#BlogTour- ‘Cull’ by Tanvir Bush

About the Book 

In a near-future Britain, the furore over the welfare state has reached fever pitch. A combination of state propaganda and aggressive austerity has divided the nation along poisonous lines: on one side, so-called freeloaders, crips and fakes; on the other, The Hard Working British Taxpayer. The government has introduced the Care and Protect Bill, ostensibly to to relieve the economic burden of the disabled, elderly and vulnerable on society by opening residential care homes where they will be looked after by medical professionals. But Alex – visually impaired and categorised as one of the dole-scrounging underclass – has stumbled across a troubling link between the disappearance of several homeless people and the extension of Grassybanks, her local care home… Helped by her guide dog, Chris, this discovery sets her on a path that leads all the way to the corrupt heart of government.

‘Brown Envelope Syndrome-an extreme anxiety created by waiting for, or appearance of, brown envelopes from a welfare agency resulting in depression, hypermania,disassociation and often leading to intensification of existing mental and physical health issues and on occasion to suicidal thoughts and actions’

‘Cull‘ is so close to what most of us know as reality ,that you find yourself following a laugh with  a wince. It is not too far fetched to imagine a government (particularly the one in power) creating a Protect and Care Act which hands down powers to divide and conquer society.

From the posters offering rewards for ‘shopping a scrounger,’ and  ‘documentaries’ marginalising the poor,to government workers getting bonuses for incomprehensible forms that guarantee 70% of benefit applicants will fail, it is very easy to visualise a resulting  care home such as Grassybanks opening to ‘relieve the burden’ on carers. The premise is simple-if the disabled and infirm elderly are stopping people from working, remove them from the equation and there will be no more carer’s allowance as well as a freed up workforce.

Protagonist Alex has a degenerative visual condition that requires a guide dog, despite the fact that she ‘does not look disabled’ -a constant theme of the novel is how normal she looks and the abuse she gets as though she must be pretending.She is desperate for a paying job that will reflect her education and skill set. At present she has an apprenticeship at a newspaper, but it’s not paying and if she pushes the Job Centres too much for one, they will come down with such heavy sanctions that she is at real risk of homelessness.

The disappearance of a fellow guide dog owner and homeless man Phil, leads to Alex investigating other disappearances into the government sanctioned ‘rehab treatment’ programme, ‘Homeless Action!’. An awful lot of them are dying, but no one seems to care.

‘Homeless Action !’ head honcho ‘Dr Barnabus Binding, also happens to be the father of Stella Binding MP, as well as being heavily involved with the mysterious Ward C extension of Grassybanks. But who is going to listen to a blind woman?

Alex is a wonderful character, she is fearless, totally three dimensional and leaves a huge impression on the reader. Despite being given every reason to give up on life she refuses. She has some truly awful experiences across the course of ‘Cull’, some of which made me cry they were brutal. She, along with a bunch of disabled women whom society has deemed useless, are the only ones who can rise up and make a difference and the very opportunity they need is just around the corner at the Grassybanks grand opening…

This is a novel with enormous heart and bravery that addresses the discrimination that disabled people face daily in an unflinching manner. I hugely adored Chris, Alex’ guide dog and found myself incredibly moved by how easy it would be for those in power to turn those without against each other, and then stand back to watch the ensuing fight. In destroying ourselves there will be no one left to fight the corrupt and unfair system that penalises those who are disabled or vulnerable for mental, or physical, health reasons.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jan/19/abolish-work-and-pensions-department-demos-thinktank

Author Bio

Dr Tanvir Bush is a novelist, photographer and filmmaker. Born in London, she lived and worked in Lusaka, Zambia, where she set up the Willie Mwale Film Foundation, working with minority communities and people affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Her feature documentary ‘Choka ! – Get Lost! was nominated for the Pare Lorenz Award for social activism in film in 2001. She returned to UK to study and write her first novel, Witch Girl , which was published in 2015. She is an associate lecturer in creative writing at Bath Spa University. She is based in Wiltshire with her guide dog and research assistant, Grace.

Find more of Tanvir’s art, essays and thoughts in the link below-                                    https://tanvirbush.com/

Twitter @tanvirnaomi