Activist exposes political institutions

THE year is 2007 and the Government reacts to what appears to be a coordinated threat to national security... the Secretary of State sets normal affairs of Government aside to hold two days of crisis talks with her advisers... the future king is consulted... dawn raids by dozens of armed police result in suspected terrorists being rounded up at gunpoint... enemy flags, instruction manuals and documents in a foreign language are taken as evidence... high-profile personalities are offered special protection and the press hint of a plot to blow up the QE2... tension abates only after the Government and judiciary conspire to intimidate the community into compliance... a Tom Clancy thriller... no... the events described above really happened... in Cornwall... but what is the truth behind the sensationalism and why did Government take such extreme measures against Cornish people...

This account is the tantalising preamble used by political activist and amateur historian John Angarrack to introduce his latest book, a follow-up to his highly provocative and informative previous volumes, Breaking The Chains and Our Future Is History.

Scat t'Larrups: Resist And Survive is, like his earlier forays into the darker areas of Cornish life, designed to make readers re-evaluate the so-called "facts" issued by those in power, question an education system which chooses to ignore key periods in Cornish history, and challenge a political system which treats the indigenous Cornish as second-class citizens.

It is up to the reader to make up his or her mind as to whether John Angarrack is correct in his warnings and fears – but regardless of anyone's ethnic or political affiliations, the author cannot be faulted on his tenacious approach to his subject and his diligence when it comes to recording the issues. He makes no apologies for using his own personal experiences for showing how he has "struggled to overcome wrongdoing" and expresses the hope that others will follow his lead in publishing their own accounts.

As with his other books, John Angarrack's motivation is to scratch away until he reveals the underbelly of the Cornish Establishment. Along the way he attacks the motives of a number of people closely involved in Cornish cultural life, and backs up these assertions by using a large section of appendices to reproduce copious letters and other supporting documents.

However, in contrast to Breaking The Chains and Our Future Is History, Scat t'Larrups is no easy read and assumes its audience possesses an already strong understanding of the issues which so consume and obsess the Bodmin author.

Consequently, each section of Scat t'Larrups is so dense with information that to tackle even one of the 15 chapters per day is a major undertaking. This third volume is, therefore, meant for prolonged study rather than instant gratification or education. And while presenting the information in this manner does not in any way detract from its achievement, I can't help wondering if the author had constructed his arguments in a more reader-friendly fashion there would be a greater number Cornish people willing to wade through it.

However, as John Angarrack himself says: "People have the right to know that the Government is reduced to maintaining control over Cornwall by propaganda and deception – and if that doesn't work, by intimidation and corruption.

"But there is another way. The Cornish can, if they so choose, resist oppression and survive as a viable entity into the future.

"I know from responses received from readers of my previous books that the content will excite and inflame passions. This is one of my purposes. For the hope is that these passions can be harnessed."

Scat t'Larrups: Resist And Survive by John Angarrack is published by the Independent Academic Press at £20.