hour fermented dough — makes all the difference to his stunning pizzas, classic recipes, and specials alike. Instagram: @thecurlystu Murphy's Dursey Deli Incredible mainland location alongside the Dursey cable car meant serving seafood was a no-brainer, especially when it is fresh, local fish from Castletownbere. Fresh hake, monkfish, or haddock with chips, and a large menu of alternatives for non-fish people, including burgers, hot dogs, and chicken. Instagram: @MurphysDursey Marina Market, Cork. Pic: Larry Cummins Marina Market There is nothing in the country to rival the Marina Market, an Irish take on Lisbon's Time Out Market offering myriad edible options and a humongous covered space for dining. Standouts include Frankie's Slice Shop, Hansum, Poulet Vous, Nua Asador, Alchemy Coffee, MKT Burger, and White Rabbit. Instagram: @MarinaMarketCork Shirley's: Fish at the Fort Truly gorgeous fish and chips, using the finest fish from the family trawler, cooked in a lovely, light, crispy batter and served up with floury, fluffy chips — say no more! Facebook: fishatthefort Meb's Veg at the Farmer's Market, Douglas, Cork. Pic: Dan Linehan Meb's Farmer's market stalwart as the former Paradiso chef delivers divine and original vegan dishes, including a spiffing banh mi with exquisite West Cork Otofu tofu; Pho Goodness — broth, rice noodles, cabbage, mushrooms; and killer doughnuts. Instagram: @MebsVeg Le Kiosk Trading at various farmer markets, including Midleton, David Kra's Afro-Carribean fare is street food of the highest order, especially sumptuous jerk chicken, but beef stew and vegan mix are all worth trying, and do add spicy sauce! Instagram: @le_kiosk_afrocaribbeanfoods CLARE Julia's Lobster Truck The national outcry when Julia Hemingway's seafood stall was turfed out of its familiar Burren pitch, indicated the thoroughly deserved popularity of a national treasure. Thankfully, Julia has a new location in The Óir House, Ballyvaughan. Expect superb steamed mussels, oysters, lobster rolls, crab toast, scampi, fish and chips, and more. Instagram: @JuliasLobsterTruck KERRY Dick Mac's Yard, Dingle Two for the price of one in the iconic pub's 'backyard'. The splendid Cáis in Dingle turns out fabulous cheese toasties, while MexWest Dingle puts a memorable West Kerry spin on Mexican street food. Instagram: @We_Are_Cais and @MexWest_Dingle An Bothán, Ballinskelligs Beachside offspring of Driftwood Surf Café, serving toasties, salad bowls, granary baps, sausage rolls — meat and veggie — along with house fries and homemade soft drinks: Lavender lemonade, apple, and ginger, all perfect summer quenchers. Instagram: @DriftwoodSurfCafé TIPPERARY My Street Food, Tipperary My Street Food An expansion of their excellent My Tasty Food retail offering, Myriam and Barry use fine, fresh local ingredients to create quite delicious dishes spanning global cuisines — eg, katsu curry, Korean-style bimibap, beef brisket baguettes, Mexican-style burritos. Also snaffle a jar of their mind-blowing pecan butter! Instagram: @ LIMERICK Wickham Way Limerick's Milk Market is the finest farmer's market in Ireland but the cavernous Wickham Way street food and arts and crafts market, just around the corner, is the best spot in Limerick for dining on the hoof. It also features regular live music and entertainment. Check out Republic of Grill tacos, Raasta Foods Indian fare, Nonties Jamaican food, and Sicín. Instagram: @WickhamWayLimerick WATERFORD Little Catch Denise Darrer's mobile seafood bar sells cracking street food-style seafood, using excellent ingredients, including locally-caught fish, and do look out for Copper Coast lobster for lobster rolls, chowder, as well as great crispy prawn bao buns. Socafro's Alistair Jeje in action. Socafro Kitchen The incomparable and very lovely Alistair Jeje not only feeds the soul but also puts fire in the belly with his Carribean and West African fusion cooking. Seek out jerk chicken, coconut curry, sweet fried plantains, and jollof rice. Instagram: @SocafroKitchen Unbeetable Produce-led dishes of real quality, including chicken or tempeh option to cater for carnivores and vegetarians alike without shortchanging either — eg Thai peanut and quinoa salad or teriyaki bowls, also toasted sourdough sandwiches and wonderful soups. Instagram: @UnbeetableJenny DUBLIN Dosa Dosa Dosa Dosa is pick of the bunch at Place St, serving up South Indian street food classics including dosa, parotta — naan with stir-fried veg, egg, chicken, aromatic spices — and kathi roll, a kebab wrapped in paratha bread. Mushroom Butcher Along with premium mushrooms for home cooking, ever-changing menus celebrate the fabulous fungi: Mushroom burgers, crispy Cajun beignets, super doughnuts, and Vietnamese coffee spiked with Lion's Mane mushroom for a real brain boost. Instagram: @MushroomButcher Cluck Chicken, Dublin Cluck Chicken Deeply divine chicken dishes, superbly sourced produce. This chicken/beef 'sandwich' tells you all you need to know: Ring's Farm fried chicken with Nathan's slow cooked beef, triple garlic mayo, jus, bone marrow béarnaise butter, crispy onions, on focaccia from Arán, in Kilkenny. Instagram: @CluckChicken La Cocina Cuevas Sublime, authentic Cali-Mex street food based on superb Irish produce serving tacos, birria, agua Fresca, buritto et al. Try 'Irish Landscapes' with seasonal mole, Irish pork, corn tortillas, and macha potatoes. Coke Lane Pizza Wonderful renditions of classic pizzas, imaginative specials and sides including meatballs, mixed olives, toasted cashews, almonds, and walnuts with rosemary and sea salt. They have regular slots at various locations in Dublin and it appears a hot dog stand will soon be added to the offering. GALWAY Snappy Snappy I love a truck that puts a hyper-focus on a prime ingredient and then renders it as total god-food as Snappy Snappy does with crab. Gorgeous crab rolls in Japanese-style milk rolls made fresh each day, crab claws, crab tostada with guajillo chilli, pickled onion and coriander, and chowder. Craft beer, cider, and wine also available. Instagram: @SnappySnappyCrab Aran Seafood Café, Aran Islands This fishing family with a seafood business on Inis Mór uses their own produce to backbone delicious fare all adding up to piscine paradise in the West — eg lobster and crab rolls, crab cakes, catch of the day. Instagram: @AranIslandSeafoods WEXFORD Scúp Gelato, Wexford Scúp Gelato What's a summer without ice cream and Willie Devereaux's Scúp is some of the finest ice cream in the country. Flavours in this gelato heaven include crowd-pleasing Wexford strawberry, roasted banoffee, Ferrero Rocher, and their own soft-serve cones, GF gelatos, vegan options, and 3FE coffee. MAYO Misunderstood Heron Another superb outlet to suffer the recent indignity of eviction, it's new home is in the very splendid P Dans pub, in Louisburgh, cooking some of the very best food in Ireland for al fresco 'street' dining — eg pollock croquettes with summer fruit salad, featuring Louisburgh grown apricots, and pork neck, mustard and An Garraí Glas greens. Instagram: @Misunderstood_Heron DERRY Pyke n Pommes Chef Kevin Pyke may now also have a bricks and mortar premises but an original pathfinder for the Irish food truck world, still delivers gorgeous grub from his river front double decker bus. Korean chicken burger with chilli spring onions, sesame, and miso, is just one eyecatcher on a menu full of them. Notorious Street Food Derry Caolán McCourt obviously was inspired by Pyke's endeavours but his delivery is all about down and dirty, old school street food. After all, a double bacon cheese smash burger may not win prizes for originality but when it's this good, it takes first prize every time. Lucky Derry! Instagram: @NotoriousStreetFood BELFAST Oui Poutine Calorific Poutine — French fries, cheese curds, brown gravy — like French tacos, is a young person's game, but if you've got youth and stamina on your side, then Canadian Kylah Dittmar's authentic delivery of her national street food staple is the only show in town. Instagram: @OuiPoutine Taquitos Belfast Authentic Mexican fare delivered to the highest standards, and better again, with more than a smidgeon of local flavour and innovation. Owner Gary Quinn appeared in Gordon Ramsay's Future Food Stars and chef Stevie Toman, of Michelin-starred Ox, in Belfast was the first to tip me off about Taquitos — so Quinn's credentials are endorsed at the highest level. His own Adobo Paste, available as a retail product, seals the deal.
BBC News
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
What do we know about the Magic Faraway Tree movie?
A brand new adaptation of a famous children's series is coming to screens later this year, according to the film's Magic Faraway Tree was written by Malory Towers author Enid follows the story of a group of children who, forced to move to the countryside, find an enchanted forest and a magical world at the top of a is being adapted for screen by former Horrible Histories actor and Wonka screenplay writer Simon what we know so far. Who has been cast in The Magic Faraway Tree adaptation? The film features some famous faces, including former Spider-man actor Andrew Garfield as dad Foy - best known for starring as Queen Elizabeth II in the biographical TV series The Crown - plays mum Bennett-Cardy, Billie Gadsdon and Phoenix Laroche star as their children Beth, Joe and part of their adventures in the enchanted forest, Beth, Joe and Fran meet a host of colourful characters including Silky the pixie (Nicola Coughlan), Moonface (Nonso Anozie) and Dame Washalot (Jessica Gunning). The film's director, Ben Gregor, says that the children in the film will go through a journey from hating to loving life in the an interview with online news site Deadline, Ben said The Magic Faraway Tree is due to come out late in been in development with company Neal Street productions since 2014, according to BBC News."As a child I was captivated by The Faraway Tree books, and the magical worlds created by Enid Blyton," the film's producer Pippa Harris said in 2014."To be able to adapt these books for the big screen and introduce them to a new audience is a great honour."
The Irish Sun
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Classic Books are booming but it's the famous authors' cache not the literature that are the money spinners
Classic literature is enjoying a sudden surge, but it's the value of the books rather than the words in them that is generating a sales boom. Pawnbrokers are reporting a massive climb in the number of books it is offered for sale or for their owners to take out temporary loans. Advertisement 3 James Constantinou, owner of posh Prestige pawn chain, claims that classic books are having a moment Credit: Lancton - Fabulous Harry Potter books are making magic returns with £10,000-plus for mint condition first editions but classics from Enid Blyton and Fyodor Dostoevsky are also big money-spinners, says James Constantinou, owner of the Prestige Pawn chain. 'We're seeing a major shift with a 300% increase in book submissions this year,' adds James, star of the hit Channel 4 TV show Posh Pawn. 'Books are now being treated like art, jewellery or watches – rare, cultural items that hold and grow in value and people are starting to realise how much hidden value they've got at home.' A flawless first edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which was part of an original US print run, recently secured a £10,000 loan, while translation of works by Dostoevsky and Paul Dirac have been valued at around £4,000. Advertisement Read more 'These editions, printed in the UK with gold-inlaid spines, are significantly more valuable than their US counterparts. In one case, a customer pawned these classics to fund the purchase of an original Russian translation.' said James. 'Books are resilient, long-term investments - with loan valued climbing by 5-7% annually - and that goes for everything from classic literature to children's book,s with a first edition of The Wind in the Willows selling for £32,400, and rare Enid Blyton books fetching up to £1,000. 'Last year, we were getting five book submissions a week but that has tripled and there is a real feeling that people are becoming more aware of their value so it is worth checking out your bookshelves for any family heirloom first editions that could be worth a small fortune.' Rare Harry Potter books have good resale value but they are eclipsed by a first edition of Odyssey by James Joyce printed on handmade paper which was sold for £275,000 while first edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby have been valued at £245,000. Advertisement Most read in Fabulous Exclusive Exclusive 3 The iconic first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone which can fetch up to £20,000 Credit: SWNS 3 Enid Blyton books are also raking in large figures Credit: Alamy
The Hindu
04-07-2025
- The Hindu
Missed flights, multiple layovers and surprise stops: My journey from Chennai to Vegas and back
I stop midway through a surprisingly great breakfast mid-air and try to make sense of what I am hearing over the intercom. Did the pilot just say we are turning back? Are we actually going to land in Chennai again? A flight attendant soon steps out, eyes us apologetically, and attempts to explain to a sea of glaring passengers in front of him that airspace tensions over West Asia mean we will have to turn back. I sink into my seat. This unprecedented U-turn is not the start I envisioned for my first trip outside of Asia. What will happen to my connecting flights? Should I continue eating my excellent breakfast or will the plates be cleared to prepare for landing? This is truly an emotional roller-coaster. In the two hours I spend on the runway after we land, I am given multiple reassurances by friends and family to allay the fears I have about missing my connecting flight. 'The airline will figure out a way to get you to your destination, don't you worry,' I am told. My destination, Las Vegas, now seems very very far away. And while we surprisingly do take off and land in Heathrow many hours later, I have of course, missed my connecting flight. For someone who has extensively but only travelled through Asia, all of this feels unfamiliar. Heathrow thankfully seems to have more desis than the average Indian airport, or any other Asian airport I have been to for that matter and it is not long before I am sent packing to an airport hotel for the night. I take a minute to soak in my surroundings; I am here in London, a place I had only ever dreamt of visiting thanks to Enid Blyton and the Harry Potter books. I am excited of course, but also alarmed, largely at the lack of pounds in my wallet, and how blindingly bright it is outside at 9pm. Having found an ATM and thanking my stars for having packed at least one extra set of clothes in my carry-on luggage, I am convinced an adventure awaits the next day. I have six hours until I need to be at the airport and am at least an hour away from Central London. Friends in London are taken aback at my sudden arrival but waste no time in giving me multiple itineraries for what I can do in four hours excluding travel time. I play it safe; I set aside at least three hours to figure out how a combination of frighteningly expensive taxis and the extremely efficient tube system can take me to and from where I need to go. Unexpected travel adventures: How to be prepared 1. Have at least two extra sets of clothes + night clothes in your carry on bag 2. You will be surprised as to what essentials hotels will refuse to provide for free: pack that toothbrush! 3. Ensure international transactions are enabled on your debit cards 4. Download the apps of the airlines you are flying on and enable notifications for updates on flight cancellations and re-routings 5. If you have a long layover and wish to head out to explore, check for public transport routes, if you need travel cards and more before you opt for a taxi 6. Invest in airtags for your checked-in suitcases to be able to track your luggage While I warily ask ChatGPT for a walking route to maximise tourist efficiency and all, I soon abandon all of its suggestions when I reach Piccadilly and spot an exit that says Shaftesbury Avenue. I find myself walking through a street of theatres and my English Literature student's heart is thrilled to spot The Harold Pinter Theatre. Not too far away I see that Trafalgar theatre is showing a production of Clueless. I severely regret my limited time in London. My mostly random walk, guided of course by Google maps, takes me to Parliament Road, the Westminster station, and soon enough, Big Ben looms into view. If I was shy about asking strangers to take a photo for me by the many iconic red telephone booths I pass, I soon abandon all hesitation. I take multiple photos, near Big Ben and by the London Eye when I walk along Victoria Embankment. On my way back to the airport to catch my connecting flight, I think of how all of this has been an unexpected treat and yet hope for enough excitement for the rest of the trip. Of course, when I land in USA, I find that my checked-in luggage has not made it. I am now down to no clothes for the next day thanks to my London detour, and regret not having packed another set of clothes in my carry-on. Lost luggage however means my first stop is obviously America's Instagram famous Target. I soon discover that Marshalls and Ross for Less score bigger points. Yay for discount stores! While the rest of my trip goes without a hitch, I land at the airport only to get a taste of what it means to have flights rerouted across a country I know barely anything of. What was supposed to be a trip to Vegas now includes stops at the Phoenix airport (a friend insisted that the Four Peaks brewery there was not to be missed), and the glitzy yet overwhelmingly complicated Los Angeles airport. After further delays and the rejection of kind offer by the airlines to route me via Tokyo and Hong Kong to reach India, I decide to stay back in Los Angeles and catch a flight the next day with a less exhausting route. I now feel like a pro. I brace myself for the exorbitant taxi costs, look at a host of itineraries online for quick tours and decide Hollywood Boulevard is the place to go to, and am doubly prepared with essentials in my hand baggage. An hour away from my hotel by the airport, I am gaping at the milling crowds and the facade of the iconic Chinese Theatre, all while trying not to walk carefully and spot stars dedicated to my favourite actors on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Did you know even Winnie the Pooh has his own star? I also encounter the nicest Uber drivers through the trip; all of whom vehemently tell me to skip the touristy spots, about how they've always wanted to visit India, and how they have to try authentic 'curry'. When I make my way back to the airport for what is hopefully my last connecting flight before I head home, I discover that I have a clutch of boarding passes with me; of delayed flights, missed connecting flights and more; all very indicative of the time I have had. I have to remind myself that travelling, more often than not, is an adventure, and it is this truly unexpected adventure that led me to exploring two new cities, wholly unprepared but fun nonetheless. Am I a pro at handling contingencies now? Probably yes. I land in Chennai and realise that my checked in bags have once again, not made it. Time to put my newly acquired skills to test.
Spectator
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Public libraries deserve to shut – they've forgotten why they exist
The usual piece about public libraries runs like this. Public libraries are for 'more than just books'. They are in a desperate plight after years of cuts, or better still 'Tory cuts'. Librarians, who are heroes, struggle to go on serving their local communities. Libraries are hanging on by a thread, and because of those government cuts can't be as useful as they once were. The only solution, of course, is more money from central government to local authorities, who, of course, will dash to spend the extra millions on reinstating public libraries and not add it to other things they want to splurge on. It's tragic, for instance, that because of 'Tory cuts', Kent council is being forced to consider closing down and selling many of its library buildings in order to go on paying £350 million in no doubt vital recruitment services over four years. Something like that. My observation is that most of the journalists writing these tender-hearted pieces haven't actually stepped through the door of a public library in years. They are under the general impression that public libraries are still the wonderful intellectual resources of their youth and childhood, though typing the words 'libraries are more than just books' must give even them pause for thought. If books come so far down the list of libraries' priorities, what's the point of them? Lots of things could be community hubs – bus shelters, park benches, the fountains at a shopping centre, the café at your nearest John Lewis, the toilets at Paddington to the LGBTQIA+ community, bless them. There doesn't seem to be a lot of point keeping a handsome Victorian building going as a mere drop-in centre. As a chronic reader and the son of an old-school librarian, I can say that my belief in libraries is as strong as anyone's. I went from the children's library at Old Malden (Enid Blyton's Find-Outers series) to the one at Sheffield Broomhill, a beautiful building (Billy Bunter, J.P. Martin's Uncle, Professor Branestawm). Then there was the magnificent 1930s Sheffield Central Library, still under the redoubtable thumb of the legendary councillor Enid Hattersley, Roy's mum. After the setting up of municipal public libraries following an 1850 Act, Sheffield was one of the few to stock fiction at all: librarians have always been quite censorious people and it took most of them decades to come around to the idea that their readers might like to borrow and read novels. Sheffield was always much more liberal, and the fiction shelves were a glorious introduction to the classics as well as newer novels. I borrowed and read most of Nabokov, Conrad, Orwell, Iris Murdoch, Muriel Spark. Tantalising presences like those charming Scott Moncrieff Proust volumes with the scratchy Philippe Jullian illustrations would have to wait, but exercised an allure over me for years. And then my mum sneaked me into Sheffield University Library, with its still more thrilling holdings. By the time I got to Oxford, I knew from the first day what I wanted out of the university. It was the books in the Bodleian. It started with a sight of a line of books, in the middle, one with the words NABOKOV PNIN on the spine. I don't know why it exerted such a pull on me. That book had been there 20 years before and would be there in 20 years' time. The sight of the date stamps were magical, too, to me; the idea that someone had read The Man Who Was Thursday, and renewed it repeatedly, the year before I was born, someone I would never know and yet whom I knew, our passion shared. There is a recognisable process that has taken place in many formerly great institutions in this country – newspapers, concerts of classical music and certainly public libraries. First, an efficient and clearly defined service should be identified. In the case of libraries, this meant the making available of a wide range of interesting and good-quality books, the success and popularity of a library being in direct proportion to the number of books it holds. Secondly, the institution's purpose should be declared inadequate. In this case, the mantra that 'libraries are more than just books' starts being recited as preparation for what is to follow. Thirdly, an assault by the administrators themselves on the most valuable resources of the institution. In the case of libraries, this has meant a commitment to the principle of getting rid of as many books as possible. The practice, labelled by librarians as 'deaccessioning' or, repulsively, 'weeding the stock', rests on some untested claims. One, that old books somehow physically disintegrate, was long ago annihilated by that great man Nicholson Baker in a rare polemic against librarians. Another is that users find the mere presence of old books off-putting. Libraries are more than just books, the librarians chant, tossing their solitary copy of Buddenbrooks into the skip. The immediate result of these claims, in some quarters, is a professional principle that a portion of a library's entire stock – possibly as much as 5 per cent – should be disposed of every year. In theory, a library's current holdings could be thrown away in 20 years. How is this decided? Do we suppose that a junior librarian should be making a decision about which novels by George Meredith or Edgar Mittelholzer have the literary merit to be kept? No – they just throw anything away that hasn't been borrowed since a certain arbitrary date. The idea that books might have a value beyond recent popularity, or indeed, that librarians are there to look after their holdings, seems anathema. Go into your local library and look at the fiction shelves. You won't find Meredith or Nabokov or Proust or Thackeray or any of the good writers who have taught us how to think and feel. You might, at best, be able to order up a copy of a few of Dickens's novels from a remote stock. You certainly aren't going to come across them in an act of idle browsing. At best, you are going to find shelves of terrible paperback novels expected to be disposed of in a year or two, unlikely to appeal to anyone developing an interest in literature who wants to make their own way discovering books. Librarians have made libraries useless by throwing away most of what made them useful. I have been writing a history of the novel in Britain over the past few years, and one of the most melancholy aspects of it is that if I bought a copy of a great but slightly unfashionable classic from AbeBooks, it usually turned out to be an old public library copy. And then the fourth stage of the process takes hold. An institution, having damaged itself, is of much less use to the people who might be expected to use it. They stop using it. Forty-five years ago, the 15-year-old me would have gone to Sheffield City Library to see whether I could find a really good novel on the shelves I'd never heard of. And the library on a Saturday morning was as crowded as a good butcher or baker. No one that age would waste their time looking in a library for that now. Finally, we reach the fifth stage. Those who administer the institution notice that it is used much less than it was and no longer serves any general purpose. What, after all, is the point in going on funding these places? Times move on. They'd be wonderful places without all those frightful Tory cuts, we can assure you. Councils have so many calls on their depleted resources – all those history months to mount, all those recruitment consultants to pay. Nobody uses libraries. Let's sell them off. I have a proposal for anyone intending to bemoan the closure of municipal libraries. In reality, they closed years ago. Anyone who feels like wringing their hands, I recommend a visit to enquire how many of the dozen greatest novels in the English language are usually on the open shelves: Middlemarch, The Wings of the Dove, Bleak House, Nostromo, Mansfield Park, Tom Jones, Villette, A Journal of the Plague Year, The Old Wives' Tale, A Handful of Dust, Mrs Dalloway, Vanity Fair would be a start. Are they there? Any of them? No? Your library has no point. Sell it off and, if you can afford it, join the London Library, which never disposes of its old books. That's not what a library does.
