Capital Offence

Chapter 15

Sunday 2nd June

24 days left

 

In the outer office, Cammy Russell had passed on the sorted mail for the PM to read, and was doing his morning sift of the Sunday papers. The Caledonian’s front page lead was a ‘poll-of-polls’ - a systematic pull-together of all the opinion polls commissioned (largely by its rivals) over the past four weeks. At a stroke it had the most authoritative poll with the largest total sample, gleaned largely at others’ expense. By its nature it held little which was genuinely fresh, but there was some follow-up on the main points which made uncomfortable reading.

It confirmed that the PDP was still seen as failing to deliver on its promises on law and order, and that Jamieson Maclean’s stance was if anything seen as softer than his party’s. It also suggested strongly, by charting a graph of party fortunes against significant events since the election, that the Cassidy murders had been a major influence on public thinking. The accompanying articles seemed to Russell’s mind to be heavily slanted against the Government, but was it not ever thus? Maclean wouldn’t enjoy reading the cuttings.

Cammy Russell turned to page eight for the ‘in-depth analysis’ of the figures - for that read page-filling speculation, he thought. Centred there was a doctored photograph of Jamieson Maclean. His face had been substituted for Gary Cooper’s in ‘High Noon’. It was the classic shot when Sheriff Kane is walking alone through an empty street, pistol in hand. The camera dollies up and back, revealing the Sheriff’s total isolation as the only man in town prepared to stand against the wave of crime and chaos. Maclean’s face fitted the body perfectly, even the nervous sideways shift of the eyes mimicking Cooper’s.  Only this time, the six-gun had been altered so that the barrel drooped uselessly.

The accompanying article was bylined Forbes Macferry. Cammy sighed. Macferry used a scathing and usually laboured wit to disguise what was frequently a less than exhaustive approach to research. He had been taken to task for pieces which didn’t stand up to close scrutiny, but somehow the Caledonian seemed prepared to print the occasional apology. Macferry’s position was secured by the fact that punters bought papers to read what he had to say. There was also a tacit acceptance by spin doctors like Russell that although Macferry couldn’t always get every detail of his stories to stick, they usually hit the target overall. Where more meticulous journalists might not dare to commit to print, Forbes Macferry had detonated some significant broadsides.

The man seemed to have no particular political allegiance, but would go for whoever was currently in power with a vitriolic righteousness perfectly calculated to expose their frailties. Macferry would argue vehemently that those in public positions should take responsibility for their own actions. If he allowed himself to dwell on the consequences of his exposés for a moment he would surely have seen the damage done to careers, families, children, associates - a whole raft of innocent bystanders, thought Russell. But Macferry’s posture was based on several unspoken assumptions. First, that those in the public eye had sought to be there, rather than being thrust into that position through the efforts of journalists like Macferry. Second, that they occupied high profile posts through greed and self interest rather than an effort to serve their communities. And third, that any personal transgression merited their instant destruction. It was only fair to push them forever through the gates that divide the good and worthy from the flawed and sinful. There is no room in that philosophy for the possibility of a good person with a flaw - a vase with a slight crack which can be turned to the wall, a leaky container which can still give good service in other ways. Show a crack or a blemish and the doctrine of perfection will allow only one course of action - smash the flawed vessel to shards, while those around bleed from the flying fragments.