Ben Aaronovitch's Blog, page 29
December 4, 2012
Currently Reading: Midwinter of the Spirit
Midwinter of the Spiritby Phil Rickman Blurb: When offered the post once styled 'diocesan exorcist', the Revd Merrily Watkins - parish priest and single parent - cannot easily refuse. But the retiring exorcist, strongly objecting to women priests, not only refuses to help Merrily but ensures that she's soon exposed to the job at its most terrifying.
And things get no easier. As an early winter slices through the old city of Hereford, a body is found in the River Wye, an ancient church is desecrated, and there are signs of dark ritual on a hill overlooking the city. Meanwhile, reports of psychic unrest in the Cathedral itself - where the famous shrine of St Thomas Cantilupe lies in fragments - reflect an undying evil lying close to the heart of the Church itself.
The knife edge Phil Rickman walks is the most impressive things about these books. He's very careful to ensure that the supernatural explanations are never clear cut. Like the characters themselves you have to take a great deal on faith. Much like real life in fact.
December 2, 2012
The BBC 6 O'Clock News Regional Bias report: Month 3
My ongoing and slightly masochistic project to determine the level of London-centric bias in the BBC News. The first month is here and the second here. The weekly variation remains high with natural disasters and grisly murders being the principle factors behind where the camera goes. I have a horrible feeling that six months may not be enough but we shall see.
Total Minutes September October November Total North West 42.66 18.76 15.70 77.12 Wales 14.55 24.46 26.59 65.60 London 18.31 18.99 28.22 65.52 Yorkshire + 19.76 11.08 23.41 54.25 South-West 5.60 22.88 16.19 44.67 South-East 24.07 9.91 7.85 41.83 Scotland 13.59 21.35 6.08 41.02 West Midlands 0.92 10.57 13.48 24.97 East 3.43 13.81 6.30 23.54 Northern Ireland 7.37 2.88 6.32 16.57 East Midlands 1.97 1.72 6.36 10.05 North East 6.55 - 1.13 7.68
The raw figures show the North West still dominates with London, Wales and Yorkshire fighting it out for the next two places. However if we adjust for population and go to the minutes coverage per million population...
Mins/Mpop September October November Total Wales 4.75 7.98 8.68 21.41 North West 6.05 2.66 2.23 10.94 Yorkshire + 3.74 2.10 4.43 10.27 Northern Ireland 4.07 1.59 3.49 9.15 South-West 1.06 4.33 3.06 8.45 London 2.24 2.32 3.45 8.02 Scotland 2.59 4.06 1.16 7.81 South-East 2.79 1.15 0.91 4.84 West Midlands 0.16 1.89 2.41 4.46 East 0.59 2.36 1.08 4.03 North East 2.52 - 0.44 2.96 East Midlands 0.43 0.38 1.40 2.22
If we look at the adjusted rankings month to month....
September October November Wales 2 1 1 North West 1 4 7 Yorkshire + 4 7 2 Northern Ireland 3 9 3 South-West 9 2 5 London 8 6 4 Scotland 6 3 9 South-East 5 10 11 West Midlands 12 8 6 East 10 5 10 North East 7 12 12 East Midlands 11 11 8
It becomes obvious that the initial thesis, that a London centric media gives undue bias to London stories look a bit suspect. The counter-moan, that now that BBC News has moved to Salford they've become Manchester-centric, is far from proven given the apparent dominance of Wales.
It is clear what part of the country is ignored and that is the Midlands, the East and the North East. In fact it would be fairer to say that the media has a western bias than a southern one.
ADDED 14:00 03/12/2012
I received a tweet this morning complaining that the inclusion of Bristol distorted the figures for the South-West region and that Devon and Cornwall were unfairly excluded from news coverage. Fortunately my notes were detailed enough to seperate Devon and Cornwall and quote seperate figures.
Devon and Cornwall have a population of 1,671,000 - about 3% of the UK's population and received 16.63 minutes of coverage or roughly 4% of total. Their minutes/million population rate was 9.95 putting them 4th in the league table - two places above the South-West Region.
Pop Mins Min/Pop Wales 3.064 65.60 21.41 North West 7.052 77.12 10.94 Yorkshire + 5.284 54.25 10.27 DEVON & CORNWALL 1.671 16.63 9.95 Northern Ireland 1.811 16.57 9.15 South-West 5.289 44.67 8.45 London 8.174 65.52 8.02 Scotland 5.254 41.02 7.81 South-East 8.635 41.83 4.84 West Midlands 5.602 24.97 4.46 East 5.847 23.54 4.03 North East 2.597 7.68 2.96 East Midlands 4.533 10.05 2.22
Total Minutes September October November Total North West 42.66 18.76 15.70 77.12 Wales 14.55 24.46 26.59 65.60 London 18.31 18.99 28.22 65.52 Yorkshire + 19.76 11.08 23.41 54.25 South-West 5.60 22.88 16.19 44.67 South-East 24.07 9.91 7.85 41.83 Scotland 13.59 21.35 6.08 41.02 West Midlands 0.92 10.57 13.48 24.97 East 3.43 13.81 6.30 23.54 Northern Ireland 7.37 2.88 6.32 16.57 East Midlands 1.97 1.72 6.36 10.05 North East 6.55 - 1.13 7.68
The raw figures show the North West still dominates with London, Wales and Yorkshire fighting it out for the next two places. However if we adjust for population and go to the minutes coverage per million population...
Mins/Mpop September October November Total Wales 4.75 7.98 8.68 21.41 North West 6.05 2.66 2.23 10.94 Yorkshire + 3.74 2.10 4.43 10.27 Northern Ireland 4.07 1.59 3.49 9.15 South-West 1.06 4.33 3.06 8.45 London 2.24 2.32 3.45 8.02 Scotland 2.59 4.06 1.16 7.81 South-East 2.79 1.15 0.91 4.84 West Midlands 0.16 1.89 2.41 4.46 East 0.59 2.36 1.08 4.03 North East 2.52 - 0.44 2.96 East Midlands 0.43 0.38 1.40 2.22
If we look at the adjusted rankings month to month....
September October November Wales 2 1 1 North West 1 4 7 Yorkshire + 4 7 2 Northern Ireland 3 9 3 South-West 9 2 5 London 8 6 4 Scotland 6 3 9 South-East 5 10 11 West Midlands 12 8 6 East 10 5 10 North East 7 12 12 East Midlands 11 11 8
It becomes obvious that the initial thesis, that a London centric media gives undue bias to London stories look a bit suspect. The counter-moan, that now that BBC News has moved to Salford they've become Manchester-centric, is far from proven given the apparent dominance of Wales.
It is clear what part of the country is ignored and that is the Midlands, the East and the North East. In fact it would be fairer to say that the media has a western bias than a southern one.
ADDED 14:00 03/12/2012
I received a tweet this morning complaining that the inclusion of Bristol distorted the figures for the South-West region and that Devon and Cornwall were unfairly excluded from news coverage. Fortunately my notes were detailed enough to seperate Devon and Cornwall and quote seperate figures.
Devon and Cornwall have a population of 1,671,000 - about 3% of the UK's population and received 16.63 minutes of coverage or roughly 4% of total. Their minutes/million population rate was 9.95 putting them 4th in the league table - two places above the South-West Region.
Pop Mins Min/Pop Wales 3.064 65.60 21.41 North West 7.052 77.12 10.94 Yorkshire + 5.284 54.25 10.27 DEVON & CORNWALL 1.671 16.63 9.95 Northern Ireland 1.811 16.57 9.15 South-West 5.289 44.67 8.45 London 8.174 65.52 8.02 Scotland 5.254 41.02 7.81 South-East 8.635 41.83 4.84 West Midlands 5.602 24.97 4.46 East 5.847 23.54 4.03 North East 2.597 7.68 2.96 East Midlands 4.533 10.05 2.22
November 18, 2012
The Next Big Thing
1) What is the working title of your next book?Broken Homes 2) Where did the idea come from for the book?From the real life scandal during the 1980s when Sainsburys heiress and uber-grifter Dame Shirley Porter deliberately housed poor families in asbestos ridden blocks of flats as part of her criminal plot to rig the local elections. 3) What genre does your book fall under?Well I call it a Crime/SFF hybrid but Urban Fantasy fits.4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?I have a whole Fantasy Casting page. 5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?Architecture can be murder.6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?No the book will be distributed by bananas. 7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?It's not quite finished yet - nearly there. 8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?I like to think that my books are incompatible incomprehensible incomplete incomparable! 9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?I can't stop writing them now. It's too late for me but it might not be too late for you. Save yourself! Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family... 10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest? Come the zombie apocalypse it will make a useful source of firelighting material. Unless you get the eBook version of course - in which case you're screwed.
November 11, 2012
Currently Reading: The Adventures of Amir Hamza
The Adventures of Amir HamzaBy Ghalib Lakhnavi and Abdullah BelgramiTranslated from the Urdu by Musharraf Ali Faroqi
This was a present from my good friend Samit Basu author of the brilliant Turbulance (which you should buy immediately and then read). It is the size of a couple of G.R.R, Martin books and so I suspect I'm going to be currently reading this, bit by bit, quite a way into the New Year. 
This was a present from my good friend Samit Basu author of the brilliant Turbulance (which you should buy immediately and then read). It is the size of a couple of G.R.R, Martin books and so I suspect I'm going to be currently reading this, bit by bit, quite a way into the New Year.
November 8, 2012
Fantasy Casting Update
Added some of the suggestions made in the last week here
November 6, 2012
Currently Reading: Ugly Ways
Ugly WaysBy Tina McElroy Ansa
(From Amazon) Three black sisters reunite in their Georgia hometown to embrace, scream, smoke, contemplate suicide, and swap clothes while preparing for their mother's funeral--in a rambling follow-up to Ansa's Baby of the Family (1989).
Esther Lovejoy has died at last, and her three daughters- -Betty, the ultra-reliable owner of a pair of beauty salons; Emily, the lonely, unstable researcher who longs for love; and Annie Ruth, the pretty youngest whose job as an L.A. TV anchorwoman is driving her nuts--rush home to begin rehashing their traumatic childhood memories in the hope of laying them to rest. Ruled with an iron hand by Esther, who insisted they call her "Mudear'' (baby talk for ``my dear''), the three Lovejoy girls learned the hard way to hold their heads high, work hard, and, whatever happened, never to trust a man--even while Mudear herself spent her days as a voluntary shut-in, watching TV, taking naps, and wearing negligees while her husband worked in the chalk mines to support her.
Tormented by a mother whose belief that "she was above the laws of God and man,'' to say nothing of her habit of gardening only by moonlight, caused tongues to wag all over town, the Lovejoy girls nevertheless grew up to forge successful, independent lives while their father faded into the background, muttering about "womens taking over [his] house.'' As each daughter (and, occasionally, the shrill, judgemental ghost of Mudear herself) recollects those long- gone years, the source of Mudear's familial power is revealed, the daughters' lifelong resentments aired, and the father's suffering at last relieved, resulting in a happy funeral for one and all.
November 4, 2012
But but but...You're reading it wrong. Again!
....Or the strange case of Dr Walid's phenotype.
Last week I idly started a fantasy casting blog/twitter thingie which not only provided many happy hours of procrastination but also threw up loads of names that I’d never considered before. But the really interesting result was what happened when I asked for suggestions for the character of Dr Walid.
I got many suggestions for many fine actors, amongst them Ben Kingsley, and the one thing they all had in common was they were all ethnically Asian(1), Arabic or Middle Eastern. Hooray for diversity I hear you say and hurrah indeed were it not for the fact that Dr Walid is neither ethnically Asian, Arabic or Middle Eastern.
Here is the passage where Peter first meets our illustrious Cryptopathologist.
I was introduced to Abdul Haqq Walid, a spry, gingery man in his fifties who spoke with a soft Highland accent. (Rivers of London, p67)
Dr Walid is a white Scot from Oban, his family are observant members of the Church of Scotland, and he converted to Islam when studying medicine at Edinburgh. I often refer to him as ‘Gastroenterology’s answer to Cat Stevens,’ after Yusif Islam who likewise converted in the late 1970s and like Walid he took an Arabic name when he did so.
Readers read books much faster than writers write them and can miss details as they go. Obviously many readers read the name Abdul Haqq Walid and immediately superimposed Ben Kingsley on the character before they’d even finished the sentence. They did this because western culture has a hard time separating Islam, the religion, from a bundle of distinct ethnicities (Asian, Middle Eastern and Arab).
So now a quick digression followed by some waffle.
A Digression
My favourite TV drama example of this kind of stupidity comes in The State Within by Lizzie Mickery and Dan Percival during which the US Government decides to lock up or deport (I forget which) all British Muslims. Now leaving aside the constitutionality of such a move – how the fuck would they know of which British passport holders are Muslims? Religion is not specified on the passport and that information is not gathered for any British (or as far as I know US) form of identification.
There’s a scene where a British Muslim couple nervously approach a checkpoint, we know they are Muslim because they’re Asian and nervous, but how would the officer’s at the checkpoint know they were Muslims. By their ethnicity – they could have been Hindi’s, Jains, Christians, Sihks, Jews or, god forbid, atheists. By their names? Many Asian Muslims have Arabic names but many do not, many non-Muslims have Arabic names – my son for example – you run across many non-Muslims with Arabic names especially if they or their parents are from West Africa.
None of this is raised by any of the characters in the TV series because for the writers and production crew Islam was an ethnicity not a globe spanning religion. Once the US Government had made the decision to deport them they’d be easy to spot – no worries.
Some Waffle
I can't help wondering that I could have avoided the confusion if I had written the sentence as... I was introduced to a spry, gingery Scot called Abdul Haqq Walid. Would the whole gingery Scot stereotype have overcome the Muslim as ethnic group stereotype? I can't tell and that's the problem.
You see I deliberately made Dr Walid a convert in part to work against that stereotype (in other part because he insisted on looking like Robin Cook in my imagination) so should I have hammered the point home a bit harder? Some argue that a writer has a responsibility to judge their audience reaction when tackling sensitive topics like religion and ethnicity but by what margin of overkill do you need to put into your writing to ensure everyone gets it? Is it even desirable that everyone gets it?
As my friend Andrew says - it'll just be a lovely surprise for everyone if they make a TV series.
(1) That’s South Asian in American English.
Last week I idly started a fantasy casting blog/twitter thingie which not only provided many happy hours of procrastination but also threw up loads of names that I’d never considered before. But the really interesting result was what happened when I asked for suggestions for the character of Dr Walid.I got many suggestions for many fine actors, amongst them Ben Kingsley, and the one thing they all had in common was they were all ethnically Asian(1), Arabic or Middle Eastern. Hooray for diversity I hear you say and hurrah indeed were it not for the fact that Dr Walid is neither ethnically Asian, Arabic or Middle Eastern.
Here is the passage where Peter first meets our illustrious Cryptopathologist.
I was introduced to Abdul Haqq Walid, a spry, gingery man in his fifties who spoke with a soft Highland accent. (Rivers of London, p67)
Dr Walid is a white Scot from Oban, his family are observant members of the Church of Scotland, and he converted to Islam when studying medicine at Edinburgh. I often refer to him as ‘Gastroenterology’s answer to Cat Stevens,’ after Yusif Islam who likewise converted in the late 1970s and like Walid he took an Arabic name when he did so. Readers read books much faster than writers write them and can miss details as they go. Obviously many readers read the name Abdul Haqq Walid and immediately superimposed Ben Kingsley on the character before they’d even finished the sentence. They did this because western culture has a hard time separating Islam, the religion, from a bundle of distinct ethnicities (Asian, Middle Eastern and Arab).
So now a quick digression followed by some waffle.
A Digression
My favourite TV drama example of this kind of stupidity comes in The State Within by Lizzie Mickery and Dan Percival during which the US Government decides to lock up or deport (I forget which) all British Muslims. Now leaving aside the constitutionality of such a move – how the fuck would they know of which British passport holders are Muslims? Religion is not specified on the passport and that information is not gathered for any British (or as far as I know US) form of identification. There’s a scene where a British Muslim couple nervously approach a checkpoint, we know they are Muslim because they’re Asian and nervous, but how would the officer’s at the checkpoint know they were Muslims. By their ethnicity – they could have been Hindi’s, Jains, Christians, Sihks, Jews or, god forbid, atheists. By their names? Many Asian Muslims have Arabic names but many do not, many non-Muslims have Arabic names – my son for example – you run across many non-Muslims with Arabic names especially if they or their parents are from West Africa.
None of this is raised by any of the characters in the TV series because for the writers and production crew Islam was an ethnicity not a globe spanning religion. Once the US Government had made the decision to deport them they’d be easy to spot – no worries.
Some Waffle
I can't help wondering that I could have avoided the confusion if I had written the sentence as... I was introduced to a spry, gingery Scot called Abdul Haqq Walid. Would the whole gingery Scot stereotype have overcome the Muslim as ethnic group stereotype? I can't tell and that's the problem. You see I deliberately made Dr Walid a convert in part to work against that stereotype (in other part because he insisted on looking like Robin Cook in my imagination) so should I have hammered the point home a bit harder? Some argue that a writer has a responsibility to judge their audience reaction when tackling sensitive topics like religion and ethnicity but by what margin of overkill do you need to put into your writing to ensure everyone gets it? Is it even desirable that everyone gets it?
As my friend Andrew says - it'll just be a lovely surprise for everyone if they make a TV series.
(1) That’s South Asian in American English.
November 1, 2012
Fantasy Casting
I keep getting asked who I think should play the characters in the Rivers books and mind always goes blank. So I did what I always do when faced with an empty brain. I went on Twitter and asked other people.
I tried to catch all the tweets but I may have missed some. If I did or you just want to add your own suggestion make a comment and I'll throw them up.
PC Peter Grant
Ukweli Roach
Noel Clarke
Daniel Anthony
Ray Emmet Brown
Ashley Walters
Daniel Kaluuya
Elliot Knight
Louis Cordice
DCI Thomas Nightingale
Bill Nighy
Brian Cox
Jeremy Irons
Gary Oldman
Stephen Fry
Brendan Gleeson
Roger Allam
Mark Gatiss
Liam Neeson
PC Lesley May
Sheridan Smith
Joanna Vanderham
Lily Loveless
Amy Beth Hayes
Heather Spearritt
Beverley Brook
Estella Daniels
Larissa Wilson
Nina Toussaint-White
Ayesha Antoine
Molly
Helena Bonham Carter
Amy Lee
Mia Wasikowska
Lacey Turner
DCI Alexander Seawoll
Phillip Glenister
Dara O'Briain
Mark Benton
Lady Celia Tyburn Thames
Naomie Harris
Zawe Ashton
Sophie Okenado
DS Miriam Stephanopoulos
Katy Brand
Miranda Hart
October 30, 2012
Currently Reading: Red Country
They burned her home.They stole her brother and sister.
But vengeance is following.
Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she'll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she's not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old step father Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb's buried a bloody past of his own. And out in the lawless Far Country the past never stays buried.
Their journey will take them across the barren plains to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feud, duel and massacre, high into the unmapped mountains to a reckoning with the Ghosts. Even worse, it will force them into alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, and his feckless lawyer Temple, two men no one should ever have to trust.
