THE GUARDIAN HAS JUST CONFIRMED THAT WELSH POET GWYNETH LEWIS’ ATTACK ON ME LAST FRIDAY (4.1.13) IN THEIR NEWSPAPER, WILL NOW BE CORRECTED TO INCLUDE THE ELEVEN THOUSAND POUNDS TAX PAYER HANDOUT SHE HAS RECEIVED FROM LITERATURE WALES.
THEY ALSO CONTACTED SEREN BOOKS, LEWIS’ WELSH PUBLISHER (AND TALFAN DAVIES’), WHO CONFIRMED THAT HER CLAIM OF A THOUSAND ODD COPIES SOLD OF GERAINT TALFAN DAVIES’ AUTOBIOGRAPHY ‘AT ARMS LENGTH’ WAS AN ‘INTERNAL’ FIGURE – WHATEVER THAT MEANS?
SEREN ALSO ASKED THE GUARDIAN ‘NOT TO PUBLISH THE EXACT TOTAL’. NOW WHY DO YOU SUPPOSE THAT IS? THEY KNOW I WILL DEMAND TO SEE VERIFIABLE EVIDENCE, THAT’S WHY!
THE GUARDIAN HAS ALSO ADMITTED THAT LEWIS’ ARTICLE ‘SHOULD HAVE BEEN CLEARER’ AND THAT THEY WILL DESCRIBE THE SALES FIGURE PROVIDED BY SEREN AS ‘THE PUBLISHER’S FIGURE’ RATHER THAN THE ‘TRUE FIGURE’
DOESN’T THIS SPEAK VOLUMES!
THEY WILL ALSO REMOVE THE LINE ‘SO MUCH FOR THE QUALITY OF RUCK’S INFORMATION’. LEWIS IMPLIED I WAS A LIAR, IN RESPECT OF BOTH TALFAN DAVIES’ BOOK SALES AND THE PECUNIARY AMOUNTS OF GRANT ALLOCATION TO THE WBC AND LITERATURE WALES.
A RETRACTION HAD TO BE MADE, SHARPISH.
IN OTHER WORDS, THE GUARDIAN CONSULTED THEIR LAWYERS AND DECIDED THAT CORRECTION AND ADMISSION BE THE BETTER PART OF LIBEL.
A FOOTNOTE WILL NOW ALSO BE ADDED TO THE ARTICLE, TO EXPLAIN THAT MY INFORMATION COMES FROM THE REPUTABLE NIELSEN DATA BASE (WHICH THE GUARDIAN RIGHTLY CHECKED), WHILST LEWIS’ COMES FROM HER PUBLISHER’S, SEREN BOOKS, WHO LIKE LEWIS, HAVE NOW LOST ANY KIND OF CREDIBILITY THEY MAY ONCE HAVE ENJOYED.
SO MUCH FOR THE WELSH ‘LITERATI’S’ ATTEMPTS TO SMEAR ME. THEY HAVE ENDED UP SMEARING THEMSELVES, YET AGAIN!
CAN THEY SINK ANY LOWER?
NB IN THE INTERESTS OF FAIRNESS, IT MUST BE STATED THAT THE GUARDIAN WERE CO-OPERATIVE AND PROMPT IN ALL COMMUNICATIONS AND CONDUCTED THEMSELVES WITH IMPECCABLE JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY.
IT IS A GREAT PITY, THE WELSH ‘LITERATI’ ARE UNABLE TO BEHAVE IN THE SAME WAY. SO FROM NOW ON, TO YOU ALL, ‘PUT UP OR SHUT UP!’
Julian Ruck - Author, Columnist and political commentator. 
Julian You wouldn’t think so, but I’m sure they’ll find a wrinkle in a scrotum if they look hard enough. You are doing a bloody marvellous job. I am envious as I have been fighting corruption in the NHS/ Welsh Government for years, with about as much luck as General Custer had with ‘them thar injuns’.
Keep up the good work !
sincerely
Robin