Incompetence - Rob Grant

No matter what your political views on the question of Europe one thing is certain, after reading this novel by Rob Grant you would be firmly in the “no” camp, in fact you would be so far to the right of the “no” camp you would be in danger of being in the “no no” camp and we all know that two negatives make a positive. The only exception to this rule would be if you were the sort of person who was totally useless at their job, the sort of person who would bring a whole new meaning to the word inept, someone who is in fact incompetent at their job. Then you would definitely be in the “yes” camp, you would relish the fact that your job with Network Rail was safe and you ...  Read the complete review

I decided at the start of this year that it was time for my reading habits to change slightly. Looking at my book case there are quite a few books but there are really only 4 authors. So whilst on a trip to Waterstones I came across a new book by Rob Grant. I was only really familiar with him from his work on Red Dwarf, but something about Incompetence really appealed to me. The book is set in the future, where Europe has united to become one large State. The only problem is everyone is incompetent. No one is any good at their jobs, no one except Det Harry Salt that is. He works for ...  Read the complete review

"Article 13199 of the Pan-European Constitution: 'No person shall be prejudiced from employment in any capacity, t any level, by reason of age, race, creed or incompetence'" It's the near future and Europe is united. Cardew Vascular is on his way to a meeting in Rome, arranged by a man called Dick Klingferm. From the very start, the real world consequences of Article 13199 are very apparent. It seems that nothing is ever done correctly and that incompetence is, well, acceptable. By the end of the first page, Vascular's plane has crash landed due to the pilot forgetting or being unable to lower the undercarriage, the plane has ...  Read the complete review

I became aware of Rob Grant after reading a DooYoo review of his book 'Fat' - it sounded right up my street, so I got it from BookMooch and thought it was absolutely hilarious. The other week I noticed that there was a copy of another of his books "Incompetence" available, so I mooched that too! Published in 2003, this is Rob Grant's third novel. ---Rob Grant--- Rob Grant was born in Salford, and is most famous for co-creating, writing and producing (with Doug Naylor) Red Dwarf. His other books are 'Backwards' (a Red Dwarf book), 'Colony', and most recently, 'Fat'. You can find a bit more about him here - ...  Read the complete review

About the author: Rob Grant is best known as co-creator of the cult show Red Dwarf, as well as writing various other comedy shows. Incompetence is his second novel. The Premise: At some point in the not to distant future in the United States of Europe, the following article is passed: "Article 13199 of the Pan European Constitution: 'No Person shall be prejudiced from employment in any capacity, at any level, by reason of age, race, creed or incompitence" (sic) Thus it is not possible to sack someone for not being any good at their job anymore. Detective Harry Salt (to give just one of his alias) is ...  Read the complete review