Bookish quotation 3 for deckchair competition

Roddy Doyle:

"I knew all the books in the house. I knew their shapes and smells. I knew what pages would open if I held them with the spine on the ground and let the sides drop."

-- Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, p.75 (and what a beautiful argument against e-books!) (by the way, apropos of the Julian Barnes thread, this was one of the first hardback books I got, it was a bargain-priced £1.99 and it still has that sticker on the jacket to prove it! Hard-back, with dust jacket still intact, alas, it was only a reprint edition in 1993, so not a first edition, oh well (it probably wouldn't have been just 1.99 even in early 90s bargain prices!). Anyway, this is one of my favourite books ever and I like having it physically with me, and now, opening the book again to locate the quote after all these years, I'm a little sad to see the pages slightly yellowing around the edges already, even though it still looks pristine outside. But then I got reading one of my favourite passages again, that quietly heart-breaking part about how Paddy was trying so hard to mediate between his da and his ma by remembering his spellings and syllables, which had so much resonance for me when I first read it and still finds the passage resonating again after all these years... thanks for the chance to revisit a lost country.)

Bookish quotation 1 for deckchair competition

Yiyun Li

"I want to interfere with history, making things up at will, adding layers to legend... The scenes always move me, as they are the central scenes of a hero's story. I want the story to be about bravery. But always I am stopped."

(excerpted from "What has that to do with me?", first appeared in the Gettysburg Review, vol. 16 no. 2, re-printed at the end of the "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers". Here Li was not referring to her stories, but about the difficulty of recounting history, specifically that from her own experiences before she left China for America. It struck me that, as the powers-that-be have no qualms about re-writing history, the writers themselves conversely become ever more cautious about the way they tell their stories.)

Bookish quotation 2 for deckchair competition

Zadie Smith:

"But you'll like it."

"Why, because she's black?"

"No - becuase it's really good wriitng."

-- from "Changing My Mind" p. 3

"The truth is, black women writers, while writing many wonderful things, have been no more or less successful at avoiding falsification of human experience than any other group of writers."

-- from "Changing My Mind" p. 9 (I feel that the above second quote would make a great companion deckchair to Yiyun Li's quote I cited above -- that is, provided that both of these quotes are selected rather than disqualified from the competition due to word length as well as the fact that they aren't exactly paens to literature but about the difficulty of relating truth in fiction.) And, as I too don't have a Kindle (not that I would even if I could), I shall stop here and come back another time with other selections that may be more to the spirit of the exercise.

Action Plan for Tackling Banking Corruption

Immediate Action (within 3 to 6 months) -- Pursue Criminal Prosecution of Banking Cheats:

1. Fully fund and support the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to carry out criminal investigations into fraudulent bankers with the full and unfettered cooperation of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the police.

2. Journalists should hold regulators as well as bankers to proper account. Demand tough sanctions and don't take a "we can't do that" for an answer. Combat lies in the media that there is a lack of legal basis to sue bankers on a criminal basis. The Fraud Act 2006 provides enough legal basis to sue bankers on account of the fraudulent manipulation of LIBOR as well as the mis-selling of financial products to businesses under the charge of false representation (c. 35 s. 2).

3. Do not allow politicians and media columnists to misrepresent the law by repeating the claim by FSA Chairman Lord Adair Turner that LIBOR is not a "qualifying instrument" under the "Act". Turner is muddying the waters (deliberately?) by pretending that the FSA's lack of power to pursue criminal prosecution is the same thing as the lack of actual UK fraud legislation to pursue bankers engaged in fraud.

Make no mistake, the two are different things -- FSA lacking power to criminally prosecute does NOT mean that there is no legal basis for the SFO or indeed individuals and businesses to pursue fraudulent banks and bankers on criminal charges under Fraud Act 2006.

4. Names of bankers under criminal investigation should be published and their photos splashed across the nation's newspapers, in exactly the same manner in which the London rioters have been named and shamed when they pillaged the city. White-collar pillagers of our economy should be named and shamed just like the rioters.

5. The Chancellor should make an immediate announcement that any future fines that the FSA is about to levy on the other 15 or so banks found to have manipulated LIBOR and other malpractice to go straight into the Exchequer and the public coffers, rather than allow these fines to line the pocket of the FSA itself.

6. The FSA should make immediate commitment to up its level of fines imposed on fraudulent banks to commensuate with actual level of systemic fraud uncovered. The fine should at least be equal to or greater than the annual bonus pot of a bank as well as being a significant percentage of their annual turnover to act a real deterrent against future institutional fraud.

Short Term (within 6-12 months):

1. Bring forward legislation that allows the Financial Services Bill to include new safeguards to make future prosecution against members of the banking industry quicker, easier and more robust.

However, this MUST NOT be used as a basis to pre-empt / pre-judge any current attempt to bring criminal charges against the CURRENT bunch of financial criminals. The Fraud Act 2006 established a "general conduct offence" and the current fraudsters need to be pursued to the fullest extent possible under current legislation.

2. Reform the FSA so that there is proper independence between the regulator and the City. At present the FSA is funded by the banking sector and its cosiness with the industry is displayed when the FSA fails to use its "strongest available sanction" -- imposing fines -- to the fullest extent possible. (£60m is a laughable pittance compared ot the £230m that the US authorities charged Barclays for the exact same offence.)

3. Strengthen the SFO by hiring more fraud investigators and providing it with proper powers and authority to seize materials and assets especially on large-scale fraud perpetuated across an industry. Strengthen links between the SFO and the Police and set up a special unit to tackle white-collar crime.

Long term (within 12 - 18 months):

1. Independent judge-led public inquiry a la Leveson. However, this must NOT be used as an excuse to kick the issue into the long grass, nor can it be used to perform another talking shop white-wash that obfuscate the fundamental tackling of actual fraudulent behaviours we are witnessing in the City.

2. The costs of this independent public inquiry must be met to a significant proportion by the banking industry itself rather than further drain the public coffers when we the public have already spent so much to bail them out over the last four years.

3. Restrict the influence of the City lobbyists in the form of the British Banking Association (BBA) on Parliament. The BBA must NOT be allowed to influence policy designed to regulate its members.

Sign here to campaign for economic justice and demand criminal prosecution of fraudulent bankers NOW.