population.
Start’s army had quashed major uprisings in East Anglia, the closest unrest to London. But Cornwall was totally uncontrolled; the NSO could not even venture into the county and Devon was the theatre for a vicious guerrilla war. Wales was becoming less and less contained. The Welsh were being armed by the Irish, and the Welsh counter-revolutionaries were getting stronger and more organised by the day. All this trouble was manageable compared to Northern England.
The proximity of Scotland- an aggressive opponent of England and the regime with absolutely no diplomatic relations - was the greatest threat to his ideology and his leadership.
Scotland, a wealthy country, heavily militarised after devolution had chosen partnership with its Scandinavian neighbours and the Irish, rather than its historical master England. The Scandinavian Arc, as it had become known, was a group of capitalist countries thriving in an increasingly socialist world. It was history which made Baines most nervous. If ever a dog was having its day, it was Scotland, and he had read the history books.
Now his poor little country sat at the feet of the Scandinavian Arc geographically and economically and he knew that Scotland could roll into England at any time - he was losing sleep over this fact. He had assurances from the Brazilians, the Argentineans and the Chinese that this would not happen. In lighter moments, he joked that England had become South America's Falklands and he hoped they would protect their interest like the British had fought for theirs all those years ago.
However, he needed to be upbeat. This meeting did not solely concern the regime’s issues; there were a lot of successes within the infrastructure of the country - Baines’ domain.
As his government ministers filtered into the room Baines was engrossed in an article buried deep within a more centre-standing paper. It was by a young journalist called Rory Jones and it was reporting on the redistribution of land in Northumberland. Apparently, government forces had burned a farm to the ground killing three locals and three of their own in the ensuing explosion. The story carried on to describe retribution by a relative and the murder of two government paramilitaries.
His mood darkened, but he tried to hide his frustration. Lucas Start was far more capable than he in leading the regime through these areas of friction. He had the ability tactically, militarily and he enjoyed the power. Baines did not necessarily thrive on such things, and he was all too aware that he had to keep Start under control. He had in no way sanctioned the burning of English farms and murder for non-cooperation.
Baines raised his hand to his gathered colleagues. The jocular hum waned, and he began to talk gently and with humility. He congratulated them all on twenty years of work coming together in such a peaceful and popular way. Such a change in society being met by the general population with such positivity was nothing short of incredible. This was his general message. He moved on quickly with aplomb through each governmental department, where the reports suggested they were in terms of his plan and what the next step should be. He was completely up to speed, totally in control. There was, however, only one conversation he really wanted to have, and he moved as quickly to it as was possible. He turned to Lucas Start.
“We are reporting that seventy-seven percent of the population is accounted for at this point; how does this break down Lucas? Who are we missing?”
Lucas had his head down in some papers, but his piggy eyes flicked upwards under a sweaty brow.
“Well, we are moving around the country systematically. We estimate that of that twenty-three percent unaccounted for around fourteen percent will be in the cities and six in the countryside with the remainder over the border in Scotland or abroad. I think we’ll get the rest tagged before two weeks - they can’t hide
Start’s army had quashed major uprisings in East Anglia, the closest unrest to London. But Cornwall was totally uncontrolled; the NSO could not even venture into the county and Devon was the theatre for a vicious guerrilla war. Wales was becoming less and less contained. The Welsh were being armed by the Irish, and the Welsh counter-revolutionaries were getting stronger and more organised by the day. All this trouble was manageable compared to Northern England.
The proximity of Scotland- an aggressive opponent of England and the regime with absolutely no diplomatic relations - was the greatest threat to his ideology and his leadership.
Scotland, a wealthy country, heavily militarised after devolution had chosen partnership with its Scandinavian neighbours and the Irish, rather than its historical master England. The Scandinavian Arc, as it had become known, was a group of capitalist countries thriving in an increasingly socialist world. It was history which made Baines most nervous. If ever a dog was having its day, it was Scotland, and he had read the history books.
Now his poor little country sat at the feet of the Scandinavian Arc geographically and economically and he knew that Scotland could roll into England at any time - he was losing sleep over this fact. He had assurances from the Brazilians, the Argentineans and the Chinese that this would not happen. In lighter moments, he joked that England had become South America's Falklands and he hoped they would protect their interest like the British had fought for theirs all those years ago.
However, he needed to be upbeat. This meeting did not solely concern the regime’s issues; there were a lot of successes within the infrastructure of the country - Baines’ domain.
As his government ministers filtered into the room Baines was engrossed in an article buried deep within a more centre-standing paper. It was by a young journalist called Rory Jones and it was reporting on the redistribution of land in Northumberland. Apparently, government forces had burned a farm to the ground killing three locals and three of their own in the ensuing explosion. The story carried on to describe retribution by a relative and the murder of two government paramilitaries.
His mood darkened, but he tried to hide his frustration. Lucas Start was far more capable than he in leading the regime through these areas of friction. He had the ability tactically, militarily and he enjoyed the power. Baines did not necessarily thrive on such things, and he was all too aware that he had to keep Start under control. He had in no way sanctioned the burning of English farms and murder for non-cooperation.
Baines raised his hand to his gathered colleagues. The jocular hum waned, and he began to talk gently and with humility. He congratulated them all on twenty years of work coming together in such a peaceful and popular way. Such a change in society being met by the general population with such positivity was nothing short of incredible. This was his general message. He moved on quickly with aplomb through each governmental department, where the reports suggested they were in terms of his plan and what the next step should be. He was completely up to speed, totally in control. There was, however, only one conversation he really wanted to have, and he moved as quickly to it as was possible. He turned to Lucas Start.
“We are reporting that seventy-seven percent of the population is accounted for at this point; how does this break down Lucas? Who are we missing?”
Lucas had his head down in some papers, but his piggy eyes flicked upwards under a sweaty brow.
“Well, we are moving around the country systematically. We estimate that of that twenty-three percent unaccounted for around fourteen percent will be in the cities and six in the countryside with the remainder over the border in Scotland or abroad. I think we’ll get the rest tagged before two weeks - they can’t hide
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