Hail Britannia!

Part 1

Arriving home after several post-protest drinks, Michael opened his window, stretched a condom over the Fire Alert Unit and lit a cigarette. He opened his laptop, put on, for what must have been the hundredth time in life, the Dubliners classic 50th anniversary concert. He reached for a small black box hidden at the back of his top drawer. Opening it carefully, he took out the heart-shaped locket held within. He looked at the picture inside and examined the Gaelic inscription, 'Fillean an feall ar an bhfeallaire'; 'What goes around comes around'. It had belonged to his great-grandmother Orla, who had served with distinction in the Cumann na mBan. He'd only known her through stories, as she died long before he was born, but he always felt connected to the idea of her resistance.

He looked back into the box and the small bundle of letters there from his mother. He'd only been at university for a few months and she'd already written several times. He never understood why they couldn't just talk on the phone or online, but he did find the permanence of her words reassuring, and could almost picture her sat at the old kitchen table, hunched over and writing to him, haranguing his father for a message to add as a postscript. ''Ask him if he's found a nice girl yet!'' would be the inevitable reply.

A police drone hummed quietly outside his window, doing one of their regular sweeps. He pulled the curtain across to hide his cigarette.

He'd come to England to get a change of scenery; a late university starter at 21, he'd been working in a pub back home since he left school to try and save a bit of money to enjoy himself for the first few months. He found himself a small room in a six-storey student block, and made friends on his first night by sharing two litres of Powers and an eighth of weed he'd brought with him, teaching his flatmates swearwords in Irish all night.

He loved living in England and his new flatmates. There were 2 English guys; one from Liverpool and one from Birmingham, a French girl from Lyon and a master's student, Duncan, from East Kilbride, who'd explained that he wanted to move back to halls to recapture his first uni experience, and he'd done well so far, notching up at least 3 different shags and averaging a solid 2 bottles of wine a night for at least the last few weeks.

As Michael put the box back into his drawer and stubbed out his smoke, he heard the noise of people bundling down the corridor. Thinking it'd be his flatmates coming back from a night out, he walked towards the door to see if anyone fancied a couple of nightcaps. He was in the mood for a post-mortem of the protest, and to see how his flatmates made out. They'd been separated at a police barrier and he'd wandered into a pub to text them and see if they could reconvene, but had heard nothing back.

As he put his hand on the door handle, he heard the crackle of a police radio and his guts turned to ice. The message came across 'Outside suspect's room, primed for entry, over!'. 'Go, go, go!' came the taut reply, and a moment later the officers of the GMP's Political Safety Squad smashed the door open, catching him in the face and knocking him on the ground. As he tasted the coppery taint of blood in his mouth, one of the masked officers leaned over him and informed him, solemnly: 'Well, well, well, you're fucked now, son!'

Part 2

Extract from 'The New British Chronicle', 18/02/2031

The first public execution since 1868 took place at a venue just outside Manchester yesterday. The criminal was Michael O'Dowd, an Irish student studying Biomedical Science at the University of Manchester. He was arrested shortly after anti-government protests in the first week after the newly-elected Prime Minister had taken power, and convicted shortly after.

At his trial, one of the first high-profile cases since the 'Res Ipsa Loquitur' system removed the need for a jury, the evidence was damning. O'Dowd was found by the Justice algorithm to have been in breach of no less than 7 new laws introduced by the British Reunification Party's sweeping legal reforms, including possession of terrorist materials and promotion of a minority language.

The Prime Minister attended the hanging and sat front and centre in the gallery. When asked for comment he had the following to say: ''It is unfortunate that this young man chose to throw his life away before the Repatriation Act gave him a chance at reeducation. However, we must make one thing clear. This country can no longer bend the knee to subversive elements. The university student of today is the terrorist of tomorrow, and I doubt an Irishman would have made much contribution to his field anyway, unless he were to plant crops in it!'

The Home Secretary commented further 'What we see today is a new dawn for the safety and security of the people of Great Britain. No one wants their day to be hijacked by protesters. Least of all those who would celebrate terrorists such as this young man. My only hope is that we can tackle this problem at the root before it takes hold and further measures are needed. We've beaten threats like this before, and by God we'll do it again.'

The Chronicle supports the Government's bold measures, and is delighted to announce that the official video of the hanging is exclusively available for streaming on our website. The reaction on social media was positive, with many saying they are already looking forward to the double execution next month of the notorious Birmingham homosexuals found attempting to indoctrinate their adopted child into perversion.

Three cheers for Prime Minister Rothman, British justice, and as always; Hail Britannia!