Everyone agrees young writers need whatever help they can get. But really… for the older writer looking on (probably just as much in need of some help), this obsession with ferreting out the young is dispiriting. “Anyone who wanted seriously to improve the state of British writing could start by endowing half-a-dozen bursaries for pensioners and sponsoring a Best of British Senior Novelists award. There are other decent talents out there whose only fault is that they happen to be the wrong side of 50, scribbling on in undeserved obscurity.”