Chapter One - European Strategic Development

The file was labelled EUROPEAN STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT, which, to the untrained eye, suggested committees, white papers, and the slow suffocation of ideas beneath policy language. It lived in a grey cabinet among many grey cabinets, in a corridor that had long ago surrendered any claim to daylight. Those who passed it did so without curiosity. That, Mr Charles had always thought, was the first and most necessary layer of security....