And to expressions of disbelief There was never any attempt to discredit her

And, to expressions of disbelief, “There was never any attempt to discredit her.”The Scots nationalist Alex Salmond suggested that as Mrs Warren was an “ordinary person doing extraordinary things” (in the Government’s phrase) she should be eligible for an honour. Or “That didn’t go in,” or “I’m sorry, I was fixing my bat, how many runs do we need to win?”Labour’s David Taylor kicked off with swingeing denunciation of the eurozone. The PM didn’t even move his feet.Iain Thing asked for an apology on behalf of Pam Warren, the leader of the Paddington Survivors’ Group (their political affiliations had been sought by the Government) No apology was offered. What strikers there were in the Commons yesterday.

It’s also, if only by inference, allowed readers to see how diverse anglophone literary culture is, and how much cross-fertilisation is going on across national borders. No wonder the men at Man want to bring it all under one roof But really boys, you’ve got to admit it We got there first.mfreely rosebud.u-net. Taken together, they might be bolder than the books most women were writing 10 years ago That in itself could be seen as the Orange Effect. The prize may not be what is encouraging more women to write on larger canvases. But it’s certainly not discouraging them, either.There is no doubt that it’s raised the profile of fiction by women in the international arena. Rather, they depict the world as their female authors see it. Doris Lessing was doing it when AS Byatt and Rose Tremain were babies.This year’s Orange shortlist is not short on love interests.

They are full of traditionally female themes, but they also feature terrorists, racists, sectarian violence, political intrigue, mass extermination and war. Who says that women can’t write big novels that engage with history and politics? Linda Grant said so when she won the Orange prize two years ago, but she is living proof that women can and do And it’s not a recent phenomenon, either. We can’t be geniuses like men because we can’t engage with history or war or politics. Instead we stay indoors, sighing about the housework, knitting ever more intricate affairs of the heart.But it’s just not so – as anyone who looks at women writers appearing on any serious shortlist could confirm Who says woman can’t write about war? Look at Pat Barker.

This allowed for the revival of the tired old Shakespeare’s sister debate. Looking at the very different choices of the (Orange-appointed) men’s panel, they said it proved that women had very different, and sometimes questionable, literary tastes. The tune keeps changing: in the beginning the main concern was that that the prize existed at all. Women won the Booker sometimes, didn’t they? So why the hysterical clamour for a Prize of One’s Own? Last year, it was the all-woman panel that critics couldn’t stomach. It just can’t compete against the heavyweights because it’s just a bunch of women.This, in fact, has been the leitmotif in most of its press cuttings. Why did nobody remember that actually they’ve already competed in the international arena and failed to win? It’s not as if the Orange prize is insignificant. Not only was it fatter than the Booker when it started; but, like the Booker, it’s created stars and bestsellers.