11-12-2019, 01:54 AM
Alvarez's New Direction - Part 2
Cabinet Meeting Room, Parliament, Buttercity, Lauchenoiria
11th November 2019 – 7:30am
Josephine Alvarez sat calmly at her place, holding a pen in her clasped hands, and smiling politely at her cabinet ministers as they entered. Each of them reacted in a somewhat startled fashion to see her there before them, glancing at the clock to check they weren’t late. Once they took their seat, they would then look up to notice President Alex Marwick in his seat – which had been empty since August, the President neglecting to ever attend.
Alvarez, while outwardly appearing calm and content, was surveying the mood of each of the ministers. She had been exceptionally pleased when Marwick had shown up dressed smartly, without his usual stupid grin, early and looking like he actually wanted to work. Sandra Pavía looked nervous, and like she hadn’t slept very well, given all her recent worrying about Xiomera. Curtis Dennell, the transport minister, definitely hadn’t slept – and he didn’t even know it had been the Xiomerans.
The others were a mix of curious, tired, impatient and just confused. Samantha Clavell, Minister for Culture and the Arts and the sole Pacifist Party member of the cabinet, was almost falling asleep. She had been at a function yesterday for the re-opening of the Carville Natural History Museum, after the repairs, and had the misfortune to need to catch the sleeper train to be back in the capital on time. Evidently, she hadn’t slept on it.
“Thank you all for coming so early,” Alvarez began once the last member of the cabinet (her deputy, and leader of the Conservative Party Thomas Averforth, who tended to use lateness as a way to irritate her) had arrived. “As I told the media, and any of you who asked, this is not an emergency or a crisis, so please do not worry. Especially you, Sandra, I promise you we aren’t going to war with Xiomera.”
A slight nervous chuckle passed around the room as Pavía blushed. They actually considered that a possibility, didn’t they? thought Alvarez, surprised. The look of relief on the faces of many gathered suggested they had.
“In fact, what I want to discuss today is the positive steps we can take going forward. It is time to draw a line under our time of merely reacting to the things going on around us, and to actually take steps towards changing our country for the better. Yes, it will be difficult – especially given that we are, realistically speaking, only a temporary government given the new elections scheduled for April. But there are things we can do now that don’t include bickering over extraditions and passing laws only to repeal them a couple of months later.”
“I must say, I am glad to hear this,” Averforth replied, pleased. “Of course, I have been saying similar for months, yet nobody seemed to listen. And President Marwick, it is good to see you awake and dressed professionally.”
“Enough of the shade, Averforth,” said Samantha Clavell darkly, then turned to Alvarez. “I agree, we ought to be making positive changes, but I rather think we have a problem: none of us can agree on what changes we want. The Deputy Prime Minister here,” she gestured to Averforth, “wishes to increase military spending while my party is wholly opposed. Yet given that trade deal with Shuell I rather fear my party will be ignored on that matter. Gun control, health policy… we all disagree on pretty much everything other than the matter of the capitalism referendum and the need to increase stability after the war. So how can we have coherent policies?”
“There are plenty disagreements, yes,” conceded Alvarez, “but there are things we can agree on. Take the economy, as an example. All of us here are against a return to communism, although we do come at it from different angles. All of us here wish to better improve relations with other countries – even if we have different motivations. All of us here are committed to making sure that we can heal the divisions caused by the war.”
“Those things do not necessarily mean we can come up with a coherent policy platform – especially since there are contradictions there. If we institute more anti-communist policies it will only serve to heighten the divisions thanks to the communist pushback, for one thing,” pointed out Clavell.
“That is true,” said President Marwick, causing everyone to turn and stare at him in surprise. “Which is why we have to look at what the people actually want. There are things we can do that will please both sides of that divide, without compromising too many of our ideals. Most are agreed that we need to do something about the economy. Austerity measures would be foolish, even if they balanced the budget in the moment, because they would do long-term damage and would lead to resentment, people turning to extremist ideologies and mass protest. I propose a better idea would be to attract foreign investment by altering the tax system to encourage new businesses, both small and large to set up in the country. I would also suggest privatisation and deregulation, but you know how controversial both of those would be.”
The entire cabinet fell silent, staring at the President. Alvarez had a small smile on her face. Eventually, the health minister Renato Rosario raised his hand slightly like a schoolchild.
“Did… did you replace him with some kind of more sensible clone?” he asked of Alvarez.
“What a ridiculous suggestion,” she smiled, chuckling. “To respond to your suggestions, Mr. President, I agree that the matter of corporation tax is something we can tackle. I don’t believe anyone here is greatly opposed to it?”
A couple of people shook their heads. The Conservative ministers seemed especially happy with the proposal, though among the Liberal ministers, their reaction was more muted.
“Any kind of deregulation, particularly environmental, would not be a good idea at this point,” Pavía piped up. “The Climate Alliance protesters are coming out in increasing numbers. Even that traffic control fault was an excuse for them. If we want to keep the peace and strive for stability, I would advise against that.”
“My colleague here is, unfortunately, right,” Averforth sighed. “And the President is correct in saying that privatisation would attract similar protests. However, I think that as long as we are cautious in what industries we choose to privatise, it could boost our budget and the economy, while only attracting a minimal level of objection. We can’t touch the health service without riots, but we could explore some options.”
“See?” Alvarez smiled. “We have ideas, we just needed to be able to come together and explore them. It is time that we stopped hiding away and just waiting for crises and scandals to come to us. We have made mistakes, many mistakes. Yet it is time we moved forward. The extradition debacle is behind us, Peter Bloch is thankfully free and that terrible law is gone. I have reason to believe that, should we choose to halt it here, our dispute with Xiomera may be concluded also. So, here’s what we are going to do. If any of you have a policy proposal you think is workable, bring it to Wednesday’s meeting.”
She picked up the small, neat stack of paperwork in front of her and stood up, as if to move, then glanced back.
“In the meantime, I would just like to say, I’m glad to have you all on board.”
Cabinet Meeting Room, Parliament, Buttercity, Lauchenoiria
11th November 2019 – 7:30am
Josephine Alvarez sat calmly at her place, holding a pen in her clasped hands, and smiling politely at her cabinet ministers as they entered. Each of them reacted in a somewhat startled fashion to see her there before them, glancing at the clock to check they weren’t late. Once they took their seat, they would then look up to notice President Alex Marwick in his seat – which had been empty since August, the President neglecting to ever attend.
Alvarez, while outwardly appearing calm and content, was surveying the mood of each of the ministers. She had been exceptionally pleased when Marwick had shown up dressed smartly, without his usual stupid grin, early and looking like he actually wanted to work. Sandra Pavía looked nervous, and like she hadn’t slept very well, given all her recent worrying about Xiomera. Curtis Dennell, the transport minister, definitely hadn’t slept – and he didn’t even know it had been the Xiomerans.
The others were a mix of curious, tired, impatient and just confused. Samantha Clavell, Minister for Culture and the Arts and the sole Pacifist Party member of the cabinet, was almost falling asleep. She had been at a function yesterday for the re-opening of the Carville Natural History Museum, after the repairs, and had the misfortune to need to catch the sleeper train to be back in the capital on time. Evidently, she hadn’t slept on it.
“Thank you all for coming so early,” Alvarez began once the last member of the cabinet (her deputy, and leader of the Conservative Party Thomas Averforth, who tended to use lateness as a way to irritate her) had arrived. “As I told the media, and any of you who asked, this is not an emergency or a crisis, so please do not worry. Especially you, Sandra, I promise you we aren’t going to war with Xiomera.”
A slight nervous chuckle passed around the room as Pavía blushed. They actually considered that a possibility, didn’t they? thought Alvarez, surprised. The look of relief on the faces of many gathered suggested they had.
“In fact, what I want to discuss today is the positive steps we can take going forward. It is time to draw a line under our time of merely reacting to the things going on around us, and to actually take steps towards changing our country for the better. Yes, it will be difficult – especially given that we are, realistically speaking, only a temporary government given the new elections scheduled for April. But there are things we can do now that don’t include bickering over extraditions and passing laws only to repeal them a couple of months later.”
“I must say, I am glad to hear this,” Averforth replied, pleased. “Of course, I have been saying similar for months, yet nobody seemed to listen. And President Marwick, it is good to see you awake and dressed professionally.”
“Enough of the shade, Averforth,” said Samantha Clavell darkly, then turned to Alvarez. “I agree, we ought to be making positive changes, but I rather think we have a problem: none of us can agree on what changes we want. The Deputy Prime Minister here,” she gestured to Averforth, “wishes to increase military spending while my party is wholly opposed. Yet given that trade deal with Shuell I rather fear my party will be ignored on that matter. Gun control, health policy… we all disagree on pretty much everything other than the matter of the capitalism referendum and the need to increase stability after the war. So how can we have coherent policies?”
“There are plenty disagreements, yes,” conceded Alvarez, “but there are things we can agree on. Take the economy, as an example. All of us here are against a return to communism, although we do come at it from different angles. All of us here wish to better improve relations with other countries – even if we have different motivations. All of us here are committed to making sure that we can heal the divisions caused by the war.”
“Those things do not necessarily mean we can come up with a coherent policy platform – especially since there are contradictions there. If we institute more anti-communist policies it will only serve to heighten the divisions thanks to the communist pushback, for one thing,” pointed out Clavell.
“That is true,” said President Marwick, causing everyone to turn and stare at him in surprise. “Which is why we have to look at what the people actually want. There are things we can do that will please both sides of that divide, without compromising too many of our ideals. Most are agreed that we need to do something about the economy. Austerity measures would be foolish, even if they balanced the budget in the moment, because they would do long-term damage and would lead to resentment, people turning to extremist ideologies and mass protest. I propose a better idea would be to attract foreign investment by altering the tax system to encourage new businesses, both small and large to set up in the country. I would also suggest privatisation and deregulation, but you know how controversial both of those would be.”
The entire cabinet fell silent, staring at the President. Alvarez had a small smile on her face. Eventually, the health minister Renato Rosario raised his hand slightly like a schoolchild.
“Did… did you replace him with some kind of more sensible clone?” he asked of Alvarez.
“What a ridiculous suggestion,” she smiled, chuckling. “To respond to your suggestions, Mr. President, I agree that the matter of corporation tax is something we can tackle. I don’t believe anyone here is greatly opposed to it?”
A couple of people shook their heads. The Conservative ministers seemed especially happy with the proposal, though among the Liberal ministers, their reaction was more muted.
“Any kind of deregulation, particularly environmental, would not be a good idea at this point,” Pavía piped up. “The Climate Alliance protesters are coming out in increasing numbers. Even that traffic control fault was an excuse for them. If we want to keep the peace and strive for stability, I would advise against that.”
“My colleague here is, unfortunately, right,” Averforth sighed. “And the President is correct in saying that privatisation would attract similar protests. However, I think that as long as we are cautious in what industries we choose to privatise, it could boost our budget and the economy, while only attracting a minimal level of objection. We can’t touch the health service without riots, but we could explore some options.”
“See?” Alvarez smiled. “We have ideas, we just needed to be able to come together and explore them. It is time that we stopped hiding away and just waiting for crises and scandals to come to us. We have made mistakes, many mistakes. Yet it is time we moved forward. The extradition debacle is behind us, Peter Bloch is thankfully free and that terrible law is gone. I have reason to believe that, should we choose to halt it here, our dispute with Xiomera may be concluded also. So, here’s what we are going to do. If any of you have a policy proposal you think is workable, bring it to Wednesday’s meeting.”
She picked up the small, neat stack of paperwork in front of her and stood up, as if to move, then glanced back.
“In the meantime, I would just like to say, I’m glad to have you all on board.”
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