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Outside 86 Harley Street, in a shadowy corner behind the bins beneath the steps that descend from the pavement to the dingy basement area, a brown rat slinks. Inside 86 Harley Street, behind a big shiny desk and surrounded by photographs of himself, a much bigger rat sits and counts all the money he’s madeContinue reading “The Vermin”

Olivia is eighteen and pining for her boyfriend Callum, from whom she was cruelly torn six weeks, three days, nineteen hours and forty-three minutes ago. Ed is fifteen and therefore furious with lockdown, the universe and everything but mostly with his parents. So one is in love; the other in hate. Olivia floats about theContinue reading “The Teenagers in Lockdown”

The novelty is wearing very thin now. It is in fact the only aspect of lockdown that is thin, since Melanie and Mike have each gained several pounds by doing almost nothing for several weeks except eat. What for Melanie began as a welcome interlude from the frantic bustle of daily life has become aContinue reading “The Couple Going Slightly Bonkers”

Fiona has taken to video-conferencing like a cat to water. Being old enough to think the view from the Sacre Coeur looks much nicer in her photographs when it isn’t half-obliterated by her own face, she’s unpractised at selfies and has never learned the art of looking her best – or at least of avoidingContinue reading “The Middle-Aged Zoomer”

The first stars are twinkling in an opal sky and Oscar the Pug is scratching to go out. Oscar loves a gossip and since he isn’t allowed to stop and chat to his friends on walks these days, the Twilight Barking is the highlight of his day. Once released to scamper out and join in,Continue reading “The Twilight Barking”

It was a bright warm day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith mounted the steps of the Ministry of Truth. Today would be busy; the media had been particularly active recently in spreading anti-Party propaganda. Now that deaths were galloping beyond the ‘good’ number of 20,000 – even without the care-homeContinue reading “The Mutable Past”

With gin o’clock arriving earlier every day, and on most days arriving twice, Colin and Carla’s glass recycling crate is filling up with alarming speed. Carla says they need to do something. Colin looks wary: ‘You don’t mean drink less?’ ‘Good God, no,’ says Carla, equally appalled by such a prospect. But she’s alert toContinue reading “The Empties”

Dominic Stavro Blofeld sat in his chrome chair, observing his tank of Siamese fighting fish and stroking the Downing Street cat. His bald head gleamed with evil as he turned to face the two men who stood before him. His mouth was proud and thin, like a badly-healed wound. ‘So you are telling me, NumberContinue reading “The Criminal Mastermind”

Welcome, fellow clergymen, to my monthly e-letter. You will see from the photograph that I’m writing from my kitchen rather than the palace chapel, because showing how modest and unassuming I am is so much more important than providing a spiritually uplifting setting to help everyone through these difficult times. And anyway, churches don’t matterContinue reading “The Lambeth Talk”

Tom had always wondered how he would respond in a time of national emergency. What he had never anticipated was that he would be called upon to do absolutely nothing. Or that, since his field of disengagement would be the domestic one, his Commanding Officer would be his wife. In the Coronavirus Crisis the battleContinue reading “The Man of Action”