A.L. Kennedy: It's different when she does it

I know I spat corrosive vitriol about several Guardian Books series recently. I stand by those comments (but not the grammatical mistake that someone kindly pointed out). As if to spite me, they’ve just started a new one called “Writers reflect”, which sounds like more creepy tripe but is innocuous: writers comment on their favourite paintings at the Courtauld Institute, in a thrilling audio slide format. Much more excitingly, however, they’ve got A L Kennedy on board, writing fortnightly about writing for their blog. If anyone else did this it would be as spine judderingly embarrassing as all the others but A L is dry and wry and good to know about. Her first post includes this pearl of wisdom: “We may feel hard done by, but we’re not doing that badly -– for individuals trapped in a society intent upon eating its own tongue.” If only there was a cartoon to go with that image, my joy would be complete…