Today the one for literature was awarded to Harold Pinter. Now, being somewhat familiar with Pinter's work I am not surprised that his name would have been on a shortlist, but did politics tip the scales in his favor? Judge for yourself:
In 2003, Mr. Pinter published a volume of anti-war poetry about the Iraq conflict, and in 2004 he joined a group of celebrity campaigners calling for Mr. Blair to be impeached.
“I'm using a lot of energy more specifically about political states of affairs, which I think are very, very worrying as things stand,” he said.
What once was a prestigious price has now been devalued to a platform of anti-Western, anti-American rhetoric.
