The US president nukes the world: read Harold Pinter's newly discovered play

Antonia Fraser, the playwright’s wife, is always being asked what he would have made of Trump. Now we know – thanks to her discovery of a sketch about a gung-ho ‘Pres’ unleashing a nuclear attack

I did something I’ve never done before. I scribbled some notes on a page from one of Harold’s yellow legal pads because I was waiting for a taxi to go to Mass, and too lazy to go upstairs.
I took all the leftover pads when Harold died on Christmas Eve 2008, and for sentimental reasons kept them. Although up till now, I have never written anything on any of them. But about a month ago, I installed one in a writing case in the drawing room in theory for occasional use, but really out of tenderness for the past.
When I had written the note, I stripped off the yellow page. Then I nearly fainted. Beneath lay Harold’s unforgettable handwriting – although rather frail – and a title: “The Pres and the Officer”.

Six pages followed, his handwriting getting noticeably stronger. Now the unbelievability of it all increased. Because I could have been reading something written today, written by Harold about Trump. This was a morning when nuclear war, or something like it, appeared to be threatened by Trump on the 8am news.
Everything was pure Harold, including the cutting of the last line (still visible beneath the line).

“What would Harold have thought of Trump?” People are always asking me that question. Now we know. As it were.