by Carl Andrew
They packed their belongings and Leon’s brother Ally drove them to the train station.
Back to reality, thought Leon as he and Abby boarded the train.
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Late August – Silicon Fen, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Interface Science Labs had exceeded expectations. The first batch of liquid chips had come off the production line two weeks ahead of schedule.
The testing phase had gone according to plan and the app was fully developed awaiting approval to enter the various mobile platform stores ready for download.
It meant that Manchester, Bath and Norwich were ready to receive the first delivery of chips, with the NHS having agreed to administer them as they were rolled out nationally.
Really, it wasn’t an agreement as much as a forced scenario over a promise of additional funding.
Things were moving along at a pace now and excitement was starting to build.
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A few weeks later - Finsbury Park, London
Leon and Abby had been following the development and testing of the liquid chips over the last few months.
In July, Leon had even scored a visit to the lab to see how the chips were created. It was a fascinating experience for him and he really appreciated the open approach from Interface Science Labs.
He was impressed by the rigorous process and focus on quality as well as safety. It was encouraging to see that a company working to such a tight deadline could do things right. Also, the staff seemed genuinely happy and enthusiastic to be there.
From the outside it looked like the perfect enterprise. He struggled to find a flaw. That made him scrutinise the company even more. It was a typical reaction from a journalist.
He had also witnessed someone in Reading taking the chip for the first time. He was surprised at how simple a process it was. Just like taking a normal vitamin pill, nothing to it.
He had written a recent blog post inviting people to share their stories with him from the initial test areas.
Since that post went out, he had received an influx of positive stories and experiences following the introduction of the liquid chips.
One older lady in Norwich had mentioned that she had gone into town for dinner with friends for the first time in five years, such was the change that had come about. She proudly mentioned that she hadn’t had to pay a behaviour charge yet on anything she had purchased.
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Manchester, Greater Manchester
He left work early and collected his car from the parking area. Driving along the main thoroughfare out of the city to the west, he was conscious of a car in front of him acting erratically.
Sure enough, about 500 feet further up the road the car veered into his lane with no indication and missed his car by a matter of inches.
Furious, the red mist descended and he tore up the right hand lane to get side by side with the offending vehicle. He blasted the horn and stuck his finger up at the mid-30s female driving the car.
She was terrified. Not only was she in a town she was unfamiliar with, she was also hopelessly lost, her indicator light was out and she had just discovered she was in the wrong lane. Now she had a psychotic man terrorising her.
He continued to beep his horn as she pulled to the side of the road in tears.
Mission accomplished, he thought to himself.
He picked his wife up from their home en route to the new bar in town for a night out together. It was date night for them and they hadn’t been out in the centre of the city for such a long time.
Truth is they were scared to venture out before the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill had been passed and was now an Act.
They had noticed a shift in attitude among their friends and acquaintances as well as hearing reports of a dramatic drop in violent interludes. So they decided to brave a trip out.
Arriving at the bar, they noticed lots more people their age milling about. It was like the old days before all the trouble had started.
They felt comfortable, safe. It was an odd feeling but a welcome one.
They walked into the bar and went to get a drink. An attractive girl stood at the right hand side. He noticed her, she noticed him noticing her.
The barman came over to them.
“I’ll have a pint of Golden and a glass of Pinot please,” the man said.
The barman smiled and went to fix the drinks. The man checked the girl out again and gave her a quick smile when he noticed his wife was looking the other way. The girl reciprocated.
A few minutes later the barman returned with some drinks. He totalled up the bill and said: “That will be £8.60 please…” at that moment something flashed on the mobile device in his hand. He glanced down and then looked up rather apologetically.
“Err… actually,” he said with a tinge of embarrassment. “That will be £10.32.”
The man looked at his wife and then back to the barman. “I don’t get it,” he replied. “You said it would be £8.60, what changed?”
“Yes you’re right Sir, but I’m afraid that my device here showed that you had acted badly prior to ordering so you have been charged the additional Behaviour Tax on your drinks. You’ve been chipped right?”
Being chipped was the new vernacular that had become commonplace in the test locations for describing someone who had ingested the liquid chip.
“Yeah, I took the pill last week but I haven’t done anything wrong,” The man protested.
“According to this you have. I’m afraid I can’t change the price, but you’re welcome to make a complaint to the Behaviour Line,” the barman replied.
The Behaviour Line was the customer service number set up to deal with any queries or concerns about the Behaviour Charge from members of the public. It acted much like an ombudsman.
The man’s wife jumped in and said: “Give him the money, for all we know it could’ve been the fact you’ve been checking out that slapper over there,” looking in the direction of the attractive girl by the bar as she spoke.
“Oh shit,” said the man. “I know what happened. I swore and acted aggressively to another driver when I was coming to pick you up today. That must be it.”
He paid the barman. A distinct feeling of embarrassment remained with him but also a sense of remorse for how he had behaved earlier that day to the other motorist.
From that point, he made a promise to himself to change his behaviour moving forward.
The same promise was made by a number of people in each of the test areas. The liquid chips were starting to have an effect, not just literally, but mentally.
People were starting to realise what this new Act meant to them and how they behaved as well as what was considered bad behaviour and what was deemed acceptable.
Leaflets, information online and community presentations along with TV advertising had all been provided by the Government to help people identify what was considered anti-social behaviour. But still, some people only made the connection when they had been caught out. It was all a process of learning.
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Finsbury Park, London
With Abby out catching up with her mum for lunch, Leon took the opportunity of a quiet day to review the constant stream of stories he’d received from readers about their experiences of the liquid chip.
He wanted to draft a summary piece to review the policy ahead of the Government releasing their own results about the success of the initiative, which was due out in the next couple of days.
He was both amazed and fascinated about the positivity he felt coming through the messages he’d received. Could this finally be the long term solution the whole country was hoping for?
He had certainly noticed a real change in attitudes of people living in the six initial test areas.
In fact, members
of the public who were not living in those areas were demanding the concept be rolled out across the country as soon as possible.
They had heard of the improvements sweeping across Manchester, Bath, Norwich, Derby, Aberdeen and Reading from things they read in the newspaper and on social media as well as things they’d discussed with friends or family who lived in those areas.
In fact, coverage of the test areas was significant across all of the TV channels. There was even a reality TV programme following people who had previously been convicted of violent acts to see if they could change as a result of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act.
It appeared to Leon that the country had gone liquid chip mad but he couldn’t deny the first-hand accounts he’d received in his inbox.
He started handwriting a plan for the blog post. An hour later, he had his story mapped out and started typing:
Anti-social behaviour declines as Britons flock to reclaim town centres
The central areas of Manchester, Bath, Norwich, Derby, Aberdeen and Reading were previously considered no go zones due to violent attacks that had plagued the country for a number of years.
Today, these same places are thriving hubs of activity as locals and visitors head back into their City Centres to enjoy nights out, many for the first time in over five years.
Just over six months ago, the Lawson Government was under fire for a series of errors and misjudgements before they announced the Anti-Social Behaviour Act.
The Bill introduced a liquid chip ingestion programme, a result of months of research by the Institute of Behavioural Science led by Dr Jennifer Hopwood.
It was initially met with some level of support among the public but also left a number of unanswered questions as well as uncertainty.
Half a year on and the results have been astounding. While there has been a huge amount of anecdotal evidence suggesting anti-social behaviour had largely been eradicated, the impact on businesses has also been a positive.
Local businesses including restaurants and bars in the test area city centres have reported a huge increase in customer traffic as well as significant profits.
Where many avoided taking over leases for commercial property in central areas, those who took the leap of faith and opened up businesses based on hope that the liquid chips would work have been well rewarded.
We spoke with John Stanley recently who runs The Roundabout, a bar in central Norwich, and asked him about his experience so far. He told The Day Today:
“When we took on the lease, my wife was worried it was a huge risk. However, I truly believed in the Government’s new policy and thought it was too good an opportunity to turn down.”
“I took the plunge and haven’t looked back. It took about a week or two before people started venturing into town but now, we are booked out days in advance for our restaurant area and people queue up to come in for drinks.”
“We’ve been able to take on a number of new staff and that can only be good for the future of Norwich. In fact, the only people we’ve had to let go have been the security staff.”
“We initially hired two security guys because we weren’t sure if there would still be pockets of trouble. It turned out after two weeks that we didn’t need them after all.”
The story is the same in Reading. We spoke with mum of two Lorraine Makowski who told us:
“I can’t believe it. My two boys are 6 and 4. They had only ever seen the town centre through the windows of our car. Then, a few weeks ago, I persuaded my husband to go out into the town centre for dinner.”
“He was a little worried because it was still early on in the test programme. We both queued up to get chipped the day after it was announced by the Government but there were still reports of some fights and robberies during the following week.”
“These started to subside and he finally agreed to try it. We took the kids to a burger place and had a lovely time. We’ve been going back into town regularly ever since.”
While the stories have been largely positive, there have been some elements of criticism levelled at the new Act.
Some people have complained about the chips affecting privacy with a few suggesting that it had caused problems in their relationship with their partner.
A couple of people we spoke to, who asked to remain anonymous, said they had been caught cheating.
The chips flagged bad behaviour when they were looking to purchase something. Their partners used that information as confirmation of long standing fears about their loyalty.
Some questioned whether the Compliance Tax only affected people of a certain financial standing and that those wealthy enough to avoid ingesting the chip could still act anti-socially.
Furthermore, the vile website ‘State of Hate’ has seen a huge drop in the number of videos and stories of brutal beatings and acts of violence since the policy was announced, but there are still new ones appearing, albeit at a trickle.
These are just a few of the issues the Government is going to have to respond to before deciding on how to roll the system out more widely.
For now, however, the report card for the Government reads B+. Well done for keeping the promise to eradicate violence from the streets.
After a couple of false starts, the Anti-Social Behaviour Act has largely been a success in the areas tested to date.
It will be interesting to see whether the view on the street is reflected in the crime figures for these test areas when they are released next week.
If you have any stories or opinions you’d like to share on this blog post or others on The Day Today, please comment below or email us at [email protected]
Leon read through the post and was happy with what he had written. He clicked to publish anticipating the comments that were to come.
Chapter 23:
10 Downing Street, London
David, Vanessa and Russell had met with the Home Secretary the day before. The crime figures were more positive than they could have hoped for.
The six test areas of Manchester, Bath, Norwich, Derby, Aberdeen and Reading had seen a staggering 65% reduction in violent crime and burglaries on average.
From these figures alone, it would appear the policy and the liquid chips had been a roaring success.
When, taken in unison with the positive stories emanating from these areas as well as the increase in commercial wealth reported by the various business groups, the impact was undeniable.
David had called a follow up meeting to discuss whether to roll the liquid chips out nationally. It was a pretty simple decision based on the results to date but it still needed ratification.
The relationship between David and Vanessa was still a little strained and Russell felt somewhat awkward being stuck in the middle but as he entered the ante-room outside of David’s office he acted as professionally as possible.
He knew there was a job to do and they had to get on with it.
Vanessa arrived a couple of minutes later. They entered together.
“Morning Russell, Vanessa. Thanks for coming. I’m keen to discuss our next steps for the roll out of the liquid chips,” David said in a matter of fact way, none of the usual pleasantries.
“Now, it’s pretty clear that things have gone well so far. The crime figures show it and if social media is anything to go by, then we have a happy public,” Vanessa and Russell nodded in agreement.
“However, even though we know the likelihood of expanding the programme is high, we have to go through the due diligence of reviewing the Health Committee report into the A&E figures from the test areas.”
“Also, we need to know if Interface Science Labs can produce the chips in the quantity required to roll out nationally.”
“Russell, you have the Health Committee report, what do you make of it?”
“Thank you David. Yes we asked the Health Committee to produce a report using A&E figures from the test areas to see if the number of victims of violence had dropped. It was important to have figures fr
om a different source to corroborate what the crime figures showed.”
“Reading through the report, it was clear to see that A&E departments have seen a significant drop in the number of people they are seeing.”
“The numbers of patients they could conceivably put down to being victims of violence have dropped by around 76% on average across the six test case areas.”
“This is obviously a positive sign and supports the crime figures but something else of interest is that there has been a sizeable economic saving made as a result of the reduction in demand for A&E resources.”
“This more than compensates for the additional requirements these departments have taken on to administer the liquid chips,” Russell concluded.
“Russell, that’s excellent news. Vanessa, have you spoken to the team at Interface Science Labs?” David said barely looking in Vanessa’s direction as he spoke.
“Yes, they’ve continued the momentum they built up producing the liquid chips for the six test areas.”
“When I talked with them yesterday, they reported to me that they have enough stock of the chips for us to be able to expand the programme to the major metropolitan cities in the UK immediately.”
“They would then need an additional three months to produce enough chips to cover the rest of the UK population,” Vanessa spoke in a neutral tone looking at both Russell and David as she went through her report.
“Good, so that’s the formalities out of the way, we do have to consider the issue of the wealthier sectors of society not taking the chips.”
“I’m sure you both saw the newspaper poll that showed that 80% of people felt that this was the main drawback to the Anti-Social Behaviour Act to date?” It was more a rhetorical question than one expecting a response.
“It’s a challenge because they can afford to pay the Compliance Tax so we need to find an alternative way to engage them,” Russell responded.