the gp was horrified to see the gp looking up was horrified to see the gp looking up his symptoms on wikipedia. this seemed to him to be a real source of weakness, that the doctor was not all seeing, all knowing straightaway. somebody else said, isn't that wonderful, that a doctor would admit that he doesn't know everything and are still in the process of learning? as tony said, this is a new era perhaps transparency, as opposed to the worst—case scenario, playing the blame game, especially when people are horribly sick, ayling, and looking for somebody to blame. i support this and think it is a great move. let's finish with a man that is not wearing a shirt. he is at the top of the daily telegraph. i barely noticed him. poldark is back. this tongue in cheek entrance was worth the wait. we're not aficionados, but we know a woman who is?” the wait. we're not aficionados, but we know a woman who is? i am not an aficionado of the topless man, it is of political drama, which we will see in series four. he is going to

parliament, he's going to be representing his downtrodden society, up against the establishment figures that have been established throughout the first series. tony and i disagree on this. i don't disagree, he had better put a top on to go to parliament.” think there is a parliament dress code that includes claire —— clothes. as with dickens, many great interesting and important sociological problems will be discussed through a great, accessible, audience pleasing prism, for instance poldark without his top. i watched the original series, robin ellis, as poldark. you are too young to have watched that. what is tongue in cheek about the entrance? ami tongue in cheek about the entrance? am i allowed to say? he has been on already. he is stomping around in

his bridges, going through the waves, and it turns out to be a dream sequence. already doing a dream sequence. already doing a dream sequence. already doing a dream sequence in series four? but he gets his top off for those that like that sort of thing. what is going on? kamara 4 has taken on a life of its own. tony and caroline will be back again at 11.31; another look at the papers. the persistence of the civil war in american culture is remarkable, but maybe not surprising. kevin powers is the latest writer to take a story of slavery from days of conflict in the 1860s and pick up its threads in virginia 90 years later, when an old man tries to chase his origins. a shout in the ruins is his second book. his first, the yellow birds, set against the background of the iraq war, having been a much admired novel from the pen of a former soldier. in this one, his theme is america's long struggle with race. welcome.

you were born late in the 20th century, but any reader coming to this book will be made aware again of how close the civil war is, even to americans of your age. absolutely, and particularly if you grew up where i did in richmond, virginia or points south. capital of the confederacy. indeed, yeah. its presence is still quite immediately felt. of course, the landmarks and battlefields are right around the area, and so you can really walk these grounds in a way that you can't if you're from other parts of the state. so for you to spin a story that stretches from the 1950s through the lens of an old man and his memories and the mystery of his, you know, his early years,

back to the civil war is a perfectly natural thing. it's not a stretch. well, you know, it presented challenges, certainly, but the idea was to demonstrate just how close it is in time. it's only passed out of living memory, as you say, in the 1950s. this character, george seldom, represents that kind of passing out of living memory. and so for me, it felt perfectly natural to explore, you know, the way that the legacy of that period is still very present today. and in the form of racial attitudes, really, because what we're talking about here, the guts of the story — the civil war part of the story, because it moves back and forth — is based on a plantation. right. and the principal character is someone who has to live under that.

absolutely. and, you know, the story is basically about how people who have been so fundamental to the character of virginia, who have contributed in essential ways to the culture of the place where i'm from, have been not afforded the same kind of opportunities or recognition as full members of that society. a shout in the ruins is the title, of course. just describe the ruins. well, it's really... i guess in a larger sense, thematically, the title refers to the opportunity that wasn't fully realised after the american civil war. it was the moment in american history where we — and by we, i mean americans and also southerners — were going to determine whether we were going to be the kind of country we said we were. and that opportunity was there, and i think remains.

but certainly, it wasn't fully realised at that time. for me, the tragedy in many ways is that the cleansing — if you want to call it that — was incomplete. and very soon after the end of the war, reconstruction, the period immediately afterwards, didn't do all of the work that i think it could have. well, and that was the period in which the south, southerners, felt that they were being humiliated and that the seeds of resentment which would last for a century and more were planted. absolutely. and all the revisionism and the lost cause retelling of the story of the american south began in the ashes of the war, in reconstruction. so let's talk about the old man who goes back in his memory and tries to find out how he came to be who he was. right. it's a classic storyteller‘s trick. i don't mean that pejoratively. no, no, i understand, yeah.

and it works because we want to know, too. and that's the idea. ifigure if i could create a character who was in some ways after the same thing as the reader would be, then that would allow the reader to make these discoveries along with him. particularly this man, i think, is quintessentially virginian. what do you mean by that? well, the strands that he... i won't give it away, but who he comes from... yeah, we don't want to spoil that for readers. but the kind of different lineages that he has... so he represents all that's good about virginia and, you know, if you want to take it larger about america as well, but also all the pain and suffering has been involved in the evolution of the country too. yes, and the uncertainties about origin, which is such an american preoccupation. i guess that's true.

i was talking to somebody not long ago. and ijust had to say we're all mutts. we don't really know where we come from. and i think one of the dangers of that, you know, you can fixate on certain kinds of identities, whether it be an obsession with the south and — i'll put this in quotes — "the glories of the confederate past". and that's something that people are still trying to shake off today. as a writer, you had enormous success with the yellow birds. and this came from your own experience in the military. and you wrote with a kind of searing pen about the experience, what it does to people, and really what it's like, what it feels like, what it smells like. it's quite a shift to go to this. i mean, you really are saying, "right now, i believe i can tackle the kinds of big subjects that a novelist is obliged to tackle." but did you sense that this was quite a step?

i knew it presented different challenges. obviously, the yellow birds is fundamentallyjust one person's story and this takes on several people's story and several time periods, so i had to try to accurately capture different, very different perspectives. and use a different narrative technique. absolutely, and, you know, allow, in a way, the story to present the drama. not unadorned but with less intensity, in a way, because, you know, you don't want... particularly the scenes of certain kinds of violence, violence against enslaved people, i didn't want to get into something... you could see the danger of becoming too, you know, too crude about it. sure, and i didn't want to sensationalize it, but, you know,... in the same way that my service in the military was a pressing

experience to explore, my upbringing in virginia and in the south was pressing and felt immediate in much the same way. do you enjoy the writing business? you were a soldier for a period. i mean, you've always been interested in literature and so on. absolutely. but now, you've taken a very different path. i enjoy the writing very much. it feels satisfying and worthwhile, and ifeel like it allows me to make discoveries about my own way of thinking in the world and my own beliefs. you know, and onejust hopes that you can connect with readers who will have some of the same questions. that's very meaningful to me, and that feels like a useful way to spend one's time. and what of the old man in the ‘50s who finally discovers the truth about his real story? what do you want the reader

to feel about him? i think he reaches a point of acceptance, where the past... you know, for him, it's slightly different because he's at the end of his life. but in a way, i think it can represent that we don't always have to be defined by our past. by making new choices in the future, we can become new people. and notjust new people as individuals, but also a new people. and so, i hope people will come away from this story with at least a thread of hope, to recognise that despite all the pain and suffering that's characterised much of virginia's history — and really, let's be honest, the planet's history — that there's always the opportunity to do something different tomorrow. kevin powers, author of a shout in the ruins. thank you very much. thank you, i appreciate it. hello.

after a bit of a cloudy start for some of us, the sunshine came out and it was pretty widespread through the afternoon. a warm day, temperatures into the mid—20s celsius in some places. this weather watcher photo here in somerset shows pretty much what many people experienced. but there were some showers and thunderstorms around south—east scotland, into northern england. these will fizzle out this evening, and certainly overnight it will be a dry one for most. there will be some clear spells, but also some cloud returning to many northern, southern and eastern areas. where we hold onto the cloud, pretty warm temperatures, into the mid—teens celsius. again, a few chilly spots under some clear skies. tomorrow, then, a similar sort of day. we've got high pressure still in control. there will be some warm spells of sunshine and also the chance of some isolated, heavy showers and thunderstorms. it looks like scotland may stay a little bit cloudier throughout monday. the odd shower here. and for england and wales, certainly, and northern ireland, lots of sunshine around. this will spark off some heavy downpours, particularly over the pennines, maybe into wales and the south—west of england.

top temperatures, 2a, maybe 25 celsius. on into tuesday, we still have high pressure with us. this is a ridge of high pressure. but it is likely cooler air moving down on a northerly breeze. that, i think, will be pretty noticeable across the board. it's going to be a little bit cooler. we will have a bit more cloud around generally. some sunny spells here and there, perhaps the odd shower, but most places will be dry. top temperatures, instead of the mid—20s celsius, will be 19—20. i think that could be quite noticeable for some. on into wednesday, still with a ridge of high pressure. but look to the west. that is something we haven't seen for a long time. an atlantic low, racing towards our shores. but it does mean wednesday starts off fine. there will be a lot of sunshine around, particularly england, wales, southern and eastern parts of scotland. further west, south westerly wind will begin to pick up, touching a0 mph across western scotland and northern ireland. more persistent rain here. again, a fairly warm day, warmer than tuesday, 23 or maybe 2a celsius. as we head on into thursday, a very different feel to the weather. it will be windy, maybe even gales across parts of scotland,

has this atlantic low brings a band of rain that will sink southwards and eastwards across the country through the day. tending to weaken as it reaches eastern parts. so, we are starting the new week on a dry and warm note. lots of sunshine. then it turns unsettled, midweek onwards, with some wind and rain in the forecast and also turning a bit fresher, too. this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 11: donald trump is in singapore ahead of his eagerly anticipated summit with kim jong—un. mr kim arrived several hours earlier and was greeted by singapore's prime minister. both men are confident progress can be made. it was all smiles at the start of the g7 summit two days ago, but tonight, us officials launch a stinging attack on canada's justin trudeau over trade talks. there is a special place in hell for

any foreign leader engaging in this kind of diplomacy with president donald trump. tory mps are urged to rally round theresa may as the government prepares for a series of crucial parliamentary votes on brexit. also this hour: 100 years since the first british women won the right to vote. tens of thousands march across the uk to celebrate