Writers Campaign To Change UK’s Punitive Libel Laws

“In the summer of 1996, I learnt that my new novel, then circulating in proof form, had been accused of libel by a literary critic, and former boyfriend of mine, called David Sexton. Then, as now, the British libel laws were exceptionally punitive, not least in placing the burden of proof on the defendant. The merest hint of it is likely to get a book cancelled. This is what happened to me.”