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A witty account of the world where Public Service collides with Political Aspiration.

Politics calls for men and women of experience – citizens of high repute and sound judgment. Vice-Chancellor Professor Clifford Conquest is a Labour politician in the making who has heard the call.

Conquest is invited to become an advisor on the future of university education to Labour MP Marcus Lancing. He soon begins to fear that those defending the bastions of Socialism are being driven to madness by Think Tanks, Specialist Advisors, Chief Future Officers, the Commentariat and the Battle of the Civilisations. The Tory Government, he has no doubt, already has.

On his way to a parliamentary seat, Conquest finds himself increasingly immersed in a world of political double-dealing beset by the industry of bad conscience. He skirts scandals aplenty, but he knows how to ride the zeitgeist, and surely his battle-hardened experience of universities, where revolting students, ideological strife and bungled management are everyday hazards, has fully prepared him for political life?

GJ Babb is the nom de plume of Nick de Ville, Emeritus Professor of Visual Arts, Goldsmiths. Although his main concern as an academic, artist and writer has always been with what the auction houses call ‘contemporary & modern art’, he has long had a ‘shadow’ career as an author.

GJ Babb is his mother’s maiden name. He writes under it in honour of her and, as it were, to bring her back to creative life, since it was undoubtedly from her side of his family that the impulse to write came. Conquest’s Conquests is his fifth GJ Babb novel.

He feels now is the right time to ‘break cover’ over his identity because with Conquest’s Conquests there is a distinct convergence of approach in his writing and art. His target in both is the stuffed shirts of authority – particularly men – whether of the Left or Right. His weapon is the barb of humour. His hope is to puncture the pomposity of political language which, as George Orwell notes, “is designed to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind”.

Nick de Ville has contributed articles and chapters to many publications. He has written the definitive work on record cover design: Album: Style & Image in Sleeve Design (Mitchell Beazley) and recently published Self-Portraits: Irony & Nostalgia in the Album Covers of Bob Dylan (A&M Books). As GJ Babb he has previously published Lara Bliss Loves Rose Madder, Nude, Not Naked, Of Art And Eros and The Big Fumble.

RELEASE DATE: 28/10/2024 ISBN: 9781836280170 Price: £8.99