The short academic day was over. Paddy and the rest of the Department had drifted down to the riverside pub where many students and staff foregathered on summer evenings. The other members of the Department were there, however, in an effort to display their proletarian credentials. They sat in a fairly tight circle, not exactly excluding Paddy, the only non-party-line voter, and notoriously so, among them, but not exactly welcoming him either. Certainly, unlike Paddy, they were not going to be seen drinking with students. A smallish, nondescript man ambled up to them. He, and his attempts to join in…