Building fiction from fact.

There is much to talk about in Ian McEwan's Solar.  As I say in today's Observer,he makes a hat tip to John Updike and allows the great issue of global warming to be explained through the devious manoeuvres of a slobby and disreputable hero, Michael Beard. However, McEwan goes to some trouble to show that there are worse people in the world than Beard by sending him to meet a postmodern audience at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.

The personal relates to the political very closely in Gordon Brown's case because his bullying is not a manifestation of his dynamism and determination but of his childish inability to admit error and acknowledge the need for change.

Imagine an evil corporation; let us call it Megagreed plc. A worker with a fine and principled record speaks out about its directors associating with men who propagate a criminal ideology that has led to the denial of rights to millions in poor countries.

Amnesty International and Cageprisoners

Statement by Gita Sahgal

7 February 2010

This morning the Sunday Times published an article about Amnesty International’s association with groups that support the Taliban and promote Islamic Right ideas. In that article, I was quoted as raising concerns about Amnesty’s very high profile associations with Guantanamo-detainee Moazzam Begg. I felt that Amnesty International was risking its reputation by associating itself with Begg, who heads an organization, Cageprisoners, that actively promotes Islamic Right ideas and individuals.

Within a few hours of the article being published, Amnesty had suspended me from my job.

Update Martin Bright is reporting that Gita has been suspended. When presented with a choice between violentpatriachy and women's rights Amensty like so many other liberal institutions chooses reaction.

Running a ‘spoiler' is the most joyous pleasures the rat like editor can experience. He knows that a rival paper has a great story coming, so he works out what he can about it and publishes another paper's exclusive as his own. The Mail on Sunday seems to have done just that with its pre-emptive strike on my Observer colleague's Andrew Rawnsley's forthcoming book which is due out in a month.