Somewhere in Europe

After reluctantly being ‘rationalised’ from his Foreign Office job, Kevin Crump takes up a teaching position at Cambrian University, the most improved university in South Wales. 

There he finds a culture in which ‘Political Correctness 2.0’ is out of control, with ‘no-platforming’, intolerance of free speech, insidious anti-Semitism, gender politics in all its/her/his/their forms, ‘trigger warnings’ banning classic books so as not to offend the sensibilities of ‘snowflake’ students, and ‘positive’ discrimination and diversity drives galore. In the midst of all this, Brexit begins.

When the university claims to have discovered a founding document giving it the right, with royal approval, to declare independence from Britain and continued loyalty to the EU, the vast majority of staff and students are delighted. However, things may not be quite as simple as they first seem. It is how Crump negotiates this and more which forms the basis of this entertainingly absurd and timely novel, and which will ultimately decide his future and his fate. 

“It’s like a cross between Catch-22 and Lucky Jim for the Brexit generation.” 

PJ Vanston (who also writes as Jem Vanston) was born and brought up in Dartford, Kent, to a Welsh mother and a Flemish/Belgian father. He now lives in Swansea. He is the author of Crump (2010), A Cat Called Dog (2013/15/17); Rasmus (2016), and Santa Goes on Strike (2018). See his author website: www.vanston.co.uk