Michael Burleigh
‘It’s the Culture, Innit?’
The form of George Walden’s new book is as arresting as its content. Imagined members of his own family ask ‘Dad’, in the wake of an eight-year-old grandchild’s having been knocked unconscious by some marauding Somali, whether it is ‘time to emigrate’. Replying from vacation in southern France, Walden hurries off a 200-page reflection about modern Britain rather than a brief email, fax or letter. The answer to the question in the title is ‘try it for a bit’ – ‘it’ being America or France, although I’d personally recommend John Howard’s Australia.
This epistolary form is a highly effective vehicle for Walden’s thoughts on the current state of our nation. The writing is brilliant in a leisurely sort of way, as befits a retired homme d’affaires and senior politician, while the tone ranges from the wincingly coruscating to the darkly comic. Having
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