Natasha Brown’s playful state of the nation satire concerns a newspaper piece.
The long read, about an assault during a rave at a Yorkshire farm taken over by Gen Z hippies, has gone viral and animated the debate around economic inequalities and ideological polarisation.
Each successive chapter is told by a different character in ways that shift the dial on the truth behind the article, including the identity of the author.
Brown’s cast, which includes bankers, critics, editors and a high-profile ‘anti-woke’ female journalist, are all signed-up members of the white London metropolitan elite.
There’s a lot wrong with Universality: both the premise and the rogues gallery of media archetypes are too bluntly executed to ring true.
Brown, however, is excellent at skewering confected culture wars and laying bare the rotten art of modern opinion.
Photo credit: Alice Zoo
