The Haxton Review

There’s trouble at t’mill. Actually, there isn’t because all the mills in Coxthorpe have been closed for years. But there is trouble where the mills used to be. The Brits of Lantyrn Royd, a white enclave in Coxthorpe, have planned a revival of the ancient Rush Bearing procession which includes a festive crusader knight figure. Unfortunately, the surrounding Muslim community doesn’t find crusaders very festive, even if they are meant to be fun, and have objected vigorously to the council as well as planning more militant resistance to the proposed procession. In Coxthorpe, temporarily at least, diversity does not seem to be much of a strength.

Adam Monkton is restless, faithless, and lonely. He works long hours in a warehouse and his only real hobbies are phone sex with women he meets online and recreational mosque-counting. He visits Lantyrn Royd one afternoon, because he is bored, and becomes involved with the Rush Bearers. Adam aspires to be a citizen journalist, but citizen journalism is a dodgy business when communities clash and received narratives fray. He genuinely cares about the people of Lantyrn Royd and their longing to be at home in their shabby streets, it’s a shame that a braver and less compromised citizen journalist isn’t available.