A little too familiar

Here's a novel designed to stave off voter apathy at the next election.

It's a darkly satirical vision of how the country might be if a party not unlike New Labour stayed in power for too long.

The state of Albion is a kind of perverse return to a pastoral Olde Englande, where meat is banned and only the elite are allowed technology such as vidi-phones.

They subscribe to the cult of Gideon, the charismatic party leader who says 'triffic' a lot and has a dowdy wife who wears pastel suits. His catchphrase in the 'Drome' (which has replaced Parliament) is 'Stability is sexy', but his zealous leadership is about to be threatened by the humanity of one Grace Fry, his Minister for Women.

While she appears the perfect Gideon girl, she privately battles his cohorts of control freaks - especially a Machiavellian Government Persuader who holidays in Brazil. Carole Hayman (pictured) provides a plot of sorts - with plenty of sex and a high body count - involving a perverted Gideon crony developing his own dastardly variation on an opium for the masses, but it's really just an excuse for this smart and frightening bit of prophecy.