The Blurt of Richard Davies Reading Guide

Chapter Guide.

Chapter One. Welcome to Richard's world. He finds himself squeezed on board a slow moving overcrowded train en-route to Oxford, where he's due to attend a management conference. He senses a change may in the offing, but he doesn't know what sort of change it may be. Once he discovers his fate, sleep deprived, he begins to grapple with his new role.

Chapter Two. Now he has come to the notice of the local Consensus establishment, Richard spends his time trying avoid the worst of the increasingly awful Feddish weather while not getting caught out by the random, arbitrary laws which are now in force. During his busy day 'on the job' he sees an everday example of the new serfdom which has been established, watches the latest style of talent contest being filmed, and witnesses some high-tech firefighting,

Chapter Three. Richard comes under some less than subtle pressure from his autocratic boss James Purvis to join his fledgeling National Renewal Party.

Chapter Four. One of Richard's friends as well as colleagues is taken critically ill. Meanwhile Davies is trying to find a way of circumventing the compulsory propaganda stories IMS is forced to carry.

Chapter Five. A retrospective flashback - one of many - explaining how the curent state of affairs came to be. This is how it all began...

Chapter Six. Feeling depressed, Richard tries to leave his introspective troubles behind for a while by cycling to one of his favourite places. However, even out in the country there can be no escaping the cares of this world.

Chapter Seven. As part of his journal for posterity, Richard explains the background to the first regional nuclear war.

Chapter Eight. Richard learns some bad news, and also becomes angered by the Young Communitarians' attempts at intimidation. In this chapter you will also learn how the Consensus' New Modesty affects how people look and dress.

Chapter Nine. Richard views the new city rising above the squalour of the Pompey of old on the way to meet a stressed-out friend for an austere business lunch. His return home is delayed by a problem from the past come back to haunt us all.

Chapter Ten. Another episode of retrospective history. From a budget holiday hotel on the French Riviera, Richard and his girlfriend watch the UK go to pieces in the course of a few hours on the rolling news channels.

Chapter Eleven. Following on from Chapter Ten. As the nation fragments around them, the government collapses. Only a dramatic royal intervention can avert total destruction. The country Richard returns to is a far different one from that he left.

Chapter Twelve. A dumbstruck people took stock of what had happened; then began the slow process of rebuilding. All seemed to be going as well as could be expected until...

Chapter Thirteen. Stunning events in both the new Federation and the wider world leave the way clear for a certain group of opportunists to take power.

Chapter Fourteen. What could possibly go wrong with an apolitical government created for the common good? Meet the Consensus and find out.

Chapter Fifteen. With the past which led to this sorry state of affairs having been described, from here on the narrative takes place in the present. Richard has a run-in with the corrupt Community Police and is summoned by James Purvis to the IMS headquarters in the London Economic Zone. He braves the rail journey there, and once through the Zone boundary discovers it really is a different world. Head still reeling from the experience, Richard dumps his bag at his hotel and readies himself for the fateful meeting.

Chapter Sixteen. Reluctantly, Richard agrees to help organise the forthcoming NRP General Election campaign. Unexpectedly he is invited to a corporate reception in the gargantuan London Column. There he realises that self-appointed party leader Purvis is making some powerful connections.