Of pollution. The band presents a problem for china, though, because it still needs the cardboard, the paper, the high end clean polystyrene like this which is easy to ship here, easy to turn into something to sell, and sometimes sending it back to the country it came from. Somewhere in there are polystyrene fish boxes. From grimsby. This business on the outskirts of shanghai ships them, chips them, he eats them, and turns them into this. Billions of tiny plastic pellets. Because it was cycles them into skirting boards and picture frames. Because it recycles. Some of it heading your way. Chinas ban means the boss will 110w way. Chinas ban means the boss will now have a problem with his supply. Just keeping the factory running, we need about 50,000 tonnes of recycled plastics. Chinas recycling will not be enough. The tough restrictions will hurt some businesses here, but the governments view here is, tough, delivering a cleaner china is paramount for the communist party politicians. A green revolution, you might call it. Robin brant, bbc news, shanghai. Its called the loony dook when more than 1,000 people whove paid for the privilege dive into the freezing waters of the firth of forth to celebrate new years day. Many of the revellers at South Queensferry wore fancy dress while others stuck to more traditional swimwear. The annual fundraising event has been taking place for more than 30 years. Has been taking place the participants were rewarded with a bowl of porridge for taking the plunge. With a bowl of porridge theres more throughout the evening on the bbc news channel, we are back with the late news at 10. 30 now on bbc1 its time for the news where you are. At 10. 30 now on bbc1 its time goodbye. At 10. 30 now on bbc1 its time the authorjim naughtie talks with the writer Francis Harding about her historical fantasy skinful of shadows. The english civil war, and a country governed by rivalry and suspicion, by turmoil. In Francis Hardings novel a skinful 0f suspicion, by turmoil. In Francis Hardings novel a skinful of shadows we are led into that dark maze by a young girl who carries a special burden, spirits, ghosts who have taken refuge inside her. This is historical fantasy on a grand scale, a child flees persecution, she gathers a crew of protectors and cou nters gathers a crew of protectors and counters donaghy encounters a strange debonair and deals with a fear that we can all too well imagine. Welcome. Lets start with that time in england in the 17th century in the civil war because its at the heart of the book, the turmoil, you are obviously drawn to it, it obviously excites you. Very much so, im fascinated by historical time periods that are times of aftermath 01 periods that are times of aftermath or transition for revolution. Whether it is a literal revolution like this particular time period or a revolution of the mind, cultural say shaking up of everything. In the case of the civil war it was all of those things. A lot of people at the time felt the entire world was falling apart, lots of people talked about the world turning upside down and quitea about the world turning upside down and quite a few people thought the world was ending. A lot of people prepared for the literal biblical end times. And into that world you insert this wonderful psychological drama of ghosts that live in the heads of various people, particularly in this family. Just set the scene with a young girl who wa nts to set the scene with a young girl who wants to get rid of a spirit which is lodged, escaping in her head. My protagonist, im not very nice to my attacking us, is the illegitimate daughter of a certain rather sinister aristocratic family. Yes, not very nice. She has inherited a gift, or possibly a curse, depending on your point of view, in that she has a space inside her in which guests can take refuge. To first get an inkling of this ghosts start giving her terrible nightmares bike by giving her terrible nightmares bike by clawing their way into her head. The family has plans for her. At the point at which she is finally adopted by this family she has another ally of her own, another ghost who is not exactly human. Its a classic tale of a child in a sense trying to escape but also trying to find herself. You must have felt yourself very close to her when you were writing this story. All my characters are partly me and in some respects not me. Which is just as well, since a lot of my characters are murderers. It would be unpleasant if they were. Absolutely. Basically, if i was all my characters i probably shouldnt be allowed out. I do feel close to a lot of my protagonists, particularly those who are quiet and not exactly what they seem. I was a very shy little girl. You must have been a little girl with a very vivid imagination, though. This stuff doesnt just make itself up. I mean, you clearly were somebody who, i would guess, dreamed a lot of exotic adventures and places you hadnt seen, of strange characters. Dead bears pop up in this a cast of characters that accompany her on her sort of quest for herself, that tells us something about your mind, i think, as a young person, doesnt it . Yes. I was already weird when i was young. And, yes, i was very much a daydreamer. It helped that i grew up surrounded by books. My parents actually met each other working in the same bookshop. So i was always surrounded by stories and very much encouraged. Both of my parents read to us. I also had a rather wonderful younger sister. I still do have. But we played elaborate, imaginary games together. We built interconnected worlds and played out whole storylines. Well, interconnected worlds is really what this book is about, isnt it . Worlds living side by side. Yes. Obviously, the time of the civil war is a very divided time and peoples perception of reality is wildly divided, in a way that is actually slightly more familiar these days than i necessarily thought it was going to be when i started writing the book. Because you could say that we live in a world turned upside down right now. I think a lot of people are feeling it that way. And certainly when i was reading about the civil war, a lot of it was eerily familiar. I mean, even now youre getting the sense of people perceiving the very same events very differently, depending on which news channel they watch. Fake news. Absolutely. And back in those times it would be which tracts you read, which church you went to, which minister you were listening to. Well, indeed. And whether youre attending an illegal mass where the priest went back into the priests hole into the Mansion House where he could hide. And the suspicion, like all societies that are gripped by some political passion, whether it is a Totalitarian Society or one where theres religious persecution, its a very dangerous place to be because you dont know whom you can trust. Absolutely. The world does split in surprisingly deep chasms and weird zigzags when Something Like that happens. Sometimes youll get entire families that are sliced neatly in half. The protagonist in this book is in a position where she is going to be able to shape her own world. Theres so much chaos, so much confusion, and weve got the whole business of ghosts and everything, not quite sure how to cope with that. Shes going to be making her own place. Its a very powerful idea, isnt it . In fiction. Yes. Its partly a quality of the heroine herself. As you say. Also partly a quality of the times. 0n the one hand you have this chaos which is impacting a lot of people and damaging their lives and triggering off thousands of individual tragedies, many of which are never going to be recorded. But at the same time, there are also openings, the overturning of the usual rules means that there is scope for people who would usually be trapped within a particular station, a particular set of expectations, to branch out. So, if you are, as you described yourself, slightly weird as a youngster, with powerful urges and so on, its quite a good time to be around, isnt it . Its a difficult time, the dangerous time, but a time full of possibilities. And you actually notice that if you look at the civil war in terms of opportunities that were grabbed by women. And thats what fiction does, it opens up possibilities of Different Things happening, and the reason were interested in a good story, especially with a young, innocent girl, relatively speaking, is that we dont know which road in the end shes going to take or which road she will be doomed to take. Yes. And i try not to flag up the direction my plots going. Im quite cruel to my readers. I quite enjoy misdirection. One of my favourite directors when i was younger was hitchcock. I love what he does with suspense and what he does with misdirection. And when you get to the end of a story like this, which is wonderfully energetic, full of verve and colour. Thank you. And surprises and so on. When its over, are you sad . I tend to have quite a rocky relationship with my books. And my usual pattern, im afraid, is that about two thirds of the way through the book i fall catastrophically out of love with it. How do you get back into love with it . I usually dont until its published. And then . If i can see some signs that some people unrelated to me or my publishing company, not personal friends, or anything like that, show some signs of actually liking it, particularly if its a child. Thats enough. Then, itsjustified its existence. Frances hardinge, author of a skinful of shadows, thank you very much. Thank you. Good evening. If you need something to clear the slate for you to start the new year, well, the weather will blow away any cobwebs in the week ahead. 0ften blow away any cobwebs in the week ahead. Often very windy and some spells of heavy rain to content with too. Here is a picture of the improving weather we saw this afternoon across essex once the area of low pressure to the south east of the British Isles pulled away, and new years day brought some gorgeous sunshine into scotland too. Skies for many will be clear now for the remainder of this evening and overnight. The winds will also fall light and those two things combined will allow it to turn rather chilly, a frost in many areas through the small hours, however, temperatures will start to lift towards the west by the end of the night as a weather front is going to start to approach. 0n front is going to start to approach. On tuesday, for many it starts on a dry footing, chilly across eastern scotland, already in the west the cloud piling in and wind picking up, this is sam, rush hour looks like a wet affair in northern ireland. Still drive for much of Northern England, the midlands, central and Eastern England but in wales and the south west the winds strengthening and the rain arriving. This weather system will move through at quite a pace. In one respect thats quite good news because if you start the day with a lot of heavy rain, the chances are it will be greatly improved picture come the afternoon. If you start fine, the wet spell for you through the middle part of the day. Some snow across the hills of Northern England and mountains of scotland, windy day across the board but were looking at some sunshine for many areas as the day comes to a close and pretty mild towards the south. Just a brief lull in the weather with that dry spell. Tuesday night into wednesday, delta of a love cooking about pushing across as, widespread gales, rainjust about everywhere, and even when the rain heads eastwards on wednesday it leaves a legacy of strong winds behind it, maybe even severe gales around our south western coasts, the showers leaving behind some potent affairs, hail, thunder and showers leaving behind some potent affairs, hail, thunderand again squally winds, so a lively day on wednesday. And then we are not done yet. We are forming an orderly queue in the atlantic, here is what is waiting in the wings on thursday and friday. Thursday, perhaps deceptively off to acquire stock but more wet and windy weather waiting in the wings. Off to a quiet start. This is bbc news. Im reeta chakrabarti. The headlines at 7pm. In iran, state media reports that a protester has shot dead a policeman, as Anti Government protests continue for a fifth night. Tributes are paid to a british family of five killed in a seaplane crash in sydney. The youngest victim was 11 years old. Police are investigating the overnight deaths of four young men in unrelated knife attacks across london. Also this hour up to 1600 vehicles are destroyed in a fire in a liverpool car park on new years eve. 0ne eyewitness said she saw a ball of fire coming from a land rover before the flames spread to other cars. In a new years day speech, north koreas leader warns donald trump that he has a Nuclear Button on his desk and is ready to use it
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