Never

by Ken Follett

“Commonsense conservatism” had been her slogan: no extremes, no abuse, no prejudice. She stood for low-risk foreign policy, low-key policing, and low-tax government. But millions of voters still hankered after a big-talking macho leader, and Moore was winning their support.

was one of Milt’s sayings. He believed that few voters understood anything that could not be put on a T-shirt. The fact that Milt was so often right made him more obnoxious. Pauline said: “I want to win, Milt.”

Pippa had to learn not to let an argument become a fight. Pauline had to steer her carefully. Like most political problems, this could not be solved by brute force, only by finesse.

“Much as we’d all like to see the back of Supreme Leader Kang, he’s better than chaos. As the proverb says, if you’re offered two bad apples you pick the least rotten one. And that’s Kang.”

“Both sides would try to destroy the enemy’s missile-launching facilities and also target major cities. At a minimum, China would bomb New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the town we’re sitting in, Washington DC.”