My novel about love, betrayal and chess in New Orleans: The Pride and the Sorrow

Friday, February 26, 2010

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award - made it to Second Round!

I'm pleased to discover my novel The Pride and the Sorrow (The Knight of New Orleans) has made it through to the Second Round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, 2010.

This surprised me greatly given the number of entrants (5000 in the General Fiction category).

For more details, the Award eventually results in 6 round-trip all expenses flights to Seattle, and a Grand Prize - you guessed it - a book deal.

The book deal is with Penguin, is worth $15,000 as an advance (against future royalties), and naturally would receive the Amazon promotional treatment - basically, like winning three prizes in one!

May B & N get in the same game!

To click out my entry - my novel set in New Orleans - please click here.



Thursday, February 25, 2010

A Word on the MaFiA

A few of you have asked me over the past few months whether I have an opinion on MFA (Master of Fine Arts) programs in creative writing, and (surprise!) I have several. It's really kind of a mixed bag and my theories/advice as to who should apply for admission to such programs and who shouldn't vary greatly based on individual circumstances, but hopefully I can dispel a few rumors and offer some very general guidelines.

For those not in the know, the MFA is a one- to three-year terminal art degree (the majority take two years to complete). By "terminal" I mean that you're qualified to teach college with said degree (until a few years ago it was also the highest degree in the field, but the growing popularity of the creative writing Ph.D. has muddied the waters somewhat). The degree can generally only be earned in fiction, poetry, playwriting, or screenwriting, with the former two being the most common disciplines. Many Very Fancy Writers™ these days do, in fact, hold MFAs from some very prestigious programs (the University of Iowa, the University of Michigan, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, the University of Texas, &c).

So the main question: do you need an MFA to be taken seriously as a writer?

The very short (and, I hope, obvious) answer: no. No one is handicapped in this industry by not having an MFA, and the actual degree itself will probably do very little in the way of securing representation or book deals for most writers. The long(er) answer is as follows, in patented Bullet-O-Vision™:

· While the physical degree may not be tremendously useful in terms of getting you an agent and a six-figure advance, your writing will likely improve tremendously as a result of taking two or so years to do nothing but read, write, and workshop fiction. If your prose is currently promising but purple, the kind of immersive study found in an MFA program could polish your writing to Very Fancy Writer-level lustre (complete with British spelling!).

· Additionally, the network of professors, mentors, visiting agents, and classmates you'd be likely to form in an MFA program can be of huge help down the line. Your professor or classmate might refer you to his or her agent; a visiting agent might take special interest in your novel-in-progress; you may end up making friends with several future agents and editors. You get the idea.

· And now, the caveats: active participation in an MFA program will almost certainly improve your writing, but most (if not all) programs are geared toward literary fiction. If you're writing young adult/children's fiction or genre fiction of any kind, the degree won't really give you the opportunity to do substantial work in those areas.

· Mentioning your MFA in a query letter to an agent probably won't impress them, unless it's from a top-tier program like Iowa or Columbia (and possibly not even then). There is simply more supply than demand when it comes to MFA graduates, and to be honest, agents are interested in your novels, not your alma maters.

· While not all graduates of MFA programs go on to teach, the degree often includes a teaching element and assumes, to some extent, an interest in academia or an academic career. If you have no such aspirations, you might want to think twice before applying.

· Finally, even though the economy seems to be recovering somewhat from the recession, it's still a very tough employment market out there. If you've currently got a good job, it might not be the best time to give it up to pursue graduate studies. True, there are several part-time and low-residency MFA options out there, but those are often unfunded, meaning you would be paying the school for your degree and not the other way around.

So, basically, my view is: if you're doing literary work, you think you might want to teach college, and you don't already have a decent job, go for the MFA. Otherwise, you might want to think twice. No one needs a license to be an author, and if you're considering pursuing the degree purely for some perceived recognition or sense of legitimacy as a writer, you might want to find a new line of work.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Australian writers' stamps send the wrong message

Spot the difference ... Australian Legends of the Written Word stamps

The all-white, overwhelmingly male selection of authors chosen by Australia Post delivers a very distorted picture of our literature.

I see that Australia Post has issued a new set of themed stamps honouring some of the nation's most popular and celebrated writers.

The "Australian Legends of the Written Word" series from Australia Post features Peter Carey, Thomas Keneally, Colleen McCullough, Tim Winton, Bryce Courtenay and David Malouf. I don't have a problem with any of the authors listed: they certainly are popular and celebrated. But doesn't it seem just a little bit myopic in a white-male-Anglo-Saxonish manner? Only Malouf and McCullough would fall anywhere outside the net.

Who set the tone and selected the authors honoured here? It would be mealy-mouthed to criticise anyone included on that list; they're all writers worthy of the honour. But, at the start of the night, a few more authors should have been added to give the stamp collection a more comprehensive and realistic vision of the current Australian literary landscape. Where are Kate Grenville, Elizabeth Jolly, Helen Garner? These women are popular, award-winning authors whose work has been published and praised overseas. Grenville, for example, has been translated into 13 languages and is a winner of the Orange prize. Why doesn't she get a stamp? It's not about political correctness at all, it's about getting it right.

As well as the gender disparity, the list does nothing to indicate the cultural depth of Australian writing today. Christos Tsiolkas, a Greek-Australian author, might feel hard done by not to be included, but I guess he is not safe enough as an author. His writing is controversial, his characters often unpleasant, and his stories reveal the materialistic ennui of contemporary urban life and the social dislocation experienced by many minority groups. But here's the thing: his recent novel The Slap has probably been the most talked about book published in Australia in the past year.

And are there no indigenous authors worthy of a literary guernsey either? Alexis Wright? Sally Morgan? What, exactly, was the criteria for eligibility? I have these horrific images of a group of white men sitting around like Bruces in the philosophy department, going through the names of contemporary authors.

I then wondered if the criteria for eligibility was related to film adaptations. Did each author need to have at least one feature film (or mini-series) adaptation to their name? Actually, no, that can't be right, because Grenville, Garner and Tsiolkas have had their fiction turned to film.

What sort of message does this send out to the young kids of Australia? That almost all of Australia's great writers are white men? That is demonstrably wrong and decidedly insulting. Whoever commissioned these stamps and selected the authors should be given a short lecture in contemporary Australian literary history instead of logging on to IMDB to get their facts.

--

Evan Maloney, The Guardian, Friday 22 January 2010



Thursday, February 11, 2010

James Patterson, Inc.

Like most authors, James Patterson started out with one book, released in 1976, that he struggled to get published. It sold about 10,000 copies, a modest, if respectable, showing for a first novel. Last year, an estimated 14 million copies of his books in 38 different languages found their way onto beach blankets, airplanes and nightstands around the world. Patterson may lack the name recognition of a Stephen King, a John Grisham or a Dan Brown, but he outsells them all. Really, it’s not even close. (According to Nielsen BookScan, Grisham’s, King’s and Brown’s combined U.S. sales in recent years still don’t match Patterson’s.) This is partly because Patterson is so prolific: with the help of his stable of co-authors, he published nine original hardcover books in 2009 and will publish at least nine more in 2010.

There are many different ways to catalog Patterson’s staggering success. Here are just a few: Since 2006, one out of every 17 novels bought in the United States was written by James Patterson. He is listed in the latest edition of “Guinness World Records,” published last fall, as the author with the most New York Times best sellers, 45, but that number is already out of date: he now has 51 — 35 of which went to No. 1.

Patterson and his publisher, Little, Brown & Co., a division of the Hachette Book Group, have an unconventional relationship. In addition to his two editors, Patterson has three full-time Hachette employees (plus assistants) devoted exclusively to him: a so-called brand manager who shepherds Patterson’s adult books through the production process, a marketing director for his young-adult titles and a sales manager for all his books. Despite this support staff and his prodigious output, Patterson is intimately involved in the publication of his books. A former ad executive — Patterson ran J. Walter Thompson’s North American branch before becoming a full-time writer in 1996 — he handles all of his own advertising and closely monitors just about every other step of the publication process, from the design of his jackets to the timing of his books’ release to their placement in stores. “Jim is at the very least co-publisher of his own books,” Michael Pietsch, Patterson’s editor and the publisher of Little, Brown, told me.

A couple of months ago, I sat in on one of Patterson’s regular meetings with Little, Brown to discuss the marketing and publicity for his coming titles. The meeting was held not, as you might expect, at the publisher’s offices in Midtown Manhattan but in the living room of Patterson’s Palm Beach home, a canary yellow Spanish-style house on a small island in Lake Worth. Patterson’s wife, Sue, a tall, athletic-looking blonde whom he met at J. Walter Thompson, served coffee and gooey chocolate-chip cookies to the guests: Pietsch; Megan Tingley, the publisher of Little, Brown’s young-readers books; and David Young, the C.E.O. of Hachette.

Pietsch and Tingley showed mock-ups of covers and presented ideas they had been working on. From the plush, caramel-colored couch facing them, Patterson, who is a trim 62 with a habitual slouch and laconic manner well suited to his dry sense of humor, acted as creative director, a familiar role from his years in advertising. At one point, the conversation turned to the next installment in Patterson’s Michael Bennett series, which revolves around a Manhattan homicide detective and widower with 10 multiracial adopted children (“Cheaper by the Dozen” meets “Die Hard,” as Patterson describes it). Pietsch mentioned a possible promotional line, “New York Has a New Hero.” Patterson instantly amended it: “Finally, New York Has a Hero.”

A number of former Little, Brown employees who attended these sorts of meetings with Patterson in the 1990s and early 2000s described him to me as low-key but intimidating, more cutthroat adman than retiring writer — a kind of real-life Don Draper. Unsatisfied with publishing’s informal approach to marketing meetings, Patterson had expected corporate-style presentations, complete with comprehensive market-share data and sales trends. “A lot of authors are just grateful to be published,” Holly Parmelee, Patterson’s publicist from 1992 to 2002, told me several weeks earlier. “Not Jim. His attitude was that we were in business together, and he wanted us both to succeed, but it was not going to be fun and games.”

But that was when Patterson was still making a name for himself and fighting for his publisher’s full attention. Now that he is the world’s bestselling author and Little, Brown’s most prized possession, Patterson seemed agreeable, easygoing. Even when he shot down an idea, like Pietsch’s suggestion that Patterson promote the new Michael Bennett book with a day of events in all five boroughs, he did so gently: “I just don’t want for it to be like one of those things when an athlete goes through and shakes four hands.” Halfway through the meeting, Patterson suggested that they take a short break to listen to some songs from a musical he’s developing based on his romance novel “Sundays at Tiffany’s.”

When the meeting was over, Patterson and his wife drove everyone to lunch in their matching Mercedes sedans. On our way to the restaurant, they took us past their future home, an oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach that they bought last year for $17.4 million and are now in the midst of renovating. “There’s my little cottage,” Patterson said as the 20,000-square-foot house came into view.

ACCORDING TO FORBES magazine, Patterson earned Hachette about $500 million over the last two years. Hachette disputes the accuracy of these numbers but wouldn’t provide me with different ones. Regardless, it seems safe to assume that Patterson, who puts out more best sellers in any given year than many publishing houses, is responsible for a meaningful portion of the company’s annual revenues. “I like to say that Jim is the rock on which we build this company,” David Young told me in his office one recent morning.

Like movie studios, publishing houses have long built their businesses on top of blockbusters. But never in the history of publishing has the blockbuster been so big. Thirty years ago, the industry defined a “hit” novel as a book that sold a couple of hundred thousand copies in hardcover. Today a book isn’t considered a blockbuster unless it sells at least one million copies.

The story of the blockbuster’s explosion is, paradoxically, bound up with that of publishing’s recent troubles. They each began with the wave of consolidation that swept through the industry in the 1980s. Unsatisfied with publishing’s small margins, the new conglomerates that now owned the various publishing houses pressed for bigger best sellers and larger profits. Mass-market fiction had historically been a paperback business, but publishers now put more energy and resources into selling these same books as hardcovers, with their vastly more favorable profit margins. At the same time, large stores like Barnes & Noble and Borders were elbowing out independent booksellers. Their growing dominance of the market gave them the leverage to demand wholesale discounts and charge hefty sums for favorable store placement, forcing publishers to sell still more books. Big-box stores like Costco accelerated the trend by stocking large quantities of books by a small group of authors and offering steep discounts on them. Under pressure from both their parent companies and booksellers, publishers became less and less willing to gamble on undiscovered talent and more inclined to hoard their resources for their most bankable authors. The effect was self-fulfilling. The few books that publishers invested heavily in sold; most of the rest didn’t. And the blockbuster became even bigger.

Patterson has been a beneficiary of the industry’s shifting economics, but he was also a catalyst for change at Little, Brown and in the world of publishing in general. When Patterson published his breakout book, “Along Came a Spider,” in 1993, Little, Brown was still a largely literary house, whose more commercial authors included the historian William Manchester, biographer of Winston Churchill. Patterson’s success in the subsequent years encouraged Little, Brown to fully embrace mass-market fiction. But more than that, Patterson almost single-handedly created a template for the modern blockbuster author.

There were, of course, blockbuster authors before Patterson, among them Mario Puzo, James Michener and Danielle Steel. But never had authors been marketed essentially as consumer goods, paving the way for a small group of writers, from Charlaine Harris to Malcolm Gladwell, to dominate best-seller lists — often with several titles at a time — in the same way that brands like Skippy and Grey Poupon dominate supermarket shelves. “Until the last 15 years or so, the thought that you could mass-merchandise authors had always been resisted,” says Larry Kirshbaum, former C.E.O. of the Time Warner Book Group, which owned Little, Brown until 2006. “Jim was at the forefront of changing that.”

The lesson was not easily learned. Publishing is an inherently conservative business. Patterson repeatedly challenged industry convention, sometimes over the objections of his own publisher. When Little, Brown was preparing to release “Along Came a Spider,” Patterson tried to persuade his publisher that the best way to get the book onto best-seller lists was to advertise aggressively on television. Little, Brown initially balked. Bookstores typically base their stocking decisions on the sales of an author’s previous books, and Patterson’s had not done particularly well. This was going to be the first of several novels about an African-American homicide detective in Washington, D.C., named Alex Cross; the prevailing wisdom was that the audience for a series built around a recurring character needed to be nurtured gradually. What’s more, large-scale TV advertising was rare in publishing, not only because of the prohibitive cost but also for cultural reasons. The thinking was that selling a book as if it were a lawn-care product could very well backfire by turning off potential readers.

Patterson wrote, produced and paid for a commercial himself. It opened with a spider dropping down the screen and closed with a voice-over: “You can stop waiting for the next ‘Silence of the Lambs.’ ” Once Little, Brown saw the ad, it agreed to share the cost of rolling it out over the course of several weeks in three particularly strong thriller markets — New York, Chicago and Washington. “Along Came a Spider” made its debut at No. 9 on the New York Times hardcover best-seller list, ensuring it favorable placement near the entrance of bookstores, probably the single biggest driver of book sales. It rose to No. 2 in paperback and remains Patterson’s most successful book, with more than five million copies in print.

It’s not hard to understand the popularity of “Along Came a Spider.” It’s a police procedural with an uncomplicated yet ever-twisting plot, some sex, betrayal and plenty of violence. The book’s hero, Cross, is smart and tough, yet sensitive and vulnerable. He has a Ph.D. in forensic psychology from Johns Hopkins, lost his wife in a drive-by shooting — leaving him to raise his two children alone — plays Gershwin on a beat-up baby-grand piano and volunteers at the soup kitchen of his local parish. Still, hundreds of suspenseful, fast-paced novels are published each year; few become successful, let alone blockbusters. It’s entirely possible, even quite likely, that without those ads, “Along Came a Spider ” never would have made the best-seller list, and that James Patterson would now be just another thriller writer.

Patterson quickly turned Alex Cross into a booming franchise, encouraging Little, Brown to unify the series with a single jacket style — shiny, with big type and bold, colorful lettering — and titles drawn from nursery rhymes (“Kiss the Girls,” “Pop Goes the Weasel,” “The Big Bad Wolf”), with their foreboding sense of innocence interrupted. “Jim was sensitive to the fact that books carry a kind of elitist persona, and he wanted his books to be enticing to people who might not have done so well in school and were inclined to look at books as a headache,” Kirshbaum says. “He wanted his jackets to say, ‘Buy me, read me, have fun — this isn’t “Moby Dick.” ’ ”

Patterson built his fan following methodically. Instead of simply going to the biggest book-buying markets, he focused his early tours and advertising efforts on cities where his books were selling best: like a politician aspiring to higher office, he was shoring up his base. From there, he began reaching out to a wider audience, often through unconventional means. When sales figures showed that he and John Grisham were running nearly neck and neck on the East Coast but that Grisham had a big lead out West, Patterson set his second thriller series, “The Women’s Murder Club,” about a group of women who solve murder mysteries, in San Francisco.

No sooner had Patterson established himself in the thriller market than he started moving into new genres. Kirshbaum didn’t initially like the idea; he was worried that Patterson would confuse his thriller fans. Patterson’s first nonthriller, “Miracle on the 17th Green,” published in 1996, did very well. That same year, Patterson wanted to try publishing more than one book despite Little, Brown’s view that he would cannibalize his own audience. In addition to “Miracle on the 17th Green,” Patterson published “Hide and Seek” and “Jack and Jill,” each of which was a best seller. From there, Patterson gradually added more titles each year. Not only did more books mean more sales, they also meant greater visibility, ensuring that Patterson’s name would almost always be at the front of bookstores, with the rest of the new releases. Patterson encountered similar resistance when he introduced the idea of using co-authors, which Little, Brown warned would dilute his brand. Once again, the books were best sellers. “Eventually, I stopped fighting him and went along for the ride,” Kirshbaum says.

Patterson’s vision of a limitless empire forced Little, Brown to reorder its priorities. Publishers have finite resources, and the demands of publishing Patterson were extraordinary even for a blockbuster author. Some Little, Brown editors worried that other books were suffering as a result. “To have one writer really start needing, and even demanding, the lion’s share of energy and attention was difficult,” Sarah Crichton, Little, Brown’s publisher from 1996 to 2001, told me. “There were times when some of us resented that. When Jim felt that resentment, he roared back. And he was too powerful to ignore.”

Crichton says she was continually surprised by the success of Patterson’s books. To her, they lacked the nuance and originality of other blockbuster genre writers like Stephen King or Dean Koontz. “Jim felt his ambitions weren’t being taken seriously enough,” Crichton says. “And in retrospect, he was probably right.”

WHEN I VISITED Patterson one day in Florida this fall, his wife met me at the door in tennis whites. Patterson soon followed in a white polo shirt, pleated blue trousers and boat shoes. He stopped in the kitchen to pour himself a glass of orange Fanta and led me upstairs to his home office, an airy, uncluttered wood-paneled room overlooking a lap pool — Sue, who is 10 years his junior, was an all-American swimmer at the University of Wisconsin in the late 1970s — and the Intracoastal Waterway.

Patterson’s bookshelves are evenly divided between thrillers — books by Michael Connelly and Jeffrey Deaver — and more highbrow, literary fare like Philip Roth, John Cheever and Denis Johnson. When I asked him what he was reading now, Patterson mentioned “Wolf Hall,” by Hilary Mantel, the winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize, and “The Power Broker,” Robert Caro’s doorstop biography of Robert Moses. “My favorite books are very dense ones,” Patterson told me. “I love ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude,’ and I’m a big James Joyce fan — well, at least until ‘Finnegans Wake.’ He kind of lost me there.”

There is no computer in Patterson’s office; he writes in longhand on a legal pad and gives the pages to his assistant to type up. Hanging above the round wooden table where he works is a photograph of President Clinton taken during the Monica Lewinsky scandal walking down the steps of Marine One with a copy of Patterson’s “When the Wind Blows” tucked under his arm. (Patterson’s popularity in Washington is apparently bipartisan: the wall of one of his downstairs bathrooms is plastered with fan mail from both George Bushes.) Neatly arranged on an adjacent L-shaped desk were 23 stacks of paper of varying heights, Patterson’s works in progress.

Patterson grew up in Newburgh, N.Y., the son of a tough man who overcame a difficult childhood. Raised in the local poorhouse by a single mother, Patterson’s father earned a scholarship to Hamilton College and dreamed of becoming a writer or a diplomat but wound up selling insurance. “He didn’t have a father, and I don’t think he knew how to do it,” Patterson told me. (When his father retired, he wrote a novel and showed it to Patterson, already an established author. Patterson gave him the same advice he gives all first-time novelists: Write another one.)

Patterson discovered books late for a man who now makes a fortune writing them. Right after his senior year in high school, his family moved to a suburb of Boston, and Patterson got a job working nights and weekends as an aide at McLean Hospital in Belmont. With nothing else to do on his overnight shifts, he guzzled coffee and read.

At first, Patterson’s literary taste ran toward the highbrow — Jerzy Kosinski, Jean Genet, Evan S. Connell. “I was a snob,” he says. After graduating from Manhattan College in 1969, Patterson was given a free ride to Vanderbilt University’s graduate program in English literature but dropped out after just one year. “I had found two things that I loved, reading and writing,” he told me. “If I became a college professor, I knew I was going to wind up killing them both off.”

Instead, Patterson moved to New York and got a job as a junior copywriter at J. Walter Thompson. He also started reading commercial books like “The Exorcist” and “The Day of the Jackal.” “I always felt I could write a reasonable literary novel, but not a great one,” he says. “Then I thought, I can do this. I understand it, and I like it.” Patterson set up a typewriter on the kitchen table of his small apartment on 100th Street and Manhattan Avenue and wrote after work every night and on weekends. The result was his first novel, “The Thomas Berryman Number.”

More than a dozen publishers rejected Patterson’s manuscript before his agent, whom Patterson found in a newspaper article, finally sold it to Little, Brown for $8,500. “I remember going up to Boston — Little, Brown was still in Boston then — and walking into this library with a huge fireplace,” Patterson recalls of his first visit to his publisher. “On the bookshelves were all of these other Little, Brown books, ‘Catcher in the Rye,’ ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman,’ ‘The Executioner’s Song.’ I’m thinking, They’re going to publish me? This is so cool.”

“The Thomas Berryman Number” is the story of a newspaperman in Nashville who is assigned to cover the assassination of a local politician and ends up on the trail of his murderer, a professional killer from the Texas panhandle named Thomas Berryman. The action bounces around a lot, ricocheting between Berryman’s various murders, the newspaperman’s reporting and his subsequent effort to turn his articles on the case into a book. “Berryman” bears none of the hallmarks of Patterson’s later thrillers. It’s more brooding and stylized, more classically noir. The bad guy — Berryman — is not a sadist or a psychopathic serial killer; he’s a hired gun. There is no real good guy, other than the reporter and narrator. At its best, the prose can call to mind Raymond Chandler. Here’s Berryman in the book’s opening pages, about to hitch a ride out of Texas with a man he would soon kill: “Thomas Berryman shaded his sunglasses so he could see the approaching car better. A finely made coil of brown dust followed it like a streamer. Buzzards crossed its path, heading east toward Wichita Falls.”

The book won a prestigious Edgar Award for a first novel from the Mystery Writers of America. No doubt, some of those who praised it at the time would now say Patterson has failed to live up to its literary promise. That’s not how Patterson sees it. “It’s more convoluted, more bleak — more of the sort of thing that some people will find praiseworthy,” he says of “The Thomas Berryman Number.” “The sentences are superior to a lot of the stuff I writenow, but the story isn’t as good. I’m less interested in sentences now and more interested in stories.”

After “The Thomas Berryman Number,” Patterson wrote several more books for a number of different publishers that were neither successful nor critically acclaimed. In 1980, he tried his hand at the “demonic child” genre — memorably popularized by the film “Rosemary’s Baby”— with the horror novel “Virgin” (which was later retitled and published as “Cradle and All”). In 1987, the year the movie “Wall Street” was released, he published a Wall Street thriller called “Black Market.”

Patterson is unsentimental about his early, somewhat clumsy attempts at popular fiction. “That’s an absolutely horrifying book,” he says of his 1977 novel, “Season of the Machete,” the story of a sadistic husband-and-wife team who carry out a series of gory machete murders on a Caribbean island. “I actually tell people not to read it.”

Several weeks later, I witnessed this firsthand at one of Patterson’s signings. When a woman handed him a copy of the book to autograph, he groaned. “Not my best work,” Patterson said. “It’s scaring me half to death,” the woman answered. “Don’t read it,” Patterson replied.

WHAT IS PERHAPS most remarkable about the Patterson empire is the sheer volume of books it produces. The nine hardcovers a year are really only the beginning. Nearly all of those books are published a second and third time, first as traditional paperbacks, then as pocket-size, mass-market paperbacks. “Scarcely a week goes by when we aren’t publishing something by James Patterson,” Young told me, only half-joking.

This summer, Patterson will begin his fourth thriller series, “Private,” which centers on a detective agency with branches all over the world. In addition, he does frequent thriller one-offs, including an annual summer beach read, usually set at or near a resort.

The thriller genre is generally not for the squeamish, but Patterson’s tend to be especially graphic, and the violence often involves sociopathic sexual perversion and attractive young women. For instance, the villain in his second Alex Cross novel, “Kiss the Girls,” is a psychopath who kidnaps, rapes and tortures college girls in an underground bunker; at one point, he even feeds a live snake into the anus of one of his victims.

As long as there has been mass-market fiction, it has had its detractors. In the late Victorian era, the English poet and cultural critic Matthew Arnold denounced “the tawdry novels which flare in the bookshelves of our railway stations, and which seem designed . . . for people with a low standard of life.” Yet even within the maligned genre, Patterson has some especially nasty critics. The Washington Post’s thriller reviewer, Patrick Anderson, called “Kiss the Girls” “sick, sexist, sadistic and subliterate.” Stephen King has described Patterson as “a terrible writer.”

Patterson has written in just about every genre — science fiction, fantasy, romance, “women’s weepies,” graphic novels, Christmas-themed books. He dabbles in nonfiction as well. In 2008, he published “Against Medical Advice,” a book written from the perspective of the son of a friend who suffers from Tourette’s syndrome, and last year, he took on the supposed murder of the child pharaoh King Tut.

Patterson’s fastest-growing franchise is his young-adult books. He published his first Y.A. title, “Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment,” in 2005, not long after the languishing genre was jump-started by blockbusters like “Harry Potter” and “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.” Last month, he introduced his third Y.A. series, “Witch and Wizard,” a dystopian fantasy about a teenage brother and sister who wake up to discover that they are living in a totalitarian regime and that they have supernatural powers that have made them enemies of the state. Despite some negative prepublication reviews, the book was critic-proof, making its debut at No. 1 on the Times best-seller list for children’s chapter books.

Each of Patterson’s series has its own fan base, but there are also plenty of people who read everything he writes. His books all share stylistic similarities. They are light on atmospherics and heavy on action, conveyed by simple, colloquial sentences. “I don’t believe in showing off,” Patterson says of his writing. “Showing off can get in the way of a good story.”

Patterson’s chapters are very short, which creates a lot of half-blank pages; his books are, in a very literal sense, page-turners. He avoids description, back story and scene setting whenever possible, preferring to hurl readers into the action and establish his characters with a minimum of telegraphic details. The first chapter of “The Swimsuit,” a recent thriller with a villain who abducts women for pornographic snuff films, opens with the kidnapping of a supermodel on a beach in Hawaii:

“Kim McDaniels was barefooted and wearing a blue-and-white-striped Juicy Couture minidress when she was awoken by a thump against her hip, a bruising thump. She opened her eyes in the blackness, as questions broke the surface of her mind.

Where was she? What the hell was going on?

TO MAINTAIN HIS frenetic pace of production, Patterson now uses co-authors for nearly all of his books. He is part executive producer, part head writer, setting out the vision for each book or series and then ensuring that his writers stay the course. This kind of collaboration is second nature to Patterson from his advertising days, and it’s certainly common in other creative industries, including television. But writing a novel is not the same thing as coming up with jokes for David Letterman or plotting an episode of “24.” Books, at least in their traditional conception, are the product of one person’s imagination and sensibility, rendered in a singular, unreproducible style and voice. Some novelists have tried using co-authors, usually with limited success. Certainly none have taken collaboration to the level Patterson has, with his five regular co-authors, each one specializing in a different Patterson series or genre. “Duke Ellington said, ‘I need an orchestra, otherwise I wouldn’t know how my music sounds,’ ” Pietsch told me when I asked him about Patterson’s use of collaborators. “Jim created a process and a team that can help him hear how his music sounds.”

The way it usually works, Patterson will write a detailed outline — sometimes as long as 50 pages, triple-spaced — and one of his co-authors will draft the chapters for him to read, revise and, when necessary, rewrite. When he’s first starting to work with a new collaborator, a book will typically require numerous drafts. Over time, the process invariably becomes more efficient. Patterson pays his co-authors out of his own pocket. On the adult side, his collaborators work directly and exclusively with Patterson. On the Y.A. side, they sometimes work with Patterson’s young-adult editor, who decides when pages are ready to be passed along to Patterson.

Some Patterson fans have complained in online forums that his co-written books feel too “cookie cutter” and lack the “roller coaster” feel of his previous work, but his sales certainly haven’t suffered. In at least one instance, Patterson took on a co-author in an effort to boost sales: last year, after noticing he wasn’t selling in Scandinavia, he invited Sweden’s best-selling crime writer, Liza Marklund, to collaborate with him on an international thriller. Their novel, “The Postcard Killers,” is just being published in Sweden and will be out in the U.S. this summer.

For the most part, though, Patterson draws his co-authors from the vast sea of struggling writers. A few weeks after visiting Patterson, I had lunch with one of his collaborators, Michael Ledwidge, in Manhattan. An amiable 39-year-old redhead in a black leather jacket and jeans, Ledwidge told me he grew up in a large, working-class Irish family in the Bronx. He wanted to be a cop, but when he applied in 1993, the Police Academy was oversubscribed. So he worked as a doorman and started writing a heist novel on the side. When Ledwidge learned that he and James Patterson shared an alma mater, Manhattan College, he delivered his half-finished manuscript to Patterson one morning at J. Walter Thompson. That night, his phone rang.

“It must be James Patterson,” Ledwidge joked to his wife.

It was. Patterson helped Ledwidge get his first book published and his writing career started. A few books later, Ledwidge had garnered some critical acclaim but not much commercial success. In 2003, Patterson suggested that they collaborate on “Step on a Crack,” his first Michael Bennett novel. Ledwidge leapt at the opportunity. The book went straight to No. 1 on the Times best-seller list. One book quickly led to another. In 2005, Ledwidge quit his day job as a cable-splicer at Verizon, left the Bronx for Connecticut and became a full-time co-author for James Patterson.

Ledwidge told me that he and Patterson have an easy working relationship, that Patterson playfully teases him when he writes a scene that Patterson doesn’t like and praises him when he’s pleased with something. I asked Ledwidge if he missed writing his own books. “Honestly? ” he asked. “Not at all. This is much more fun.”

ONE NIGHT IN Florida, Patterson and I met his wife and their 11-year-old son, Jack, for dinner at the Palm Beach Grill. When the maĂ®tre d’ noticed Patterson entering the restaurant, she told him his table was ready. A well-dressed, white-haired woman quickly spun around.

“Are you James Patterson?” she asked excitedly.

“Yes,” Patterson answered.

“I just read your last one. What was it called?”

Patterson hesitated, unsure which book she was talking about.

“It was brutal!” she woman continued.

“ ‘The Swimsuit’?” Patterson ventured.

“Yeah,” the woman said. “Boy, was it brutal! I liked it, but it was brutal!”

After dinner, Sue and Jack went home, and Patterson and I had another glass of wine and continued talking. Patterson told me that Jack, who had been working on his laptop for most of the meal, only recently started to like reading. It required a deliberate effort on Patterson’s part. Beginning a few summers ago, Patterson told Jack he didn’t have to do any chores; he just had to read for an hour or so every day. The first summer Jack resisted. The second summer he didn’t complain. Last summer, he no longer needed any prodding. Patterson ticked off some of the books Jack had recently read and enjoyed — “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “A Wrinkle in Time” and “Huckleberry Finn” — with obvious pride.

Patterson told me that Jack’s initial reluctance to read helped inspire him to move into the Y.A. genre. He wanted to write books for preteens and teenagers that would be fun and easy to read. The young-adult realm was, in one sense, a big leap for an author known for violent thrillers. At the same time, it was a natural fit for Patterson, whose unadorned prose and fast-paced plots are well suited to reluctant readers. Promoting literacy among children has since become a pet cause for him; he has his own Web site, ReadKiddoRead.com, aimed at helping parents choose books for their children. “There are millions of kids who have never read a book that they liked, and that is a national disgrace,” Patterson said. “What I’m trying to do is at least wake up several thousand of them.”

Later, our conversation turned to Patterson’s critics. “Thousands of people don’t like what I do,” Patterson told me, shrugging off his detractors. “Fortunately, millions do.” For all of his commercial success, though, Patterson seemed bothered by the fact that he has not been given his due — that unlike King or even Grisham, who have managed to transcend their genres, he continues to be dismissed as an airport author or, worse, a marketing genius who has cynically maneuvered his way to best-sellerdom by writing remedial novels that pander to the public’s basest instincts. “Caricature assassination,” Patterson called it.

Patterson said too much has been made of his marketing savvy. (A few years ago, a professor at Harvard Business School went so far as to do a case study on him.) To Patterson, the explanation for his success is less complicated. Whether he’s writing about a serial killer, a love affair between a doctor and poet in Martha’s Vineyard or a middle-aged ad executive who miraculously becomes an exceptional putter and joins the senior golf tour, his books are accessible and engaging. “A brand is just a connection between something and a bunch of people,” Patterson told me. “Crest toothpaste: I always used it, it tastes O.K., so I don’t have any particular reason to switch. Here the connection is that James Patterson writes books that bubble along with heroes I can get interested in. That’s it.”

Patterson considers himself as an entertainer, not a man of letters. Still, he bristles when he hears one of his books described as a guilty pleasure: “Why should anyone feel guilty about reading a book?” Patterson said that what he does — coming up with stories that will resonate with a lot of people and rendering them in a readable style — is no different from what King, Grisham and other popular authors do. “I have a saying,” Patterson told me. “If you want to write for yourself, get a diary. If you want to write for a few friends, get a blog. But if you want to write for a lot of people, think about them a little bit. What do they like? What are their needs? A lot of people in this country go through their days numb. They need to be entertained. They need to feel something.”

Shortly before we left the restaurant, Patterson brought up “The Swimsuit” again. “I like ‘The Swimsuit,’ ” he said. “It’s nasty, but I like it. But I think I went a little farther than I needed to. I’m going to tone it down for the paperback.”

Patterson noticed a look of surprise on my face; it’s not every day that an author decides to rewrite one of his books. “Look,” he said, “if you’re writing ‘Crime and Punishment’ or ‘Remembrance of Things Past,’ then you can sit back and go: ‘This is it, this is the book. This is high art. I’m the man, you’re not. The end.’ But I’m not the man, and this is not high art.”

Whatever ambivalence once existed toward Patterson inside Little, Brown has long since been replaced by unequivocal enthusiasm and gratitude. Pietsch, who succeeded Crichton as publisher, says Patterson belongs in the same class as Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. “Every novel of Jim’s is master class in terms of plotting, pace and striking the right balance between action and emotional content,” Pietsch told me. “I have never read a writer who I think is better at keeping your eye moving forward and your heart moving forward.”

Thanks in part to Patterson, Little, Brown’s identity has changed considerably since he first visited the publisher’s former offices in a town house on Beacon Hill in Boston. In addition to Patterson, it is now home to such thriving commercial novelists as Michael Connelly and Stephenie Meyer, author of the wildly popular “Twilight” vampire series, as well as consistent best sellers like Malcolm Gladwell and David Sedaris. In 2008, a year in which many of its competitors were laying off employees and shutting down imprints, Little, Brown gave out Christmas bonuses.

In September, Little, Brown hosted an anniversary dinner in Patterson’s honor — “20 Years of Publishing James Patterson” — in a private room at Daniel, one of the most expensive restaurants in Manhattan. (Patterson left Little, Brown after “The Thomas Berryman Number” but returned in 1989, a few years before “Along Came a Spider,” with a book called “The Midnight Club.”) It wasn’t the sort of party you see often in the world of publishing, particularly now, with much of the industry in free fall. In addition to a meal of crabmeat salad, beef tenderloin and warm madeleines, the 45 guests were given party favors: bottles of red wine with labels that read “Vintage Patterson.”

Days earlier, Hachette Book Group and Patterson’s representative, the Washington lawyer Robert Barnett, hammered out the terms of a new 17-book deal. (Forbes reported that the contract is worth at least $150 million, though Little, Brown and Patterson dispute the number.) “Don’t you need to be home writing?” I joked with Patterson. He told me matter-of-factly that he’d already started 11 of the 17 books, and even finished more than a few of them.

Some toasts accompanied the dinner. Pietsch talked about the conflicting mythology surrounding who actually discovered Patterson. (“Not only did I know the editor who discovered James Patterson, I once ate a hamburger cooked on his grill.”) Patterson’s young-adult editor, Andrea Spooner, recounted her campaign to persuade her father, an English professor, that Patterson was a worthy writer. (“ ‘It’s worth noting, Daddy, that Dickens was one of the most popular and successful storytellers of his time, too!’ ”) When Young told the crowd that Patterson “contributes significantly” to five of Hachette’s six publishing groups, Patterson interjected: “What am I missing?”

“FaithWords,” Young replied, referring to the company’s religious imprint.

“I can do that,” Patterson said.

Patterson was the last to speak. The only man in the room without a tie, he wore a black T-shirt beneath his dark suit. “I’m sorry my good friend Stephen King couldn’t be here,” he began. “It must be bingo night in Bangor.”

Patterson then proceeded to tell one of his favorite stories about his mother’s father, who drove a frozen-foods truck in Upstate New York. During the summer, Patterson said, he would occasionally get up at 4 in the morning to ride along with him. As they drove over a mountain toward his first delivery, Patterson’s grandfather, an irrepressibly joyful man, would be singing at the top of his lungs. “One day he said to me: ‘Jim, I don’t care what you do when you grow up. I don’t care if you drive a truck like I do, or if you become the president. Just remember that when you go over the mountain to work in the morning, you’ve got to be singing,’ ” Patterson went on. “Well, I am.”

It’s no surprise that Patterson loves what he does. What’s not to love? He plays golf most mornings on Donald Trump’s Palm Beach course and spends the rest of the day working on guaranteed best sellers for which he is paid millions.

But the image of Patterson as a carefree man lucky enough to make money doing what he loves is a bit misleading. Patterson is nothing if not relentlessly ambitious. At J. Walter Thompson, he rose from the lowly station of junior copywriter to become the youngest creative director in the firm’s history — along the way dreaming up such ad slogans as “I’m a Toys ‘R’ Us kid” — and then the C.E.O. of the company’s North American operations. And as Patterson is the first to admit, he didn’t even like working in advertising. It goes without saying that writing was never just a hobby for him.

Patterson’s current preoccupation is Hollywood. Despite some attempts, including two Alex Cross films (both starring Morgan Freeman), which Patterson doesn’t think much of, some made-for-TV movies, a failed ABC series and a lot of books that were optioned but never developed, there still hasn’t been a blockbuster film or hit TV show based on one of his novels.

A few years ago, Patterson hired a former colleague from J. Walter Thompson, Steve Bowen, to oversee the development of his various movie and television projects. In 2007, they signed a deal with Avi Arad, the producer of the “Spider-Man” and “X-Men” films, to make a movie based on Patterson’s “Maximum Ride” young-adult series. In addition to trying to make sure that Patterson is more involved in the development process, Patterson and Bowen plan to produce some projects themselves. They have already raised the financing for a new Alex Cross movie that Patterson is helping to write.

When I met Bowen, a good-looking ex-Marine with a trimmed, graying beard, for coffee in Manhattan several weeks after the dinner at Daniel, he told me that part of his challenge is to change Hollywood’s perception of Patterson. He cited Clint Eastwood, whose name was once synonymous with “Dirty Harry” and spaghetti westerns, as a model for the sort of image transformation they are aiming to pull off. “Jim’s been wrongly stereotyped out there as the master of slash and gash,” Bowen said. “What people don’t fully understand is that there’s a unique talent and storytelling ability that has allowed him to do what he’s done in the book world. He just knows what’s going to grab people. The man has a golden gut.”

IN THE MID-1960S, Jacqueline Susann, the author of “Valley of the Dolls” (30 million copies sold), famously demonstrated — via hundreds of bookstore signings — that even blockbuster books are built one reader at a time. When Patterson was still making his name, he, too, barnstormed the country, signing books late into the night and exhausting publicists. These days, though, Patterson doesn’t do many bookstore events. He certainly doesn’t need the publicity, and he would rather be home with Sue and Jack. But on a Monday night in mid-November, he turned up at a car-dealership-size Barnes & Noble in a strip mall on Route 17 in Paramus, N.J., to promote his latest Alex Cross novel, “I, Alex Cross.”

This is Patterson’s 16th Cross book. Since “Along Came a Spider,” Cross has been through a lot. He has had several jobs and a number of ill-fated relationships; he has chased down numerous serial killers, a Russian mobster and a cult of goths; and has even written his own novel based on his late uncle’s investigation of a series of lynchings in Mississippi in the early 1900s.

Patterson came straight from the Newark airport, arriving early to sign the store’s “I, Alex Cross” stock in a back room. “We haven’t seen you in years,” said Dennis Wurst, a Barnes & Noble manager of author promotions who stopped by to say hello.

“How’s business?” Patterson asked.

“It helps when you write an Alex Cross book,” Wurst answered.

A month before, Barnes & Noble was caught in the crossfire of a preholiday pricing war between Wal-Mart and Amazon, with Wal-Mart dropping its prices on several hardcover blockbusters, including “I, Alex Cross,” to $8.99, more than 50 percent off the retail price. The battle set off a panic inside an already-anxious publishing industry: such deep discounting may help move merchandise, but along with trends like the proliferation of e-readers that instantly deliver many blockbusters for $9.99 or less, it further devalues books. The days of $25 hardcovers are surely numbered. Without those revenues, publishers will be even more reluctant to devote shrinking resources to new, unproven authors, which will, in turn, limit the range of books being published.

Whatever the future of publishing may hold, Patterson’s place in it seems secure. By the time he was introduced at the Paramus store, in excess of 300 people — more women than men, but fairly evenly divided, with a handful of children as well — had crowded into the bookstore’s large event space to see him. Stragglers were looking vainly for a spot on the wall to lean up against. Patterson, dressed casually in a sweater and slacks, delivered some brief remarks, took a handful of questions and then got down to the main event — signing books. To avoid a crush of people at the signing table, the staff divided the audience into several groups by letter. They were told that Patterson would autograph any of his books purchased in the Paramus store and one additional title from their own Patterson collection, but that he would not personalize any copies.

The system quickly broke down. Patterson was soon adding names and short inscriptions to books. He bantered easily with his fans as he wrote. Many asked about Jack; more than one wanted to know if he had brought any pictures.

“I skipped work to be here,” one woman said as her husband snapped a picture of her with Patterson.

“That’s always a good thing,” Patterson said.

“Well, I’m a police officer, so I guess that’s bad,” the woman replied.

“I won’t tell,” Patterson said.

There is something unique about the relationship between readers and their favorite authors, a sense of emotional intimacy that doesn’t exist, say, between sports fans and athletes. Patterson’s fans can read him virtually all year. They aren’t just addicted to his books; they see him as a constant companion, a part of their lives. One woman asked Patterson to sign a book for her grandmother, who passed away a few days earlier. “We used to read your books together, and I want to put it in her casket with her,” she said. Another told Patterson that he got her reading again after a recent stroke. A truck driver said that he had never read any of Patterson’s books but that he had listened to every single one of them on the road: “I don’t know what I’d do without them.”

Still another woman gestured at her elderly mother, whom she was pushing in a wheelchair: “She just had heart surgery. You make her happy, and that makes me happy.”

“And that makes me happy,” Patterson said.

After an hour of signing books without interruption, Patterson seemed to be doing fine. “We’re really cooking along here,” he told his publicist. A half-hour later, though, Patterson was starting to tire. “This is getting out of hand,” he said.

After almost two hours, a voice finally came over the loudspeaker: “Will all remaining groups please report to the James Patterson signing area.” Patterson signed his last books, posed for a few photographs with some of the store’s employees and got ready to go. “That was a fairly respectable crowd,” he said as we walked to the escalator.

On our way out, Patterson picked up on a theme he raised with me weeks earlier, during our conversation about his detractors. “This goes to the notion we were talking about in Florida, about my critics — people who call themselves open-minded but then make judgments about what I write,” he said. “Well, these people like it. They’re happy. So what’s the big deal?”

--

Jonathan Mahler, a contributing writer for the magazine, is the author of “The Challenge: How a Maverick Navy Officer and a Young Law Professor Risked Their Careers to Defend the Constitution — and Won,” which is just out in paperback.



Wednesday, February 10, 2010

A Word on Awards

With the recent announcement of the National Book Critics Circle Award finalists, I thought the time might be ripe for a brief discussion of literary awards.

Some of you may have wondered, in the process of querying various agents, when and whether it's appropriate to mention any awards you might have won for your writing. Since I don't have time for an awesome flowchart, I'll just give you a few general "Do"s and "Don't"s:

Do:

· Mention any significant awards you've won for your writing (anything from placing in contests judged at conferences to Pushcart Prizes). Obviously if you've won a National Book Critics Circle Award, a Pulitzer Prize, a Hugo, an Edgar, &c, list it. (Although quite honestly, if you have, you probably already have representation.)

· Mention any significant awards you've won for things outside your writing so long as they're relevant to your topic. (E.g., if you're writing a medical memoir, mentioning your professional qualifications and awards is not only germane, it's expected.)

· Mention any previous publications you have, excluding self-published work or work published in a magazine or anthology for which you make editorial decisions. Try to stick to short stories (mentioning where your poetry or journalism has appeared might be helpful if they're really well-known markets, but otherwise, it's just superfluous). Note: if you're submitting non-fiction, any non-fiction or journalistic credits you've got are fair game.

Don't:

· Mention any writing awards that are not a big deal. This includes that ninth-place award you got in your hometown (population: 200) newspaper for your short story about a cat and a dog who become bros despite the biological and social forces working against them.

· Mention any writing awards you won as a child (unless you are still a child or that award is a big deal; see above). No one cares that you got a "Most Thoughtful Essay" award in fourth grade for your three-paragraph treatise on Betsy Ross.

· Try to trick the agent. (Fun fact: everyone in the industry knows that anyone with $50 can nominate themselves for a Pulitzer. Telling us you're nominated won't fool us.)

· Mention where you earned your undergraduate or graduate degree(s), except maybe an MFA, and even then, be judicious. Agents are interested in your book, not the school(s) you attended. (This is not the case if your professional credentials are part of your platform; see above.)

In short: if you've won an award or otherwise earned some kind of recognition that you believe sets you apart from 90% of the crowd, include it. Otherwise, don't put it in your query; when push comes to shove (and it will, gentle authors), agents and editors only care about your novel and your willingness to promote it (in that order). No more, no less.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Snowmageddon in DC!



Quick, rescue teddy!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

The UK's world role: Great Britain's greatness fixation



In some eyes, but most notably its own, the British government will be in the driving seat of world events this week. Today, G7 finance ministers will be in London to discuss inter­national banking reform and the transaction tax, and – in the claim that the City minister, Paul Myners, makes on our comment pages today – the UK will be "leading international efforts". On Wednesday, diplomats from around the world will meet here to discuss the threat to Yemen from al-Qaida. A day later, attention shifts to another international conference in London, this time on the imperilled future of Afghanistan. Quite a week.

Every country likes to be taken seriously around the world. Lots of nations like to feel they are punching their weight, or even above it. Only a few, however, seem to feel the need to promote themselves as the one the others all look to for leadership. It is one thing – though never uncontroversial, and in some contexts increasingly implausible – for the United States to see itself in this role. As the world's largest economic and military power, the US remains even now the necessary nation in international affairs. It is quite another thing for Britain to pretend to such a status.

The continuing pre-eminence of American clout has been starkly shown by what has happened in banking over the last several days. Domestic political pressures spurred President Obama into declaring a war on the money men, and markets worldwide immediately trembled, as they grasped that his plan could unleash a global drive to split retail and investment banking. There should be no shame for London in wholeheartedly welcoming the initiative while admitting that Britain could never have made such a move on its own. Instead, however, the government carries on as if its own detailed plans for banks' living wills, and its distant dreams of a Tobin tax, are framing the debate.

Britain is a very important country. The sixth-largest economy in the world. The fifth-largest military power. Its claim to what the former prime minister Lord Home used to call a seat at the top table is beyond dispute, though it would be a still more influential one if we sometimes ceded it to the European Union. And yet, more than half a century after the loss of empire, our political culture still seems racked by the need to be the leading nation, not just one of them. Such delusions are most associated with the political right, but Gordon Brown can also seem peculiarly ensnared by them. His Britain must always be first, always at the forefront, must always show the way to the rest. Even in the G7, the G8 or the G20 – never mind the UN – a mere share of the action is never enough, and it must always be Britain that is leading the effort, whether in Yemen or Afghanistan. But this way hubris lies. Mr Brown immodestly let slip to MPs in 2008 that he had saved the world. And as he arrived in Copenhagen for the ill-fated climate change summit last month he announced that "There are many outstanding issues which I'm here to resolve."

In reality, of course, no single nation can resolve the world's problems alone. Only the United States and China, separately or together, can even aspire to set the agenda for the rest. If the US raises its commitment to Afghanistan then other nations are likely to follow. If the US penalises the banks, others soon fall into line.

Britain has no such potency. Yet we still struggle to adjust to our reality. We can propose, as we shall be doing in three important London meetings this week, but we cannot dispose. Every day, the descant of the Chilcot inquiry reminds us of where the refusal to recognise this truth can humiliatingly lead. Our national interest should be to play our important role as a true, trusted and committed European partner on the world stage. No longer the greatest. Just one great among others. Good enough ought to be good enough. The people get it. If only the politicians did too.

Comments in chronological order

Post a comment
  • This symbol indicates that that person is The Guardian's staffStaff
  • This symbol indicates that that person is a contributorContributor

Showing first 50 comments | Go to all comments | Go to latest comment

  • FalseConsciousness FalseConsciousness

    25 Jan 2010, 12:33AM

    The UK does have a world role to play, but only as the main ally of US imperialism. Anyone who thinks Britain can achieve even a modicum of independence from the dictates of Washington is engaging in wishful thinking. The US is determined to maintain's its global hegemony against China and other emerging powers. The global economic collapse also guarantees an increase in interstate conflicts due to rising nationalism, militarism, and the prevalence of trade disputes. The US may be leading mankind to the next world war and Britain has no choice but to follow along.

  • Armchair99 Armchair99

    25 Jan 2010, 12:36AM

    The fifth-largest military power

    Only the US has real power projection. The UK and France form the second division. Everyone else is nowhere. Witness the extreme efforts Russia had to go to put troops just beyond its borders in Georgia - a conflict they no doubt had planned for for some time. China has just reached the stage of having something approaching a blue water navy in the past year.

    though it would be a still more influential one if we sometimes ceded it to the European Union.

    It's really mind numbing how the supposedly intellectual Guardian maintains the shibboleth of EU = Good despite everything. Why? Where's your evidence for this? One example of how the UK's interests have been progressed through EU membership?

    If the Guardian had any intellectual integrity you'd be asking why the EU was - quite literally - not even allowed in the room when Copenhagen was decided. Come on guys and girls, you're the biggest cheer leader for the EU and the polite face of the green-left in the UK. So..

    What's gone wrong? How the did the EU fail what you presented as the most important decision of this generation?

  • Joinupsignin Joinupsignin

    25 Jan 2010, 12:37AM

    Perhaps its time we stopped saving the world and sorted out our own bankrupt, non-democratic country, of coffee shops, over priced railways and Nando's.

    Only that doesn't appeal to our attention seeking Prime Ministers who too often give up on UK policies (if they ever really were interested in them) and instead fall for the easy ride and ego driven world of international relations.

    The thrill of international summits and the end communiqué - re-committing money they promised before, to the latest band wagon, too easily romances our leaders over and above the grim streets of Edlington.

  • tightrope tightrope

    25 Jan 2010, 12:39AM

    I think Europe is great and that if the English could understand that they are Europeans and take their pride in that rather than in the narrower identity then a lot would change.

    Unfortunately, there appears to be little chance currently that the English will come to appreciate what Seamus Heaney called the "dignity of the European identity".

    It is a historical shame.

  • TheotherWay TheotherWay

    25 Jan 2010, 12:42AM

    " In some eyes, but most notably its own, the British government will be in the driving seat of world events this week. Today, G7 finance ministers will be in London to discuss inter national banking reform and the transaction tax, and ? in the claim that the City minister, Paul Myners, makes on our comment pages today ? the UK will be "leading international efforts". On Wednesday, diplomats from around the world will meet here to discuss the threat to Yemen from al-Qaida. A day later, attention shifts to another international conference in London, this time on the imperilled future of Afghanistan. Quite a week."

    Tow questions come to my mind. First and foremost, how much has these conferences got to do with discussing the great matters that need a solution and how much of it is posturing for the election. I suspect the answer is the latter.

    In the past six months or year we have seen great many of these conferences and high sounding communiques. I have not notices any action or discernible real progress. Who are these great and the good kidding?

  • Armchair99 Armchair99

    25 Jan 2010, 12:45AM

    The US is determined to maintain's its global hegemony against China and other emerging powers.

    Both right and left in the US have acted for decades on the basis that increased trade and economic freedoms in china will inevitably result in democratic reform. As these reforms have cnsistently failed to happen we're only now beginning to see that view being seriously reconsidered. The worrying thing is the US has no plan at all with regard to china.

    The global economic collapse also guarantees an increase in interstate conflicts due to rising nationalism, militarism, and the prevalence of trade disputes.

    So not a good time to cut the UK's defence budget from an already historical low of around 2.2% of GDP then?

    The US may be leading mankind to the next world war and Britain has no choice but to follow along.

    Seems likely. The left in the UK is gonna get exactly what it's been waiting for for two generations - the fall of US hegemony.

    Do you think the chinese are gonna be better masters to us, or the africans, or gays or women of the poor?

  • jimfred jimfred

    25 Jan 2010, 12:55AM

    Other countries,(Sweden,Holland,Brazil......etc.etc.),seem to jog along happily without being the' mouse that roared'.
    Why do our politicians have us punching above our weight?

  • Garcie Garcie

    25 Jan 2010, 1:27AM

    Actually this is a New Labour and Brown phenomenon,
    Brown called the forthcoming Afghan conference because opinion polls showed he didn't have a grip on the war. (Which he doesn't).

    Holding a conference and getting the press into a love-in fest is cheaper than buying new helicopters and UAVs.
    The FCO must be running around like headless chickens to organise it. It was news to them....they should be fighting a war.

    What you are actually referring to is the disturbing propensity of the Labour government to use the British armed forces as the armed wing of Amnesty International. To get headlines. It back fired on them.

    This is because they don't believe history is important, and they ignore it. Most Labour MP's wouldn't even know where Afghanistan is.

  • Garcie Garcie

    25 Jan 2010, 1:31AM

    After reading the article again it occurs to me that this leader fixation is a leftist fantasy.

    Once the Chinese start driving their carrier fleets around maybe you'll wish we still could punch above our weight.

    The perfect example is Haiti.

    Where is the Royal Navy.? It has been cut so badly that we cant respond.

    Only countries like the US, Isreal, UK and few European nations care about the Haitians. We should be there.

  • pont pont

    25 Jan 2010, 1:33AM

    Having the word "Great" before the name of your country can lead to delusional behaviour .

    Perhaps the name can be changed ,therefore leading to a less aggressive and unruly attitude.

    Maybe UK/PLC.Corp

    or Nice Britain -or Grizzily Britain !

  • Garcie Garcie

    25 Jan 2010, 1:35AM

    The US is determined to maintain its global hegemony against China and other emerging powers.

    Yeah thank God.

    Strange the lefties don't mind it when football fields full of convicts in China are executed and their organs harvested, because, hey, the Chinese are going to outstrip the US in strategic influence. Woo.

    Disturbing.

    The World will be a crueler place as US and UK influence wains. We are looking at a new dark age.

  • Lancsman Lancsman

    25 Jan 2010, 1:39AM

    I think I have two questions about this editorial, although it is late.

    - Why should Britain not strive to maintain a good seat at the top table when history suggests british political and legal ideas are the best bulwark against the politics of raw power? (and i am not an apologist for the excesses and degradations of empire)

    - Isn't this posturing commonplace, in most countries, and is it really consequential?

    The essence of this article, that Britain should acknowledge its diminished status vs 60 years ago. Of course we shouldn't try to pretend we call the shots globally. But, as the piece points out, Britain is outward looking and important and should always try to remain at the centre of world affairs.

    The idea that we should cede our place at the top table the EU, or anyone else is not sensible. The EU is far from democratic and representative, and it is not some global benign force for good, and neither are its member nations. The fact that it appears less belligerent and right wing than the US and some other powers doesn't make it a great force for justice. The EU's actions on trade vs the third world show it for what it is.

    There are several reasons we should maintain our place at the top table, amongst equals, and not seeking dominate. Our stability as a nation state is unsurpassed over the last 800 years. That period has seen the evolution of political and legal systems that are the world-leading. The UN charter is an evolution of political developments in Britain. In commerce, ideas, justice and equality, Britain has often led the way. This isn't just a consequence of empire and reach, but culture. This culture is nothing to do with innate superiority of people but the happy accidents of history and the confluence of peoples and ideas on these islands.

    The USA may well be regarded by many as having a superior constitution but it is easy to forget that it is still a relatively new country with a dramatically changing demographic and culture, and a place with an electorate of whom many are in thrall to religious and lobby groups. The EU is new and many of its member states were recently dictatorships. India is relatively new in its current guise. China is certainly not going to be man's last best hope of restricting the influence of power and wealth allowing ordinary individuals to flourish in security. So to my mind, progressives should want Britain right at the heart of things. No-one believes any country acts benignly and against its own interests, but I know if I were Burkino Faso, who I'd want at the G8 or whatever it is now.

    The idea that we are alone in our political culture in presenting ourselves as leading the effort for a domestic audience also seems wrong. Most political leaders of most states do that, for obvious reasons.

    The notion of potency is central in international relations and diplomacy. But is it so relevant for domestic political and media posturing? Isn't that where most of this hubris manifests itself? If so, is it really consequential? Strange too that you use the example of banks. I would have thought that that was one are we do have some clout.

  • Lancsman Lancsman

    25 Jan 2010, 1:48AM

    Garcie

    I'm not looking forward to Chinese Carriers and subs are roaming round the place. But I'll be happy when the US ones return to port, especially off of our bases. I'll be even happier when we can talk about the UK without people having to bundle it with the US.

    And given that no-one knows what the world will look like in 25 years, I'd prefer if we had a deterrent that was actually our own.

  • Faversham Faversham

    25 Jan 2010, 1:49AM

    You mean England's embarrassing and highly damaging fixation with its former Imperial status. Us Scots got over the loss of Empire a long time ago and there were plenty of us who, after being on the boot end of it, never gave a fig for it anyway.

  • Lancsman Lancsman

    25 Jan 2010, 1:59AM

    Faversham,

    actually, most Scots wholeheartedly embraced empire and from near bankruptcy and the dissolution of its parliament (albeit under duress), Scotland quickly became an economic miracle and Glasgow was at one point the world's wealthiest city. Scots filled the institutions of empire. I have also heard from more than one Indian that the Scots seemed to embrace the brutality of empire with more gusto than many other colonials.

    Britain may no longer be a great military power (and shouldn't be ashamed of that). Yet the armed forces, when their political masters get it right, can still do the business - Sierra Leone for example.

    But the legacy of empire is a multicultural nation with unrivalled global connections and a hub of a legal system and culture it shares with vast swathes of humanity.

    I'm proud of that not embarrassed. What do you suggest? Board up the windows and not talk to anyone?

  • MynameisEarl MynameisEarl

    25 Jan 2010, 2:27AM

    Weren't successive Thatcher governments built on the premise of rebuilding Britain's image of itself as a world power(eg. the Falklands war) & doesn't the Daily Mail base much of it's demographic based on this concept to this day? If the UK still has issues about the loss of it's empire & not being that important then god knows how Americans are going to come to terms with this.

  • farafield farafield

    25 Jan 2010, 2:33AM

    Be an IMPORTANT EU NATION WHAT A LOAD OF TOSH the EU is undemocractic , corrupt , wasteful , stuffed full of uselees politcains rapidly making themselves rich on expenses, stupid policies such as the CAP and the fisheries policy , unable to defend itself or even resolve civil war in its own backyard without US help, cannot deliver aid with any efficency , and most of its citizens cant even be bothered to vote it only seems to matter to those in pwer or those wanting it. It also costs this country a fortune in contributions which no one questions . We can be of more use to the world and our selves without it . Membership is like being in local club of amateur dramatics with the organizing committee wanting the lime light but no one wanting to organize it or discuss what it is for with the stage crew/audience / media .

  • Scam22 Scam22

    25 Jan 2010, 3:15AM

    If the US penalises the banks, others soon fall into line. Britain has no such potency. Yet we still struggle to adjust to our reality.

    The reason Gordon Brown has been playing the role of world leader since Obama was elected is that Britain is the world's leading financial centre. Obama is owned by the banks, so he is number two to Brown. He was chosen, partly as a result of his absolute cluelessness.

    The banks, despairing of losing their first wholly owned American president have ordered him to say some tough things about bankers. Like healthcare, it will be watered down by the 'opposition'.

    Do not expect Britain to do much more than pretend to copy him.

    Thatcher restored Britain's leading role in the world by her (almost criminal) deregulation of the City of London (Big Bang). It worked extremely well.

  • mikedow mikedow

    25 Jan 2010, 3:22AM

    Currently, I'd say England is tanked out, but when China decides to forclose on the U.S. there is going to be a planet sized fire sale, and there's your chance.

  • AntonyIndia AntonyIndia

    25 Jan 2010, 3:24AM

    The UK has some world influence above its actual share because of it language.
    English became the world's number one language. This echoes on through its education and it media to the corners of the Earth.

    The size of its PM's ego is another matter: lets just call it "inflated".

  • namordnik namordnik

    25 Jan 2010, 3:38AM

    Chinese go around the world to settle in chinatowns.
    Germans go around the world to escape boredom of domestic lifestyle.
    Yanks go around the world to bomb foreign poor people.
    Russians go around the world to sit out revolutions.
    Brits go around the world to visit their ex-colonies.

  • auxesis auxesis

    25 Jan 2010, 3:48AM

    Every day, the descant of the Chilcot inquiry reminds us of where the refusal to recognise this truth can humiliatingly lead.

    And from Peter Preston's piece:

    Nobody meaningful anywhere on the political spectrum dissents from community sanctification these days, and a mighty chorus of assumed voter approval sings descant

    I can't recall having seen the word "descant" in The Guardian and yet here we have it twice in one day.

  • JoshRogan JoshRogan

    25 Jan 2010, 5:06AM

    Britain is a joke and will remain so if it continues to live in the past.

    I can't believe they still dish out MBEs, OBEs, etc. We are directly responsible for a lot of the mess the world is in and should be ashamed of our history.

    Our leaders should stop being delusional. Brown was shocked to be snubbed by Obama. That's the reality.

    If we want to show some mettle then suck it up, scrap the insane nukes, invest in a decent transportation system, sort out the NHS and schools,

    but most of all, be ourselves. Say no to the Yanks once in a while.

    Sending soldiers to the other side of the world to 'protect' the nation is not the way to go. Gunboat diplomacy they used to call it.

  • fortyniner fortyniner

    25 Jan 2010, 5:37AM

    Delusions of grandeur is what we are talking about. When it comes down to it the Emperor has no clothes.

    All this silly posturing on the world stage does us more harm than good. The impression for many, both at home and abroad, especially since the sycophantic Blair crawled up Bush's a**e, is that we are just a US puppet.

    We need to get out of the mindset that the world's problems are naturally ours to solve and we need to be the big shot about it. We need to stop sending our troops into obscure corners to poke our noses into other people's business.

    In fact minding our business just a little bit more would be most welcome.

  • shuisky shuisky

    25 Jan 2010, 5:51AM

    @auxesis

    It's no surprise Britain's singing descant these days - the country's voluntarily had its bollocks removed, and is now the official singing eunuch of the United States.

    Racist wars? Torture camps? Bombing Gaza? The loyal British Eunuch knows the descants to all those yankee tunes, and sings them with gusto. It's all Britain knows how to do any longer.

  • FalseConsciousness FalseConsciousness

    25 Jan 2010, 6:32AM

    Armchair99
    The worrying thing is the US has no plan at all with regard to china.

    Of course they have a plan, what you think the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are all about? The US is obviously trying to secure Central Asia and its massive oil and gas reserves at the expense of China, Russia, and Iran as well. A strike by Israel or the US on Iran would also seriously endanger Chinese interests. US interference in Sudan and Somalia, and now Yemen, are also partly related to countering China. As are US threats against North Korea and robust US support for Taiwan.

    So not a good time to cut the UK's defence budget from an already historical low of around 2.2% of GDP then?

    It is not in the interests of the British ruling elite or the UK as a nation-state to cut defence spending, but the UK is dead broke. If the ruling elite is to avoid massive opposition from the working class it must free up funds for social spending somehow

    Seems likely. The left in the UK is gonna get exactly what it's been waiting for for two generations - the fall of US hegemony.

    I'm not sure what "left" you're referring to, but the real left isn't awaiting the fall of US hegemony in particular, but the fall of world capitalism and imperialism.

    Do you think the chinese are gonna be better masters to us, or the africans, or gays or women of the poor?

    Probably not, but we're likely to find out sooner or later.

  • BrusselsLout BrusselsLout

    25 Jan 2010, 7:04AM

    Well the special relationship worked out well for this country didn't it?

    Exactly. Britain has survived on the myth of the Special Relationship for decades (since Thatcher?). It built itself a confidence on nothing.

    Working around Europe for well over decade, I put the Relationship to the test on a few occasions. I would ask Americans I had been working with or chatting to casually in bars what they thought of the Special Relationship.

    Not one of these Americans knew what I meant. I would explain the details so that there could no mistake.

    But a typical reaction would be "News to me".

    I mentioned all this here on a number of occasions over the years. But still, articles referring the Special Relationship continued.

    One evening, on a BBC Question Time, Michael Hezeltine became the first politician to admit in public that it did not exist. There soon followed an article here (by Marina Hyde) making the same noises as Hezeltine.

    Britain lost its empire a very long time ago, so it used the great myth to raise and sustain its own ego. Now the myth is out in the open, Britain is lost.

    Britain is now in limbo. And it will remain in limbo until it breaks its ego and gets real.

  • Amadeus37 Amadeus37

    25 Jan 2010, 8:13AM

    Our image? Don't make me laugh.
    To hold this conference on the very week when Blair is at the inquiry into the
    Iraq war - the pictures will go all around the world.

  • ElleGreen ElleGreen

    25 Jan 2010, 8:42AM

    Fortyniner

    We need to get out of the mindset that the world's problems are naturally ours to solve and we need to be the big shot about it. We need to stop sending our troops into obscure corners to poke our noses into other people's business

    I actually think Britain has significantly moved on from these collonialist attitudes. My perception is that we are now choosing to lead by example; it is interesting that Copenhagen is mentioned

    There are many outstanding issues which I'm here to resolve

    Would we prefer that Gordon Brown went to Copenhagen to jump on a bandwagon or to attend with the goal of solving problems and negotiating an effective agreement. I personally would be more offended if my country's leader had said "I am going to attend but there is not much I can do because my hands are tied by the legislative body".

    At least Britain comes with suggestions (ok the Tobin Tax is not flaw-free but its an idea) and a forward thinking attitude (we have one of the highest carbon emission reduction targets in the world). Yes we no longer have the economic or military power we once commanded but we still have a moral imperative that ours is a free and fair country based on innovation and ideas.

    Fortyniner (sorry to pick on you again) you say

    In fact minding our business just a little bit more would be most welcome.

    Please try saying that to nations wrecked by civil war because despotic regimes continue to rule their countries, or to women whose human rights are supressed from birth, or to those who live in the Small Island States which will be devasted by the effects of global warming.

    Britain used to try to convince these countries by autocratic rule that liberty, rule of law and progression of ideas were the most effective means of maintaining stability and prosperity. Now, more and more we lead by example(I acknowledge Afghanistan and Iraq sort of undermine this record), promoting our ideals and way of life by suggesting to others that we are a great country (obviously a working progress) who is trying to lead by example.

    We could stay quiet and take our place humbly at the table like Sweden or the Netherlands or we could continue to voice our beliefs that ours is a nation based on rights and liberties to which everyone should aspire and to which everyone is entitled.

  • farfetched farfetched

    25 Jan 2010, 8:43AM

    Clip | Link Faversham
    25 Jan 2010, 1:49AM
    You mean England's embarrassing and highly damaging fixation with its former Imperial status. Us Scots got over the loss of Empire a long time ago and there were plenty of us who, after being on the boot end of it, never gave a fig for it anyway.

    This sentiment is so unbelievably ignorant and reveals the uneducated basis of Scots nationalism.

    If you can be bothered to research the British Empire, how it came about, who pushed for expansion and who benefitted, you'd realise that the Scots (some might say to their credit) were some of the most enthusiastic and diligent colonialists going, and the Scottish economy boomed as a result. There wasn't an outpost of Empire that the Scots weren't involved in.

    Of course, it's much easier to blame everything on the English, most of whom lived in abject poverty and were little more than slaves to ruling classes.

  • bailliegillies bailliegillies

    25 Jan 2010, 9:01AM

    Who of us ever benefitted from empire, other than the city and the "great and good". The time to put it behind us is long overdue and we can start by dropping the pretence of being an important voice in the world and accept that we are just a small island off the coast of Europe.

    Europe is the shape of the future, not little Britain with it's self delusion of imperial grandeur.

  • bailliegillies bailliegillies

    25 Jan 2010, 9:06AM

    This sentiment is so unbelievably ignorant and reveals the uneducated basis of Scots nationalism.

    Farfetched

    Err, that's Horsey who lives in Hemel Hemstead and dreams of living in Barcelona. So please don't confuse him with us Scots, nationalist or otherwise

  • farfetched farfetched

    25 Jan 2010, 9:31AM

    Err, that's Horsey who lives in Hemel Hemstead and dreams of living in Barcelona. So please don't confuse him with us Scots, nationalist or otherwise

    I'm not confused, I've heard the 'blame the English for everything' sentiment enough times when the British Empire is debated.

    It's laughable that an article that centres around the imperial ambitions of Gordon Brown is then commented on by a Scot claiming that the Scots are 'over it'. The current government makes it abundantly clear that the opposite could be said to be true.

  • hideousmess hideousmess

    25 Jan 2010, 9:36AM

    The "white man's burden" paternalist colonialist cr*p is at the back of the invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq and every moralistic justification of armed intervention (at least the French don't generally use that self-satisfied justification for military action). The UN at least puts a check on that - except when TB decides it's inconvenient for his personal religion (and income).

    Britain's decline as a world power can be most easily demonstrated by the fact that no one queries whether or not having a foreign power with nuclear weapons a bus ride from the centre of the capital is consistent with independence. Can you seriously imagine the Victorians putting up with the equivalent? (Or the Americans for that matter - remember Cuba?).

    Give it up, do.

  • ElleGreen ElleGreen

    25 Jan 2010, 9:49AM

    Howard D - unfortunately, comparitively speaking, in this world, I think Britain probably is still one of the hallmarks of democracy, decency, tolerance and good manners.

  • Avikwame Avikwame

    25 Jan 2010, 10:47AM

    @Armchair 99
    Your assessment is way out ! four years ago I was working in the
    Naval Dockyard at Brest France,I counted a Satellite Ship,36 Frigates and Destroyers,two nuclear Submarines and two diesel Electric Submarines who were charging their batteries for a trip,a helicopter Aircraft Carrier and over a dozen Ships on the slipways or in dry Docks being built or being re fitted.
    China has embarked on a virulent Shipbuilding programme,and Britain underestimated the Japanese since 1900,s in Naval expectations.
    The Indian Ocean over the following 20 years is being groomed for the next "Jutland" ,China is also making in roads into Tibet and Nepal.
    The other important omission is the possibility of the North West Passage (see John Cabot) and the Alaska/Canada,Greenland/N.Eire,Scotland,Denmark,Lithuania,Poland Missile Shield. You must also take into account the North East passage from Murmansk to the Kamchatka Peninsular and Manchuria and realize why the Russians are hammering in flags on the Sea Bed. Both the Arctic and Antarctic should figure prominently in your equations,for the Satellites (see feeders and decoders),then theres the situation of Piracy,not forgetting that the guarantor America is 5000 miles from Europe,and 8000 miles from Asia,and inherited the European Colonial territories from the aftermath of World War II.
    Dont fall asleep in that Armchair, " They who fall asleep in a Tigers cave,wont be dreaming for long."

  • Getridofem Getridofem

    25 Jan 2010, 10:50AM

    A Reality Check is essential. We are a small country and we are massively in debt. The days of being a World Power are over and we should adjust our role accordingly. We simply cannot afford it.

    It is not just the political right which has this fixation on playing a leading role. No matter which party gets into office they are all the same.

  • Faversham Faversham

    25 Jan 2010, 11:11AM

    I'm Scottish and live in Scotland.

    I don't blame the English people for anything and certainly don't expect them to take the blame for Empire. I'm sure we were bastards too. If anything too they are just as misruled as we Scots are although so many of them are in denial about their real national position that IMO it has made for an unhappy and in my experience a rather angry people. I don't think we are as unhappy or angry because we never really entwined our identity or fortunes with Empire.

    The Empire benefitted an Anglo-Scottish aristocracy and those that managed to become part of a new mercantile class. Most working Scots were just as poor and as ruthlessly exploited at the end of Empire as they were to begin with. They were often worse off than those they were sent to enslave. We were indeed great Empire builders and became the Administrators of Empire because of our superior universal education system IMO. We were also in many ways the backbone of the Britsh military to which we still contribute disproportionately today.

    But has all this benefitted Scotland as a nation. Is the national collective better off? Are we a Switzerland of the north or a Norway of the British Isles? No, we certainly aren't. Far from it which is a disgrace but proves what a lie this notion of Imperial clout is. That's why Empire must be consigned to history which it already has been for most Scots probably because as I said before we never exchanged Britishness for Scottishness. We always remained Scots despite the powers that be trying to turn us into North Britons. But all this is stuff of the past and I don't even care to think of it.

    Scotland needs to move forward as an independent nation and take her rightful place amongst European nations and indeed have her own seat at the UN. I think there would be an integrity in that that most Scots could respond to as opposed to helping maintain an Imperial delusion which is of no real benefit to us and props up a British ruling class which has never really treated Scots and Scotland with respect.

  • superscruff superscruff

    25 Jan 2010, 11:14AM

    The words delusion and granduer come to mind about the UK goverments thoughts about our place in the world.
    Working for an influential EU is without doubt our best bet.

  • Garcie Garcie

    25 Jan 2010, 11:31AM

    Its only when you go abroad that you realise we are great :)



My novel about painting, criminality, and the greatest art forger of the twentieth century!

My novel about painting, criminality, and the greatest art forger of the twentieth century!
Please click the cover!

My novel about London, murder, mayhem, and a female killer!

My novel about London, murder, mayhem, and a female killer!
Please click the cover!

My novel about running, Princeton University, and a conman who lost it all!

My novel about running, Princeton University, and a conman who lost it all!
Please click the cover!

My novel about running, Princeton University, and a conman who lost it all!

My novel about running, Princeton University, and a conman who lost it all!
Please click the cover!

My novel about love, betrayal and chess in New Orleans

My novel about love, betrayal and chess in New Orleans
Please click the book!

My semi-autobiographical novel about a very British education and becoming an American!

My semi-autobiographical novel about a very British education and becoming an American!
Please click the cover!

My novel about London, murder, mayhem, and a female killer!

My novel about London, murder, mayhem, and a female killer!
Please click the cover!