I quite routinely "have fun" with time when writing, but then again I know what I'm doing and I'm doing it deliberately. Too, speculative fiction is frequently written in the present, even though it's quite apparent that it's actually set in a very different time (usually the future, but sometimes in the past). Also, screenplays are usually written in present tense because using past tense would not make much sense on-screen with the exception of a narration.
That sounds like the classic "Set the scene" tone taken in film or fiction. Is it wrong? That depends on whether it was intentional; if it was a deliberate act, then it's likely OK because it was done with intent, else it's an error and somebody needs to go back to school.[...] "It is the year of Queen Victoria's coronation and the Prime Minister is preparing for the event."
For the most part, I tend to let little gaffes like that go; what drives me up walls is people who insist on using the wrong word repeatedly -- e.g. "loose" when they mean "lose". The problem is that that gaffe passes the spell checquer.