It’s rained most of the day

Once upon a time the king emailed all his subjects to say that the example his kingdom had set had been so admired by neighbouring kingdoms they asked him to go over and show them how he did it. He couldn’t believe his luck. They had been taken in by how he had made such a spectacular show of consulting his subjects and giving the appearance of extensive collaborations to achieve an outcome that would be of great benefit not only to his subjects but all those who partook of what his kingdom had to offer. He managed to do all that with no intention of doing anything different to what had already been planned by the Overlord Bean Counters. So the neighbouring kingdom offered him pieces of gold and having sold his kingdom down river he made plans to jump ship, waving as he disappeared and saying how good it would be for everyone, a great new future awaits us all (but by the way, I won’t hang around to enjoy it with you). Who knows where our little king will end up ... perhaps he will become a subject of that bigger king from that great land across the sea who thinks everything is up for sale.