An imaginary extract from George Orwell’s ‘Twenty Eighty’
Bryony O’Brien (Jnr.), Vice Controller and Grand Mistress of Treblespeak, scrutinised the documents long since retrieved from the memory hole. ‘No doubt saved by some subversive male,’ she sneered. ‘Thank goodness the species is extinct.’
Bryony, who believed in ‘divide and rule’, was intrigued by the notion of devolution, This Blair chap, whoever he was, had clearly gained more power by appearing to devolve a little. So might she if Large Lady, who’d united the great warring powers of the past into the existing, boringly peaceful Globiana, could be persuaded to agree.
Determined to try her luck, Bryony approached the monitor and addressed the revered image whose reaction was immediate.
‘Devolution? Lessons from the past? You imagine the past has anything to teach me?’ she screamed. ‘Nonsense! To that I have only one thing to say – you learn if you want to. The
Lady’s not for learning!’
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