Margaret atwood. One of the worlds best selling critically acclaimed authors, shes published more than 60 books, and has won the booker prize twice. Margaret atwood. The winner of the first booker prize of the 21st century, Margaret Atwood. Cheering and applause. Her stories often centre on oppression and brutality. Most famously, her 1985 novel, the handmaids tale, a dystopian vision of america, in which women are enslaved. Now an Emmy Award Winning television series. Theres an eye in your house. In this episode of this cultural life, the radio 4 programme, she reveals her formative influences and experiences. And how even in high school, her creativity was clear. I put on a Home Economics opera. It was about fabrics. Can you remember how it goes . Fabrics need a swim in the suds it makes them feeljust like new plink plink, plink plink. I want to make sure the mics are recording us. Margaret atwood, welcome to this cultural life. Thank you very much. Happy to be here. On this programm
there s an old interview question that the great barbara walters had teed up. what kind of tree would you be? for some reason, i asked martha this question. there is an old interview question. what kind of tree would you be. for some reason i asked this question. martha answered, i am the beechtree. the beach is the mother of all trees. the beechtree has a smooth skin but it s very hard and impenetrable. because i m a mother, all the other trees are underneath me. it is impenetrable. martha started planning the comeback the moment she was arrested. says she is ready for jail now. today in what was one of the more surreal conferences, she said she is ready for jail. thank you for coming here on such short notice. advertisers upset and attorneys telling her what her plans are. it is a long time to eat away at a company. the only way to reclaim my life and quality of life with certainty is to serve my sentence and surrender to authorities so i can return as soon as p
martha answered i am the beech tree. the beach is the mother of all trees. and the beech tree has a smooth skin, but it s very hard and impenetrable. and because i m the mother, then all the other trees are underneath me. it is the mother tree. and it is impenetrable. she has always believed that she can weather everything. martha started planning her comeback the moment she was arrested. [applause] today, in what was one of the more surreal news conferences we ve seen in quite some time, the homestyle maven says she is ready for jail now. - good morning, everybody. and thank you for coming here today on such short notice. for two years and seven months, she had no control. it was advertisers upset and attorneys telling her what her plans were. the government, both prosecutors and securities regulators, on her tail. that s quite a long time to really eat away at a company. - the only way to reclaim my life and the quality of life for all those related to me, with certainty n
in the uk are at an all time high as country. its lowest ever now we have the round up of the business news and one of those headline stories you are concentrating on. welcome to the programme. yes, on course for stronger than expected recovery. that is the assessment from the international monetary fund on the state of the global economy in its latest world economic outlook update. the imf predicts that global growth of 3.1% this year and slightly higher growth in 2025. it also says that inflation is declining faster than expected because many supply chain problems caused by the pandemic have now been resolved. the imf has, however, issued a warning to the uk government not to cut taxes any further and suggested that treasury percent planned spending cuts for this year were unrealistic. earlier i spoke to the imf s chief economist and i asked him what his concerns were over the uk cutting those taxes. ~ , ., taxes. well, first, for the uk, we are seeing taxes. well, first,
we were in that much danger and didn t even know it. what were you be willing to give me today to move past the police investigation? it was january, 2009. brenda konstantin and her husband brian rodgers, and their three teenagers, two boys and a girl, spent the new year s holiday the way they always had. a trip out of town and then back to their home. a mid class suburb in the capital city, ottawa. it s a very family oriented community, lots of young families. lots of kids. but as you say? in a town which is very safe, orlean seemed particularly safe. there s never a lot of crime. in january, when brian and brenda got into their home on friday evening. the family house in orleans seemed exactly as they left it. but bryan did notice something odd. the digital clock in the room, on the left side of the bread, was blinking. i thought it was unusual but did not think much of it. and then you went ahead and just continued? carried on our lives. and nev