Year One

Year One

Part 1: May to August

A New Order Story by Freddie Clegg

Introduction

What was it like in the early days of New Order? Not from the politician's perspective, you understand -- that has been written about in countless political memoirs over the last twenty years -- but from the perspective of the man in the street. Some claimed the election of New Order was a great intellectual triumph, an imaginative harnessing by women of their own power for their own benefit.

The trouble is ‟intellectual" doesn't have a great track record here in the UK. I'm reminded of the W.H. Auden poem that goes: ‟To the man in the street who, I'm sorry to say, is a keen observer of life, the word 'intellectual' suggests straight away, a man who's untrue to his wife."

Our ‟man-in-the street" is David Anders. For reasons we don't know, David started to keep a journal in May 2021, just when New Order was elected. It's not clear how it survived, but it did. As well as creating the journal, David saved a number of press cuttings and other items. These are reproduced in the location they appear in the narrative. Now the journal is providing social and political historians with new insights into the early days of New Order.

From what we learn in the journal, he works in an office in Stanbury, a small provincial town about fifty miles south west of London. He lives not far away in a small village called Fordswell. He has a girlfriend, Angela Casey, that he has been with for the past few months. He's not sure if she is ‟the one," but they get on well and it seems to be working. She has her own place but sometimes sleeps over with David. From the journal it seems as though Angela was not one of the founding New Order activists but she soon develops enthusiastic support for their programme.

The Diary of David Anders

Thursday, May 13^th 2021

Well, this election campaign has been a right farce. The Liberal -- Labour coalition has been a disaster -- it's surprising it lasted as long as it did. Neither Labour nor Conservative seem to have any answer to the shambles the country is in. I've listened to both of them and, apart from each blaming the other for the Brexit fiasco, neither of them seem to have the slightest idea of what we should be doing next. I didn't vote. Can't see how either of them are going to make any difference.

I suggested to Angie, my girlfriend (we've been together about two months I guess), that we forget about it all and get an early night. She wasn't in the mood though — wanted to go and watch the results with some girlfriends of hers. Shame really, I quite fancied a fuck to take my mind off it. Had to make do with a beer from the fridge.

Friday May 14, 2021

Blimey, I don't think anyone saw that coming, least of all the press.

Turns out pretty much everyone agreed with me that the two main parties didn't have a clue. Plenty of people didn't vote -- a record low turnout the pundits say. But those that did have put this ‟New Order" party in with a massive majority. I can't say I took much notice of them during the election. There was one woman I saw on one of the television debates trying to talk what sounded like sense but she got howled down by the others there. Don't think I saw anything about them much in the papers. They had a lot of posters around, now I come to think about it, stuff on social media and there were a few meetings in the village hall. Angie stood me up for one of them. I was a bit pissed off about that but she'd come back saying it was all very interesting and we'd had great make-up sex. Her on top -- she doesn't usually want to do that.

So, we'll see what this lot do with the country. They can't fuck it up any worse than the last bunch of useless dicks.

Angie was back late from work. She works in admin for a small firm of lawyers. It's not that well paid -- she feels she's wasting her degree, but it was what she could get and the firm do quite a lot of civil liberty work which Angie says means she feels at least she's involved with something worthwhile.

Sunday May 16^th 2021

Had a good long lie-in until Angie kicked me out of bed. ‟Haven't you heard, women are running the country now. You ought to get me breakfast!" We had a good laugh but then I thought, well, fair enough. It meant we spent the whole morning on the bed, fooling around. Coffee, orange juice, bread rolls, the Sunday papers, and a lazy screw: can't ask for more really, can you?

There was a big feature in the newspaper on the front runners for government posts. I made the mistake of saying the woman they think will get Minister of Culture and Arts looks like a stripper. Angie wasn't amused. Turns out she'd been at that meeting Angie went to and Angie thinks she's got some really good ideas about how to run the country and, she said, ‟One is we won't put up with that sort of sexist shit any more!" You wouldn't believe how much being hit with a rolled-up copy of the Sunday Times magazine can hurt. Laughed about it afterwards, though.

I don't think there's going to be any men in the Government if the article is right. Angie reckons that's what she'd expect. Seems that New Order want to ‟get away from male dominated decision making," she says. They seem to think that's what gave us the financial crash, Brexit, the farce over the Argentinians finally taking over the Falklands Islands, and that last round of jobs-for-sex scandals in Parliament. Can't argue with that really, I suppose, so maybe a change will be a good thing.

Wednesday May 26^th

It's been a strange week at work with people trying to settle down after the election and all the changes New Order are talking about. I don't believe half of it, but the girls in the office are all wandering around with a smirk on their faces. The whole ‟male dominated decision making" thing seems to have caught on. There's ‟No MDDM!" graffiti everywhere on walls around town. Somebody even posted a cartoon of our manager on the office notice board with a red line through his face and ‟No MDDM!" underneath it.

The Government's Minister for Trade has said she's going to introduce legislation requiring all company boards to have a majority of women members. The Institute of Directors has kicked up a stink about that. The Labour party opposition leader said why don't they add worker representation to that and the New Order spokeswoman said they'd start listening to their suggestions once they had a majority of women on Labour's National Executive Committee. Childish really, but you can't blame them after the way that Labour acted when the Brexit talks collapsed.

Tuesday June 1^st

Our company has really got on the ‟No MDDM!" bandwagon. (Not surprising_, really -- we do a lot of business with Government, so they were bound to want to be seen as playing the game.) Every working group now has to have a majority of women. I got kicked off the Service Planning Group to make way for some 21-year-old girl graduate -- Lucy, I think — so they could make the numbers balance. She seemed a bit embarrassed about it, but it didn't stop her taking the place. Still, at least I don't have to sit in those boring-as-shit meetings any more. Three of the senior managers -- all men -- quit today. Nobody gave any reasons but new appointments mean the Operations Division, Sales & Marketing, and Finance and Accounting are now all led by women.

Wednesday June 2^nd

Popped into the pub tonight. Angie was off at some meeting or other. Kev and Norm were there. Kev was moaning that his wife has got really keen on the whole New Order agenda and has got really bossy. She says if the country is going to be run by women, then her house is, too. Kev says he can't understand how New Order ever got in. Who would ever vote for an idea like that? He seems to have missed the fact that their manifesto was pretty popular with women, which were half of the electorate (actually more like 60% of those that actually bothered to vote according to the analysis I've read).

Then Norm said he'd actually voted for New Order. He'd thought they'd be a breath of fresh air. Kev was dumbstruck! Said the only reason he would vote to put women on a pedestal was so he could look up their skirts. Karen, the barmaid, called him out for that. Told him to watch his language or he could do his drinking at home. Norm tried to explain what he thought -- how the country needed a change of direction and New Order would do it -- but Kev was pretty scathing. He reckons it's only a matter of time before they're rounding up men and putting them in sex camps to keep the women amused. I think he's exaggerating but some of the things they are talking about, like restricting where men can be employed, are worrying.

Angie got back from her meeting late. I don't know what she'd been to but she was really up for it when we got to bed. Rolled me over on my back and sat astride my chest and slid herself forward until her crotch was over my face. Grabbed me by the hair so it was pretty obvious what she wanted. I like to think I'm OK at that, so I got stuck in and that seemed to get her going nicely. I thought that would get her warmed up and then we could roll over and I'd get to fuck her as usual. She wasn't having any of that, though. Every time I tried to back off, she pulled my head back until she came -- practically broke my neck.

‟Mm, that was nice," she said, rolled off me, and went to sleep. I was just left there with a sore face and my dick sticking up like a tent pole while I had to listen to her snoring.

Thursday June 3^rd

I got propositioned at work! That's something new.

Lucy -- the girl that took my place on the Service Planning Group — stopped by my office. ‟Sorry you got kicked off the team," she said. ‟I wanted you to know I didn't have anything to do with it." I grunted something non-committal. It wasn't a big deal after all -- nothing compared to the mass exits of directors across FTSE 100 boards across the country. ‟But I thought, you still might like to give me your input. In private, so other staff wouldn't know you were being included. I mean, you've got a lot of experience in services. And, well, it might be fun...." At this point Lucy was perched on my desk with her skirt practically up to her hips and licking her lips with a "you might think I'm getting ready to kiss you but I could be just about to bite your dick off" look on her face. I suppose I must have hesitated.

‟You know you can always use friends around the office. Especially on the right side of the gender line."

I nodded and said something like ‟that would be great" as she hopped off my desk. I'm hoping Lucy forgets about this but I have a feeling she won't. I don't think I'll mention the conversation to Angie, though. Lucy's about five years younger than Angie and me. She might not understand.

Thinking about it, it sounded pretty close to harassment. Maybe I'll start a Twitter hash tag: #mentoo. Trouble is, I've got a feeling that if I reported it to HR, the new woman they've got running it wouldn't be too keen to listen.

Friday June 4^th

Tried talking to Angie about Wednesday night. She said she's been reading this book by one of the New Order founders about how men's view of sex has been allowed to take over and how women's needs are ignored. Apparently, penetration by the male member is a political act. I asked her if she fancied an evening's political activism. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. She stormed off back to her flat.

I hadn't realised that Angie had actually become a New Order party member.

Saturday June 5^th

I spent most of today on the phone trying to apologise to Angie, mostly talking to her answering machine. When I finally got through to her, she let me talk for a bit and then said, ‟All right, I'll think about it, but IF I do, we'll do sex my way or not at all. All right?"

I really need her on-side. One of the things New Order are bringing in is that all un-married males will need a female ‟sponsor" that can be responsible for them. If they haven't got a named sponsor, they will have to report to some new Government agency. I suppose it will be like signing on for benefits. I don't want to have to do that. I'm planning to ask Angie to be my sponsor, because that would be easier. I was pretty sure she would agree but now I'm not completely sure.

I hope she does. It will be better than having to muck around reporting to some office or other.

Popped in to the pub to see if Kev or Norm were there but no such luck. Spent ten minutes waiting to get served while Karen was chatting with a group of girls sat at one of the tables. Got fed up waiting in the end and went home.

Tuesday June 8^th

I've been trying to avoid Lucy all day after her visiting my office last week. She's been promoted, so now she's ‟Head of Service Planning," which is what I was mainly responsible for plus a couple of other things.

She turned up to the office in a tight roll-neck sweater, tight black trousers and shoe with heels so spiky they could punch a hole in your foot if she trod on it. She looked like a panther prowling the corridors. I managed to stay out of her way until I got called into a meeting in mid-afternoon. There were four of the girls on the Service Planning Group, Lucy, and me. I was a bit flattered until it turned out that mainly what they wanted me to do was to get the coffees and keep notes of the meeting. Lucy cornered me afterwards. She seemed taller but then I realised she was wearing heels -- she didn't used to do that in the office.

‟I know you can make more of a contribution, but you know how it is. I'll buy you a drink after work if you like. We can talk about it." I said I couldn't; had to get back. She looked pissed off. I don't think I've heard the end of it.

Wednesday June 9^th

Got back to my office this afternoon to find Lucy installed behind my desk. Apparently, now she's ‟Head of Service Planning," she's entitled to an office and I'm not. She'd piled my stuff up in a box, so I could move out quickly. Very considerate! She stood and watched, smiling, as I carried it out to the open-plan area where I've got to sit now. Perhaps I should have let her buy me that drink.

Monday June 14^th

Angie seems to have forgiven me for Friday's remark. She came over tonight to tell me she's decided to move in with me. My place is bigger than hers. Yes, she will be my sponsor, so that's a weight off my mind. I don't think she's forgotten about my stupid remark last week, though. She said, ‟Only, if I do you are going to have to be more respectful. I mean, New Order has got its Respect Agenda, so, as a party member, I think I have to insist."

I felt that was a bit rich, but the way things are at work it's probably a good idea to be sharing a house with a party member so I bit my tongue. She wanted to make up with a session in the bedroom. Turns out she hasn't changed her mind about how sex works these days. Only now the tongue work has to be preceded by a long foot massage session. I'm not sure what I'm getting out of this, apart from blue balls.

Tuesday June 15th

I thought I was going to get a quiet day in the office but I was out of luck. Lucy called me into what was my old office for a chat. Said she hoped there were no hard feelings about her having my office and she thought I'd been very adult in the way I had accepted it. (I hadn't thought I had, I just hadn't kicked up a fuss)

Apparently because of that she'd asked to have me assigned to her and our boss had OK'd it. Asked me to get her a coffee, oh and could I pick up the files for the afternoon meeting from the fourth floor and the package that had just been delivered at Reception. It seemed like I spent all morning running around on errands without a minute to do anything useful. So, when we ended up in the meeting, I hadn't done any of my preparation and I couldn't answer half of the questions I was supposed to.

‟You can see why New Order is against MDDM," one of the other girls in the meeting giggled. Lucy sort of defended me, saying I must be finding all the changes disruptive. After the meeting she said, ‟Look I'm going out on a limb to keep you here. If you want to hang on to your job here, you're going to have to shape up. Oh, and I'd rather you didn't call me Lucy in front of the other staff. I think Miss James is more, well, business-like, don't you?"

Angie's feeling pleased with herself. Apparently, her firm kicked out the Head of Admin for that most awful of offences: being a man. Angie has been promoted to take it over. She'd obviously been out shopping when she got back home: a new suit and new shoes, too. Claims she's got to look the part now she's running Admin and the lawyers expect the office staff to look smart. I can't complain — I think that a tailored jacket, a white blouse, and a short tight skirt really suit her. Angie caught me looking at her. ‟What part of the Respect Agenda is that?" she said.

Monday June 21st

It isn't any real consolation, but at least I'm not the only person getting eased out of my job as a result of New Order coming to power. The papers were full of reports from various Government departments over what they call the ‟Womanisation Programme" (apparently ‟Feminisation" was seen as too girly!). A statement from the Prime Minster said how they were moving towards all female management teams across all areas of the Civil Service. Men will continue to serve in departments but will not be involved in policy analysis or recommendations. They've also published a list of all ministerial advisers and as far as I can see there isn't a man amongst them.

The only men with any sort of role in government that I can see are a few male MP's elected in constituencies where New Order didn't win. I suppose there might be fifty men split between Labour and Conservative (and a similar number of women MP's from those parties, too). Plus, of course, there's the House of Lords. I bet New Order will be planning to rename that, even if they can't change its constitutional role. They'll be planning to fix the percentage of women there, too -- I think it's only about 30% right now -- although realistically with such a large majority in the House of Commons, the House of Lords wouldn't dare oppose any legislation anyway.

The Government has also finally published its plans for legislation. The thing everyone is making a fuss about is the repeal of the sexual discrimination and equality acts -- New Order reckons there's no need for them now that they are in power, and besides, they think that they are holding women back by implying that they should be happy with only being equal. The rest of it sounded like the stuff they spelled out in their election manifesto, so people can't complain that they are getting something they didn't vote for. The two Ulster Unionist MP's are pissed at having to harmonise their gender-related legislation with the rest of the UK, but they haven't got the leverage they had under the May government, and everyone else is saying ‟Welcome to the 21^st Century".

Wednesday July 7th

Angie brought some stuff back from her party meeting this evening. ‟As your sponsor, I have to get you to sign that I've given you these," she told me.