Cover Stories: Felix Dennis; The Caine Prize; Irvine Welsh's London walks
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Your support makes all the difference.* At the 1971 Oz obscenity trial, Felix Dennis was described by Judge Argyle as "very much less intelligent and therefore less responsible" than his co-accused. No doubt it spurred him to become a poet and owner of the Dennis Publishing empire. Worth about £750m, he has now ridden in to rescue Britain's leading colour printing house, Butler & Tanner, from the receivers and secure hundreds of jobs. With publishers obsessed by their carbon footprints, they could all put their money where their mouths are and print books in the UK, not in Eastern Europe and the Far East.
* Over its nine years the Caine Prize for African Writing – dedicated to short stories – has given a global boost to rising stars. Previous winners include Segun Afolabi, Helon Habila and Leila Aboulela, while Uwem Akpan from Nigeria, shortlisted last year, has now published an acclaimed first collection. So the omens are good for Henrietta Rose-Innes from South Africa, who this week took the £10,000 award for her story "Poison". Jude Kelly, who chaired the judges, praised its "rare maturity and poetic intelligence".
* Boris Johnson's decision to scrap the £25 congestion charge may play well in Fulham and Chelsea, but one man is not impressed. Irvine Welsh, who lives in Dublin but is keen to move back to London, told The Independent: "One thing I've noticed that's good about London is the congestion charge. It's completely changed the city. The West End is a pleasure now to walk around. You can actually hear birds singing in the trees, you can breathe the air, you can cross the road without getting run over..." Dublin must not be what we remember.
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