Sunbelt Celt

JK ROWLING, the author of the Harry Potter novels, has criticised the growing gulf of inequality in modern Britain on the eve of the publication of her new novel. The world’s wealthiest ­author, who began her career as an unemployed single mother writing in Edinburgh cafes, criticised politicians’ inability to appreciate the many reasons behind poverty in Britain today. Rowling, whose books have sold more than 450 million copies, said the theme of new crime novel, The Casual Vacancy, which she started writing five years ago and which tackles rural poverty, has become more relevant since the election of the coalition government and the cuts in social security benefits.