The Writers' Circle

Lindsey Beckingham-Hyde had always been fashionable. She could not remember a time when she had not been. During her childhood in London's Mayfair, and her education at the private school in Bloomsbury she had always been clothed in high quality, fashionable garments. Being close to all of the best stores helped, as did the very generous allowance from her wealthy parents. She mixed in the best of society, and it was normal for her to regard the finest things in life as being things to which she had a right of birth. She could see no wrong in this. How could she! Every one of her friends were of the same select circle and she had no understanding of how others lived. If she were to think about it- which was rarely - she would blithely assume that the poor were poor through a lack of intelligence rather than a lack of opportunity.

When Lindsey left her finishing school, her parents suggested that she might find something to occupy her time until the inevitable marriage to the offspring of one of their friends. 
Lindsey regarded her greatest intellectual asset as having the ability to select clothes and articles in fashionable colours and styles, and so it was not a great shock when she announced that she was going to be an interior designer. This would involve no manual labour or tiresome science, but merely the ability to express what was "in" at the moment and advise accordingly. She could charge her friends who were setting up home substantial fees for her services, and when she ran out of them, there were plenty of rich influential people known to her parents who would employ her on various projects.

She was very successful in her chosen profession, or art as she preferred to call it. To be fair to her, she did know at all times what the current expensive fad doing the rounds happened to be. When colours and fashions came in she would advise her clients correctly, and over time she became well known as a trend guru. This extended to having her own column ghost written for her in some of the hyper-classy style magazines.

Thus it was that when the executive board of the Pudford City Development Corporation were looking to spend a large amount of the taxpayers money on revamping Pudford, they approached Lindsey to act as an executive style adviser. It was thought that the inclusion of Miss Beckingham-Hyde would lend a certain class to the project. The very generous package that they offered included the proviso that Lindsey be seen to be involved at the highest level of decision making.
Lindsey herself was happy to oblige. The publicity would raise her iconic status even higher than it already was. She also agreed to move into Pudford's closest version of a luxury flat for the 12 months duration of the revitalisation project. Or at least have some of her mail delivered there.

Pudford City itself did not have a great deal going for it. Miles away from anywhere of any importance, it was an ex-industrial sprawl of empty engineering factories and poor housing with no natural beauty to speak of. At one time there had been a certain pride in being a Pudfordian, but no longer. When the industry went, the talented went with it, and only the helpless, the old and the disenfranchised had remained.

At the first working meeting of the development corporation Lindsey was asked her views on the best way to make Pudford a world class destination. She had been thinking about this for some time, and it appeared to her that whatever was done, colours would play an important part. She had seen some absolutely exquisite lighting effects in some of the London art galleries and thought that the use of coloured lighting would be the first step in transforming Pudford from the dump it appeared to be into something more stylish. She expounded on this theory for some time, and as a style guru her thoughts carried immense importance. She explained that the vital thing was to use the right colours, and as the colour currently in mode was red, it should be used extensively. She suggested that some of the street lighting be changed from the current common white or yellow to red. This would give the public areas a warm friendly feel. The thoughts of Miss Lindsey Beckingham-Hyde were very well received by the assembled managers and administrators. None of whom as well paid civil servants had the misfortune to have to live in the place.

When the clerk of works was told that henceforth much of the city's public street-lights now needed to be changed to red, he thought that it was the most absurd idea that he had ever heard of and said so. He pointed out to the Implementation Director of the development corporation that as clerk of works he had years of experience coupled with years of technical training, and that there were very good reasons why the street lights were the colour that they were. In turn he was told that if he wanted to retain one of the few jobs in the area, he would do what he was told. He was paid to do things rather than interfere in strategy, and he would do well to remember that fact. This argument was not lost on him, and so he detailed the City workforce to change the bulbs in all of the street lights.

Much money was spent on publicizing Pudford's new lighting scheme and a lavish switching on ceremony was staged.
When the new red street lights were switched on before an admiring press, they did indeed cast a warm glow across the city. Buildings and wastelands did indeed look less harsh when bathed in soft red lighting. It appeared that the money given to Miss Beckingham-Hyde had been well spent.

As any first year physics student will tell you, if you illuminate a room solely in red light and then switch on an additional red light, a table lamp with a red bulb say, you will not be able to distinguish the fact that said table lamp contains a red bulb. The colour simply will not be discernible. This is not a problem unless it is important that you identify that the light is red. Such as on things like traffic lights and car brake lights.

During the first three weeks of operation, it was estimated that Pudford's red lighting system caused 14 deaths, 345 serious injuries and cost the economy in excess of 30 million pounds.

As Lindsey sped back down the motorway in her Porsche to London, she thought ruefully to herself that it was a good thing that no-one of any importance in the capitol had ever heard of Pudford.