When he turned 80, the late Arthur C Clarke said that one of his remaining ambitions was to observe the first meeting of alien intelligence and human beings. We must assume he died without realising that ambition, but as the literary master of such imagined meetings, and someone for whom science fiction was always a vehicle through which human potential could be explored, I'm sure he would have enjoyed John Stewart's recently published novel, Visitors.
In some ways Visitors is a very conventional novel - a linear narrative, carefully-crafted characters, and a compelling plot. Then again, as a novel about economics, it is deeply unconventional. Adding in the central plot device - alien visitors who pick on Britain to make first contact - it's difficult to know where to look for comparisons: Graham Greene, for its exquisite prose, or Clarke himself, for its deftly imagined other-world politics, and alien beings as thinly-disguised representations of what humankind might one day aspire to?
In Standing For Justice, his account of the life of Andrew MacLaren (required for reading for anyone interested in the politics of the interwar years) Stewart traced the political debate that raged from Lloyd George's attempt to introduce a tax on land values in the 1909 "people's budget" until Labour chancellor Philip Snowden's abortive efforts to do the same in 1931. After a century in which that idea, and the economic arguments underlying it, have been marginalised by mainstream economics and largely ignored by politicians, Stewart has returned to the subject in this rather remarkable novel.
If at times his use of language betrays his belonging to the same generation as Greene and Clarke, Visitors is a determinedly 21st-century novel, dealing directly with the current crisis in politics and economics with an appealing mix of realism and optimism.
Set in the near future, a new government of indeterminate party, led by a prime minister of considerable wisdom and other atypical qualities, is struggling with intractable problems of political disengagement, growing inequality, climate change and terrorism. The appearance of alien visitors from a civilisation that has cracked the secret of harmonious living provides the enlightened PM with an opportunity to escape the shackles of convention and make the case for a new economy, one founded on values of justice and equity.
Central to the story is a straightforward piece of economics. The material basis for the aliens' advanced civilisation is a long-standing recognition that the location value resulting from economic activity should be collected for the benefit of the community which created it, rather than accumulating in private hands, as is currently the case in all earth-bound societies. It's an old argument which strikes at the heart of minority wealth and privilege, but one which, especially during times of economic crisis, refuses to lie down and die.
The PM and key influencers from various spheres are quickly persuaded of the scheme's merit. The president of the United States is also on board. A learned man, he knows the idea has lain largely unexplored by politicians since the death of the American economist Henry George, a century earlier. But there are plenty who refuse to see the light; the power of vested interest weighs heavily. Chief among these is the chancellor of the exchequer, "a monument to fossilised ability", as the PM describes him.
At a series of debates to which the great and the good are invited, the means by which the economy might be transformed are discussed. It is hard to imagine a clearer exposition of what is a difficult subject for the uninitiated. The dialogue is sharp, witty and spare, and the message wrapped in a gripping story: the SAS repel repeated terrorist attacks on the aliens. There's a kidnapping, attempted suicide bombings, love interest and a most inspiring hero, in the shape of the junior minister given charge of the visitors.
There is also a strong spiritual basis to the aliens' civilisational success. The need for a reflective, meditative approach to life is gently emphasised throughout. Doubtless some will resist Stewart's exploration of the role of metaphysics in building a better world, but he leaves the reader in no doubt that progressive social change is impossible without some kind of spiritual commitment.
His grasp of the subject matter betrays a deep understanding of the political world. The machinations of Whitehall, Westminster and a self-serving media, furious at not being in control of the story, are all on display, but he restores to politics a much needed human dimension.
Visitors is a remarkably easy read for a book of such wisdom, and refreshingly relevant in a literary world in which so few novelists are any longer prepared to take on the big social issues of the day.
As Einstein observed, "The world cannot get out of its current state of crisis with the same thinking that got it there in the first place". John Stewart, his alien visitors and the people whose lives they touch, know this all too well. Rarely can such a profound message have been delivered in so stimulating and entertaining a fashion.