The ghost of George Orwell has appeared at publishing company Random House to ask that they withdraw his highly acclaimed novel ‘1984’. Mr Orwell’s ghost said in a statement: “My original vision of the future is nowhere close to the complete fucking mess I see around me today and as a consequence my novel can no longer really be described as dystopian. My prediction was wildly off; if anything the novel now seems mildly uplifting. I mean Winston Smith isn’t trying to make ends meet in the gig economy, everyone has affordable housing and the population of Oceania aren’t spending the entire day staring dumbly at their portable electronic devices. However, I definitely got the Big Brother bit right.”

A spokesman from Random House said that it was highly unusual to receive requests from beyond the grave but they would certainly consider it. When Mr. Orwell was asked by the publisher whether he would like to “monetise his materialisation by doing a reading tour of North America for a seven figure sum” the author pointed a quivering, bony finger in the direction of the publisher and roared: “See! See! This is exactly my fucking point.“