Problems, Problems

"Five voices," said Halvorsen. "That was her whole method. Not one 'community', five ways of being counted wrongly." She ticked them off. Class, which Bernie knew: the festival had taste for the cultured and a lane by the bins for everyone else. Age, which Albert knew: old people moved from the register of citizens to the register of cases, their testimony medicalised into 'confusion'. Gender, which Joss knew: women do the caring work and the council holds its consultations at six. Ethnicity, which Darek knew: the largest minority in Britain is "Other White" and nobody ever consults it, and a Gdansk engineer guards a wall for the minimum wage. Religion, which Mrs Sandhu knew: the council had invited one faith "representative" to speak for eleven congregations in four languages.

"She wasn't saying there are lots of cultures," said Halvorsen. "She was saying every one of them has an inside, and the council only ever reads the outside."