forever.”
“Good, but these are our countrymen, not livestock, Lucas. Sort your language out and show some respect to the people who brought you to power.”
Start raised his eyes to look at his leader who had gained his full attention now, embarrassed by the dressing down.
Baines added in anger, “In fact, Lucas, I hear you talking like that again and you’ll be out of a job.”
“Ok, Ben, sorry, but accounting for more than seventy million people can become rather impersonal. We are on top of the registrations,” Start responded with some degree of humility and a great deal of arrogance.
Baines looked at him sternly, nodding slightly; then his eyes moved around the room where he saw his colleagues shift uncomfortably in their chairs. No one wanted a rift at the top, but Baines had an inkling that Start would be followed before him, out of fear mainly. He was all too aware that his leadership was more delicate than ever. Now that his ministers were in power, the temptation of abusing that power for personal gain was in their hands.
His eyes moved to Steve Jones, a career politician who had defected from the Labour Party six years earlier. His remit was industry, coordinating the massive task of reorganising and starting up businesses to support their local areas first and foremost and then the excess being traded further afield.
“Any issues, Steve? Are you receiving the manpower from Lucas? And, do we have the skilled labour locally?”
“Early days, but the jigsaw is piecing together well. We have over fifteen thousand businesses to start up over the coming months, but we certainly have the manpower. People are hungry for the work, and there seems to be no shortage of people prepared to relocate for work. So, we are fast-tracking planning for new villages across the country, kick-starting construction as well as filling empty properties. On the negative side, we will certainly have shortages of skilled labour in the short term; we have no need for salesmen, but we don’t have many welders or machinists out there.”
“That brings us nicely on to Jocelyn,” Baines raised a hand to a large lady with cropped hair at the far end of the table.
“Totally on track at the moment, Ben. We have already doubled staffing levels in sixty-eight percent of schools reducing class sizes by half in most. I am liaising with Steve on the construction of twenty-three industrial colleges which will re-introduce blue collar skills into the workforce. Seventeen of those projects are simple refurbishment projects in current schools and colleges, so we will see them opening within the year.”
“Any issues?”
“A small number of school closures due to local resistance.”
“What? Where are these closures?” Now Baines addressed the whole room once again. There was a pause, then Lucas Start stepped in with a response.
“Cornwall - just about the whole county - those nut jobs have called for autonomy again. West Wales and Northumberland are the areas where we have issues. It tends to be landowners, farmers and rural communities resisting our land reforms; they are just swimming against the tide, but we’ll have control in a matter of days.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we are persuading the population in these small trouble spots to step into line.”
“How?” Baines questioned Start directly, his stare piercing; as the temperature in the room seemed to rise, shuffling in seats was suddenly the loudest noise.
“How what, Ben?” Start retorted with some degree of impatience and annoyance. He was a man that people rarely questioned and never in front of an audience.
Baines threw the paper onto the table open at the article he had been reading and asked, “How exactly are you persuading the population?”
“We are educating them in our ideology…”
“By burning down their bloody homes and killing them - who do you think you are, Lucas - Stalin?”
“Look, Ben,” Start now the bully with steel in
“Good, but these are our countrymen, not livestock, Lucas. Sort your language out and show some respect to the people who brought you to power.”
Start raised his eyes to look at his leader who had gained his full attention now, embarrassed by the dressing down.
Baines added in anger, “In fact, Lucas, I hear you talking like that again and you’ll be out of a job.”
“Ok, Ben, sorry, but accounting for more than seventy million people can become rather impersonal. We are on top of the registrations,” Start responded with some degree of humility and a great deal of arrogance.
Baines looked at him sternly, nodding slightly; then his eyes moved around the room where he saw his colleagues shift uncomfortably in their chairs. No one wanted a rift at the top, but Baines had an inkling that Start would be followed before him, out of fear mainly. He was all too aware that his leadership was more delicate than ever. Now that his ministers were in power, the temptation of abusing that power for personal gain was in their hands.
His eyes moved to Steve Jones, a career politician who had defected from the Labour Party six years earlier. His remit was industry, coordinating the massive task of reorganising and starting up businesses to support their local areas first and foremost and then the excess being traded further afield.
“Any issues, Steve? Are you receiving the manpower from Lucas? And, do we have the skilled labour locally?”
“Early days, but the jigsaw is piecing together well. We have over fifteen thousand businesses to start up over the coming months, but we certainly have the manpower. People are hungry for the work, and there seems to be no shortage of people prepared to relocate for work. So, we are fast-tracking planning for new villages across the country, kick-starting construction as well as filling empty properties. On the negative side, we will certainly have shortages of skilled labour in the short term; we have no need for salesmen, but we don’t have many welders or machinists out there.”
“That brings us nicely on to Jocelyn,” Baines raised a hand to a large lady with cropped hair at the far end of the table.
“Totally on track at the moment, Ben. We have already doubled staffing levels in sixty-eight percent of schools reducing class sizes by half in most. I am liaising with Steve on the construction of twenty-three industrial colleges which will re-introduce blue collar skills into the workforce. Seventeen of those projects are simple refurbishment projects in current schools and colleges, so we will see them opening within the year.”
“Any issues?”
“A small number of school closures due to local resistance.”
“What? Where are these closures?” Now Baines addressed the whole room once again. There was a pause, then Lucas Start stepped in with a response.
“Cornwall - just about the whole county - those nut jobs have called for autonomy again. West Wales and Northumberland are the areas where we have issues. It tends to be landowners, farmers and rural communities resisting our land reforms; they are just swimming against the tide, but we’ll have control in a matter of days.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we are persuading the population in these small trouble spots to step into line.”
“How?” Baines questioned Start directly, his stare piercing; as the temperature in the room seemed to rise, shuffling in seats was suddenly the loudest noise.
“How what, Ben?” Start retorted with some degree of impatience and annoyance. He was a man that people rarely questioned and never in front of an audience.
Baines threw the paper onto the table open at the article he had been reading and asked, “How exactly are you persuading the population?”
“We are educating them in our ideology…”
“By burning down their bloody homes and killing them - who do you think you are, Lucas - Stalin?”
“Look, Ben,” Start now the bully with steel in
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