A load of goblins

Lo! There is rift and rupture in the world of magic and parable and firing of unformed imaginations! Terry Pratchett, winner of the Carnegie Medal for children's literature, yesterday marked his award with a splendidly combative attack on hobbits, rings, wizards and, wait for it, "silly wands". A brave man indeed. To take on Tolkien has always been a pretty fair game, but Harry Potter as well?

Why, though, do children's writers always seem quite so dyspeptic? Mr Pratchett, as a highly successful author largely ignored and, until now, ungarlanded, might be excused, but what about the rest of them? The grumpy children's writer is almost as much a cliché as the frustrated one, impatient for more senior acclaim. But what better guides to the exigencies, disappointments and perplexing practices of the adult world (and here we talk only of accountancy)? Meanwhile, watch out for owls, Pratchett.