WHAT DO the movie The Help (nominated for four Oscars this year), Porgy and Bess (the classic musical) and the bad bwoy series The Wire all have in common? Well, they all tell stories about black people. And they're all written by white people.

No big deal. But it begs the question, can white people tell our stories better than we can? The success of all three would suggest that we have to hold up our hands and accept that anybody can tell our stories as well as we can. At least as far as movie, stage and TV buffs and Hollywood glitterati who hand out the Academy Awards are concerned.

However telling a good story is not the same as feeling it.