Free 1990 by Wilfred Greatorex Page A

the best out of the medium.
    Barrel-chested and with head flung back, he had been standing carefully positioned to the cameras. Now he suddenly hunched forward, composing his coarsely handsome features into an expression of paternal rebuke.
    'What I'm saying is that some papers have been putting out lies about a responsible body of men and women, who are now a vital part of the public service. I refer to the Inspectors of Culture...'
    Behind him, Skardon's professional eyes swivelled over the group of listeners. Then the Controller turned sharply to Tasker, 'Where's Kyle?'
    Both Deputies began scrutinising the crowd.
    '...They pose no threat to the liberal arts...none to writers...none to artists...none to the drama...' the Home Secretary was insisting, with apparent sincerity. 'They are here to help, to see that the State does its duty as a patron of the arts.'
    Skardon whispered hoarsely at Tasker from the side of his mouth, 'He's certainly not here. Find out where the hell he is.'
    And, as Tasker crept towards the platform exit, Norton's voice was heard asking, 'What exactly are their duties, Home Secretary?'
    Dan Mellor looked at the young journalist with the hurt air of a man who feels let down that someone should doubt his integrity.
    Tasker made his way quickly to the Surveillance Room. The atmosphere, when he arrived there, was hardly buzzing with efficiency. A group of checkers was gossiping in one corner. One of the operators had a transistor blaring and, at the central desk, Randall was engrossed in a paperback. It was obvious that none of them had expected any interruption during the Minister's visit to the building.
    Tasker stole up silently behind the supervisor, and said, with loud authority, 'Kyle, please.'
    Randall jumped visibly, blundered to his feet and hurried to a monitor showing a green blip in the centre of its screen.
    'Here, I'd say. On the premises,' he declared, blinking nervously. 'Here among us, in the conference room very likely.'
    'Oh no, he's not,' Tasker bullied. 'That's the one place I know he isn't in.'
    But the supervisor had regained his balance and stated, firmly, 'These sets don't lie, Mr Tasker.'
    Tasker slipped back into the conference hall, while the Home Secretary was still preaching.
    'We really are at the end of the road when you blokes suspect the State, even when it brings in the most progressive measures to improve the quality of life...'
    'Improve or control, Home Secretary?' Norton challenged, rashly. 'Couldn't this new inspectorate, these new Inspectors of Culture, be no more than censors?'
    'I can tell which paper you're from,' Dan Mellor retaliated with false jollity.
    The other journalists and TV men tittered and Tasker took the opportunity to murmur to his boss, 'Kyle's here. He's in this room.'
    'Oh no, he's bloody not!' was the angry reply.
    Suspecting what had happened, Skardon's stare settled, balefully, on Norton. The Home Secretary was replying, 'I'm sure some of you who are so sensitive about liberty now, would not be quite so free to ask questions if the Army had taken over four years ago, As they tried to.'
    'Home Secretary, you can hardly call two generals and one dotty Air Marshal a junta!' Norton needled, impertinently. 'All they did was meet secretly in a club for geriatric generals. Some putsch!'
    Dan Mellor's eyes blazed, his benign act publicly forgotten. It was obvious he would have had the independent reporter transported to the Tower, had that been possible. As it was, he threw a very menacing look at his supporting PCD cast. In turn, Skardon, Delly Lomas and Tasker eyed Norton vindictively, mentally marking him down for some black list.
    Before long, he would hardly need to carry Kyle's bug around. He would be a blip in his own right.
    Spring had made improvements to the prosaic council estate, introducing buds to bare branches and massed flowers to the geometric beds cut into the grass and children to the concrete play-spaces. But none of these were