Reading Amitava on 19 Dec 2009 10:44 pm
A Happy New Decade?
Writer Hari Kunzru wishes you a happy new decade and has this note to go with the above:
As we head towards the new year and every media outlet on the planet compiles lists of definitive this and that, I found this 2004 piece on my hard drive, which seems to do a reasonable decade-summarising job. It was a column for Arena magazine. I’m not sure they printed it, though I remember they took my picture on the concourse at Waterloo station. The War on Terror has defined the last ten years. This piece, with its mordant tone, reminds me of how angry I was back then, when we were unsure how far it would escalate. Now we’ve just grown accustomed to our state of perpetual warfare. It’s the air we breathe, and it’s corrosive. Here’s to a better next decade.
on 20 Dec 2009 at 1:42 pm # Ranbir
I wonder if the above service info announcement was meant as ironic commentary by some underground worker. It has all the dark, understated humor and political commentary of a Lindsay Anderson movie packed into a few sentences.
on 20 Dec 2009 at 7:35 pm # Amitava
I agree with you, Ranbir. I thought of it as performance art. Maybe Hari had a hand in it. I’ll ask him.
on 22 Dec 2009 at 12:44 pm # Amitava
Here’s Hari’s response on his website:
This image circulated a lot in London in the days after 7/7. The claim was that it had been written on the board at Notting Hill Gate tube. London Underground staff have been known to exercise a sense of humour, but I don’t know if it’s real or not.