But in this case it’s the all-important Whitbread. This week’s winners:

Novel: Ali Smith, The Accidental
First Novel: Tash Aw, The Harmony Silk Factory
Poetry: Christopher Logue, Cold Calls
Children’s Book: Kate Thompson, The New Policeman
Biography: Hilary Spurling, Matisse the Master

We’re still working on Segundo #17. Yes, we made a pledge to you yesterday and we broke it (hanging heads down low). But there were some unexpected ambient noise issues and since we are quite anal about tweaking audio and we don’t like the nice people who appear on the show sounding as if they’re talking into a tin can, the attention was needed. However, last night, we slept about six hours, which was more zees than we’ve had in some weeks (at least in one sitting). And it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Bear with us. We’re dancing as fast as we can.