According to the Top 100 Richest Britons list J.K. Rowling is now richer than the queen. And yet I've never met anyone who's ever said anything other than that the Harry Potter books are 'okay.'
"So why did you buy them?" I invariably ask.
"Well...it seemed a good way to get my kid interested in reading."
Fair enough.
But it doesn't say much for the 'children's book' market these days if the most inspiring work out there is at best okay. Long gone are the days of the Moomins, Arthur Ransom, the Oz books and stuff of such ilk. And I blame the late but far from great Roger Hargreaves and his cynical, unentertaining, badly written, badly thought-out and dreadfully illustrated 'Mr Men' books for this obvious decline.
Strangely enough one long established British publishing firm recently (can't remember which one now, but I've got a hangover as an excuse) went belly up. Apparently there was a 50% drop in book sales last year throughout Britain (how frightening is that folks?) and yet Rowling continues to go from strength to strength.
A case of "Everyone else is reading it and I don't want to miss out" I reckon.
I know that's not funny...but I've already told you that I've got a bad hangover so leave me alone.
Also in the Top 100 Rich English Twats list is the NorthWest's very own Paul MacCartney. Old Macca comes in at a staggering £760 million. Enough to buy a dozen third world countries and save several billion lives. How the fuck does this bloke sleep at night knowing that because of greedy, irresponsible tossers like himself there are whole continents starving?
A case of Macca Donalds if you ask me!
Again...not funny I know...but I'm off to barf down the bog for half an hour anyway.