Vol XI Day XI

Took part today as a reader at Iraq Out Loud - the Fringe Show which is reading aloud every volume of the Chilcot Inquiry into the invasion of Iraq word for word, 24/7.

This is day 11 and they have reached Volume XI. Over a thousand people have taken part, some booking in and others just turning up to fill the slots. They estimate they will finish at some point tomorrow morning.

I wasn't sure how I would feel and was surprised how powerfully moving it was. The report itself provokes fury and sadness, with such dissonance between the bureaucratic process being described and the realities of war. But I was most moved by sitting with other people, reading aloud, being part of something. It felt democratic. It felt important - to be sat in a shed in Potterow, as the rain hammered on the roof, the words uninterrupted as the report passed between us.