Jesus on a stick, if I’d known it was this easy, I would have simply mortgaged the farm.

More than £40,000 a week is being paid to booksellers by publishers anxious to get their books into the bestseller charts. The payments demanded by the retailers are to ensure display of the book in the most prominent area. The payments, highlighted by The Sunday Times, also ensure a generous stock of copies in the store. Before Christmas, deals of possibly more than £50,000 a week will help to secure a book’s place on “recommended reads”.

Why do we even bother? I’m thinking it’s a conspiracy of silence and, also, a complete dumbing down of the population. Not to say that all the books pushed are dumb, but just that the average customer has no idea she is being thus manipulated. I’m also curious to know what is paid for prominent space in the Great White. A two-four?