The Man Booker Shortlist has been announced:

• John Banville, The Sea (Someone’s going to be very happy.)
• Julian Barnes, Arthur & George (Julian Barnes: Comeback Kid?)
• Sebastian Barry, A Long Long Way
• Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
• Ali Smith, The Accidental
• Zadie Smith, On Beauty

If there’s any lesson to be learned here, if you’re a British novelist who wants to win the Man Booker, change your last name to Smith.