IT'S hardly news that Pratchett's Discworld is currently one of the best satirical mirrors available for our own absurd planet - but his latest book still arrives with remarkably topical timing, concerning as it does major wobbles in the financial system brought about by unscrupulous and idiotic banking practices.
Having sorted out the postal system in Going Postal, reformed' conman Moist von Lipwig is now tasked with salvaging the Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork and its associated Mint. He hasn't a clue what he's doing, of course - but then, "people who understand banks got it into the position it is in now". Nor is he officially in charge, because the chairman, having inherited 51 per cent of the shares, is a dog called Mr Fusspot, who brings out the most hilarious, Wodehousian flourishes of Pratchett's prose.
Most writing on the economy is either opaque or depressing; only Pratchett and PJ O'Rourke seem able to make it funny.
No small achievement.
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