There was nothing revolutionary about her remarks, nothing that Peggy, on reflection, hadn’t thought herself. What was impressive was the calm, persuasive way in which Kapoor went to the heart of her subject: without prejudice as lawyers would say, dissecting the points before arriving at a conclusion. Whether one agreed with it or not, one could only admire her dispassionate thoughtfulness.
There were many questions after the talk, and not everyone present seemed to appreciate Kapoor’s ability to look at both sides of a question. A few were actively hostile, implying that she was colluding in the massive programmes of government surveillance, which – they didn’t have to say it, it seemed to be assumed – were operating unchecked in the UK and USA. As the Q&A finally seemed to peter out, Tim suddenly shot up his hand.
‘Is there any credible evidence that surveillance by governments of the kind you seemed to be justifying tonight… I’m thinking especially about the indiscriminate interception of internet communications… has done one jot to prevent terrorist attacks?’
Peggy suppressed a strong desire to give her boyfriend a good kick. How many evenings had she sat tensely at home, waiting for the results of another investigation, unable to tell him any detail about her work? If only you knew, she thought angrily.
Jasminder Kapoor nodded politely as Tim went on. ‘More generally, is there actually any evidence that surveillance protects us more than invades us?’
Jasminder thought for a moment. ‘I’d have thought so. Though obviously I’m not in a position to quote chapter and verse as I don’t have access to the information.’ She looked at him from the rostrum, slightly impatiently. ‘Look, I’m not here tonight as an apologist for state intrusions. And the last thing I want to see is carte blanche given to the authorities simply because they say it has to be that way in order to protect us. But at the same time, there is a danger – let’s be clear about that. Al Qaeda, Islamic State, Boko Haram – these are extremist groups intent on indiscriminate slaughter, and there are individuals and small groups who follow them and want to achieve some sort of heroic status by violence. Many of them are experts at using all the new forms of communication, particularly to recruit young people to join them. It seems to me that giving the state proportionate powers to keep tabs on these people, provided the use of those powers is supervised and controlled by law, is appropriate. To think otherwise is, in my view, naïve at best, dangerous at worst.’
Tim was shaking his head. ‘You haven’t answered my question. Is there any evidence that surveillance does any good? Or do we have to take it on faith?’ he added scornfully.
Jasminder looked at him coolly. ‘If you’re asking if we should take it for granted that government agencies are working on our behalf and not against us, then my answer is a qualified yes. Governments and their agencies need oversight, they need accountability; I’m completely committed to ensuring we have both of them. But they also need our recognition that they are working to protect us.’
This sounded deeply felt, if not designed to win the applause of her audience. Peggy found it annoying that Tim was still cynically shaking his head, and was relieved when the chairperson stepped forward and called an end to the Q&A.
After the talk there were drinks in a common room for the audience, but Tim seemed reluctant to go. ‘Oh, let’s,’ said Peggy, thinking that otherwise the evening was going to end with an argument over leftover macaroni cheese back in their flat. A dismal prospect.
‘Why?’
‘I’d like to meet the speaker. I thought she was very impressive.’
Tim groaned. ‘If we must,’ he said grudgingly.
At first they just talked to some of Tim’s colleagues and drank the warm white wine. The consensus seemed to be that the lecturer had been brave to tackle the subject but had not been altogether convincing. There was a blonde woman who joined them after a bit; she was expensively dressed in a smart coat and polished leather boots, and didn’t look to Peggy like an academic. A journalist maybe. Whoever she was, she was very interested in the subject, and she and Tim were soon deep in conversation about the talk while Peggy kept one eye on Jasminder Kapoor – she was surrounded by an argumentative group of dissenters, and seemed to be having rather a rough time. At last, her critics let up for a moment, and seeing this, Peggy went over to introduce herself.
Face to face, the Jasminder who had appeared so confident on the rostrum seemed a little shy. Peggy’s opening remark that she must be exhausted made her smile and from then on the conversation took off. She was clearly delighted to talk about something other than civil liberties and, when Peggy admired her embroidered jacket, told her about her mother in India who had sent it. Peggy had noticed from her seat in the second row the nasty bruise on Jasminder’s cheek, even though she had clearly tried to disguise it with makeup. ‘What happened?’ she asked.
Jasminder laughed. ‘I’m sure I should say it’s nothing, but actually it was rather awful. I got it the other night. Two men tried to mug me when I was walking home from the theatre. Fortunately someone came past and chased them off. They ran away and dropped my bag and briefcase – but I got this and some other bruises that you can’t see.’ And she touched the purplish mark on her face gently.
‘How terrible,’ said Peggy. She could see that for all her lightness of tone, Jasminder had been through a shocking experience. ‘Did the police catch them?’
‘They didn’t get the chance. The man who chased them off said they’d be long gone; he thought calling the police would be a waste of time.’
This seemed wrong to Peggy, but then she hadn’t been the one attacked. ‘Well, he sounds pretty heroic. Did they do him any harm? Did they have weapons?’
‘One of them had a knife. But this man just kicked it out of his hand. It was like something out of a film. Quite thrilling if I hadn’t been so scared.’
Peggy laughed. ‘Well, you didn’t seem very scared by the attackers tonight. I’m sorry about Tim; he was the one who asked the last question. He’s a colleague of yours at King’s – he’s in the English department. I thought you saw him off excellently. We live together but I don’t share his views.’
They kept chatting easily for a few minutes, and when Jasminder asked Peggy what she did for a living, Peggy barely hesitated. ‘I’m at the Ministry of Defence. I work in HR.’
The other woman looked at her thoughtfully, as if she had heard this white lie before. She either decided to believe it, or else to pretend to believe it, for she moved on and started talking about how much she disliked winter in London. Then after a few minutes she announced she had to go to dinner with her hosts, as well as some other colleagues. ‘But I’d love to talk to you some more some time. Would you like to meet for lunch?’
‘I’d like that very much,’ said Peggy. They exchanged numbers and went their separate ways. Peggy rejoined Tim, who was grumbling with a colleague about their teaching loads. ‘So you met the great apologist, I see,’ he said sourly.
‘I like her,’ said Peggy firmly, and after that to her relief Tim left the subject alone.
6
It had been ten days since she had been attacked, the bruises had gone and Jasminder had decided she was over it. She wasn’t going to think about it any more, and above all she wasn’t going to let it alter her life one bit. She had walked by herself down Barnsbury Street and alongside the gardens of the square twice now, though admittedly not at eleven o’clock at night. She’d gone back to work the following day, though she had felt very shaky. She’d taken her tutorials at the college and gone on in the afternoons to the charity where she advised clients on cases involving civil liberties or immigration (often both at the same time). She’d even managed to give her public lecture a few days after the incident, where she’d handled some difficult questions from members of the audience, some of whom had clearly come expecting to hear something rather different from what she’d said.