by Carl Andrew
“We should have a good picture of that following the Ministry of Justice Report due out tomorrow.”
“And what are we expecting to see from the report?”
“Not sure David, they’re not playing ball and won’t release the report ahead of publication” chimed in Vanessa.
“My sources are none the wiser, some feel it could show that the prison system is struggling under the pressure. Others feel the flip-side could be the case, in that we’re shifting one problem to another place causing overload in our prisons which could ultimately fall over under the pressure. Essentially, we could have another challenge on our hands.”
“As much as they can, the police are issuing non-custodial punishments such as ASBO’s and Night Time Curfew Orders. To date these are being enforced but it all depends on whether this can be sustained by the police,” she concluded.
“Right Ok let me deal with the Ministry of Justice team to see if we can get an early reading. So, you’re regularly meeting with Police Commissioner Dawson to find out how the force is coping, Russell?” David said more in expectation than anything else.
“At present things are ok. The odd minor rumbling of discontent but that’s the public sector for you. The key thing is how long the force can maintain this approach. The Commissioner believes we can make it until Christmas but I’m not 100% on that,” Russell replied.
“Well, with the economy still slowing down putting pressure on public spending, we don’t have much choice other than to rely on what we currently have. Monitor the situation for me Russell and let me know if things change. What have you got for me on the longer term strategy Vanessa?” David turned his gaze from the Home Secretary to his Chief Advisor as he finalised his query.
“We’re looking at science as a possible solution David. Russell and I are discussing this in greater detail today,” she responded.
“Interesting, I look forward to hearing more on that. My thoughts are that we need to have a solution in place by end of November at the latest. This will be ahead of what we promised and should go some way to instilling a little more confidence out there in voter-land,” said David.
“Thanks for the update and keep up the good work team,” he concluded.
Vanessa and Russell acknowledged David’s final comment with a nod of the head almost in unison and made their way out of his office.
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Cabinet Offices, London
Vanessa pooled her research on the work Jennifer Hopwood was doing into a PowerPoint presentation. She had been intrigued by the gifted forty-something scientists’ work for some time and saw a real opportunity in utilising her to identify a solution to the anti-social behaviour issue.
She wanted to present this potential solution to Russell as the main part of the long term strategy.
She’d been mulling over how to manage the challenge of anti-social behaviour and was still of the strong belief that it was the ‘behaviour’ part that needed addressing more than anything.
From her research, she’d found out that Jennifer had studied her doctorate at Cambridge University and performed her fieldwork out of the Serengeti, Kenya as well as the Galapagos Islands. This was more to focus on her research into animal behaviour.
That work had then branched out from the natural world into understanding human behaviour, where she had been situated in Lagos, Nigeria observing the political and religious unrest spreading throughout the country.
She also spent time in Cairo, during the Egyptian uprising, to increase her knowledge of conflict and resolution.
Dr Hopwood specialised in the field of behavioural biology, identifying how organisms react to one another as well as how and why animals make decisions. While not a new field in itself, the way she conducted her research was both innovative and controversial.
Her method was to position ‘test’ animals into all manner of situations both with their own species and with other species. All the while she would measure and study their brainwaves to see their natural reactions to the different interactions and challenges they faced.
To date, she had built the largest collection of knowledge about what triggered different characteristics and behaviours in all types of species from farm animals to domestic pets, from reptiles to birds and beyond.
This led to her trying to manage an animal’s behaviour in the scenario situations she staged. She used the triggers she knew would cause a different reaction in the animal.
She’d often present the information she collected through the process of data visualisation to make it more appealing to a mainstream audience while also softening the reality of her work to try and make it perceived as more acceptable by the public.
This was science of the future with both very concerning and exceptionally exciting opportunities.
It did mean that on occasion an animal would be injured or killed because of the situation she placed it in, primarily by the other animal species in the scenario.
While it was not uncommon for animals to kill each other in the wild, it was deemed unsavoury by the public when occurring in laboratory conditions.
Essentially, to the lay person, Jennifer’s work would have looked like a study into controlling the decision making powers of living organisms to evoke an alternate and planned response. This had been popularised by the non-believing media pack as ‘mind control’.
The reality was that it was simply a way of recording why animals make decisions, what the trigger points were to arriving at that decision and what the implications were of those decisions.
Harnessed correctly, it could be used to understand and manage the situation where some animals such as Elephant Cows disown their offspring and try to harm or kill them.
The common perception is that these Elephants feel their young to be tarnished or tainted in some way so would not survive in the wild. Jennifer didn’t deal in perception, however, only reality and she wanted to be able to prove the theories conclusively.
She had quickly become the pre-eminent expert on animal behaviour in Britain and Vanessa saw an opportunity to try and channel this knowledge into understanding the behaviour of human beings and, in particular, violent thugs.
She was a big believer in how, from understanding a problem, you can move on to solving a problem.
A major concern Vanessa had for engaging Jennifer was the controversy that surrounded the brilliant scientist. She had been targeted by the animal liberation activists on numerous occasions who saw her work as unjust and cruel to animals.
The media had also derided her as being a wacky scientist living in a dream world with her ‘brainwashing’ antics.
Vanessa knew that associating Jennifer with the Lawson Government would not only be a difficult sell internally, it would also require a planned and considered PR approach externally to change perceptions.
Another consideration was that Jennifer may not wish to work with the Home Office. Scientists often liked to remain independent from politics, something they see as a necessary evil at best, an unnecessary distraction at worst.
Vanessa’s plan here was to base the approach to working together on funding. She knew from her investigations that Jennifer’s work was on the fringes of acceptability so obtaining grants was difficult for her.
She also knew that her latest grant fund was coming to an end and she had been knocked back from a number of other providers.
Her research and, subsequently, her life’s work were in danger of becoming unviable. Vanessa was in a position to provide a welcome opportunity to help manage this.
“Maggie, can you get me Dr Jennifer Hopwood on the phone please, she’s based out of the Pendleton Research Facility in Huntingdon,” she said to her assistant as she filled a glass of water and readied it for emptying.
“Sure thing, I’m dialling through now. Would you like me to stay on the line and record notes?” she responded.
“Not necessary for this call th
anks Maggie.”
The audible click confirmed to Vanessa that her message had been understood. The phone rang and Vanessa was left building an unrequited relationship with a ring tone for what seemed like ages but in reality was a few seconds.
Scientists were never ones for communication and prior experience had shown her that they traditionally took a long time to answer phones, so Vanessa had to illicit as much patience as she could muster.
Eventually, a gentle but confident voice broke the silence.
“Hopwood here. Who’s this?”
“Dr Hopwood, how are you? My name’s Vanessa Lim, I’m…..”
Before she could finish, Jennifer stated: “I know who you are Vanessa. What I don’t know is why you’re distracting me from my work.”
Feisty, thought Vanessa. I like that.
“Jennifer, can I call you Jennifer,” enquired Vanessa without waiting for a response. “I apologise for disturbing you but I need to speak to you on a matter of national importance. I’d like to arrange a time to meet with you and discuss how we could potentially work together,” Vanessa replied.
“Thanks for the offer but I don’t play in the political space so working with you or any other Government team is of no interest to me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my research,” said Jennifer with authority.
True to form, Vanessa was prepared for this type of response and had planned the call out in great detail.
“I understand Jennifer. Perhaps I’ll call back in three months’ time when your funding runs out. Perhaps there’ll be no funding to follow that up as I’m aware you’re running out of options.”
“It would be a shame for your work to have to finish due to a lack of interest and support. Maybe in that time I’ll have found an alternative option to work with…. Who knows?” said Vanessa, confidently.
“How the hell do you know about my funding? Who do you think you are prying into my life? I’ll… I’ll…” Jennifer was becoming decidedly agitated.
She echoed some other scientists in having an inability to deal with conflict situations. It came from working largely in isolation with minimal social contact.
“You’ll do nothing Jennifer,” Vanessa interjected before Jennifer could find the words.
“However, if you agree to meet with the Home Secretary and I, we can discuss what options may exist for continuing to fund your work in exchange for your support to help resolve our own particular challenge.”
“Shall we say Tuesday at 10am Jennifer? I think its best we come to you,” Vanessa concluded confident in the knowledge that Jennifer had no other choice.
There was a pause while Jennifer weighed up her options but there really was just one available.
“Ok, Ok… I suppose one meeting can’t hurt, Tuesday at 10am. You know where I’m based? What am I saying, of course you do, you probably even know what I had for dinner last Friday,” Jennifer answered her own question when she realised how largely redundant it was.
“Great. See you next week and thanks for making the time Jennifer. I’m sure we’ll be able to work very well together,” stated Vanessa, signing off the conversation with such authority that it was apparent to both parties who was in control of the situation.
Later that day, Vanessa met with Russell Brooks to present the research she’d gathered on Dr Jennifer Hopwood. She gained his trust and agreement to explore the option of using science to manage the issue of violent behaviour.
Part one of her plan was almost complete and the long term strategy was starting to come together.
She knew that there was still a long way to go from here but at least they had moved forward and she was excited about the possibilities that working with Jennifer could present.
Chapter 7:
Mid-November, Houses of Parliament, London
Russell sat by David’s side in anticipation of the Ministry of Justice report into the prison system. As promised, David had negotiated a first reading to the Cabinet before the report was openly disclosed to the house. He wanted to ensure he was prepared to deal with any potential fallout.
The reading of the report took just under an hour. Both David and Russell listened with anticipation at first, followed by an unnerving sense of concern as an array of senior civil servants recited numbers, data points, Governor responses and other collected information to paint a none too pretty picture of the current state of the prison system.
In summary, the increase in police activity had, as expected, led to an overburdening of facilities up and down the country, particularly around metro areas. The prison population in the majority of cases had reached ‘the very extremity of acceptability’ according to the regulatory safety measure.
To alleviate the strain on the system, the solutions presented by the report were twofold. In the first instance, parole would need to be considered for the least heinous of crimes such as petty theft, traffic offences, minor fraud etc.
Secondarily, the police were to be advised that non-custodial sentences would need to be the first option for dealing with crime. These would include the very well-used ASBO as well as the recently devised Night Time Curfew Order.
Both raised concerns in David’s mind. Not only would this mean more criminals on the street, regardless of the criminal act they may have committed, it also meant that the tough stance on street violence would be slightly softened because of the more relaxed punishments handed out.
As they left the meeting room, David turned to Russell and asked: “When’s your meeting with this scientist person? Considering what we’ve just heard, we may need to expedite the long term strategy.”
“We’re meeting tomorrow up in Huntingdon. I’ll ensure Vanessa and I start working on drafting a strategy document straight after. I’m keen to see what this Dr Hopwood has to say and I’m still not clear on how she can help us,” Russell replied.
“Ok, well regardless, I need a briefing document to prepare myself over the next few days to be able to manage the obvious questions that will come up. Oh and monitor the media too, I want to be kept informed on their response to the Ministry of Justice Report. It’s sure to spread like wildfire this afternoon when it’s released,” David continued.
“Sure thing David, we’ll get right to it.”
David headed off to attend a meeting with the Indian Foreign Minister and Russell shuffled off in the direction of Vanessa’s office to debrief Vanessa on the report reading.
With military decorum, he stopped outside Vanessa’s door and gave a firm, proud knock before entering.
“It was bad wasn’t it,” said Vanessa, she already knew the answer from reading Russell’s expression.
“It was as expected Vanessa,” responded Russell before summarising the report for her benefit.
They spent the next couple of hours preparing the briefing document for David and then running through some mock interview scenarios to ensure he was prepared to deal with the media interest he was bound to face.
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Finsbury Park, London
Leon woke up to a freezing welcome. Winter was definitely setting in and he marvelled at how poorly designed his apartment was.
Why would they have the coldest room in the house as the bedroom? He mused.
He pulled the covers further up which only resulted in exposing his toes to the Everest like temperature that enveloped him. There was nothing else for it. He had to get up.
The central heating had become a closer friend to him over the last few weeks and he made his way to the thermostat to breathe some warmth into the apartment.
Next stop was the kitchen to make a hot cup of coffee. He sipped on the warm and vibrant liquid hoping it would make him feel human again. For some reason, the previous night hadn’t offered a particularly restful sleep.
He already knew the day would be a big one. The Ministry of Justice report was due out and the side effects caused by the Lawson short term policy
would be known very soon. From the Government’s perspective, he suspected the report wouldn’t make for good reading.
Leon had been busy the previous few days phoning around and meeting up with any contact he had in the judicial and correctional arenas to try and grasp a few opinions on what was really happening.
He already had an inkling of what the report would state and had pretty much drafted his blog post in anticipation.
Spreading some butter on some very well heated toast, he prepared himself for a day that would be largely spent engaging his laptop.
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Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire
Sarah stared at the flashing icon on her screen. She was in the messaging function of ‘Unite’ the activist version of Facebook that had recently surfaced and had dramatically grown in popularity.
It connected the more extreme supporters of different causes with one another to try and generate a coherent and cooperative approach to activism. In essence, it had provided a solution to considerable demand.
This was an example of the modernisation of social politics. The message she was debating a response to read:
“So, tonight we hit it… agreed?”
Depending on how she reciprocated would be the difference between engaging fully in the criminal element of activism or remaining as a passive contributor, switching from understudy to protagonist.
She was on the precipice and had to decide if she was willing to cross the line.
Sarah Jenkins was what some would consider a stereotypical activist. She was 19, born and raised in Northamptonshire to a solid family structure as an only child. At school she excelled across most subjects and was afforded every opportunity in life.
She was party to years of perfect family occasions encompassing idyllic Christmas gatherings at the family homestead with snow falling outside, a roaring fire providing warmth in the lounge and a sumptuous roast dinner cooking away in the Aga.
