Plain and simple.” (p.3), who is “a hard drinker” (p.8) and “wouldn’t work for Republican News because it supports terrorism.” (p.9). However, despite of him being British, he is proud of having lived in Belfast, knowing the city like a palm of his hand and of speaking a good Belfast accent. Starkey, unfortunately for the situation he got into, is not exactly a man of action; he often turns out to be weak and mostly escapes dangerous situations only thanks to having good luck.
However, be honest, it is his weakness and fragility that makes of him such a likable character. And what particularly appears to be useful, in the spoiled situation like this, is definitely a sense of humour; and it seems Starkey has lots of it. The humour, and not to forget a good drink, helps him to react almost-consciously and not to lose his sanity. The reader should be prepared that during his ‘adventure’, Starkey is going to throw loads of offences that would curl one’s hair, but it is just his way the journalist copes with the situation.
For a foreign reader, one of the most interesting aspects of the book is likely to be the Northern Irish setting – a region with the “lowest crime figures in the UK unless you count all the killings” (p.46). Hence, the narrator also servers as a guide to everyday Northern Irish reality and to its “fun and games” (p.57), shall we put it like this. The reader finds Starkey commenting on political situation and on genuinely awful social problems with a witty sense of humour, giving various references and allusions also to the historical background. According to him, and at this very moment also according to the author Colin Bateman, Northern Ireland is a country which “if you’re a Loyalist you’ll call it Ulster, if you’re a Nationalist you call it the North of Ireland or the Six Counties, if you’re the British Government you call it the Province” (p.46). The most obvious connection with the war-torn reality of Northern Ireland seems to be the character of Mark Brinn, a candidate for the future prime minister. Brinn is the head of the Alliance Party, or to say “a compromise party” (p.50), which hopes to bring reconciliation to the country. The party believes in “power sharing, a largely autonomous state, freeport status” (p.88). Parker comments on it, finding this program “British but not British, Irish but not Irish. Independence with a safety harness. A Northern Irish Hong Kong.” (Ibid.). At the beginning of the narration Starkey smartly informs the reader about Brinn’s past, stating that Brinn is, politically and literally, “a salesman” (p. 49).