It was a shanty, half fieldstone and half corrugated iron. ‘That belongs to Amos Shadlow,’ said McKittrick. ‘Let me tell you about Amos. Not long ago we were a British colony with all the trimmings, including a governor in a feathered cocked hat. We had colonial police to oppress us and the economy was stagnant. We thought we were hard done by. But Amos could make a living – not a good living, but a living. The only thing you British ever did for us was to educate some of us, and what good was that? What good was education on a stinking poor island like this? It just led to trouble and trouble we had in plenty, so the British walked away and we got our freedom.’

He threw his arms wide. ‘Freedom! We all thought we’d been given the promised land, but what did we actually get? We got Conyers.’

‘You got self-rule,’ I said. ‘The government you wanted.’

‘We got a government,’ said McKittrick. ‘But not the one we wanted. Unnoticed by anybody, that education the British gave us led to a prosperous middle class, and let me tell you, Mr Kemp, that rule by the prosperous middle class is ten times worse than colonial rule. Amos Shadlow over there isn’t oppressed any more, he’s just ignored. He’s an irrelevance to the fat cats in government. Conyers made a deal with Cardew Street and the money poured in, but none of it reaches Amos. His wages haven’t gone up in the last five years but the price of his food has risen by forty-four per cent. Housing costs are up fifty-four per cent, so when Amos wanted to repair his house he couldn’t afford it. He had to patch it up with corrugated iron.’

‘This is nothing new,’ I said unsympathetically. ‘Most politics boil down to economics.’

‘Right!’ said McKittrick. ‘And that’s why Joe Hawke is trying to stir up revolution, as you put it. So there is Amos Shadlow: his house is draughty and leaks, so he gets sick. His sickness hits him harder than it should because he isn’t getting enough of the right food. And I’m expected to cure him.’

‘When I saw you planting corn – the man you were with was Amos?’

McKittrick nodded. ‘I do what I can. Corn meal mush is not a good diet but it’s better than nothing. Meanwhile, Conyers has just bought himself a Mercedes 600, every member of the Cabinet runs a car at the public’s expense and they’re all directors of Cardew Street companies.’ He spat into the dust of the road. ‘This government is corrupt to the core.’

‘Salton seemed to have the answer,’ I said. ‘At least a better answer than Joe. Hawke’s a destroyer, McKittrick – that’s all he understands. He wants to pull down the government.’

‘Nothing wrong with that. Salton wanted it too.’