The announcement hit London at a civilized hour and that almost made it worse.
There was no scrambling out of bed. No disoriented reading of something extraordinary on a phone screen in the dark. The people who needed to see it saw it at their desks, in their offices, in the kind of controlled professional environments where reactions were supposed to be managed before they became visible.
The management lasted approximately four minutes.
The first person to finish reading it in the Department of Health and Social Care sat very still for a moment. Then she picked up her phone and called her director. She didn't say anything when he answered. She just read him all of the subscription tier prices, in order, slowly.
He told her he'd call her back, but he didn't call her back for two hours.
