QUOTE : I struggled out of bed, and turned on my laptop. There were twenty messages from Sholto. None were particularly friendly, though few of his missives ever were. The first read, ‘I see you’re in hospital. When you get out, download these files. Keep them safe. It could be important.’ I’m not sure why I followed his instructions, but I did. Day after day, I copied the files to my laptop, deleting all the documents, films, and music to make room. When the broadband stopped working, I used the government phone. By the time that stopped working, just after the evacuation began, I’d filled the laptop and the external hard drive on which I’d been storing our plans for the election campaign. I did look at some of the files before the power went out. I listened to the air-traffic control audio-feed from when Air Force Two went down. There were calls