The Shaking

Chapter Twenty Six

Connect24 studios. 14.58.

Ian May is engaged in a phone conversation with the ConnectMedia group chairman, Euan Rees.

"...and given what had just happened I agreed with James Patterson it would be appropriate to go off-air for a while. A good thing too as twenty minutes later the police arrived... Yes, I've never seen them move that quickly either; especially with the roads the way they are, but with an incident so visible they must have decided it was a priority.

...They arrested Dominic Paige at once and whisked him away but no, there's no way we could have continued to broadcast while they were seizing the video as evidence as well as taking statements under caution from everyone... Without proper legal advice to hand that's what I told them and I'm sure that will be borne out by the records. I made the point I objected to the way he was progressing the story and the way he was pushing those two... ...Agreed; and hopefully with some specialist lawyers advising us we can lay it all on his shoulders as an wayward employee who lost all sense of proportion and flouted the established proceedures.

...Yes we could resume broadcasting right away but I thought it best to not to just yet; paying due respects and all that. The studio needed cleaning up anyway and there's no way James or Anna could have been expected to continue... She'll be all right as far as I can tell though she's spent a long time crying and puking her guts up in the toilets. She and Kelly got along well. I've promised she'll get any support or counseling she needs. Our on-call doctor has suggested she has tranquillisers in the meantime. James is shocked as well of course, but I think he coped with the situation admirably and with great professionalism... In my opinion they both needed at least a week's paid leave and then see where we go from there... No, although we're short-staffed it'd be unreasonable to expect them to carry on under those circumstances. Susan Bradley and Carol Jones have managed to get in; they're ready to anchor the show once we go live again and have promised to hold the fort until more help arrives. When they're not on air they'll be crashing out in one of the Green Rooms or offices.

...As for Gail Burton, the last I heard she was going to abandon her van and was on her way by foot with the crew to a Rest Centre rumoured being set up in one of the royal parks. I told her not to; said she should find somewhere safe if she can to crash out in and recharge her gear if at all possible but you know what she's like, been on the go since yesterday evening; first trying but failing to run down Brian McLean, then back to the royal 'flu vigil, and the Pippa Slater affair before all this blew up. I've told her to be careful; some parts of London are distinctly unsafe at the moment, especially in Hyde Park where I'm told thirsty people are drinking out of the Serpentine for Christ's sake, but she won't listen...

...We're coping as well as can be expected. We should be all right for emergency power for the next day or so, same with food and water. After that is anyone's guess...

... But in that case wouldn't it be a better idea to run the story from Edinburgh as it is closer? Especially since the Scots have rejected the State of Emergency... I can understand your reasoning, but New York or even elsewhere in Europe is way too far away from the action... So why not wait until then and switch things there only as a last resort? I mean we'll be the main source for the story anyway... No, I don't think that's going to be possible. Yes, outside London and the Home Counties it's not so bad, but where would you find alternative premises for us? And even moving around is difficult...

...Yes I heard about that, wasn't sure it was official policy yet, but in my opinion it's going to be unworkable; they'll need to set up displaced persons' camps all around the capital and people are bound to sneak through the cordon. They'll have enough on their hands as it is inside the M25... We're not getting much news from some of those areas, but from what we can gather it's bad and getting worse... Yes, that's why I'll be staying here for the time being.