TOM EATON: With the fire brigade down the drain, the village will see less red
It can safely pretend to be a city, and hold a speech in a field of dreams
08 February 2021 - 17:38
Imagine a small village, entirely and hopelessly in the grip of an untouchable criminal cartel. Perhaps this village is a huddle of homes and rice paddies in medieval China, tormented by a local warlord, or a row of dusty shop fronts in the US Old West, their blinds drawn and doors locked as the local gang of outlaws walks, spurs jingling, down the deserted high street.
Perhaps it’s a crumbling little village in the south of Italy at the turn of the last century, its small bureaucracy and smaller economy entirely owned by the mafia, its back alleys haunted by ambitious young men with sharp, quick knives...
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