Girling (Rubbish!
) plunges with occasional squeamishness and a boatful of biting wit into the sorry state of Britain's seas and shores. Beginning with a short history and mythology of human/sea relations, he homes in on local matters, from the decline of once famous seaside resorts like Brighton, Blackpool and the Isle of Wight to sewage pollution in the English Channel. Readers will relish these tales of failing fisheries and stubborn, salty fishermen and will be interested, if depressed, to discover the unsustainable way Scottish salmon are farmed factory-style by Norwegian megacorporations, as well as the all-too-familiar sluggish responses of the British government. Graphic descriptions of infestations of “Russian doll” parasites and sea lice enliven the occasionally dense narrative. Girling's fascination with and intricate coverage of the minutiae of British politics—from efforts to save seaside towns from falling into the sea to connecting ports with the public system of roads and rails—is as local as a smalltown newspaper, however, and is likely to cause eyes on this side of the Atlantic to glaze over. (Aug.)
