Other TV types have been disappointingly slow to respond to the gauntlet thrown down by Kay Burley’s raunchy novel First Ladies last year, but at last a challenger has emerged in the unlikely form of Newsnight economics editor Paul Mason. Mason’s just-published debut novel Rare Earth (“a washed-up TV reporter stumbles on a corruption scandal in China”) has moments that leave the Sky News anchor looking prim, including a standout scene distinctively fusing economics and erotica. In it a character called Khunbish explains a business deal while he and his lover Chun-li try out “tantric position 103” – she mounts a stuffed horse while he clings head-down to its side. “He began thrusting wildly in the general direction of her chrysanthemum but missing, his paunchy frame shuddering with the effort of remaining rigid and upside down. ‘The cartel, sells, to the global market,’ he panted. ‘The price is inflated because production has been capped!’ She began to pant in unison with him … ‘Cartel evades export controls. Market capitalisation of western miners stays low. Massive, one-way, bet’… He switched to some ancient steppe language as he ejaculated, blubbering and incoherent. Chun-li faked an orgasm, keeping her mind focused on an eighth-century lyric of sadness.” Let’s hope Jeremy Paxman is in too good a mood to tease him.
Read the full article on The Guardian’s Media Monkey