Chapter 1: the Shipping Forecast

The time is 05:15am. Freddie Clegg and Ellie are asleep in the early morning in their flat in London.

Freddie has always had the habit of waking early, something left over from his army career. That was years ago, but habits once formed are hard to shake.

There is a soft click as the bedside clock-radio switches on. Freddie keeps the volume low, to leave Ellie undisturbed. In the soft and dreamy country between sleep and wakefulness, he hears the hypnotic recitation of the Shipping Forecast(1.):

“... Here is the shipping forecast issued at 0505 on behalf of the Maritime and Coast Guard Agency. The general synopsis ... low southern Norway 1009 losing its identity. High Biscay 1026 dissipating. New high expected Faeroes 1032 by midday tomorrow...”

The soft gentle voice of the newsreader carries Freddie back deeper into sleep as the meteorological lullaby continues through the list of the Sea Areas.

“... Viking: Northerly 5 to 7, perhaps gale 8 later in east. Moderate or rough. Fair. Good. North Utsira, Northerly or north westerly 5 to 7 perhaps gale 8 later in east. Moderate or rough. Fair. Good. South Utsira, Northerly or north westerly 6 to gale 8. Moderate or rough. Fair. Good. Fisher: North or north west 6 to gale 8. Moderate or rough, occasionally very rough. Showers. Moderate or good...”

By the time she reaches the western side of the United Kingdom, Freddie is returning to wakefulness and glad he is safe in a warm bed, on land...

“Southeast Iceland, west backing south becoming cyclonic later, 7 to gale 8 later. High or very high. Squally showers. Rain later. Poor...”

Freddie turns and snuggles close to Ellie as “the Latest Marine Observations from Coastal Stations” is read and the Inshore Waters Forecast is intoned. He dozes, serene and comfortable until, during “News Briefing,” he hears the word “Kushtia.” Kushtia is a place. Kushtia is somewhere Freddie knows well, somewhere he has worked and carried on business for several years. Kushtia is important to Freddie. Suddenly he is fully awake and listening...

“... and here is our Diplomatic Correspondent Peter Archer to set events in context...”

A different voice takes up the story...

“Kushtia is a small mountainous country nestling between Afghanistan in the south and west, Turkmenistan, Kazakstan and Uzbekistan to the north. It is a rocky, hard country and socially it is very traditional, many would say ‘backward, ‘ and certainly oppressive towards women. The country has never had quite the strategic importance of Afghanistan and there has not been much international pressure for change. However, the NATO invasion of Afghanistan has changed all that. In its fight against the Taliban, NATO sees socially conservative Kushtia as somewhere extremists might seek sanctuary to plan attacks on coalition forces, so NATO will be delighted to hear news that a new Kalinin has been enthroned, particularly someone who is a western-educated technocrat, someone who wishes to see Kushtia step away from its cultural backwardness and become a more modern nation state. This will not be easy but the new Kalinin is showing an astute political touch and an awareness of the political sensibilities of the nations who might provide aid and development expertise. His first act has been a declaration of his intention to put women’s rights to property, freedom of movement, and political rights on the same footing as those of Kushtian men. While that has been greeted warily within the country, it opens the door to investment and the promise of increasing prosperity to many ordinary Kushtians...”

By now Freddie is wide awake and out of bed. He knows all about the situation of women in Kushtia. He has helped a good number of western women to discover the unique pleasures of life in the country. The storm is no longer safe in Sea Areas Utsira or Southeast Iceland. The gravity of events in the East have caused the storm to wheel southwards, to vent its unpleasantness upon himself and Ellie and Freddie Clegg Enterprises.

Twilight of the Gods?

Freddie and Ellie are driving from their flat in Knightsbridge to Freddie’s office in the work-a-day east end of London.

As in all large, busy cities, driving in London can be a chore and Freddie has opted for a radical solution. He would like to cruise through the streets in a Jaguar but, in fact, he drives a small electric Smart car (2.). The parking regulations are much more benign for electric vehicles and he does not have to pay the Central London Congestion Charge(3.). In addition, in a Smart Car, he does not look like the principal of a criminal organisation and Freddie likes to be self-effacing in these matters.

As he drives, Freddie finds Ellie in a reflective mood.

“Freddie?”

“Mmmm?”

“If this upset in Kushtia had not happened, you know: no new Kalinin...”

“Yes... ?”

“Well, would we still be doing this in twenty years?”

“Huh? Twenty years? How do you mean?”

“We are both in our sixties. In twenty years we will be in our eighties. New Kushtian Kalinin or not, I just cannot see us still doing this when we are in our eighties...”

“Oh ... well no, I suppose not...”

“So when should retire? We’re not short of money. And, quite frankly, I think we have worked hard enough for long enough. I would just like to retire. Do what I want to do, not what I have to do. Do you see?”

“Yes, I see.”

“Don’t you feel it’s all a tie? The continued commitment? All those girls? Worrying about how they’ll turn out, where they’ll end up? It’s like having a family — an infinite number of daughters.”

“How does the song go? ‘When you’re the father of girls ... you do more than that, you pray, ‘ isn’t it?”

“Freddie, be serious. We are not immortal. There has to come a time when we harvest what we have sown.”

“That sounds a bit ominous...”

“Well all right. If you prefer, there has to come a time when we start to live. Some people live to work. Some people work to live. It is time to live. Maybe these developments in Kushtia are a sign that life has to change for us.”

“Er, yes, well, perhaps you are right; it is just that I have enjoyed what we have done. Seeing the organization grow.”

“Are we talking FCE, the bit that everyone sees – or Special Products?”

“Oh ... well, both of them really. FCE was the most difficult. Special Products was the most exciting. Retiring? — that makes me think I am getting old. I don’t want to get old. Not just yet. Anyway, we can’t dispose of FCE without a lot of careful thought. And, Ellie, we can’t walk out of the Special Products Division ‘just like that.’ We are going to have to put it to bed very carefully so it does not wake up and bite us.”

“Freddie, I think I know that, but the first step is to make a decision about what we are going to do with the rest of our lives. Then we can think about the transport business and, well, the rest of it.”

“Well, FCE is a private company. We could float the business or sell out. A competitor maybe, a venture capitalist perhaps. I’m not sure about flotation with the way the Stock Exchange has been lately. Selling out to a competitor would be better. That means fewer fish in the sea and so the fish which are left have more to eat.”

“Freddie, I think we are going to have to make serious plans. Let’s make the decision and deal with the slavery business first. Agreed?”

“Yes ... yes, agreed. It hurts but, yes, I agree.”

War Cabinet

By 09:30, Freddie is in the “Board Room” in an anonymous commercial building in East London. He is with Ellie, Larry, Dr Pamela Jordan and Harry. Connie, his former Head of Training has left the organization to return to Africa. Sarah, Harry’s secretary and a slave herself, would normally attend Board Meetings to take notes but, this time, she has been confined to her office.

Freddie begins. “This morning, I learned that there is a new Kalinin in Kushtia and his first act of government has been to announce very significant changes in the status of women. I learned this from BBC Radio 4 ‘News Briefing, ‘ so it is safe to assume that the report is reliable and now widely known internationally. I am sure I do not need to tell you that the consequences for us could be considerable.”

Harry joins in. “Freddie, my first reaction is to ask if he will get away with it? Will this initiative last? What are the Kushtian household heads going to do without their domestic — and other — help?”

“And, how long will it take for these ‘freedoms, ‘ if that’s what they turn out to be, to take hold?” adds Larry, the FCE liaison with Inward Bound, their subsidiary. “Is this anything more than ‘window dressing’ for a new regime? Heaven knows, there have been enough of them in Kushtia before.”

“The point is,” says Ellie, “the point is that the tide of events may be running against us. The immediate situation is that we have almost certainly lost our market in Kushtia. In due course, it could be months, it could be only weeks, some of our recent ‘exports’ might get the chance to make contact with their own diplomatic people and appeal for repatriation. There is nothing to hold them. The Kushtian Authorities are no longer going to stop them leaving the country and, again in due course, they will tell their story.”