Thank you ladies and gentlemen,
One of the things I still find difficult to adjust to is the lack of fresh milk in one’s tea. But the problems there are really somewhat self-evident.
I have been asked to appear before you today to give an account, for the sake of posterity, of my life and the events with which I have been involved.
The early part of my life is of no exceptional interest – my education took place in a lesser public school, my further education in a minor college of Cambridge, a university town in the south of what was then the United Kingdom.
It was there I met a girl, a wonderful creature, a truly beautiful member of the human race. I remember one day, one sunny afternoon, a group of us had donned a layer of sunscreen and taken the risk of a walk down by the Cam, a local river. The sun was so bright, it put me in mind of my childhood when such days were welcome and so we walked together. Her hair was so fine and her smile so clear, so clean, it made me feel like a new person whenever it lit upon me. On that day I remember, I remember very clearly, how a blossom from one the nearby trees floated down quite naturally and settled in her hair just above her ear. It seemed the world itself was in love with her and I told her that day just how I felt about her. *sigh* I remember her laughter, I remember even that with some fondness, and how she told me I was being foolish, and laughed again – she told me I was a sweet man, but I lacked the ambition to amount anything important, which was what she wanted. I view that now with of course with some irony.
Over time from that day we remained friendly of course, and I watched her slowly drift away into the arms of others and finally one other who kept her forever. And I, I joined the civil service and began a slow but steady rise through the ranks.
Of course in those times there was a great deal to occupy a person involved in the politics of the day, a great many changes to keep up with, but they are documented in great detail elsewhere. As a member of the civil service I myself never took a view, as was my duty, even when we lost the royal family.
I always felt there would be another who would fill my life with the same kind of colour as that girl from Cambridge but as time progressed and I began to age it seemed less and less likely.
Due to the high turnover of civil staff during certain periods my progression through the ranks of the whitehall stucture was somewhat accelerated, but little commented on. I due time I reached a very senior level although my transition into a position of actual power was somewhat sudden.
In the period of unrest following the re-secularsation of the country there were several co-ordinated attacks on government staff, intented to pave the way for a coup. The emergency protectorate services suppressed the actual siezure of power and my own recollection of the day was from traveling in convoy of government cars to the the entire world seeming to white out, and a noise so loud that one felt it rather than heard it. Some time later I was resucitated and was informed that due to the removal of the entire top level of government, including the Prime Minister, I was to take her place and to lead the interim adminsitration.
Our nuclear strike capability was at that time somewhat reduced as a result of the sezcession of Scotland, Northern Ireland and indeed Wales, in particular Scotland - and their unification with Ireland into the Celtic alliance naturally meant that some of our remaining missles were re-targeted as a matter of civil defense.
Climate change and the resulting wars of resources and religion had left the international stage in very delicate state, and England under a very immenent threat of being overrun. A decision need to be taken. I was left to make that decision. I remember being bombarded with advice and at some stage all I could think of, aside from the starvation and the millions of people in transition and at war, was that girl, from Cambridge, and how the dreams of this world are hollow and so often hold out no real promise. I began to feel I could finally make some sort of a difference, wipe the slate clean as it were. And so I pressed the button. And the world is now, of course, a very different place. I thank you for your time.
