Julia

Female | 40s | 5 to 10 minutes
Starts on page 1

EXTRACT: Four of them. Three for news, one for finance. They come in these plastic wraps now, you know? So you almost have to have a special little knife to slit the plastic open every morning. And once you have them arranged, you look to see what these men and women who've been up all night writing for us have arranged. And after a while, you do see some patterns. A tiny disagreement is a 'row'. A temporary problem is a 'crisis'. 'Temporary problem' doesn't fit the shape of the page. But the word 'crisis' fits it very well.

Charlie

Male | 30s | under 3 minutes
Starts on page 10

EXTRACT: Gun capital of the world and you're not allowed to kill yourself politely. And by the way, isn't 'pecker' an awful word? 'Pecker'. I've always tried to keep an open mind about Americans, I really have. You know? Avoiding that easy sneer that we get into? Because there is always some stupid bit of Californian crap or, you know, what's that other thing they do? War and stuff: what do they call it? Foreign policy, that kind of thing. We look at the way they carry on and it makes us feel smug in that little way, that small way;

Julia

Female | 40s | 3 to 5 minutes
Starts on page 42

EXTRACT: My husband - and by the way, I don't think I told you his name - his name was Desmond - my husband was very active in the world but he had no character. You meet a lot of people like that in the world he inhabited. People without character who sort of rise. While everyone else is too busy with their irrigation channels, or their children, or having arguments in the mind, while everyone is doing these things, these other people seem to rise.