few cities and regions around the country that, one could say, have not really benefited yet from the modern system. The reason is that the demilitarisation of the past ten years has really badly hit areas, like Portsmouth, that relied on the Navy, Army or Air Force activity in those areas. On the other hand, for you to say that things have not changed much at least suggests that things are not getting worse, so I find that encouraging. Don’t forget that we are still very much in the economic doldrums and far from achieving some of the targets outlined by progressive governments. Perhaps you and your new colleagues will have something to say about that?
‘That’s all very well, but I’ve got no education to speak of and I can’t see myself making great speeches like some of the MPs we see on telly. How am I going to make a difference to anything?
‘Just by being you. By voting for things that you think are important. Your vote weighs the same as any other member and, when your constituents see you voting for their interests, rather than for the interests of some other pressure group, and there are plenty of those by the way, then they will thank you for it.
The discussion went on for some time. George Ling had noticed that, by comparison to the first few times he’d been asked to take part in this induction process, there were far fewer questions about the philosophical role of the modern parliament and far more about what could, or should, be done by this system. Perhaps it had now come of age and was accepted as the way things were. He certainly hoped so. It had been a long road.
Eventually the group split up and went back to their ‘residences’, flats by any other name, dotted around West London, or, in the case of Amelia St. Beuve, back to the family home in Dagenham.
Imogen Black and John Parker had swapped numbers and, subject to anything more important happening, arranged to meet up at the pub later that evening.
Everybody was, to some degree, suffering from shell-shock. Each drawn away from their natural environment at the whim of a lottery and now each beginning to understand the enormous importance of their new role, and worrying about how they would fit in.
Still, the real work didn’t start for another few days so, hopefully, the rest of the induction would make things a bit more obvious. After all, it wasn’t as if they were the first new MPs of the modern age. There had already been more than eighteen hundred who had served or were still serving and there was some comfort in that.
Imogen and John had arranged to meet at the Bell and Crown on the river, a pub both of them knew from an earlier life. Imogen had been a student in London and John had often had building jobs in the West End. Neither had ever had the full and certain knowledge of a substantial salary stretching four years into the future though, and this was to be celebrated.
John Parker, in his late forties and with a slight limp, the result of a roof-fall some years before sat contentedly, holding his pint with an ear to ear grin on his, as Imogen already thought it, handsome face.
‘Do you know. I can’t ever remember getting my round in without thinking, on some level, how much that left me to live on’
‘Nor me. Life as a barmaid in Bungay has its attractions but good pay is not one of them. How weird is it to be getting about forty thousand a year after tax, and the rent paid as well. It’s going to take a bit of getting used to. I can already understand why those old bastards used to try and hang onto their jobs, even if it meant selling their souls. I found those presentations today really interesting. How about you?
I’ve been a self-employed builder all my life just about. When there’s been work I’ve often made quite a bit, on a weekly basis, but there’s always the lean times to allow for so I’ve never felt confident about money. I’ve never owned a house because I could never really show how the mortgage would be repaid and now it’s probably too late, although I suppose this lot may make a difference.
‘So, what do you think of it all so far, Immogen. Just to repeat my unanswered question.’
‘Well, I’m feeling quite excited by the whole thing. I’ve always been interested in environmental issues, the effects of global warming in particular. This new position I find myself in might give me a real chance to boost the speed at which we’re tackling the legacy.
It’s true we, the world, have begun to regulate some of the causes, significantly lessening CO2 emissions, but as we know, the harmful effects will be felt for hundreds of years into the future. Just look at what the world has become. Flooding rivers have drowned our small coastal towns, while large areas of the planet are bone-dry and barren, producing nothing. Then there’s the extinction of so many thousands of species, drought eliminating their food supply.
We all remember how the growth of solar power came as a burst on the world in the early years of this century, after we witnessed the beginning of this obliteration of our wildlife. That woke the world with a start, making us take notice of the warnings that had been rippling for years about how badly we were treating the Earth. Of course, some things have already changed for the better - I believe even the Speaker’s wife has acquired a solar-assisted electric bicycle!
Plenty is being done to try to back-track the disastrous lack of attention to the dangers of GW in the early late nineties to the early twenties, but I think we must do more. For instance, we need to look at the way we feed ourselves. We just eat too much meat and too many dairy products, even though we know the devestating effect of methane gas , not to mention how acre-rich is the requirement for growing their food. If we can persuade people to eat less meat, that would go some way to helping the problem. Once we’ve managed that, we might aim even higher, er.. or lower.
Oh dear, I seem to have climbed on that horse again! Anyway, yes, I’m looking forward to this new opportunity.’
The New Term
The Chamber was full. More than full. This was, after all, the first working session of the new parliamentary year and this opening debate would be the first real experience of their new job for three hundred new MPs. The past week of induction had taken them through the theory of working life, but this was the real thing.
The Speaker, no longer a sitting member as in the old days, called the house to order so that he could introduce the list of debates due to happen that day. The first was to be on the economy and would start with a statement from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a mild-mannered ex-accountant from Cheshire, Greg Baldwin.
‘Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to parliament. For those of you who don’t know me I’m Greg Baldwin. I spent the last session shadowing my predecessor and, subject to your continuing approval, I’ll be in this post for the next two years.
The main business of this government continues to be the economy. We are still re-paying our debts built up in the early years of this century and still coping with the world recession that had its roots in that same age. Growth has been very difficult to achieve over this period, when we have had to concentrate on getting the basic structure of our economy in order. Since 2015, ten years ago, the size of the State has reduced from just under fifty percent to thirty while, over the same period, the level of unemployment has remained at around two and a half million. Average wages over the same period have increased by twenty percent, just a fraction more than inflation. The Country stopped living beyond its means in 2015, with the moratorium on new capital expenditure and the drive to reduce the size of the State, but most of the financial benefit has, since then, gone to paying our debts. You should all have received an economic briefing from the Treasury laying out the numbers and, in line with the programme set out at the opening of Parliament on Friday last, I would now like to open a debate in the house. We are, as a nation, finally in a position to be able to start making some real investments in our future. It is proposed that during this session and the next one hundred billion pounds of new money will be available across the board for projects and policies aimed at securing employment for the future.
It