soyagi

Archived version: https://archive.ph/HGJKo

In April 2012, Tim Meeks was at a music product trade show in Anaheim, California, when he got a tap on the shoulder. Stevie Wonder was in town. He had heard about the instrument Meeks had invented – a guitar-piano hybrid called the harpejji – and wanted to give it a go. Minutes later, the two men were hunched over the instrument flanked by five bodyguards, as Meeks moved the blind musician’s thumbs and forefingers across the fretboard to demonstrate how to play. “I love it,” said Wonder. “How soon can I get one?”

This was a turning point for Meeks, who has built and sold harpejjis from a workshop in Maryland since 2007. Initially, sales were slow. But a decade’s worth of harpejji performances by Wonder – plus support from Jacob Collier, Harry Connick Jr and jazz producer Cory Henry – have changed that. Now, Marcodi Musical Products, Meeks’ company, has sold nearly 1,500 of them, making him one of the few people alive to have invented a successful new instrument.

“I’m a very average musician. The thought of me showing Stevie Wonder how to play something is just absurd,” says Meeks. “But it’s all about the artists. Stevie can choose any instrument he wants to, and if he wants to play this one, people better pay attention.”

A full-size harpejji is about a metre long and sells for £5,100. The flat, birch body holds 24 strings with frets beneath. It works a bit like a piano – but instead of pressing a key you’re pressing the strings – and a bit like an electric guitar, where magnetic pickups send the sound to an amplifier. “I wanted it to sound like an organic stringed instrument, but use my piano chops rather than learn guitar for three years,” Meeks says. “I guess a lot of the best inventions come out of laziness.”

The timbre is guitar-like; the notes run in whole tones across the strings and semitones up the frets, yielding fresh harmonic possibilities. “I had thousands of sounds available on a keyboard but none of them felt right,” Meeks says. “I wasn’t trying to dazzle the world with a new sound, rather find a fresh way to think about playing music.”

Instrument design is a fast-evolving field. Whole schools are even devoted to it. Queen Mary University and Imperial College London jointly run The Augmented Instruments Laboratory, where researcher Lia Mice has developed, among other things, a one-handed violin (designed for people with disabilities) and chaos bells – a 4 sq metre frame of steel tubes that the player touches, tilts and strikes to produce a cacophonous metallic feedback loop.

There is even a gold-standard annual contest for inventors: the Guthman Musical Instrument Competition, run by the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. This year’s winner was the zen flute: via a mouthpiece, it digitally translates the shape of your mouth into sound. There was also a synthesiser controlled by an abacus, and a microtonal clarinet that, rather than using tone holes, has a flexible electromagnetic strip to control pitch.

Nonetheless, even the most esteemed inventions rarely make it past the prototype stage. While the 20th century brought electric guitars, drum machines and synthesisers, popularising a new instrument is now trickier.

Part of the problem is that artists can produce any sound under the sun using a computer, says Steve Dunnington, product development chief at Moog, the company that developed the first commercially available synthesiser in 1964. “For many musicians, making music happens by typing lines of code or creating sounds on a DAW [digital audio workstation, such as GarageBand],” he says. “We just tend not to think of it as ‘instrumental’ in the same way because they’re not holding something, blowing air into it or whacking it.”

Meeks thinks many inventors are going down technological rabbit holes rather than making something usable. Most musicians “just want to have a voice”, he says. “A lot of these [instruments] are cool, they have features and they are powerful. But does anybody really want to play them, learn them or go and see someone else perform on them?”

Of course, not all inventions are dreamed up with others in mind. For Mice, the chaos bells inventor, crafting the instrument is part of making her music. “Plus,” she adds, “there’s something super punk rock about making your own instrument.”

The harpejji, meanwhile, is on course to exceed $1m of sales in 2023 – a record year – and Marcodi Musical Products recently moved to bigger premises near Baltimore. Meeks even had another “monumental” moment at the end of July, working in his new office with a Spotify-curated playlist on in the background. “About six songs in I realised: ‘Wait a minute, I recognise that sound.’”

The track was Harpejji I by Vulfmon (AKA Jack Stratton, drummer of the cult funk outfit Vulfpeck), which features the instrument. “That’s the first time since founding the company that harpejji music came to my ears randomly without me seeking it out,” he says. “Now I truly feel like it’s got a life of its own.”

Archived version: https://archive.ph/KyKk8

A neighbour of a fire-damaged pub left derelict for years fears a similar fate could befall the "UK's wonkiest pub".

Ros Howarth said the destruction of The Crooked House in the Black Country was "a very similar story" to that of The Jester in Cockfosters, north London.

She said campaigners fighting to get The Jester rebuilt "felt abandoned" since the devastating fire in 2018.

Barnet Council said it had "very little say" over what was built there, so long as it was a "community facility".

In February 2020, the-then owners of The Jester, on Mount Pleasant, were ordered to rebuild a pub or "equivalent community floorspace" on the site after an appeal hearing at Harrow Crown Court.

But they sold it for £1m eight months later, leaving a charred ruin.

Ms Howarth, 66, is involved in Justice for the Jester, a campaign for a new community pub on the site.

"We have fought so hard to try to get the pub restored. We are a strong community but we just feel so abandoned," she said.

"It feels neglected. People throw rubbish in there. It's spoiling the look of the whole area."

Within days of the fire, demolition work began, she recalled.

This work was halted by the council before the appeal hearing.

A number of planning applications have since been refused, and the council is due to consider plans for a nursery to replace the pub.

Meanwhile, thousands of people have joined a Facebook group calling for The Crooked House to be rebuilt.

But Ms Howarth warned: "The council is going to come under the spotlight if they approve any planning application for redevelopment and change of use.

"If they insist on the pub being rebuilt, the owners will appeal and the case will go to court. It will then be the start of a long legal process, as was the case with The Jester."

She said many Cockfosters residents believed a community pub with a garden was the best solution for the area.

"We're very cut off in this location. There's no community facility at all," she said.

Labour borough councillor for East Barnet, Simon Radford, who is also involved in the campaign, called the burnt-out Jester site an "eyesore".

Nik Antona, national chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), called on those who have "demolished pubs against planning rules" to "restore the original building brick by brick".

"If local authorities won't provide adequate planning enforcement, then central government needs to step in to make sure that unscrupulous developers know that they will face action if they do the same," he added.

Figures released by Camra last week showed that up to a third of pub closures and demolitions may be happening without the required permission.

In Greater London, 64 pubs have been converted or demolished since 2021.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/JsTV6

The US broadband industry is united in opposition to a requirement that Internet service providers list all of their monthly fees. Five lobby groups representing cable companies, fiber and DSL providers, and mobile operators have repeatedly urged the Federal Communications Commission to eliminate the requirement before new broadband labeling rules take effect.

The trade associations petitioned the FCC in January to change the rules and renewed their call last week in a filing and in a meeting with FCC officials. The requirement that ISPs list all their monthly fees "would add unnecessary complexity and burdens to the label for consumers and providers and could result in some providers having to create many labels for any given plan," the groups said in the filing on Friday.

The trade groups said the FCC should instead "require providers to include an explanatory statement that such fees may apply and that they vary by jurisdiction, similar to the Commission's treatment of government-imposed taxes," or require "the display of the maximum level of government-imposed fees that might be passed through, so that consumers would not experience bill shock with respect to such fees."

The filing was submitted by NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, which represents Comcast, Charter, Cox, and other cable companies. The NCTA's ex parte filing described a meeting with FCC officials that also included wireless industry trade group CTIA and USTelecom, which represents telcos including AT&T, Verizon, Lumen (formerly CenturyLink), Frontier, and Windstream.

The meeting was attended by two other groups representing smaller ISPs: NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association and ACA Connects-America's Communications Association. The trade groups met on Wednesday with the legal advisors to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr, according to the filing.

Comcast accused of “trying to create loopholes”

Comcast submitted its own filing urging the FCC to scrap the rules in June. The calls to weaken the FCC's truth-in-billing rules angered consumer advocates, as we wrote at the time. "The label hasn't even reached consumers yet, but Comcast is already trying to create loopholes. This request would allow the big ISPs to continue hiding the true cost of service and frustrating customers with poor service," Joshua Stager, policy director at media advocacy group Free Press, told Ars.

Congress required the FCC to implement broadband labels with exact prices for Internet service plans in a 2021 law, but gave the FCC some leeway in how to structure the rules. The FCC adopted specific label rules in November 2022.

The labels must be displayed to consumers at the point of sale and include monthly price, additional charges, speeds, data caps, additional charges for data, and other information. The FCC rules aren't in force yet because they are subject to a federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review under the US Paperwork Reduction Act.

ISPs object to a portion of the FCC order that says, "providers must list all recurring monthly fees" including "all charges that providers impose at their discretion, i.e., charges not mandated by a government." The five trade groups complain that this would require ISPs "to display the pass-through of fees imposed by federal, state, or local government agencies on the consumer broadband label."

But just because an ISP says a fee is related to a government charge doesn't mean that ISPs have to break them out separately. ISPs could instead include all costs in their advertised rates to give potential customers a clearer idea of how much they would have to pay each month.

"A provider that opts to combine all of its monthly discretionary fees with its base monthly price may do so and list that total price. In that case, the provider need not separately itemize those fees in the label," the FCC order said.

Non-mandatory fees

Discretionary charges "include those the provider collects to recoup from consumers its costs associated with government programs but where the government has not mandated such collection, e.g., USF [Universal Service Fund] contributions," according to the FCC. Comcast said the non-mandatory fees also include pass-through of state and local government fees.

The FCC order said the requirement to list "all charges that providers impose at their discretion" is meant to help broadband users "understand which charges are part of the provider's rate structure, and which derive from government assessments or programs." These fees must have "simple, accurate, [and] easy-to-understand name[s]," the FCC order said.

"Further, the requirement will allow consumers to more meaningfully compare providers' rates and service packages, and to make more informed decisions when purchasing broadband services. Providers must list fees such as monthly charges associated with regulatory programs and fees for the rental or leasing of modem and other network connection equipment," the FCC said.

Harold Feld, senior VP of consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, told Ars in June that the FCC "should reject the request to create loopholes which would obscure what fees providers decide to pass on versus those that are mandated by state law. It is an effort to pass blame to the state which properly belongs to the ISP."

Debate over record-keeping rule

ISPs also object to a record-keeping requirement designed to ensure that ISPs follow the rules when they provide labels through "alternate sales channels" such as retail stores or customer service phone calls. ISPs can meet the label requirement in alternate sales channels either by providing a hard copy of the label or by "directing the consumer to the specific web page on which the label appears."

ISPs that don't provide hard copies of the label to prospective customers in those sales channels must document each instance in which they direct a consumer to a label.

"Requiring that providers collect identifying information and document every customer interaction would be highly disruptive to consumers seeking information through alternative sales channels and would impose significant burdens on providers of all sizes," the trade groups told the FCC. The trade groups want the FCC to "clarify that a provider satisfies these rules by developing appropriate business practices to promote distribution of the label through alternative sales channels and retaining documentation of these practices for two years."

Latino advocacy group ALLvanza also objected to the data-collection rule on privacy grounds, saying, "Many Latinos are already hesitant and/or unwilling to provide identifying information to companies or the government due to privacy concerns, fear of discrimination, potential immigration status issues, mistrust of institutions, and cultural preferences for privacy."

ISPs could avoid the requirement to collect identifying information from consumers in retail stores by providing hard copies of the label. The FCC defended the compliance plan in a submission to the OMB last month as part of the Paperwork Reduction Act review, saying it needs detailed information to ensure ISPs follow the rules.

When ISPs choose not to provide hard copies of the labels in alternate sales channels, the FCC said it needs details on each customer interaction to "allow the Commission to investigate and enforce providers' obligation to make the label available to consumers at each point of sale."

The FCC also defended itself against industry accusations that the rule is too vague. "The Commission stated in the Broadband Label Order that '[p]roviders must document each instance when it directs a consumer to a label at an alternate sales channel and retain such documentation for two years.' We believe it is unambiguous that this would include the identity of each consumer," the FCC said.

Two American tourists have been found sleeping inside the Eiffel Tower after getting stuck while drunk, according to prosecutors.

The two men were found by security guards in the early hours of Monday.

They paid to scale the Parisian landmark at around 22:40 (21:40 BST) on Sunday and hopped security barriers while climbing down, police said.

They were found in an area normally closed to the public between the tower’s second and third levels.

The men “appear to have got stuck because of how drunk they were”, Paris prosecutors told the AFP news agency.

A specialist firefighter unit for rescuing people from heights were sent to recover the men, the agency reported.

The usual opening time of 09:00 was delayed due to the discovery of the inebriated pair.

They did not pose any threat, said Sete, the publicly-owned Eiffel Tower operator.

Both men were questioned by police in Paris, while Sete said it would file a criminal complaint.

It comes after two bomb scares at the tower on Saturday forced the monument to be evacuated twice in the same day.

French police have launched an investigation after the false bomb threats were made via posts on a gaming site and a platform for online contact between citizens and police.

The Eiffel Tower, which was built in the 1880s and stands at 984ft (300m), attracted 5.8 million visitors last year.

Two American tourists have been found sleeping inside the Eiffel Tower after getting stuck while drunk, according to prosecutors.

The two men were found by security guards in the early hours of Monday.

They paid to scale the Parisian landmark at around 22:40 (21:40 BST) on Sunday and hopped security barriers while climbing down, police said.

They were found in an area normally closed to the public between the tower’s second and third levels.

The men “appear to have got stuck because of how drunk they were”, Paris prosecutors told the AFP news agency.

A specialist firefighter unit for rescuing people from heights were sent to recover the men, the agency reported.

The usual opening time of 09:00 was delayed due to the discovery of the inebriated pair.

They did not pose any threat, said Sete, the publicly-owned Eiffel Tower operator.

Both men were questioned by police in Paris, while Sete said it would file a criminal complaint.

It comes after two bomb scares at the tower on Saturday forced the monument to be evacuated twice in the same day.

French police have launched an investigation after the false bomb threats were made via posts on a gaming site and a platform for online contact between citizens and police.

The Eiffel Tower, which was built in the 1880s and stands at 984ft (300m), attracted 5.8 million visitors last year.

Two American tourists have been found sleeping inside the Eiffel Tower after getting stuck while drunk, according to prosecutors.

The two men were found by security guards in the early hours of Monday.

They paid to scale the Parisian landmark at around 22:40 (21:40 BST) on Sunday and hopped security barriers while climbing down, police said.

They were found in an area normally closed to the public between the tower's second and third levels.

The men "appear to have got stuck because of how drunk they were", Paris prosecutors told the AFP news agency.

A specialist firefighter unit for rescuing people from heights were sent to recover the men, the agency reported.

The usual opening time of 09:00 was delayed due to the discovery of the inebriated pair.

They did not pose any threat, said Sete, the publicly-owned Eiffel Tower operator.

Both men were questioned by police in Paris, while Sete said it would file a criminal complaint.

It comes after two bomb scares at the tower on Saturday forced the monument to be evacuated twice in the same day.

French police have launched an investigation after the false bomb threats were made via posts on a gaming site and a platform for online contact between citizens and police.

The Eiffel Tower, which was built in the 1880s and stands at 984ft (300m), attracted 5.8 million visitors last year.

Further details on how Stories work here: https://telegram.org/tour/stories

Archived version: https://archive.ph/kBVee

The publishing industry has been mired in debate in recent years about editing older books to remove content that could be deemed offensive.

Even the prime minister became involved in February after the publisher Puffin Books hired sensitivity readers to rewrite parts of Roald Dahl’s books to ensure they “can continue to be enjoyed by all today”. The development prompted Rishi Sunak to say that publishers “shouldn’t gobblefunk around with words”.

Jacqueline Wilson waded into the conversation on Monday, saying that making changes to children’s books was sometimes justified and that she would not write one of her past novels today because of its controversial content. Below, we look at what other authors have said on the topic.

Margaret Atwood: ‘If you don’t like it, read something else’

Speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight in March, the Canadian author commented on the Dahl controversy: “Good luck with Roald Dahl. You’re just really going to have to replace the whole book if you want things to be nice.

“But this started a long time ago; it was the ‘Disneyfication’ of fairytales. What do I think of it? I’m with Chaucer, who said: ‘If you don’t like this tale, turn over the page and read something else.’”

Irvine Welsh: ‘I found it a positive experience’

The Trainspotting author said he had worked with a sensitivity reader for the first time when writing his 2022 novel The Long Knives, which deals with transgender issues. He wrote on Twitter: “I was initially very hostile, regarding this as censorship. However, my experience with the trans reader was highly positive.

“The reader was highly supportive of what I was trying to do: balanced, thoughtful and informative, and the book is infinitely better as a result. I found it a positive experience. Certainly, there was none of the crackpot vitriol you see on all sides of the debate on here.”

Charlie Higson: ‘Times and sensitivities change’

Higson, an author of young adult fiction including the first five Young Bond novels, said sensitivity reading is “nothing new”.

In March, he told the Guardian: “I don’t think it was a sensitivity reader who insisted on the change to the original title of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.” The original title included a racial slur.

“Times change and sensitivities change, and thankfully, we now accept that some things in older books can be very upsetting to some modern readers and a more diverse readership,” he said.

Salman Rushdie: ‘This is absurd censorship’

Commenting on the Dahl debate in February, Rushdie described the editing of his books as “absurd censorship”. On Twitter, he wrote that Puffin and the late author’s estate “should be ashamed”.

Despite his defence of Dahl’s works, Rushdie said he was “no angel” and that he was “a self-confessed antisemite, with pronounced racist leanings.”

Philip Pullman: ‘Let him go out of print’

Pullman told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in February: “If it does offend us, let him go out of print.

“What are you going to do about them? All these words are still there; are you going to round up all the books and cross them out with a big black pen?

“Read Phil Earle, SF Said, Frances Hardinge, Michael Morpurgo, Malorie Blackman. Read Mini Grey, Helen Cooper, Jacqueline Wilson, Beverley Naidoo.

“Read all these wonderful authors who are writing today who don’t get as much of a look-in because of the massive commercial gravity of people like Roald Dahl.”

Archived version: https://archive.ph/kBVee

The publishing industry has been mired in debate in recent years about editing older books to remove content that could be deemed offensive.

Even the prime minister became involved in February after the publisher Puffin Books hired sensitivity readers to rewrite parts of Roald Dahl’s books to ensure they “can continue to be enjoyed by all today”. The development prompted Rishi Sunak to say that publishers “shouldn’t gobblefunk around with words”.

Jacqueline Wilson waded into the conversation on Monday, saying that making changes to children’s books was sometimes justified and that she would not write one of her past novels today because of its controversial content. Below, we look at what other authors have said on the topic.

Margaret Atwood: ‘If you don’t like it, read something else’

Speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight in March, the Canadian author commented on the Dahl controversy: “Good luck with Roald Dahl. You’re just really going to have to replace the whole book if you want things to be nice.

“But this started a long time ago; it was the ‘Disneyfication’ of fairytales. What do I think of it? I’m with Chaucer, who said: ‘If you don’t like this tale, turn over the page and read something else.’”

Irvine Welsh: ‘I found it a positive experience’

The Trainspotting author said he had worked with a sensitivity reader for the first time when writing his 2022 novel The Long Knives, which deals with transgender issues. He wrote on Twitter: “I was initially very hostile, regarding this as censorship. However, my experience with the trans reader was highly positive.

“The reader was highly supportive of what I was trying to do: balanced, thoughtful and informative, and the book is infinitely better as a result. I found it a positive experience. Certainly, there was none of the crackpot vitriol you see on all sides of the debate on here.”

Charlie Higson: ‘Times and sensitivities change’

Higson, an author of young adult fiction including the first five Young Bond novels, said sensitivity reading is “nothing new”.

In March, he told the Guardian: “I don’t think it was a sensitivity reader who insisted on the change to the original title of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.” The original title included a racial slur.

“Times change and sensitivities change, and thankfully, we now accept that some things in older books can be very upsetting to some modern readers and a more diverse readership,” he said.

Salman Rushdie: ‘This is absurd censorship’

Commenting on the Dahl debate in February, Rushdie described the editing of his books as “absurd censorship”. On Twitter, he wrote that Puffin and the late author’s estate “should be ashamed”.

Despite his defence of Dahl’s works, Rushdie said he was “no angel” and that he was “a self-confessed antisemite, with pronounced racist leanings.”

Philip Pullman: ‘Let him go out of print’

Pullman told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in February: “If it does offend us, let him go out of print.

“What are you going to do about them? All these words are still there; are you going to round up all the books and cross them out with a big black pen?

“Read Phil Earle, SF Said, Frances Hardinge, Michael Morpurgo, Malorie Blackman. Read Mini Grey, Helen Cooper, Jacqueline Wilson, Beverley Naidoo.

“Read all these wonderful authors who are writing today who don’t get as much of a look-in because of the massive commercial gravity of people like Roald Dahl.”

Archived version: https://archive.ph/WYdpt

Jacqueline Wilson has said editing children’s books to remove inappropriate and dated language is sometimes justified because young people do not have “a sense of history”.

However, the bestselling children’s author told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that she was opposed to “meddling with adult classics”.

Children’s books by authors such as Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl have been rewritten by publishers to take out words and references that are deemed inappropriate or offensive today.

In February, Puffin Books hired sensitivity readers to review Dahl’s texts to make sure his books could “continue to be enjoyed by all today”.

Hundreds of changes included replacing the word “fat” with “enormous”, and changing “ugly and beastly” to “beastly”. “Old hag” in Dahl’s The Witches was changed to “old crow”.

Blyton’s books, including The Famous Five, Noddy and Malory Towers, dating back to the 1940s, have also undergone “sensitive text revisions”. Words such as “queer” or “gay” have been replaced because of their contemporary meanings relating to sexuality.

Blyton has also been criticised for racism and xenophobia in her books.

While some have welcomed the changes, others have criticised the rewriting of classics, saying it is a form of censorship.

Wilson said her view on such changes depended on “how it’s done”.

She added: “There are some things I think that would make us a bit worried if we returned to our old children’s favourites and read them with fresh eyes. We might be a little surprised.

“I think with children, they often absorb texts. They still haven’t got the power to sort things out and have a sense of history.”

Wilson has been involved in updating earlier works. Last year, she wrote The Magic Faraway Tree: A New Adventure, a reimagining of a Blyton novel.

Her version is without Blyton’s sexist stereotypes and “unfortunate references that were very ordinary in their times but nowadays don’t fit with the way we think”, she told the Irish News last year.

Wilson has admitted that she would not write one of her books, published in 2005, today.

Love Lessons is about a 14-year-old girl, Prue, who falls in love with an art teacher who partly reciprocates. They kiss and he admits that he loves her, too.

Wilson told the Guardian in a recent interview: “It’s so different now … Nowadays, you’d see Prue as a victim even if she had initiated it and the teacher as a paedophile because he responded to her.”

But she told Good Morning Britain on Monday: “I’m very against meddling with adult classics.

“I was just thinking about Jane Eyre the other day. I mean, with the mad woman in the attic and the way she’s depicted, you’d never find that sort of treatment of people with serious mental health problems.

“And yet, I would be absolutely at the forefront of people saying: ‘No, leave it alone. It’s my favourite book.’”

Wilson also criticised so-called cancel culture, saying that she felt conversations to solve differences would be more constructive.

“I’m of the old school, I think: ‘Why can’t everybody just talk things over? Discuss things.’ You don’t have to agree with someone,” she said.

“But I think it’s more helpful to actually get to the bottom of what’s making people so angry.

“But whether I’d feel that in the midst of a baying crowd or not, I don’t know.

“I mean, life’s changed so much. And I think it’s good that people can make it clear what they feel, but I do think a little bit of discussion [is necessary].

“There’s been a call recently for children to develop their oracy, to become more articulate, to be able to assemble their ideas, and I think that would be a good idea.”

Wilson, a former children’s laureate, has written more than 100 books, which have sold about 40m copies in the UK and been translated into 34 languages.

The Story of Tracy Beaker, about a girl growing up in a care home, was made into a television series. Her books deal with issues such as separation, stepfamilies, sibling rivalry, bullying and falling in love.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/WYdpt

Jacqueline Wilson has said editing children’s books to remove inappropriate and dated language is sometimes justified because young people do not have “a sense of history”.

However, the bestselling children’s author told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that she was opposed to “meddling with adult classics”.

Children’s books by authors such as Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl have been rewritten by publishers to take out words and references that are deemed inappropriate or offensive today.

In February, Puffin Books hired sensitivity readers to review Dahl’s texts to make sure his books could “continue to be enjoyed by all today”.

Hundreds of changes included replacing the word “fat” with “enormous”, and changing “ugly and beastly” to “beastly”. “Old hag” in Dahl’s The Witches was changed to “old crow”.

Blyton’s books, including The Famous Five, Noddy and Malory Towers, dating back to the 1940s, have also undergone “sensitive text revisions”. Words such as “queer” or “gay” have been replaced because of their contemporary meanings relating to sexuality.

Blyton has also been criticised for racism and xenophobia in her books.

While some have welcomed the changes, others have criticised the rewriting of classics, saying it is a form of censorship.

Wilson said her view on such changes depended on “how it’s done”.

She added: “There are some things I think that would make us a bit worried if we returned to our old children’s favourites and read them with fresh eyes. We might be a little surprised.

“I think with children, they often absorb texts. They still haven’t got the power to sort things out and have a sense of history.”

Wilson has been involved in updating earlier works. Last year, she wrote The Magic Faraway Tree: A New Adventure, a reimagining of a Blyton novel.

Her version is without Blyton’s sexist stereotypes and “unfortunate references that were very ordinary in their times but nowadays don’t fit with the way we think”, she told the Irish News last year.

Wilson has admitted that she would not write one of her books, published in 2005, today.

Love Lessons is about a 14-year-old girl, Prue, who falls in love with an art teacher who partly reciprocates. They kiss and he admits that he loves her, too.

Wilson told the Guardian in a recent interview: “It’s so different now … Nowadays, you’d see Prue as a victim even if she had initiated it and the teacher as a paedophile because he responded to her.”

But she told Good Morning Britain on Monday: “I’m very against meddling with adult classics.

“I was just thinking about Jane Eyre the other day. I mean, with the mad woman in the attic and the way she’s depicted, you’d never find that sort of treatment of people with serious mental health problems.

“And yet, I would be absolutely at the forefront of people saying: ‘No, leave it alone. It’s my favourite book.’”

Wilson also criticised so-called cancel culture, saying that she felt conversations to solve differences would be more constructive.

“I’m of the old school, I think: ‘Why can’t everybody just talk things over? Discuss things.’ You don’t have to agree with someone,” she said.

“But I think it’s more helpful to actually get to the bottom of what’s making people so angry.

“But whether I’d feel that in the midst of a baying crowd or not, I don’t know.

“I mean, life’s changed so much. And I think it’s good that people can make it clear what they feel, but I do think a little bit of discussion [is necessary].

“There’s been a call recently for children to develop their oracy, to become more articulate, to be able to assemble their ideas, and I think that would be a good idea.”

Wilson, a former children’s laureate, has written more than 100 books, which have sold about 40m copies in the UK and been translated into 34 languages.

The Story of Tracy Beaker, about a girl growing up in a care home, was made into a television series. Her books deal with issues such as separation, stepfamilies, sibling rivalry, bullying and falling in love.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/ITIRq

The cost of some basic food items such as cheese, butter and bread has soared by more than 30% in the last two years, forcing poorer households to “make desperate choices between keeping up with their bill payments or putting food on the table,” campaigners have said.

Food price inflation has slowed in recent months, but costs remain much higher than they were two years ago, disproportionally affecting low-income households, according to research by consumer body Which? shared exclusively with the Guardian.

The annual pace of grocery price growth cooled to 14.9% over the four weeks to 9 July, down from 16.5% a month earlier, according to the latest analysis by retail industry data provider Kantar.

Despite the slowdown, Which? figures showed that food prices have risen significantly over the past two years, and some products have gone up more than 30% since 2021.

The food products with the highest rates of inflation are milk (36.4%), cheese (35.2%), butters and spreads (32.2%), cakes and cookies (31.2%), and bakery items (30.3%).

Vegetable prices are up 19.1% since May-July 2021, meat prices are up 23.6% and savoury pies and pastries and quiches are up 26.2%. Biscuit prices have increased by 27% and juice drinks and smoothies are up 28.6%.

The consumer rights group is urging supermarkets to stock their cheapest products in their convenience store branches as well as larger outlets, as charities warned that families were struggling to cope with food inflation.

Richard Lane, director of external affairs at debt charity StepChange, said: “The rising cost of living is forcing households to reassess their budgets and cut back to make ends meet. Food inflation remains high and has pushed the price of basics up significantly.

“These rises are hitting the poorest the hardest, as it creates a poverty premium where those on tighter budgets are unable to save by buying in bulk and end up spending more money on food and essentials, as they shop little and often.”

He added: “As food costs continue to rise, the knock-on effects can be felt elsewhere, with people having to make desperate choices between keeping up their bills or putting food on the table.”

StepChange research found one in seven people had recently skipped meals or gone without a healthy diet in order to keep up with credit repayments – rising to nearly one in three for those on universal credit.

Helen Barnard, director of policy, research and impact at the Trussell Trust, the food bank network, said: “Inflation is hitting those on the lowest incomes hardest, with the cost of essentials like food and energy – which account for far more of their budget than is the case for people on higher incomes – rising especially steeply.”

She added that last year, the food banks in its network experienced higher levels of need than ever before, distributing almost 3m parcels to people who could not afford essentials.

“Donations also increased, reflecting the public’s great generosity even at a time of increased financial pressure for many, but rising need outpaced donations. This led to food banks having to purchase 124% more food than they did the previous year, at a time when prices are higher than ever, putting a significant strain on their operating costs.”

Which? has called on grocers to make affordable and healthy basic food ranges available across all their stores, to ensure that offers and promotions are used to support those who are struggling and are targeted at healthy foods, and to make sure their pricing is clear, so that shoppers can easily work out what offers the best value.

It welcomed an announcement by Tesco on Friday that the retailer would be introducing cheaper own-brand range items in its convenience stores, but said more needed to be done, pointing out that own-brand items were still more expensive than budget ranges. For example, Tesco’s own-brand penne pasta is 75p for 500g, but its budget version is 41p.

Sue Davies, head of food policy at Which?, said: “Despite well-advertised price cuts, Which?’s tracker shows that the cost of essentials like milk and butter is still very high and piling huge pressure on millions, which is why access to budget ranges is more important than ever to help people save money.”