A stinging dissection of wealth, class and the media, Natasha Brown’s satire begins with a man named Jake gazing at a gold bar he has found at a farm in West Yorkshire. Outside, an illegal rave is taking place which will end in three hospitalisations and property damage. Pondering what to do with the ingot that he has just used to bludgeon a stranger, Jake decides to do a runner.
The story of the stolen gold is told by a journalist, Hannah, in a magazine article named A Fool’s Gold, replicated in full here, which she claims exposes “the fraying fabric of British society, worn thin by late capitalism’s relentless abrasion”. Her piece, which goes viral, features Richard Spencer, an arrogant, philandering banker and the owner of the farm, whose reputation is left in tatters; a contrarian rightwing newspaper columnist named Miriam Leonard, known as Lenny; and a group of radical anarchist squatters who call themselves The Universalists.
