SQUASH TOSH

I have seen some badly run literary awards in my time; run some good ones, too.

This evening's Orange Prize award surpassed incompetence.

Chair of the judges, 'author and TV producer Daisy Goodwin', was a blush-making embarrassment. Don't they check whether these people can actually speak?

Every second adjective was 'fantastic', she gave the impression of never having heard of the books let alone turned to page 1.

When Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna was announced as the winner, the subtitle fastened permanently on the spelling of 'Kingslover'.

Absolute farce.

But the book itself sounds fun.