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A local politician was being accused of fathering six children by six different women. “He has expressed surprise at these allegations,” the paper reported, “but has admitted to two of them.” Ulf sighed again. What did it matter? It was far too late to stop people breeding irresponsibly; it was far too late, in fact, to stop anybody doing anything. And yet, that was what he was paid to do. He, and Anna, and Carl were paid by the state, regularly and quite generously, to stop people from doing things that society deemed unacceptable. That was what they did—or were meant to do.
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