Fingersmith: Sarah Waters

Wilkie Collins might have come up with the plot and characters but the writing wouldn't have been half as good.  Fingersmith is gripping and vivid and if it isn't quite a masterpiece it's because exposing the hells of Victorian England is a bit old hat.

You've Got To Wonder

My doctor has changed my generic painkiller for a branded one which contains the same active ingredients but must surely cost the Health Service more and is certainly harder to source. We went to a couple of pharmacies. The first said, "We haven't had this in for months and- since you're from out of town we're not offering to order it for you" and the second didn't have it in either but will get it for us. By the time I have the product in my pathetically grateful mitts we'll have burned a lot of petrol running it to earth.

One hears a lot about drug companies bribing doctors to prescribe their gear. I'm not saying this is what has happened in this particular instance but if I were a fearless investigative journalist and not a drug-dependent saddo I'd be asking questions.