The Stenost IV Disaster took place on Thursday 11 June 2026. Reports often focus on what happened at 09.33:33 when Stennat Prike disconnected primary suspensor unit seven. However, as with many significant disasters throughout federal history the disconnection, which immediately preceded the destruction of Stenost and the loss of all but seven of its 872,000 inhabitants, was preceded by a long series of decisions, errors and omissions which together contributed to the circumstances on that fell morning.
Following the public inquiry led by Tanner Sharat, an expensive and exhaustive exercise which to its credit identified each of the contributory actions and examined them all in minute detail over its seven-year investigation. The federal council stunned journalists and pundits alike by publishing the report in its original form. Entirely without the routine censoring which has been the hallmark of the Grask government.
Some claim this was itself a clerical error, with some junior clerk authorising the publication without the proper authority. Others consider it to be one of the most supreme political plays of the last four hundred years. Mistake or no, the publication has done more for public confidence than most would have imagined possible.
The detailed and relentless report explored in minute detail how and why the disaster came about. Stennat Prike was convicted of negligence post-mortem, which most regard as a necessary but essentially meaningless act. The most important part of his conviction being that it opened the doors to the thousands of both post-mortem and live convictions which followed.
The second master-stroke was the decision to assign community service in every case. While some of the offences were . The consensus being that he would most likely have been leaning over the housing when he began to reduce the torque on the bolts which held…
Wow, this story is not writing itself
Wow, this story is not writing itself. Sometimes it is quite easy to knock out a few words, but this one just keeps giving me pause. I am not sure why, perhaps I am trying to imitate the style of other authors, which is of course hard because I am not them. I think differently and my ideas flow out of me in a different way.
Reading 1Q84 yesterday I was struck by how enjoyable the writing is to listen to. The story meanders a little, but that’s ok. Like driving to a place when you have no set time you need to be there and can simply enjoy the process rather than focusing on the destination and the arrival time.
This is how I drove to the office this morning. I stuck closely to 60 miles per hours. Tucking myself behind a lorry which I then followed the whole way around the M25. It’s more relaxing this way and I reminded myself it is easier on the car, more efficient, and I was in no special rush in any case.
What perhaps does require some refinement is what I do when I get to the office. I grab a coffee and set up my desk quickly enough, but the conversations with other people and the hellos and interruptions make it very difficult to think about anything in any real detail.
I have some personal tasks I would like to get out of the way, but this is impractical when I sit at my usual desk. People just keep coming over. Or I find myself going over to say hello to them.