For Seller

By: Edward Victor

There may be criticism of reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan but what about reporting of wars very much nearer the "West"? If "The Dream of the Decade" is anything to go by, European populations were poorly served by their journalists.

While the quartet "The Dream of the Decade" treats various issues in its four novels, the final one included in the volume "Good Morning, Britain" suggests war-reporting is not very professional at all. The book has already been praised by the publishers of Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie and Ian McEwan.

"Good Morning, Britain" traces the entrance of an ingénue youngster, whose path from the North of England to London is described in the previous novel of the quartet, "A Taste of Money", into an establishment television station. Whilst producers back in the world’s media capitals take a lot of the blame, this book shifts "Broadcast News"-style fiction to even darker levels than those found in the seminal film about TV journalism, Network by Alan J. Pakula.

With each turn, we see the incompetence but, it is Yugoslavia where an estimated 250,000 people lost their lives, that the protagonist finds himself surrounded by carelessness, ahistoricism and downright amateurism albeit attempting to be mitigated by foolish courage.

Here’s an excerpt:

"He was keen to research the history of Yugoslavia but soon realised from the thickness of recent histories that he would have no time. Most of his preparation concerned how to get there. The easiest way, so his computer said, was to get a flight with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees which had a base in Ancona, on the Adriatic coast of Italy. The RAF, German and Belgian air forces were based there, in an operation run by the British. As he sat with the printout, he sometimes looked at the pile of video rushes that he was to log and code as a squeamishness test. The rushes had just been fed in on the "bird", or satellite, and he had to check which images were suitable for Britain’s evening meal viewing.
The notes on Yugoslavia would at first be over-simple and then impossible. To Jonathan, the sentence "UNPROFOR cards are essential as usual but CANNOT be issued in Ancona, only in Zagreb or Belgrade" meant as little as the reasons for the war itself. Quickly, he scanned which Alitalia flights flew from Rome and Milan to Ancona. Then he looked at the possibility of travelling from Split on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The Split-Rome flight could then take him to Ancona via Rome but he was told he must bear in mind that because of NATO "air movements" the advertised flight duration of one hour was now double that.

Any time Jonathan wanted to devote to understanding the actual conflict was now wholly shelved in favour of travel arrangements. Another way to Sarajevo, he discovered, was to go to the UNHCR office located in a cargo-warehouse next door to Ancona’s customs office. Because the sentry on the gate was likely to be a British soldier, Corporation staff would be well directed, so his printout said."

Selected Quotes

“I can still feel the force of it, as a passing gale” Christopher MacLehose, Collins Harvill.

“I admired it, particularly the pace and atmosphere.” Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, Sinclair Stevenson Ltd.

“He captures the atmosphere of the late 80s.” Dan Franklin, Martin Secker and Warburg.

“Interesting and involving.” Laura Longrigg, William Heinemann Ltd.

Book details

Title:The Dream of the Decade

Subtitle:The London Novels

Author:Afshin Rattansi

ISBN:1-4196-1686-2

LCCN:20059093841

Edward Victor is a London-based agent.
http://www.zen13743.zen.co.uk/html