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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's topical, it's satirical, you'll love it, 12 Jan 2004
I've just read Number 10 by Sue Townsend. It was brilliant.
The PM, Edward Clare (not much concealment here) has lost touch with the people. He decides to go walkabout, incognito, in Britain, with that famous cop-at-the-front-of-number-10, who's called Jack. It's set in 2002. You'd think Sue Townsend was a mind reader: the book is well up to date even two years later, except that she thought He wouldn't invade Iraq. (She misjudged him.)Clare and PC Jack go around Britain queing for buses and taxis, getting ripped off, visiting care homes, sink housing estates, and meeting deranged people of all descriptions. Meanwhile, at Downing Street, Mrs Clare, the cleverest woman in Europe, goes mad without her husband and suggests that warts and amputated body parts deserve christian burial. Also at Downing Street, Alex McPherson, Press Officer, is running news management and damage limitation and monitoring the PM's every move. Oh, and the PM is dressed as a woman and at once stage lands the lead part in an anti-establishment satirical play about a PM who's lost all his principles. . Also at Downing Street, the Chancellor is helping the PM's son with his homework project - about Socialism. Mrs Townsend does not like what New Labour has become, and you would soon know it. But it's laugh aloud funny. My favourite bit: the PM's sister runs Kennels, £100 per dog per night. Being shown around, the visitors get to the dogs' quarters: Jack "..was astonished to find cubicles, carpets and soft lighting. Each dog had an outside run and a colour television; a few of them were watching Crossroads." If your taste is for a bleak look at what New Labour has done (or not done) for Britain, this is your tome.
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by Sue Townsend
by Sue Townsend
by Sue Townsend
by Sue Townsend
