amy goodman: that was ralph fiennes and rachel weisz in the constant gardener.0, democracy now! interviewed john le carré in london following the publication of his novel our kind of traitor. i began by asking as him to read an essay he wrote in 2003 titled "the united states of america has gone mad." le carré wrote it in the lead-up to the u.s. invasion of iraq, which had the backing of then-british prime minister tony blair. john le carrÉ: america has entered one of its periods of historical madness, but this is the worst i can remember: worse than mccarthyism, worse than the bay of pigs and in t long term potentially more disastrous than the vietnam war. the action to 9/11 is beyond anything osama bin laden could have hoped for in his nastiest dreams. as in mccarthy times, the freedoms that have made america the envy of the world are being systematically eroded. the combination of compliant us media and vested corporate interests is once more ensuring that a debate that should be ringing out in every town square is confined to the loftier columns of the east

the building in the nearby houses fiennes paid to have museum. book no shows me around the rooms that beatles lived in in the summer of 18 or 2. it was quite unsettled he often moved why was that. he wasn't an easy tenant as his deafness progressed he composed louder and louder slamming the piano with his hand but he banged on the walls to beat time and sang loudly. and if he got to composing he had a funny habit of taking a pail of water and dumping it over his head. even with today's flooring that would be problematic back then the floor had even more cracks for the water to run down so his neighbors got moldy loans he. didn't word get around among landlords here in vienna. absolutely he always had problems finding lodgings. that's how he used to live in the composer forder. it's an attempt to show what his apartment could have looked like when the harder of hearing he grew the more chaotic his life became. this valuable string instrument from a princely city is lying around. here or scraps of food and sheet music. for instance while working on

his friend and contemporary, sir ranulph fiennes, is proud of what he has achieved.est explorers alive today and his legacy is one that does more for conservation and human rights. in addition to the volume of his great adventures is his far—reaching successes for various forms of conservation, includes sterling work for the preservation of threatened rainforests. i am truly proud to have known my friend robin down the long years, and i seize this opportunity to thank him for all his great works. it is the day of the climb. robin and the family are getting themselves ready for the journey from their home to the base of the highest point in cornwall, 1,378 feet above sea level. get these boots on. absolutely, what a weather forecast. it's going to be quite a day. the ascent to the top of brown willy is a seven—mile round trip and the terrain is difficult on the best of days. he is always pretty relaxed about this kind of thing and when the stakes are higher, he just gets more excited. so, a number of people have been phoning up saying, perhaps it shouldn't do it and h

i was listening on the way in today to ralph fiennes who starred in the co nsta nt ralph fiennes whorage about where governments or corporations were using their powers for the wrong reasons. he was very good at finding the right people. each book he centres around a person that he meets that is the centre of that he meets that is the centre of that subject. i remember he would completely absorb himself in that and that person would get to know him very well. he was like a journalist in that sense. you would totally hear the story and then he would go off and go on the field. in the 70s, after tinker tailor, would go off and go on the field. in the 70s, aftertinkertailor, he decided to go travelling as his next stage of writing. he very much hunted after the stories. and then he brought it back and made it his own through his unique take on the world. i think what makes him stand out as his relevance. the fact that each novel he wrote was contemporary. we look back as if they are historical novels about the cold war, but they were written in the heat of the cold war. afterwards, when