Bombs And Biscuits

Reporting of the Iraq war hit an all-time low on Saturday when the story of more than 30 people being killed by a car bomb took second billing to news that Prince William had split up with his girlfriend.  And this was on the BBC for fuck's sake.  How bored have we become with the horrors in the Gulf that news editors chose to lead with a couple of rich 20-somethings moving on to shag other people?

It just so happened that as the earth-shattering news that Wills is single again was hitting the wires I was finishing a wonderful book called High Tea In Mosul by Lynne O'Donnell.  I was only reading it as I am doing some consultancy for the publisher, Cyan, and I must admit I didn't think it was going to be my cup of tea (pun not originally intended, but realised and persevered with), but how wrong I was.

O'Donnell is an Australian journalist who has spent a fair bit of time in Iraq, covering the conflict for the Irish Times and the South China Morning Post.  In 2003, when talking to the head of a hospital in Mosul she was invited to meet his wife.  She readily accepted in the hope that it would give her a different angle on the story.  Little did she know quite how different.  The 'wife' turned out to be an Englishwoman called Pauline, who in turn introduced O'Donnell to a fellow Brit, Margaret, also married to an Iraqi.

High Tea In Mosul tells the fascinating story of these two women.  How they met their husbands in the UK in the late 70s and ended up living in Mosul where they stayed through three wars (Iran/Iraq and two Gulfs) and raised families.  It begins with much of the culture clash stuff you would expect but actually Pauline and Margaret settle in very quickly and it is their day to day domestic lives which prove fascinating for the early portion of the book.

The charm of the early love story soon changes when the Gulf wars impact on their lives and you get a first-hand account of the deprivation suffered by normal people in Iraq.  It is hard hitting stuff and is hard to read in places.  The really shocking content is when both women talk about life in Mosul in 2006, very recent events.  People scared to leave their houses in case they were kidnapped by fellow Iraqis, ransom demands becoming the currency of the streets.  Staggering stuff.

But despite the content, this is actually a pleasure to read.  I felt I was being educated by these brave, yet ordinary women and view the Iraq war in a whole new light.  It brought it all home so clearly.

High Tea In Mosul deserves to be as widely read as The Bookseller Of Kabul or Reading Lolita In Tehran, and certainly if you enjoyed those books you will love this, but I fear that the dodgy cover won't help the hardback edition and the Gulf fatigue that propels William and whatsername to the top of the headlines will turn people off.  That would be a real shame.

Comments

[Ken Donald]

'How bored have we become with the horrors in the Gulf that news editors chose to lead with a couple of rich 20-somethings moving on to shag other people?' Good point well made. Am I the only person in Britain who hadn't heard of of Kate Middleton before last week? Of course, I hadn't heard of the individuals who have lost their lives in the Hell of Iraq either but I certainly know who is more worthy of my interest.

[Scott Pack]

My 'favourite' part of the news coverage was when BBC Radio Five Live (going rapidly downhill in my books) reported, as part of its lead news piece later in the day, that 90% of their listeners thought the story was being given too much prominence.

So, if 90% of your listeners surveyed said you were giving too much time to the story and yet you still lead with it then it tells us two things:

1. You don't care what your listeners think.

and

2. You give no credence to your own surveys.

Arse!