Call Bridgland Jolley

Call Bridgland Jolley follows the fortunes of Michael Grading, an English graduate who has illegally entered Schmutzburg, an exclusive enclave dedicated to European ideals. When Grading does not intend to leave, a committee is formed to discuss and give judgement on his case. He claims his innocence and mounts a vigorous self-defence, and soon sees his case as make-or-break for the elite of Schmutzburg, whose ethos is one of pampered, leisurely debate, and up to now has been upheld by the wealth of Europe. But latterly, custodians of that wealth and power, identifying in Schmutzburg a level of debate ever more remote from the issues of the day, are unwilling to go on supporting it. Schmutzburg is a think tank that has outgrown its purpose. Jeremy Gard, journalist for the European Tribune, reports on the case. Having access to inside information, he is able to show that the Grading case is not simply all in a day’s work, with the leaders of Schmutzburg only just beginning to understand how tenuous their position is. They have to face up to the prospect either of change or extinction. Gard knows this, and Grading comes to appreciate it too. If change is to come to Schmutzburg, are we likely to meet in it the underhand, the sinister, the usual political expediency, with Grading as casualty?