allowed to drive motorways. i know that you don't drive, bonnie and why is that? i don't have stomach like seeing people break the rules of the road. i don't need to be behind a wheel. you have finally got behind the wheel, yasmin alibhai—brown. wheel. you have finally got behind the wheel, yasmin alibhai-brown. do you know how many tests? do you really wa nt you know how many tests? do you really want to know? yes. eight! i think it's a great idea to have some lessons on the motorway. my problem isi lessons on the motorway. my problem is i have lived here half my life andl is i have lived here half my life and i still get in on the wrong side of the car. do you? you must get deported, you are not british enough!| deported, you are not british enough! i get in on the wrong side and so therefore i shouldn't be behind the wheel. i think it's an excellent idea because i remember being terrified being on a motorway for the first time thinking. for the first time i being terrified being on a motorway for the first time i can't imagine you being terrified of anything. what a nice thing to hear, you must

not have known me when i was 17, i was a very different creature and a p pa re ntly was a very different creature and apparently a distracted driver, somebody has told me. you would turn your head? like an owl, it's a good thing, ican your head? like an owl, it's a good thing, i can concentrate on what's of different things at once which you need to do here, listening to roger, bonnie greer and yasmin alibhai—brown. that's it for the papers this hour. bonnie and yasmin will be back at 11:30pm for another look at the papers. next on bbc news it's meet the author. two political murders more than three decades apart and a web of conspiracy or so some say. the shape of the ruins takes us into the cauldron of politics in colombia and assassinations in 1914 in 1948 that became emblems for much of the violence and chaos

that enveloped the country. the authorjuan gabriel vasquez is also a character in his own book, exploring the history of these bloody events in the labyrinthine story where the truth is elusive in a dark and conspiratorial world. what made you decide to put yourself in the novel, as a way of bringing the story to life? yes. the origin of the novel has a very personal direct importance for me. in the year 2005, much as told in the book, my twin daughters were being born in bogota and right at that time i met this doctor who invited me to his house, telling me that he had something to show me,

he had something that nobody else had in the world. he wanted to show me this mysterious thing. it turned out to be a vertebra ofjorge eliecer gaitan, a colombian liberal leader, murdered in 1948. and not only that but also a part of the skull of rafael uribe uribe, another colombian leader, murdered in 1914. so having these bones in my hand and then going back to the hospital to take my girls in the same hands, that was the origin of the novel that suggested the idea of the inheritance of violence. i thought how could i protect these girls from the past violence of the country? and it was such a potent thing that i decided that inventing a narrator to tell this would just ruin the whole idea. you couldn't take yourself out of the story after that experience. exactly, exactly.

i had to putjuan gabriel vasquez as a narrator in order not to undermine, i guess, the personal importance the whole thing had for me. one of the powerful things about this story is that sense of, you know, a piece of information being passed and a quest beginning. yes. which becomes something that has to be satisfied, it has to be completed. it can't be left. yes. the idea of investigation is very important in the novel. my novels are always built in the shape of a quest. but this one much more so than the other ones because it became an obsession for me personally. to know, first of all, how had these human remains, really, the human ruins of a title, how had they been inherited from generation to generation until they ended up in the hands of this person who was able to show them to me? but also the whole novel turns around mysteries,

historical mysteries, places where history has lied to us. and so we have to try to use storytelling to shed some light on these dark places. the two impulses i suppose that collide, and people will be familiar with this in other settings, first of all the urge and responsibility to dissect something rationally, to establish the history. but the second thing is a constant attraction to conspiracy theories, to mysteries, to dark explanations which, to some extent, we all have, to some degree. i agree. some, of course, much more than others. i agree, yes. one of the main tensions in the book is that tension that exists between the narrator, juan gabriel vasquez, who doesn't believe in conspiracy theories, who has a vision of history that relies much more on chance and coincidence and human passions. and the other main character was this guy called carlos carbello, who deeply believes everything happens for a reason. there's always somebody

pulling the strings. and that's a very fundamental schism that we find in ourselves. some people have solved it, some people haven't. the other aspect of it, of course, is that this isn't an investigation that is purely for intellectual interest. it's an investigation into two events. are they connected or aren't they? what do they have in common or not? they had a great deal to do with shaping the future of your country, at a rather chaotic time. so it's one of intense importance to someone of your background. yes. the murder of a gaitan in 1948 really shaped the second half of the 20th century. because he was supposed to be the progressive performer and so on, an attractive figure. the politician who was going to change columbia forever, in a good way.

yes. and his murder is, for many historians, this we agree on, is the origin of violence we're trying to finish right now, we're trying to end right now with these negotiations that have been going on between the colombian government and the farc guerrilla. this violence comes in a direct line from that murder. but if there's something that we all agree upon us colombians, that we don't know the truth about this murder. still. still, still. it's still a mystery. a place of shadows in our past in colombian history. and i think all countries share this, this moment in their past where, in an act of violence, the future is shaped. and but what actually happened there remains in the shadows. it's as if those in charge of telling history were editing the story. and for me, novels have always been a way to try to contradict that

falsified the version of history, or try to illuminate it a little bit. and the fact that you've got two assassinations 30 years apart, both of which were pivotal in the way the country developed, and appear to be quite different in character, but of course it's very difficult not to become obsessed, as you reveal in this story, about possible connections. yes. the idea of obsession is very important in the book. my character and my narrator are both obsessed with the idea of finding the truth behind these murders, but also behind the conspiracy theories that have been used by colombians to explain these murders. we have a deep desire and a need to explain things, even if they are inexplicable, even if the facts are not there to produce an explanation. well, we've got to find them, so we have to import the facts from somewhere else.

this is an unavoidable characteristic of societies, of human beings. we'd rather take a lie than no explanation at all. and of course the conspiracy theorists take advantage of this of this... of this trait of human beings and societies. the feeling that history has lied to us, or that there are secrets or mysteries or dark places in the history, in the versions of history, that we have inherited. and literature, imaginative literature, fiction, just raises its hand and says, hey i know how this might have happened, or i can sell you a version that we may have as citizens to illuminate, to find a little a different kind of truth. it's not a factual truth. it's an emotional truth, a moral truth, about these events and this is what i try to do. which means that it's a very contemporary story. i hope so.

in a curious way, it always will be because these are impulses that won't go away. thank you very much for allowing me to say that this is not a historical novel about the history of colombia. it explores the history of colombia from a present, contemporary point of view and in that way it's an investigation about the past and investigation about memory which contains, yes, at its core, a version of colombian history. but it's very important for me to underline that it's not a historical novel. juan gabriel vasquez, author of the shape of the ruins, thank you very much. it was a pleasure, jim. hello. good evening. 0verthe

hello. good evening. over the week ahead, fewer thundery showers, many places dry with warm sunshine, a bit like today. no sign of rain from black cloud, we've had temperatures into the mid—20s, lots of blue skies, but not everywhere. we needed some artificial light for the test match at headingley in leeds but i'm surejulia, one match at headingley in leeds but i'm sure julia, one of match at headingley in leeds but i'm surejulia, one of our weather watchers, had a great day out. had more cloud across the far north of england and southern scotland, storms to the north will gradually fade away. any showers to the south across england and wales will decay. instead we are looking out to the north sea where we are filling in with cloud and the low cloud and misty and murky weather will filter inland overnight. clearer skies to the west, generally dry by the morning, quite warm, ii—ilid. but this cloud could prove stubborn in south—east scotland, down the eastern side of england and towards the east midlands and east anglia. some sunshine in the south—east but more especially to the western side of the uk. where we get a lift of the temperatures it could lead to slow—moving and perhaps heavy thundery downpours. we are seeing a range of temperatures, much cooler than today, in many eastern parts

of the uk. heading into the afternoon we pick out some storms across the south—west of scotland, that will be the main area of wet weather on monday. not far away from northern ireland, south—east scotland much cooler and greyer, this time into the midlands and east anglia temperatures will be lower on monday. maybe the odd shower for wales and the south—west slow—moving, but equally some warm sunshine across southern parts of england. the really wet weather is not far away from the near continent. we are seeing some heavy rain moving northwards across france, high pressure to the north of the uk, easterly flow again as we have seen for the past couple of weeks or so. this time no two days are ever the same and we are introducing drier air from the north sea for tuesday. the low cloud, misty and murky weather pushed away towards the south—west so a cooler day here but the sunnier skies arriving in eastern scotland, warm and sunny conditions across northern england towards lincolnshire and east anglia. cooler in the south—west and a bit warmer in the sunshine further north and east.

sunny spells and perhaps one or two showers for northern ireland. generally it will be dry on tuesday and into wednesday. we have an increasing chance of catching some showers on thursday but again most places will be dry with some warm sunshine. this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 11: a memorial service and a minute's silence are held to remember the victims of the london bridge terror attack which took place one year ago. the genetic test that could help thousands of women with breast cancer avoid chemotherapy. the home secretary says it may be time to raise the cap on skilled migrants entering the uk. israel carries out strikes on what it called militant targets in gaza after it says rockets were fired from the territory on southern israel. also in the next hour: we'll be taking another look at the morning papers. joining me tonight are the journalist, yasmin alibhai—brown, and bonnie greer, playwright

and writer for the new european, and a look at the english identity. we go on a journey in search of englishness.