by Carl Andrew
This was coupled with holidays to enticing locations including Mauritius, Argentina, Indonesia and the Caribbean.
A turning point for this perfect family vista happened when her father passed away due to illness. Her mother was working a lot of the time and, true to form, Sarah rebelled in her early teens becoming a consistent challenge to her parent; and finally running away from home aged 15.
She moved from squat to squat and supported herself by working in part time jobs in order to buy food.
Recently she had lost touch with her mum who, after almost three years of trying to reconcile, finally gave up pursuing and left her to her own devices. Her mother felt that she would come back in her own time and trusted that her intellect would enable her to look after herself.
Soon after leaving home, Sarah became involved in animal rights activism starting by supporting a few high-brow PETA campaigns and then graduating to more underground ‘guerrilla’ type movements, which is what led her to ‘Unite’.
She saw this as a way to get at her mother who she blamed for the loss of her father.
In everyday life she cut a very normal figure. She wasn’t so much patchouli oil and Peruvian inspired clothing, more jeans and a ‘Ramones’ t-shirt. She was new wave as opposed to new age.
She spanned her fingers as if stretching out in preparation for exercise, reached for the keyboard and began typing.
Two words settled her future direction. “I’m in.”
The meet was at 9pm to plan and prepare for the evenings exertions. She still had to make her way to the meeting place, a small-holding just outside of Huntingdon, but fortunately one of her friends, familiar to the cause, was joining her and had arranged transport.
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Finsbury Park and 10 Downing Street, London
Gas fired central heating had beaten the freezing temperature into submission by the time Leon switched on the television and negotiated the numerous channels to find Parliament TV. The session featuring the Ministry of Justice report into the prison system was just about to start.
Taking a sip of lemon cordial, he stared at the screen transfixed for an hour listening to, what he thought to be, a rather damning report. At the end, he sat there taking in what he’d just heard, considering his next action.
He reached for his phone and started dialling, knowing that this would likely be a futile pursuit. What the hell, he thought, it was worth a shot. As the dial tone was replaced by a ring, he held his breath in anticipation.
“Hello, Prime Ministers’ office. How can I direct your call?” said the school Madame-esque voice.
“I’d like to speak with Prime Minister Lawson about the Ministry of Justice report into the prison system. My name’s Leon Bryant and I’m the editor of ‘The Day Today’,” responded Leon.
“All media enquiries have to go through the media office Mr Bryant. I’m happy to redirect you if you would like me to?”
“Yes, I’m aware of that but they’ve never actually managed to successfully arrange an interview for me with the Prime Minister or provided me with any information of any relevance so I didn’t see any point in calling them again,” stated Leon.
“If the Prime Minister is not available then I’d like to speak with Vanessa Lim please,” he continued.
This request caught the receptionist off guard. Not many people call on the main line for Vanessa Lim and the receptionist didn’t know the correct protocol for how to manage this situation.
A brief pause was broken by an uncertain reply: “I’ll… I’ll see if I can put you through to her assistant. Hold please.”
Leon waited on the line for the next obstacle he felt was going to be put in his path.
“Hello, Mr Bryant. How can I help?” said an authoritative voice.
“Hi, I’d like to speak with Vanessa Lim please and don’t try and fob me off with an excuse because I happen to write for a very influential blog about current affairs and I want to represent the Government’s perspective in my next post,” said Leon with authority, hating himself for using the self-importance line.
“I know you do Leon, can I call you Leon? This is Vanessa Lim speaking and I have no intention of fobbing you off. I read your blog and, while I can’t be quoted, I’m happy to hear your request and to see how we can help,” Vanessa responded with more gusto than Leon was prepared for.
“Miss Lim, err.. Vanessa… can I call… erm,” it was Leon’s turn to be caught off guard and he fumbled his way through his sentence.
“Seems like we’re old friends now Leon, happy for you to call me Vanessa. Now, what was your request?”
“Oh yes, of course. I’d like to get a quote from Prime Minister Lawson about his reaction to the Ministry of Justice report into the prison system. It made for compelling viewing but I would imagine it put a dent into your policies for curbing street violence,” Leon said having had a chance to collect himself.
“Ok. And when is your deadline?” Shit, he hadn’t actually considered that he might need to give them some time to come back with a response. He was planning to post now!
Leon looked at his watch. It was just gone 1pm. “Err, how about 2pm?” he said.
“I can’t promise an interview but I can try and send a written comment by email. Shall I use the normal email address [email protected] or would you prefer I send it to an alternative email?”
“No, that email address is fine. Thanks for your help Vanessa,” concluded Leon.
“I haven’t helped as yet Leon but I’ll see what I can do. I’ll include my contact details on the email whether it includes a comment or not so at least you can contact me directly if you have any future queries,” Vanessa commented before following up with “Good Bye.”
The phone went dead and Leon was inspired by what had just happened. Not only was he able to get through to Vanessa Lim, Chief Advisor to David Lawson, but she was very pleasant, read his blog and was providing her direct contact details to him along with a comment, potentially.
Like a nervous schoolchild Leon paced his apartment, checking his email for what felt like every thirty seconds.
Little did he know, but Vanessa Lim was also delighted with the phone conversation. She held ‘The Day Today’ in high regard and was eager to win Leon over as a supporter of the Lawson Government.
She started typing a response before sending it to David for review and approval. Not more than a minute after the email had left her outbox, the phone rang.
“Vanessa, David here. Just read the commentary you’d like to send from me. Are you sure you want to engage this Leon fellow? He seems a bit of a ‘loose cannon’,” said David.
“That’s all the more reason why we should try and get him onside, in my opinion. Besides, he runs what is currently the most popular political news source in Britain and he’s breaking stories before we’ve even announced them,” she replied.
“Ok, I appreciate your perspective and I’ll support it if you earnestly feel this is the right way to go. The commentary is fine, just a few minor amendments but it’s good to go. Email’s coming through now. Thanks Vanessa,” she heard the phone drop out and he was gone.
She waited for the email to appear in her inbox, reviewed the comment and then sent it off to ‘The Day Today’ email address.
Leon checked his email for what felt like the hundredth time in the space of an hour. Not expecting anything, he was quite taken aback to see an email from Vanessa Lim appear.
She’d been true to her word and provided a comment. Not just any comment but one that was giving him solid information.
He pulled up the blog post he’d prepared and slotted the comment in. After such a positive experience with the Lawson Government, he changed the tone of the piece to be more balanced than before:
Lawson Takes Action as Prison System Moves into Meltdown
The Ministry of Justice report into the prison system came with very few surprises today, paint
ing a bleak picture of a prison system in chaos off the back of the strong arm approach from the Lawson Government to curb anti-social behaviour.
Speaking with contacts from within correctional facilities up and down the country, the findings of the report were not unexpected with many experiencing, first-hand, the concerns raised.
What ‘The Day Today’ has heard is that the direct action by the police over the last few weeks has meant that prisons up and down the UK have welcomed more patrons than they can feasibly cope with.
This means that something needs to happen immediately to manage this situation before overcrowding in cells becomes a reality.
What has been very encouraging from the Lawson Government is that, after a slow start, this is a Prime Ministership that is prepared to take a stance and make decisions when faced with adversity.
We spoke with Number 10 today to find out how Prime Minister Lawson and his team were going to respond to this situation and the following is a word for word account of his comments:
“We’re fully aware of the challenges we’re facing and we’ve shown that we’re a Government not afraid to take action when it is required. We made promises to the people of this country during the election campaign that we would work with them to reclaim our town centres from the thugs and this is already happening.”
“We knew that there would be repercussions to the necessary short term policy we put in place. I’m actively working on a long term policy with my team to bring about a change to what has sadly become the normality of street violence over years of political disregard.”
“This long term policy will be positive for the prison and wider judicial system. We are finalising the detail and will be announcing the policy within the next couple of weeks.”
“What we are trying to achieve is a change in the way we’ve all had to live our lives as a result of anti-social behaviour. It was Machiavelli who said ‘There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.’ This echoes what this Government is going to have to deliver for the people of Britain.”
As always at ‘The Day Today’ we will be monitoring the performance of the Lawson Government and look forward to seeing a tangible policy by the end of November. We appreciate your feedback so please share your thoughts with us below or contact us at [email protected]
Leon published the blog post and replies were instantaneous. Interestingly he noted that the majority of comments were in favour of the work done to date by the Lawson Government. They were definitely gaining in popularity.
At 10 Downing Street, Vanessa read the blog and accompanying comments with a smile on her face.
“We’ve made inroads,” she said to herself.
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Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire
As day turned to evening and the frosty wind picked up, Sarah accepted the realisation that there was no turning back now. Finding her most appropriate warm and dark coloured clothing along with her woollen gloves, she got herself ready for action.
A knock on the door met her with surprise but she collected herself after a second or two, got up and made her way outside. As the VW Camper van made its way out of the town centre, she could feel herself laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. A VW Camper van, with flowers painted on it, just so obvious, she thought.
The van continued north as she studied the patchwork quilt of rolling fields blanketing the concrete vein taking them towards their destination.
Ten minutes later and she was entering a small barn at the bottom of a muddy field. About half a dozen ‘comrades’ were already in discussion as both she and Tilly joined them.
“Hi all, this is my friend Sarah, the one I was talking to you about,” Tilly said motioning over to her friend.
“Welcome,” said a thirty-something guy with a dirty blonde beard and dreadlocks. Sarah assumed he was the leader.
“My name’s Sebastian. You’re just in time, we were discussing the plans for tonight. I’ll recap where we’re at. We’ll leave here at about midnight and make our way to the target. It should take about 15 minutes from here.”
“Jack and Spencer will scout ahead of us to find the best and most secure route in to the facility,”
Sebastian pointed to two equivalents of him sitting opposite. “They’ll then signal us when they’re ready and we’ll follow as a group.”
“Now we know for sure that this facility is using animals in its research and the lead scientist there is someone we’ve wanted to engage for a while. Her name’s Dr Jennifer Hopwood,” Sarah audibly gasped when she heard the name.
“Everything ok Sarah?”
“Yep, I’m all good. I’ve… I’ve read about her that’s all. When you said the name it was just, like, you know, familiar,” responded Sarah.
“Right, yeah she’s been in the media a lot recently and we have it on good authority that animals have died as a result of her experiments,” continued Sebastian.
“We need to send a message to her and her team that this is not acceptable so what we’re going for tonight is maximum destruction. Now each of you will have a can of red paint so I want you to use it well.”
“We want this attack to be absolutely visible to garner mass media awareness. Are we clear? Also, has everyone brought their gloves with them? Use them before you pick up the paint. We don’t want any fingerprints.” He continued.
Sarah and Tilly joined in the nods of acceptance, Sarah almost a little too enthusiastically, aware that her earlier gasp may have made her look a little less committed than the rest of the group. She knew it was a pretty obvious she was trying to make up for that.
She felt in her pocket for her gloves and breathed a sigh of relief when she could feel they were there.
“Any animals you see will be freed; and those you don’t feel can survive on their own in the wild we’ll take with us. We need to be in and out within 15 minutes as this location is heavily patrolled.”
“We’ve done some reconnaissance work and found that this short time frame is the only way we can do this undetected,” his voice took on a more serious tone as he talked about the timings.
“Any questions,” none were forthcoming.
“Ok great. Sarah, Tilly, you can come with us. As there’s eight of us, we’ll be taking two cars only. We need to be able to get away quickly and quietly.”
“We’ve got about two hours before we go so help yourself to the lentil soup over there,” he said gesticulating to a small stove with a large pot on it bubbling away,
“…and come and speak to me if you’re unsure about anything. Particularly those unfamiliar with these sort of operations,” he cast a glance in Sarah’s direction as he finished the last sentence and she was greeted with the sudden realisation that she was the only newbie. Tilly had been on such a mission before.
The following two hours seemed to take almost double that and Sarah could feel her stomach tighten with each passing minute. She managed about three spoonful of what was actually a very pleasant lentil soup and found her breathing was becoming much more hurried.
Nerves were starting to take hold and she could feel the adrenalin making tracks through her veins. By the time Sebastian started moving in preparation, she was almost relieved.
“Ok. It’s time. Grab your things and your paint, we won’t be coming back here,” he said, with voracity in his voice now. He was in battle mode and eager to get started.
Sarah followed Tilly out of the barn with the rest of the group. She pulled her knitted cardigan closer around her body as she was greeted by the frosty cold air. They hurried into the awaiting cars and as the engine started, Sarah closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Recognising this, Tilly reached out and grabbed hold of her hand, offering comfort along with solidarity.
The ten minute journey seemed to fly by an
d before she knew it, the cars pulled up to a small loose stoned parking area adjacent to the research complex. There was no turning back now. She pulled her gloves back on, gathered her paint pot and was out of the back door in an instant.
The temperature wasn’t affecting her anymore. It was a similar feeling to being intoxicated with vodka, she felt warm and a little hazy.
As planned, Jack and Spencer went ahead. The rest of the group had the painful task of waiting and hoping. All the while, Sebastian studied his mobile phone. As time passed, it was obvious to Sarah that the rest of the group were becoming agitated.
She was just about to ask Tilly a question when she noticed the light shining from the display in Sebastian’s hand.
“Let’s move,” he said.
She followed Tilly at pace in the middle of the group watching as her feet nervously planted on what she hoped was solid ground with each passing step. After hurdling a fence, she took a moment to scan the area to take in the scene and almost bumped in to Tilly as she did so.
Bloody focus on what you’re doing, she thought to herself.
They headed for a building and, what she could make out was an open door about 100 feet in the distance. Mimicking the person in front, each group member hunched down to traverse the forecourt before reaching the entry point.
When they got in, Sebastian led them into a large open lobby area before holding his hand up, palm flat to signal to stop. The group huddled around to listen with intent:
“Right, this is where we split up, Tilly and Sarah you guys follow the corridor to the right, Jack take out the rooms to the left. The rest of us will go upstairs. Remember the direction you head off in so you can retrace your steps. We’ll meet back here at half past ok. Check your watches, its twenty past….. now,” he said pausing to allow his second hand to hit the minute mark and for everyone else to get their watches in sync.
