Libraries Latest - Court of Appeal decision 19th December 2011. The fight goes on

No early Xmas present for Brent Library Campaigners as the Court of Appeal today dismissed our appeal - but don't go - the fight continues as we voted to take our solicitors' advice to seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court (the highest court in the land).

A quick look at the written judgment doesn't reveal any in depth legal analysis of the sort one might expect from the Court of Appeal - very disappointing after all the efforts of Dinah Rose QC and the rest of our Legal Team.

Lord Justice Pill (we'll keep the bitter pill jokes for later) gave the main judgment. He agreed with Dinah Rose that, to establish indirect discrimination it was sufficient to show an adverse impact of the proposal on the Asian Community as compared with non-Asian communities. Given the scale of the spending reductions the council was required to make and the information available following earlier studies, a decision tht the library service should bear a share of the reduction was not, in his judgment, unlawful. There was no reason to doubt that the council was aware of its statutory duties, including those in relation to race discrimination.
He said it was "fanciful to suggest, taking the best view we can of the appellants' evidence, that it was so obvious that library provision, as distinct from other services, had discriminatory effects upon the Asian community that it needed to be a significant factor in funding decisions as the the apportionment of resources."
He found that "the decision as to which librares to close was carefully considered by the council... a full consultation was conducted and fully reported to the decision makers." and "I do not consider that the council was in breach of duty in failing to give further consideration to the racial dimension, in so far as it affected the Asian community in relation to other communities."

As to the second ground of appeal, Lord Justice Pill was satisfied that "the council exercised its functions in this case with due regard to the requirements under s149 [of the Equality Act 2010]. To put forward a reasoned proposal for closures was a reasonable reaction in the circumstances, including the urgent need to economise. It was not necessary for an Equalities Impact Assessment to be conducted before the forumlation of the proposals on which the public were to be consulted."

As to the third ground he found that the duty under s7 of the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 "was also in mind and the council was aware of the duty specified. Decisions as to closures were taken with that duty in mind, the proposals included improved ways in which the expectations of users might be met. Mitigation measures were proposed in this regard".

So, in other words, the Court of Appeal agreed with the judgment of Mr Justice Ouseley.

But it's not the end of the road! Even though the Court of Appeal refused leave to appeal (which was predictable, and what usually happens).

Our solicitor, John Halford, from Bindmans, explained his view that the case does raise issues of public importance and that we should petition the Supreme Court for leave to appeal because
1. It's the first case ever decided about large scale library closures in the UK
2. The judgment addressed a number of points about he way to make cuts in public services, and was incorrect in what the law requires in relation to the closure of public services because of the risk of indirect discrimination to the Asian community. The court said that Brent could be excused because no one brought it to their attention until the legal case started and that anyway it was not significant enough to justify quashing the decision and making Brent start again.
3. It's important not only becase of what happened in Brent but because very similar decisions are being taken up and down the country in relation to other libraries and public services. If this court is correct then a number of legal protections which parliament put in place won't be as strong as they need to be.

Read John Halford's Press Statement on Bindmans website

With the benefit of that advice, and the amazing offer by John Halford on behalf of himself and the barristers, to continue on our behalf despite uncertainty about whether or not Legal Aid will be granted, it was unanimously agreed to continue with the fight and to take the next step which is to ask the Supreme Court for leave to appeal to it.

In the meantime, John Halford has asked Brent not to further dismantle the libraries. If they don't agree it will be necessary to apply for an injunction restraining them from doing so. The injunction which was in place was discharged today.

John urged us to press on showing the same spirit, and the mood outside court today was for doing just that. There was a vote of thanks to John and the rest of the legal team for their fantastic work on our behalf so far, and their preparedness to help us go to the next stage.

Read the view from Preston Road campaigners

From Kensal Rise campaigners

Twitter has been a-tweet all afternoon, the Kilburn Times has an excellent piece by Tara Brady

The Guardian

BBC News with a particularly apt photo of Alan Bennett looking glum

And Brent? Well, you heard about the unbelievably crass presentation of Team of the Year award to the team who have worked tirelessly to dismantle the library service? Sorry, I mean the "Libraries Transformation Team".

I think we need to end with an uplifting song - optional of course. How about Johnny Cash's Walk the Line?. Not entirely inappropriate.

You'll have realised that the Save Our Six Campaign still needs to raise funds to carry on to the next stage, so please continue to support the fundraising events and just donate here

Brent Libraries Latest - the Appeal

 photo by Martin Francis from his Wembley Matters blog

Just back from court 63 where Lord Justices Pill, Richards and Davis have spent the last two days hearing the appeal against Mr Justice Ouseley's decision in favour of Brent Council on 13th October.

After a slightly surreal start with the usher announcing a case involving the "London Borough of Trent", conjuring up unlikely images of Ann John as Maid Marion, he corrected himself, and the hearing began.  We have a new barrister - Dinah Rose - and she was very impressive.  She opened the case yesterday with the complicated indirect discrimination point - but she explained it so well that I think all 50 or so supporters - (the court was packed and folding chairs had to be brought it!) may now be able to explain it to someone else.

Well, here goes... the point is that armed with the knowledge (from the last census in 2001) that 28% of the population of Brent is Asian, and that 46% of active borrowers were Asian (from Brent's own figures), the Council should have been alerted to the possibility that closing Barham Park, Tokyngton and Preston Road, three of the four libraries in the most densely Asian wards (leaving only Ealing Road library open- already the second busiest library in Brent, with 261,000 visits in 2009/10 according to Brent's figures) might have amounted to indirect discrimination against Asians.  Having identified that risk, Brent should have considered it in its Equalities Impact Assessment.

Ms Rose recognised the very real economic difficulties faced by local authorities and the fact that hard choices have to be made by them but subject to their statutory duties - in this case Brent's duties under section 149 of the Equalities Act 2010 and under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964.  She stressed that the merits of the decision were not being examined (that's going on elsewhere - across the borough wherever there's an activist, library user or defender of places to study and read), purely the process by which it was reached.

The fact that only 21% of the questionnaire responses were from Asians should also have alerted Brent ("the red flag should have gone up" as Ms Rose put it) to the fact that they were under-represented in the consultation.

Brent should therefore have realised that any proposal to close libraries was likely to affect the Asian population disproportionately and they should have considered why this was (ie the cultural, social and economic reasons).  Brent conceded that it wasn't considered at all, but argued that giving no regard to it could nevertheless amount to "due regard" under the legislation.  Ms Rose's argument is that having wrongly concluded that there was no risk of discrimination against Asians the council (wrong again) didn't go on to properly consider it and therefore failed to fulfill their obligations under the legislation.

A witness statement by Sue Harper (Director of Environment and Neighbourhood Services) showed that Brent had concluded that the only disadvantage would relate to mobility (ie difficulties in travelling to other libraries) and that only the elderly, young or disabled would be adversely affected.  They failed to consider whether a racial group could be disadvantaged.

In fact the Asian community have been disproportionately affected because a new witness statement showed that Ealing Road library is now overcrowded, with children (mostly Asian) sitting on the floor to do their homework and great pressure on the computers.

Incidentally children have been sitting on the stairs at Willesden Green library doing homework!  So much for the transformation of the libraries by digital and outreach services (well, I know, we never believed that anyway).

Ms Rose handed up demographic maps (a graphic representation is always a good idea) taken from Brent's website showing the density of the Borough's Asian population with the locations of the 12 original and 6 remaining libraries superimposed.  Miss Laing, on behalf of Brent, did not accept that this detailed ward information was before the Executive when they reached their decision to which Ms Rose riposted "well it should have been: we got it from the council's website".  With a good barrister you really can hear the punctuation- that colon was as clear as anything - but back to the issues.

Ms Rose went on to assert that the judgment contains errors of law relating to indirect discrimination as Mr Justice Ouseley found that Brent did a proper Equality Impact Assessment (which she says they did not)

One of their lordships seemed surprised that councils were required to carry out this exercise every time they wanted, for example, to close a swimming pool.  As Ms Rose explained "these practices have been carried out by local authorities since the legislation came in.  They may be novel to your lordship but they're not novel to local authorities: Brent have a form to help them make these decisions"

Dinah Rose also argued that Brent paid no regard to the impact of its policy until the 11th hour of 11th of April 2011- by which time it was far too late because it had already decided to close 6 libraries and had already set the budget.

A third point was that Brent was in breach of its duty under the Public Museums and Libraries Act, and the fourth point that it had engaged in procedural unfairness by not revealing the "seven secret criteria".  The judge below said they were obvious.  Dinah Rose said they were not.

An interesting factual point which Ms Rose highlighted is that Brent did not simply close the six libraries with the lowest usage figures - Kilburn Library (which has lower usage figures than Neasden - now closed) was reprieved because of the special characteristics of some of the users.  This means that Brent feared that there might be indirect discrimination against certain groups who use Kilburn if it was closed, but they failed to carry out the same exercise in relation to the Asian population's usage of Barham Park, Preston Road and Tokyngton.

I'm afraid I missed the afternoon and following morning during which Ms Rose concluded her application and Miss Laing replied, asserted in essence that Brent used the correct procedure and that the judgment below should be upheld.  But I was back for Ms Rose's response on Friday afternoon.  She dealt with Miss Laing's assertion that the amount of regard which a council had to have under the Equalities legislation was a question of degree by pointing out that "it was a major policy decision which on any view would have very significant effects on the lives and opportunities of those who live in Brent".

 Ms Rose described one part of Miss Laing's argument on indirect discrimination as "completely nuts", a phrase which is unlikely to find its way into the judgment (however appropriate it might be), but which cheered us up at the back of the court.

The final point was about the "seven secret criteria".  Ms Rose dealt with the daft suggestion on behalf of Brent that engaging fully with the  groups who had put forward proposals would amount to re-opening the whole consultation by pointing out there were only ten of them!

Tara Brady has written an excellent piece about the first day and the indirect discrimination point on the Kilburn Times website which is well worth reading.

So has Martin Francis, with great photos (see below), on his excellent Wembley Matters blog.

photo by Martin Francis from his Wembley Matters blog

Our solicitor, John Halford of Bindmans, again helpfully stayed behind to answer any questions after the hearing.  He thought it could be about a month before the Judgment is delivered.  It's impossible to predict how it might go, but Dinah Rose put the case very strongly and persuasively for us, and all three Lord Justices were taking a keen interest and asking plenty of questions to test the strength of both sides' arguments. John felt that no further steps should be taken by Brent in the meantime- no more stock should be removed from libraries or from where it's being stored.

So, fingers crossed, and keep supporting the various events - the next is the fabulous sounding Disco Dance Fundraiser next Saturday 19th November in the Preson Mall Community Centre -more details

Which has given me a good idea to end with - Dance the Night Away by the Mavericks.  Just imagine that the "she" who "has gone away and can't do a thing to me" is someone senior in Brent council and you'll enjoy it even more than you usually do.

Libraries latest - send some e-mails

Just back from an excellent talk by Tim Coates at Kensal Rise Library. Tim, previously managing director of Waterstones, campaigns for improvements to the public library service in London, and he had taken a close look at Brent's figures...

For starters Tim pointed out a discrepancy of £299,863 between the figure given for the library service cost in 2010/11 in Brent's consultation document (£5,514,413) and the figure Brent gave to the government (£5,814,276). £300,000 matters when Brent is trying to save £1,000,000!

Tim then went through the items which make up the total cost of running the library service - please don't abandon ship here even if you don't like figures - this is really worth knowing about

If you're still reading, this is how it goes

Staff                     £2,521,200
Buildings                  £781,600
Stock                      £550,000
Supplies                    £61,000
Computer systems   £412,368

Which makes £4,326,168

You might wonder what else there could be - it looks like you could build a library service from the above, but you'd be wrong...

You've forgotten about other apparent essentials (or "non library costs") like

Development      £43,900
Support            £406,000
Outreach          £115,600
Stock support   £141,590
HQ                   £481,105

Which bring the total up to £5,514,413.

So, asked Tim, why aren't Brent trying to save  £1,000,000 from items in the second list ?. Why are they saying the only way to save the money is to close half the libraries? It could be that the second list represents the Head of Libraries' empire. As Tim put it, it's the box we've never looked in until now. We didn't need to until libraries came under threat of closure.

So Tim's first point was that Brent don't need to close any libraries to make the necessary saving - they need to cut back on some of the items in the second list.

His next suggestion was that all London libraries should be run by a not-for-profit trust - the London Public Libraries Trust - you might have read about it already in the Evening Standard in January. Across London the library service in the 32 boroughs costs £200,000,000, of which £50,000,000 of costs are probably unnecessary - like the £36 average cost for a book transfer. That's when you order a book from another library, a team of people swing into action and the book is chauffered across London.

That's all very interesting, I hear you say (if you've got this far without any photos), but will Brent listen? Tim's proposal has already been put to Brent council on behalf of all 6 threatened libraries.

Here's what we can all do
1. E-mail our councillors and tell them that we won't vote for them next time if they don't stand up for the libraries. If they're labour councillors they need to make their views known to the members of the Executive (as they will make the decision on 11th April). If they are lib dems or conservatives the Executive won't listen to them anyway. Find out who they are here

2. E-mail Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture at huntj@parliament.uk and copy in your MP (jacksong@parliament.uk or teathers@parliament.uk or gardinerb@parliament.uk) saying that we object to Brent's proposals to close 6 libraries and that we are not satisfied that Brent are fulfilling their duties to provide a library service. If 20,000 people can be bothered to e-mail Jeremy Hunt in Lewisham, I'm sure we can too.

3. Don't give up!  Have a look at Tim Coates' blog

And, as a thank you for reading all this, here's a photo of a hedgehog who's seen better days

Libraries- Scandinavian Crime Season- Part two

Norwegian crime writer Gunnar Staalesen travelled from rainy Bergen to chilly Willesden Green last thursday night to take part in Brent's World Book Day celebrations.  The wine was delicious, the crisps disappointing (Gunnar was a bit delayed- clearly he'd brought his own delicious.... I can't guess what, as food was barely mentioned in "The Writing on the Wall", no, hang on, there were some open sandwiches, offered to Varg Veum, the private detective who stars in many of his novels, in rather awkward circumstances).

Back to the Willesden Green Library centre, where Gunnaar - in excellent English of course - told us that he'd wanted to be a writer since he was a boy, writing his first detective story when he was 12 or 13.  His first novel was published when he was 22 and he's been writing as a living (and living as a writer, no doubt) ever since.  "I love writing almost more than anything else in my life...I write the sort of books I like to read myself... starting with the Hardy Boys, the Hound of the Baskervilles, moving on to Dorothy Sawyers, Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald, Agatha Christie...the Stockholm detective Martin Beck in the novels of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (who started the Scandinavian wave in crime literature)...communists who had a political mission... also very good writers..."  I have to write about this rather than tell anyone because although Gunnar mentioned their names several times I couldn't possibly pronounce them  (sounded like Shirl and Virl, but that can't be right).

The Scandinavian crime fiction is distinguished by its quality (typically Scandinavian, then), "and by reflecting so deeply society and the times we live in - even though Scandinavian societies are often looked on as ideal societies they have their dark side, their problems, and those problems create the crimes...we also have nature very close to us... even in Oslo, in Bergen... this is very specific for all nordic literature...".  This is certainly true of "The Writing on the Wall" where the topography of Bergen is as important in the story as the underworld of seedy bars run by dodgy characters and apparently respectable family men visiting teenage prostitutes.  It's great stuff!

So, Varg Veum, the imperfect (but not quite as imperfect as Stieg Larsson's Blomqvist in the Dragon Tattoo novels) private detective is mixing with the Bergen underworld and the police and victims' families in a series of well constructed novels.  He's ageing along with his creator (unlike Hercule Poirot or James Bond), bumping into old girlfriends and old enemies along the way, getting into fights and solving crimes.  Other characters are well developed too.  Gunnar wanted him to be a Norwegian Philip Chandler - read one of his novels and see whether you agree.  The three shown above can be ordered through Kilburn Library.

Gunnar was asked about the translation of his novels and he told us, worryingly "I'm in a coup (queue) for my translator...I cannot write in English...I cannot see all the nuaunces in the English language (but then neither can quite a few English writers... it's that Scandinavian quality shining through again)... the translator in a sense has to rewrite..."

Read more about Gunnar's books here

And, by the way, did you know that before he started writing, Stieg Larsson was mostly known for his struggle against racism and right-wing extremism. Starting in the late 1970's, he combined his work as a graphic designer with holding lectures on right-wing extremism. In 1995, when 8 people were killed by neo-Nazis in Sweden, he was the main force behind the founding of the Expo foundation, to expose neo-Nazi activity in Sweden. Maybe I've judged Blomqvist too harshly... Stieg (living under the threat of some nasty right wing violence) needed his detective to have fun in his private life...a stable (but open) long term relationship with Erika who was happily married to a friend...but also Lisbeth....Cecilia...

John Lanchester in yesterday's Guardian magazine wrote  "In cooking as in crime writing, the global trend is Scandinavian", not that we'd care if it wasn't, but it's always good to be up there with a trend, so see you in Kilburn Library's crime fiction section very soon....

Read Scandinavian Crime Season part one here

Brent Council vote through budget cuts

The best place to read what went on in Brent council meetings is always the Wembley Matters blog. Not this time, as author Martin Francis was not allowed in to the meeting. As he says "democracy in action?". Well, hardly, but what was to come in the meeting itself was even worse...

Ann John, Leader of the Labour Group (and therefore Leader of the Council) told us that
"our residents rely on labour to protect their interests...it's a brave, determined and responsible response...not shied away from difficult decisions...a budget of priorities...proud of Executive...leadership and honesty...being honest with local people...budget takes £41.7m out of Council's budget this year...next year further £25 to be taken out...we've balanced what's fair with what can be achieved...pledge that we would continue to improve Brent services...regeneration...South Kilburn...Wembley...old, young, vulnerable...mew Willesden Green centre (at no cost to tax payer)...new Civic Centre saving up to £4m per year in running costs...we will keep faith with our library users [an empty phrase if ever there was one]...cannot afford to keep all 12 libraries open... better home library service...dark times...have to choose...warm words not enough...[long attack on government, and on Liberal Democrat group in Council]"

I'm sure you've got the picture by now - although Ann John had a lot more to say, including that she had met residents and listened [and, in the case of libraries, then totally ignored what they had to say]

Last minute shreds of good news were that Youth Centres were reprieved, law centres would not lose all their funding, the Welsh Harp Environmental Centre would be part private funded. Interestingly, Ann John described the Youth Centres in glowing terms (they are this borough's future), while not having a single positive word for the importance of libraries to "the Brent residents of tomorrow".

So, no surprises there then.

The Lib Dems proposed a number of alternatives to specific labour cuts, explaining how these could be funded. In a cynical (but predictable) move, the Labour group voted for these amendments to be taken en bloc rather than individually, preventing labour councillors from voting independently on, say, one proposed amendment with particular relevance for their ward. Take Charteris Sports Centre, for example- the lib dems suggested it could be saved by cutting the Brent Magazine and "managing overspends in the Chief Exec's department", but that proposal could not be voted on individually.

Paul Lorber, the Leader of the Lib Dems, resisting the temptation to spend his whole 30minute slot criticising the previous Labour government, told us
"today is about the future...there is another way...proving it's possible to listen to residents and listen to their concerns...today's proposals are not a real attempt to protect services...Lorraine Skinner [Lorraine- I hope you're reading this!] started a scheme called Greenzones to encourage her netighbours to recycle more and reduce their waste...cost next to nothing to run the scheme...something which residents run and which they support will always achieve more"

As to Libraries, the lib dems proposed that the £408,000 [really so little?] to be removed from the libraries budget be put back in. He stated the lib dem support for libraries...we didn't close any despite a consultants' report recommending closure...current consultation doesn't finish until 4th March...essential give more time to library support groups to come up with proposals...
Council assumes it knows best...why have the major consultations been a total sham?...you'd already made up your minds...on waste, on CPZs [controlled parking zones], on libraries...our amendments are not about political point scoring...they're an attempt to get the council to really listen..to work with local people...look around this room, and the communities you've been elected to serve...time for Brent council to listen"

Harshadbhai Patel, the leader of the Conservative Group, was hard to hear from the Gallery, but did say
"no proper representation...time for ward councillors to make decisions in their wards and speak out...libraries...councillors must vote in the interest of residents in their wards...propose an amendment...to fund the libraries for the year 2011/12 to allow possible plans to be explored to allow all the libraries to continue...£2.5m could be found for this...[I'm not sure how - maybe by not increasing reserves by that amount- comments please to explain- thanks]

The particular significance of Patel's proposed amendment was that it could be voted on alone, and I allowed myself some small hope that ward councillors (including my two labour councillors) might therefore vote with their consciences and for the benefit of their residents rather than with the Labour party...but it was not to be [see below]

Patel also attacked the proposal to reduce street sweeping in residential areas from 3 times a week to twice a week...the borough will be dirtier...also cutting tree planting and maintenance

Of the other councillors who spoke, worth mentioning are Ann Hunter (lib dem) on Libraries:
"once they're gone they'll be gone for ever...we're proposing a rescue package...find £408,000 in budget to keep the libraries open for one year to give local residents chance to draw up business plans...John Murray the labour council leader of Salford did this...not a party political matter...Barry Gardiner [labour MP for Brent North] has spoken passionately about keeping libraries open, as has Sarah Teather [lib dem MP for Brent Central]...some issues are bigger than party politics, this is one of them. Not just about books...overheard a teenager on the bus saying she'd really miss that free hour on the internet...government was big enough to admit it got it wrong on forests...it changed its policy...as you've just done on the law centres...libraries are our urban forests...don't laugh...we want Brent to keep them all open...a year's reprieve...listen to the people you represent and vote with your hearts" [although even voting with their heads would be an improvement on blindly voting with their leader]

Great stuff, Ann, particularly as you seemed to have read my letter in the Kilburn Times last week urging Brent to listen to residents' views and do a forests sell-off type e-turn (I know, the dizzy heights of fame!) Read all three libraries letters here

Back to the meeting [nearly done, but this is important stuff, so bear with me]

James Powney, lead member for Environment and Culture, had been keeping a low profile, but was asked to speak by Ann John, and after a cheap jibe at the lib dems, said in relation to "various voluntary groups who want to do 3rd party takeovers... the timetable has been set by the government...if we have delays as proposed by the lib dems we'd have to pay for it by cutting something else..Greenzones...were paid for by a government grant...that grant was withdrawn...Libraries...we've seen some amendments which don't add up...spoke to Kensal Rise people [!] earlier tonight...officers will appraise any offer on the 10th of March...and report to the April Executive"

You'll notice that there was no mention of the fact that local residents have put enormous amounts of time and energy into exploring all ways of keeping libraries open, have organised meetings, printed posters, had read-ins, or any acknowledgment of the really encouraging community spirit, or any hint of any real interest in working with communities. It all seemed like it was really rather a nuisance.

Other lib dems pointed out that "this labour administration isn't listening to residents...thousands of people have written in in support of keeping libraries open...after 43 consultations on day care centres...the council knows better...and closed them...mismatch between what Ann John said and what's actually in the budget...

Our very own Simon Green [also best dressed and best haircut in the chamber] spoke in defence of Charteris Sports Centre, a vital local facility, suggesting an additional year of funding to allow community groups to put forward a business case, to be funded by scrapping the Brent magazine- Simon hadn't noticed any "Save the Brent Magazine" campaigns- and by a restructuring in the Chief Exec's office.


Finally the voting was reached and all the proposed amendments were rejected. Not a single labour councillor supported either the lib dems' amendments [which had to be accepted or rejected en bloc] or the conservatives' amemdment relating only to libraries- to keep them open for another year while other avenues were explored.

So, it was entirely as expected- the budget proposals voted through with only the labour group's own minor amendments [good news at least for the law centres, youth centres and Welsh Harp Environmental Education centre] but a very sad day for the libraries. However, the consultation is still going on until Friday 4th March- so please complete it here. Don't give up all hope yet!

If you feel that your councillors have not reflected your views or stood up for your interests, LET THEM KNOW! Find out who they are and how to contact them here

Libraries- Scandinavian Crime Season

A strange succession of deaths at Helsinki tube stations....a corpse found rolled in a rotting carpet (or rotting in a rolled carpet?).....in a hospital basement in Stockholm two bullet-riddled bodies lie sprawled on the floor... a church in the glittering frozen wastes of northern Sweden.  Inside, a sacrifice.....winter should be a quiet time on the holiday island of Gotland..... his eyes gouged out and a strange symbol carved on his body.....one cold autumn night, a woman is found hanging from a beam in her summer cottage by Lake Thingvellir..... his head stoved in by a tin of unwanted reindeer meat, cloudberry jam in his pockets.....

It's Scandinavian Crime Month at Kilburn library- hurry there before it ends- on 3rd March.

Swedish librarian, Åsa Nylinder, has made a fantastic selection, by authors you'll have heard of- Steig Larsson, Henning Mankell, Peter Hoeg, and others you may not know - like the Icelandic Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Jo Nesbø and Sofi Oksanen.  I'm part way through Arnaldur Indridason's "Hypothermia" (that's the Lake Thingvellir hanging), and it's great stuff, well translated too.

On Thursday 3rd March 7-9pm award winning and best selling Norwegian crime author, Gunnar Staalesen, is talking about his work at Willesden Green Library.  If you want to read one his books first, ask for "Consorts of Death", "The Writing on the Wall" or "Yours until Death".  Hope to see you there!

I'm a big fan of Scandinavia - the style, the swimming (from those sensible wooden jetties so you don't have to wade through seaweed), the language, the people, the food (excepting the tinned reindeer and, even worse, tinned bear meat on sale in Helsinki's covered market)- I love the way everyone eats peas from  pods in the summer, and goes wild for berries, and then there's the trendy Danish foraging by Rene Redzepi.  Giles Coren described it all brilliantly here

But back to the libraries- it really is a case of Use it or Lose it at the moment, so get down there, join if necessary and borrow some of this gripping Scandinavian crime.

And, by the way, I made up that bit about the reindeer meat and the cloudberry jam - it sneaked in from Frugal February.

Afraid I only just found out about the Crime Short Story Competition- the closing date is on Wednesday 23rd Feb, so unless you can write 2,000 words very quickly it's a bit late.  The challenge is to complete this story begun by Swedish crime fiction author Camilla Ceder:

"In theory, Margaret had functioned well as his partner.  She was a faded beauty who had once been a celebrated singer.  It would not have hurt for her to drink less."

Save Kensal Rise Library

Photo from  Park Life blog

Brent Libraries under threat

Over 200 local residents packed into the Scout Hut on Leighton Gardens recently to hear the latest from the “Save Kensal Rise Library” committee, and to give their views. The press coverage so far has been fantastic- read Philip Pullman in the Guardian and Tim Lott in the Independent on Sunday

It must be one of the highest profile campaigns for a threatened library anywhere in the UK. What Brent are insisting on, and in an absurdly short time scale is a “business plan” which will cost the Council nothing. This means investigating every possible avenue- grants, philanthropists, business support, sponsorship and so on, but this all takes time.

Read more here

If Kensal Rise is your local library, get involved, join the campaign, join the library, use the library.

If it’s not your local library because you live nearer to Kilburn Library, USE IT OR LOSE IT! Just because Kilburn isn’t currently under threat doesn’t mean it’s safe. Great stuff going on there right now- a display of books by Scandinavian authors (and not just crime fiction).  Before that were books from Sebastian Faulks’ new book “Faulks on Fiction”.  I’d entirely forgotten how much I wanted to read Thomas Mann’s “The Magic Mountain” until I saw it temptingly displayed and recommended by SF.

Ann John, the leader of the Council, told us at a meeting that we can all get our books from Amazon now- well, apart from the obvious objections on grounds of cost, belief in not buying what you can borrow, lack of internet access etc- that only works if you already pretty much know which book you want. “The Magic Mountain”? Don’t be daft- I’d completely forgotten about it. And if I don’t like it after all, never mind- I’ll return it.

It’s not just Kensal Rise library under threat in Brent - also Cricklewood, Neasden, Preston, Barham Park and Tokyngton

There is a consultation on line until 4th March so let Brent know your views