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AH Run-downs, summaries and general gubbins

8th March 2019: Report from Dahomey

Hey, everyone. Time for another attempt to explain our broken political system to the british. How after you all could you possibly understand the complex mixture of post imperial guilt, nationalist leftism and hatred of the French that motivates us? Oh, wait.

Ruling Coalition

Yoruba Liberation front: President Oke continues to claim that all of the money that the Americans invested in their new railways, factories and ports was spent on infrastructure and none of it ended up disappearing into his pockets. I'd almost feel insulted if that was actually true. Like, he's been happy enough to steal our tax money for years, what makes the yanks special?

Fon Democratic Party: Mayor Zinzou is under huge pressure after his lack of response to all the homeless people created by the Abomey inferno. Fortunately he can continue to pretend all criticism of his corruption, inaction and bending to foreign interests is entirely because he's a vodun follower rather than a christian. Aren't identity politics fun?

Akan Peoples Party: How is Akufo-Addo still a thing? He only got the top job because Boni literally started advertising pyramid schemes as finance minister, and then he bungled the war in Benin, refused to make peace with Porto-Novo and started copying word for word the speeches of Chinese politicians while hoping noone would notice. And despite all this, he's now in charge of spending the World Court Climate Fund money for green renewal, or at least what little of it Oke isn't going to pocket. So great news for the Volta region there! Hopefully one of his aides can remind him that Oyo actually exists at some point.

Mahi Democratic Movement: The housing protests in Nova Arda continue to rumble on. Obviously the government have worked out that running a lottery where you give away housing and land rights from one ethnic group to another based on money spent is a poisonous idea and will have backed away from it, right? Ha, ha only joking, they've decided because of the guns smuggled into the city from Brazil earlier this month this is all a socialist plot to undermine our current government. Seriously, socialist plot. Bolsonaro must be livid that despite all that locking up gays and being insanely right wing he does, people still think he's leading the Union of Bolivarian Social Democracies.

Parties with no chance of ever gaining power because all our elections are fixed

Democratic League: Pretty much everyone who ever joined this party is currently in Jail so it's difficult to know exactly what they're thinking of anything. But I'm sure they'd say they're deeply sorry for ever doubting that we're not in a currently democratic society just because the government parties have a meaningless 95% of seats in parliament.

Monarchist League: Continue to only exist in one coffee shop for emigres in Italy but the French press still interviews them regularly as if they actually matter so I have to include them. Anyway now it's clear the old pretender is at death's door, his grandson is ready to take over as Emperor of Dahomey (in exile). I have to say of the many things that I don't understand about the Monarchists this insistence on the Leopard throne being hereditary is right up there. That's not how the actual empire ever worked. The Emperor has whichever petty king pressed his case the best in the chaos after the death of the last one, none of them were particularly closely related to each other. The proper spirit of the Dahomian nobility would have been to accept Eyadema as the new boss 40 years ago while scheming to become his successor, rather than run off to hide in Europe.

Christian Party: Old man Gantin's death took a lot of the wind out of their sails as overnight they went from being the party of one of our greatest heroes, to just a bunch of old reactionaries wanting to beat up on Vodun houngans. Still you guys in London are planning on sending back Agonglo's severed head to Dahomey which is pretty exciting for them. And obviously venerating the mummified body of the man who christanised the country is completely different from the kind of ancestor worship they're against, you shut up.

Abomey Independence Party: Oh god, it's only March. How are we talking about the customs already? Anyway the usual rhetoric about the protesters is coming from Apollinaire. It's almost as if Fon supremacists have no idea why a festival where hundreds of non Fon slaves used to be killed yearly is controversial in the rest of the country. Who could have guessed?

Mossi independence front: Blew up another truck in Vagaga this week. Ah, now the disputed areas have been returned to Porto-Novo and since the idea of being in the Benin Union no longer appeals to anyone (including 80% of the Benin Union), I'd wondered if we'd forever lose the sweet sweet sound of separatists blowing up traffic. Thank god that I was wrong.

Boko Haram: Talking of the Benin Union. Our entirely ethical, consequence free war to prop up the government there has led to my office being evacuated twice this month because of jihadist gangs crossing the border and looking for revenge. So that's nice. Well it could be worse, I could be Muslim myself since the only thing that both the Christian and Vodun priests agree on these days is that we need to deport them all.

League of African Unity: Not technically part of the government even though we all know Tchané set it up so they're down here. Anyway they're very upset about the German troops still operating in Ethiopia and demand an end to neo colonialism. Apart from when that involves the American government spending billions on infrastructure here, presumably. Luckily their fears of the presence of European militaries being used to force African countries into signing bad trade deals is unlikely to happen here as we're surrounded by a bunch of nice stable countries which won't ever invite in European troops to win civil wars like Ashanti and Morocco and Massina. And, oh god, we're all going to be speaking French within a year aren't we?
 
March 16, 2019: Singapore Report, One Week Before Election Day Edition

Major Parties:

Barisan Sosialis: Honestly, I don't even know why they even pretend to keep the name around anymore, I suppose they're vaguely social-democratic still, but given Mathew (Of the Malabar Dynasty, Fifth of His Name - come on, I get that he's the grandson of one of the Fathers of Independence, but if he had another surname I doubt he'd even be elected to a Neighbourhood Council let alone lead a country of 4 million) one gets the feeling that BS stands for something completely different these days. Probably (thankfully) going to lose their majority, but never underestimate the power of a hundred thousand delusional trade unionists and aunties who still think it's the 1960s.

People's Action Party: Oh God, Kong Hee might actually become PM. Why, God, why? Anyway, currently the big favourites to actually win, though the question is whether PAP can kiss hands by itself or has to form a coalition with one of the miniparties. Currently being all things to all people - promising scared aspirational types that he'll get rid of 12 years of BS corruption in six months, stoking fears in the auntie vote that Mathew is going to give us gay marriage and abortion on demand (come on, the Mathew family are a lot of mostly unprintable things, but they're pretty devout Catholics at the end of the day), and to the tabloid demographic saying the New Turn on Immigration is going to shut the doors to every single future Indo foreign talent that comes in (pay no attention to the PRCs, but then the difference is the Indos are Muslim, but that's dogwhistling for you). Makes one wish for the days of Devan fucking Nair and the cabinet of liquor.

Minor Parties:

UMNO: Why this party still gets seats in Parliament is probably best ascribed to God having a soft spot for them. Note to UMNO voters, you can cream your pants to pictures of Tunku Abdul Rahman for the next decads, but not even most Malays want to join Malaysia, and as for every one else, their opinion on acession since, oh, 1970ish, has been puk and gai. Dunno what Kong can give them to support him - maybe finagle a few patronage picks on the Sharia Board?

Asian Values Party: Apparently according to them, "Asian Values" are primarily about eugenics BS, bringing back corporal punishment in schools, and slashing Voc School funding, because according to some idiot academic at NUS, Confucius would have wanted it (pay no attention to the fact that that's actually Legalism). My prayer is that not even Kong is stupid enough to let them anywhere near power.

Citizens List: A bunch of the Best and Brightest of the Singaporean Educational System, looking to Bring Power Back to the People and Bring Back Real Democracy. Perhaps the only people on this Little Pink Dot to actually believe what they teach us in Civic Formation class. Pity they have no chance.

Islamic Justice Party: Apparently they've been shifting their rhetoric towards the center-right instead of the radical right. Mohammad is probably the canniest operator in politics right now, then, cause that probably makes him the most attractive coalition partner for the PAP, or at least to give him a minority government.

Workers' Party: As usual, still thinking that it's 1975 and that they can win more than Queenstown, because obviously 1989 has not happened.
 
State(s) of the Nation, 1925

Major Factions

Legitimist Government: "Oh, yeah, the President's fine. He categorically did not get his head blown off while giving a speech in Raleigh." That's the tone of the proclamations coming over the National Aerograph, and they're as close as we're going to get to an admission they've gone and lost control of everything outside Richmond.

National Salvation Front: Montgomery's aerographical broadcasts have a sort of subdued fanatical confidence Richmond's bluster lacks, and if the photos from 'liberated' Maycomb are anything to go by, it's chilling. The Disorder still hasn't made it further than page ten of the New York Times, mind you.

Atlanta Clique: The Governor in Milledgeville has been accused of being in the pocket of the Cabal in Atlanta, which should come as a surprise to exactly nobody. Actually, what with the naked corruption and the old boys' network flexing its muscles, it's nice to see at least one part of Dixie returning to normalcy.

Commune of Mississippi: The first harvest from the "People's Plantations" is in, and everybody has plenty - no? Okay, everybody has enough - really? Alright, some people have something to eat.

Associated Nations Peace Force: Good news: Norfolk has now been cleared of unexploded ordinance, Southron holdouts, and booby-traps. The bad news: Charleston very much has not.

Middling Factions

Louisiana: Yankee gunboats have been seen tying up at the New Orleans docks, and shipping is almost back at pre-war volumes. That would be great news for the health of the state's finances and public services, if the port fees weren't going directly to the city fathers.

Appalachia (North Carolina Provisional Legislature and East Tennessee Authority): Talks have resumed between Asheville and Knoxville on the subject of uniting to ward off the Legitimists, the NSF, Atlantans, the South Carolinians, and anyone else with a gun and a grievance. They're probably going to fail, but fifth time's the charm, right?

New Africa: Kenneth Miles' account in Times of the failing anarchist experiment in Georgia, with all its accusations of American and European support for competing red, black, green-black, and other factions of every other colour of the spectrum, reinforces one's suspicion that they'd have made tremendous headway if it weren't for all the infighting.

Minnows

South Carolina: A state senator got shot, which isn't surprising, but a white man did it, which is surprising. Pogroms have broken out against the remaining blacks who haven't fled, which absolutely isn't surprising.

Lowcountry Soviet: A rough approximation of order appears to be emerging in the black sector of South Carolina, though it's largely taking the form of better-organised raids on towns in the white sector.

Tampa Clique: Another month, another hurricane, another shipload of aid from the North reallocated by some very well-organised and well-armed men at the waterside.

Florida: Yankee film producers looking for a cut-price location have descended on Miami, and are welcomed by the locals as the closest thing to a government the lower half of the state has had in some time.

Arkansas: A fight broke out in the State House yesterday after a motion to ask to join the United States was tabled. Given a quarter of the population is already living in American Red Cross camps north of the border, this probably doesn't lead anywhere good.

Tennessee: The U.S. Army was recently sighted in Nashville on a 'border patrol action' which allegedly strayed 'a little far south of the frontier'. Given how bad things are in Dixie these days, the Americans are lucky the locals didn't follow them back like the Pied Piper.

Memphis Clique: The Mayor has begun levying 'agricultural equivalent tolls' from rural areas. This has generally been carried out at gunpoint, and is causing some consternation. Expect things to go very Carolina very soon.

Alabama State Government (Provisional): Recently claimed their biggest success in months with their victory over a group of troublesome hill folk on the Tennessee border. Still doesn't help the fact the NSF have crushed their last strongholds in Elyton and are now mustard-gassing their way north at a blistering (ha!) pace.
 
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Parties in the House of Commons of the Protectorate of England, Scotland and Ireland

Unionist Party – The Lord Protector sent the former Speaker of the House, David Owen, to the Other Place this week. I’m not generally a fan of these guys, but Owen definitely deserves the honour for Brentry alone. Our best leader since Amery.
  • New Model Party – Ah, the grand old party of British politics. They ought to be fucking buried: just look at how their Constituency-Major in Stoke is parading his men past the Romanist churches well outside the campaign period.
  • Anti-Revolutionary Group – Man replacing sign: “No Revolutions Since [looks over at the Two Sicilies] oh ffs!”
  • Dissent! – Peter ‘Bare’ Bone wants to go back to First Past the Post because Rural-Urban Transferable is “dangerously unstable”. Look, sorry mate, losing your majority twice in 50 years is far from unstable. Also, getting rid of all that juicy transfer data would put hundreds of psephologists on the dole at a stroke.
Social Democratic and Labour Party – Saying lots of stuff about income inequality, anti-Catholic discrimination, state repression and the dodgy stuff that’s coming out about the appointment of Suffer-Not-A-Witch-To-Live Paisley as Arch-Moderator of Canterbury. The papers concentrate on the Flello scandal to the exclusion of all else. Typical.

Alliance – They put a photo on the Telenet of all their MPs wearing sandals, as if playing cute will make us forget that they voted for cuts to the Catholic Health Service.
  • Commonwealthspeople – The one thing more annoying than the focus these folks have on abstruse matters of Democracy is the fact that they changed their name from the perfectly acceptable ‘Commonwealthsmen’ just to be Politically Awake.
  • Leveller Front – Farron is holding this year’s conference in Putney in the hope that a reminder of their institutional dotage will somehow inspire the delegates to come up with some new ideas. This tactic has not met with any success since 1647.
Sinn Fein – Salmond isn’t getting on with Coveney still.

Democratic Unionist Party – Lots of banter going around, obviously, but the thing that leaps out to me is… why did Soubry even join the Unionists in the first place if she had all these silly notions about Democracy?

Minor Parties

Greens – The split between the Fundis and the Realos continues unabated, with a car bomb in Belfast killing two Realo paramilitary leaders. This is your brain on Nationalism, I guess.

People Before Profit – A bold idea.

United Kingdom Restoration Party – The Comte de Farage honestly poses a real threat to the Protectorate, having now completed his quest of uniting all the rival monarchist factions on a promise that the King they actually restore will be decided by a popular referendum between the four claimants. The fact that this combines the complots of emigres across the courts of Europe into one formidable bloc is not lost on the Government, which has naturally proscribed the new Party.

Progressive Unionist Party – I know our Virginian cousins think these guys are amazing on the basis of their Wikipedia infobox, but I just can’t will myself to read any of their telenet pages right now because they’re all about Eugenics in one way or another. Like, sorry guys, I’m sure it’s a good idea, but it’s boring as all fuck.
 
With all these lists about Presidential Primaries I figured I'd do a sequel to this list in my as yet vaguely defined British Republics universe

I've updated the World slightly. got rid of the Democrats and moved to a 2 party over 2 1/2 party system)

Rundown for the 2019 British Presidential Election!

I'm listing MPs or Lords who're running

Conservatives: They’re back in power since 2017! The natural party of government! Except the mid 80s…and 90s… and 2012-2017. Oh and they’ve got a majority of four which with the awkward bastard squad makes them a minority government.

Michael Hunt: Despite his rhetoric about fighting for Britain and all but saying he wouldn’t, the PM has said he will run for President. Arguably giving up power to become President! Also, his middle name is Streynsham. We don’t talk about that enough.​
William Cameron: Jr Minister for European relations. I mean, the Tories do love guys named William. Him, Hague and how Rennie lost an election​
Jeremy Clarkson: The Radio Show Host and pundit has said he will run for President. He has a strong following amongst Edgy Network Right Wingers. Who’d have thought that a 58 year old might get the Youth Vote for the Tories​
Juliet Kuenssberg: Apparently the going for the Social-Liberal small-government bit of the Tory party. That went well for Michael Forsyth. That’s not a bit. He served two terms at Bute House​
and
Bill Hague: Right, he hasn’t declared as such and he could only run for one more term but Network pundits are practically blue balled with anticipation.​
My bet: Depends on whether Hague runs and whether anything goes wrong for the Prime Minister between now and the Conservative Summer conference. We've still got a white before even The Yorkshire Primaries though


Progressives: What? President Wallace is standing down after one term?! Why? What? I. Ah shit, here we go into primary season for the Progs:
Sue Calman: Its Sue Calman! The Barrister turned charming MP and darling of the social progressives and Champion of campaigns to reform Queer Rights and Mental Health. There’s no twist or anything, this isn’t a bit. She’s going to do pretty well​
Joanne Swinson: Shadow Foreign Affairs Representative. Moderate. Logo 8/10. “Lets Go, Jo!” stickers are neat​
Murdo Fraser: The Worlds least Progressive progressive and the least awkward bastard of the squad has thrown his hat in the ring. I’ve got nothing else. He’s just dull and a bit bitter.​
Nick Forbes: Is just there, y’know. Nice logo tho.​
Nicola Sturgeon: (Okay she's not an MP or a Lord) The Irvine Borough councilor who after nearly unseating the now-Home Secretary in the 2017 GE has decided she has enough momentum to jump straight for president!​
Maybe:
Johann Lamont: The former Prime Minister High queen of the moderates might be running? Maybe? If this was America she would’ve decided by now. We haven’t adopted the 2 year election cycle from our national benefactors just yet.​
And technically
John McDonnell: Liverpool’s favourite son and thorn in the left hand side of the Progs has announced he’s running again. He might even be running as a Progressive. Even though he’s the sole MP of the “Independent Labour Party”.​



Current bet: I think it’ll be Swinson V Calman. Calman has more of a grassroots backing and this may put the party machine behind Swinson.

And the Rest:

Republic-wide-

Workers Party: Do you like government spending but hate gays and immigrants? Do I have the party for you
Jeremy Clarkson?: Despite Clarkson specifically saying he’ll run for the Tory candidacy a lot of the WP said they’d support a candidacy by him. Despite Clarkson not being that socially conservative as such​

Radical Party: Of all the policies of the Radical party I swear nuclear disarmament is the least likely policy. Yes I’m including declassifying hallucinogens in that.
Grant fucking Morrison: Oh look, the Rads are unanimously running a Grant Morrison ticket again. Good luck with that​


National Level Parties:
Ulster Unionist: Despite a few dissenting voices for a protest candidate are pretty much guaranteed to vote Tory.
Traditional Unionist Party: Are running a candidate, they say. No one has Get a shift on lads
Sinn Fein: We already know it won’t be Adams. Beyond that? Who knows. I’m still fascinated how an abstensionist presidency would work!
English Party: I was surprised when I heard they might back Sue Calman over her devolution plans then I remembered they EP aren’t the racist ones
Patriotic English Party: Havent had anyone announce their candidacy. Presumably its The ghost of Winston Churchill but a fictional version of Churchill constructed from the collective psyche of the PEP
Pàrtaidh na h-Alba Haven’t decided on a candidate and their leader has said he won’t be running. Didn’t think 3rd times a charm then?
 
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Progressive Unionist Party – I know our Virginian cousins think these guys are amazing on the basis of their Wikipedia infobox, but I just can’t will myself to read any of their telenet pages right now because they’re all about Eugenics in one way or another. Like, sorry guys, I’m sure it’s a good idea, but it’s boring as all fuck.

Braying with laughter.
 
Inspired by TB's "A Stitch in Time" and Moralistic Communist's "Seventh Party System" as well as a timeline that hopefully, I will eventually write, here is my take on a multiparty America


National Parties (Parties with more than 10 house seats in more than three states or Senators from more than three states)

Constitution: Apparently they were so confident that Hoffa was going to win the Socialist nomination they had printed thousands of posters with his face and I Won’t Win around it. Which means now with Sanders running for the first time in living memory we won’t get that tired slogan.

Democrat-Grange: Someone from plains is going to need to explain to me what I am sure is the deep and historic reasons they need both a Grange convention and a Democratic convention that nominates the same person and selects the same platform because from an outsider view watching Chuck Grassley give an identical speech to an identical cheering audience on two back to back days is just weird and unsettling.

Farmer-Labour Party: The frankly ancient Jimmy Carter has introduced the religious wing’s annual motion to reintroduce text into the platform that the FLP is “A party founded on the principles of Jesus Christ” but this time they are also saying that Jesus Christ should be considered the legal founder of the party. It will be voted down because it’s been voted down every year and has been ruled illegal but just imagine the memes if the US has a party that is legally 2000 years old.

Republicans: President McRaven may be a blank space that is a cipher for congressional Republicans but he is a war hero that’s a blank space and a cipher for congressional Republicans, so four more years it is then.

Socialists: In the only exciting convention this year the moderates have managed to nominate Bernie Sanders, the first Socialist not from a city or a member of IWW since the ’50s. Various people on Shout appear convinced this is going to lead to a split or at least another badge election which of course is the best argument that neither of those is going to happen given that most of those same people on Shout are the ones that were saying yesterday that Sanders didn’t have the numbers.

Workingmen’s Party: Officially announced that they are considering renaming themselves the “Workingperson’s Party”, which would be a nice gesture if it wasn’t clearly a desperate attempt at distraction from a party, who everyone is thinking about right now because their Illinois Senate candidate and potential Presidential candidate has been arrested for murder.


Regional Parties (Parties with more than 10 house seats or more than one Senate seat but only between two or three states)
Appalachian Front: Richard Ojeda is now calling for a general strike in the mountains against the “Eastern traitor” Sanders, which is sure to materialise this time and not be ignored by the IWW like the past half dozen times Ojeda has tried to get headlines by calling a general strike.
Libertad!: The legal battle to expel the Florida branch from the national party continues apace. Why is a party trying to expel a state branch? Because Libertad didn’t realise that the only Floridians who want independence aren't Hispanics like in Cuba, Panama and Dominica but weird neo-Confederates.
Liberal Party of the Philippines: The party is not just a sinecure for the Arenta’s and the Aquino’s I insist as I shrink and transform into another Luzon governor primary between Mar Roxas and Bam Aquino.
Nacionalista Party: Want the Republicans to build more naval bases in the Pacific in exchange for support in the Presidential election. Given that we just massively expanded Subic for exactly the same reasons four years ago, I look forward to 2100 when every bay in the Philippines has a destroyer in it.


State Parties (Parties in the House or Senate from only one state)
Cuban National Republican Party: Their headline policy this time is that they will get the Pope to come to Havana for the first time. How Marco Rubio of all people is planning on convincing the most conservative Pope in years to come to a Diocese that spent most of the 20th century picking socialists bishops and having them rejected by Rome is a question best left to the imagination.
Dominican Red Party: Might actually lose their iron grip on the governorship soon, and better still they might even lose to a Haitian. There’s no joke here I am just excited to see if Reggie can overthrow the obviously corrupt administration in Santo Domingo.
Haitian People's Party: Seriously, Fils Amee is popular funny and a good mix of serious and light-hearted and could actually give Dominica a Haitian governor which is frankly long overdue. Can you tell I'm excited?
Ilocos First: Bongbong has come out to say that it is the duty of all Filipinos to vote for his father as the greatest Filipino in a television poll which may seem an odd priority for candidates who don’t survive off the near-literal personality cult their father established.
Kamehameha Party: Much as I personally may disagree with the secessionist parties the fact that their royal pretender is also a cool steel guitar playing lady who plays her songs at their rallies is winning me over. Given that it looks like they are going to lose their only seat though it is probably also the only thing bringing people to their rallies so swings and roundabouts.
Texas for Texans: I am not changing their party colour on this list to red white and blue no matter what the official decision is because it is stupid and whoever told O’Rourke it was a good idea is also stupid.
Superior Party: There is literally nothing here. Jim Carter is just a man who wants the Upper Peninsula to be the 58th state. He survives because the FLP and the Socialists both hate each other and inexplicably both chose to preference him over the Democrats. His name does sound like Jimmy Carter which is pretty funny.
 
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List of Presidents of the Republic of Florida:
  1. Malik Castaneda (Independent; 2074-2076)
  2. Whitney Lawson (Rally for Floridian Progress; 2076-2080)
  3. Matthew Pullman (Rally for Floridian Progress; 2080-present)
Presidential Candidates in the Republic of Florida (2088)

Major Parties:

Rally for Floridian Progress (Langfordist): Consider themselves the definitive leader of the social democratic movement in America, which would be true if the founder of their particular brand of "socialism" wasn't also the first trillionaire in the Western Hemisphere. They would probably be more respected if they stood up to Langford Industries more often.
  • Myrsa Langford-Grant: The second-youngest daughter of the venerable Mrs. Langford, and an instinctively articulate socialite. With her attractive looks, a history of heroics in the Army, and status as heiress to the Langford Industries, she'd be the likely frontrunner if not for her barely-disguised authoritarian elitism and tendency for political assassi- wait, her mother named her after her Game of Thrones waifu? Holy heck that's comedy gold.
  • Adrian Pullman: The nephew of the current President, running a centrist campaign under the ingenious slogan "I'm technically a Langford... but I'm really not!". Totally a relatable candidate.
  • Marisa Wong: The ancient Comptroller General of Florida is now running for President, despite people listing all the possible ways this could kill her. At least she sincerely believes she's the "intellectual godmother" of Langford's policies, and, well... a half-baked imitation of the Taiwanese government is... stable, at least?...
  • Dan Borman: A man who has headed several government departments for many years (not uninterrupted) and the perfect candidate for picking up conservative voters, at least in his own view. The rest of the Congress is waiting for him to stop switching parties so much and whining over Reform Conservatives not liking the new Imperial Florida Barge Canal.
  • Nora Anderson: Relatively inoffensive, a skilled pilot, director of the Florida space program and, as of recently, recipient of a diamond made from the ashes of Michelle Langford's shinbone. That probably means she's going to win.
  • Dahlia Mucarsel-Powell: The Administrator of the Monroe-Dade County who has been responsible for the revival of Key West and, shockingly, the only active candidate whose campaign ads don't include a heartfelt reference to Mrs. Langford. As expected, Pullman and Borman are decrying her as an entryist.
  • Lana Langford-Grant: Currently a bit too busy flaregunning Fallen Angel cells, lone-wolf Christian terrorists and illegal immigrants at the Magnolian-Floridian border to run a national campaign, but hopeful old men seeking their very own Eisenhower, amazon chasers and assorted genemod fetishists can't help but vote for her.
Reform Conservative: Ostensibly the conservative answer to the Rally, mostly based in Central Florida and some of the more anti-Rally suburbs. Still pissed over that huge coalition snub during the 2085 Congressional elections.
  • Henriques Soares Bittencourt: Is it legal for the son/aide of a disgraced minister-general who's related to the Brazilian royal family to run for President of Florida? RC says yes. Huh. Maybe this is what John Jay was talking about when he said "natural born citizen".
  • Jameson Sudou: The informal party leader who's absolutely definitely going to keep it that way. He is quite annoyed about Borman's antics and the sudden rise of Bittencourt. It's rather hard to keep up a "soft-spoken statesman" image when you have personally sent several delegates to hospital during the 24th Congress.
  • Olin Park: Some schmuck from Miami who's basing his economic policy on the writings of a Korean libertarian economist. Not sure if it's done anything good for New Jersey, but let's see if it'll work for Florida.
  • Megan Reeves: Her biggest claim to fame is that she's Rick Scott's great-grandchild, and that's... sad, really, given that she was rated "Second Least Corrupt Mayor" in 2086.
  • Hercules Diaz-Balart: Arguably the last of his family to actually reside in Florida, and mostly appealing to the veterans of the Zealots' War and the Second American Civil War; apparently, since he was a (mediocre) sniper for the first two years before going to the infirmary, he counts as a "liberator of Cuba".
Labour: Founded largely by former progressive Democrats, Democratic Socialists and moderated Evergladers concerned with the disturbing rise of Langfordism in Florida politics, the Labourites are quite frequently lambasted by both Reform Conservatives and Rallyites as "syndicalist extremists", even if they're no more lefty than your average European social democrat.
  • Gerry Katz: The short, mousy-haired and witty wife of a clerk, suburban food distribution activist and Representative from Hialeah, Gerry is probably most famous for lobbying for several Floridian cheese businesses and arguing with Myrsa over the definition of "tomboy". It's a wonder she's still alive.
  • Claude Terrell: Veteran of the Second American Civil War and an ostensibly "repentant" Everglader, Terrell never actually stopped coming to his comrades' beer parties, though he did manage to convince people that his calls to dismember the rich are to be taken in jest. Other than that, the main issues voters probably have with him is that he has a nasty scar across the left side of his head and that he waves his AK-47 around way too much.
  • Fernanda Vasquez-Chiles: We shall end the reign of the Langford dynasty and their cronies soon enough, comrade. Labour shall be ethical, guns shall be available to all, and Florida will belong to the people. Just remember that God is with us, Jesus was a socialist, and pay absolutely no attention to the Korean advisers or those weird e-mails.
  • Monty Rodarte: Former boxer and current Mayor of Palatka, employing an Obamesque (albeit more populist) campaign to put himself on top. Apparently bought himself a massive villa in Macau, but don't let that distract you from his chiseled bod.
Minor Parties:

Liberal Democratic: It's pretty sad when even the party leader can't say "we're not Rally sans Sinophilia" without whimpering.

Panhandle People's Party: Regional agrarian socialist party that's almost entirely composed of African-Americans and immigrants from the neighboring Federation of Magnolian Communes. Sometimes they're really angry about the "avoid the bullet" policy that Pullman employs towards illegal immigrants, but- ow ow please give us our congressional immunity back we're sorry

Gulf Nation: A rather... strange, ostensibly centre-right, very urban party whose top priority is reclaiming those parts of Florida which were lost to sea (not by restructuring the cities or making artificial islands, as the Rally has been trying to do, but by turning them into underwater habitats) and turning Florida into a thalassocratic state. Political pundits are not sure if they're an actual party or a vanity project organized by some non-Langford businessmen, but the jingoist chants some of their members spout would be quite in line with the Tea Party of old.

Progressive-Green: Pretty bummed about the Marjorie Harris Greenway being remade into a giant mechanized barge, but not everyone gets to be happy anyway

Neo-Prohibition: As far as they're concerned, the only party willing to end the plague of genemods, cannabis and these weirdly-named mushroom/space rock brews on the territory of Florida. No, their nominee isn't a neo-Confederate, stop asking. No, they aren't a sleeper agent for Intermarium or Britain either. Besides, magenta is manly.

Extraparliamentary Parties:

Acción Hispánica: Could've been something more than a dwindling regional party if the Cuban-Americans didn't start migrating to Cuba around the 2040s. When the new generation of Cuban-Americans settled down in America after the Zealots' War, their political positions were so different from the party's views that the party just stopped caring.

Popular Reform: a.k.a. the Party of Our Lord and Saviour, Charlie Crist. Just don't stumble over the rug, okay?

Floridian Section of the International: Wait, you called them "syndicalist extremists"? Hey, Etienne, I think this dude needs a lecture on third-wave intersectional De Leonism-Macedism!

Floridian National Congress ~ Silver Cross: The Father of Florida and the man who led the state towards independence from Feds and Coms alike died near the Presidential Palace under dubious circumstances, the bastard Rallyites have co-opted the Floridian independence movement, and our party members are being accused of fraud by mainstream media, but hey- maybe we can learn something from our Everglader comrades?

Synthetic Rights' League: The legal faction, anyway. The current leadership is perfectly willing to die upon the hill of using Wingdings as a "proper" robotic font, though other synth activists are worried that they might be getting too soft on Langford's treatment of synths. Regardless, ☹✌☠☝☞⚐☼👎 💧💧✌❄👌

Everglades Movement: Your average anarcho-syndicalist movement that has its origins in the Second American Civil War and predominates among dissatisfied youth, synths, and immigrants from the Caribbean. The Rally finds them so terrifying that the Movement has been banned at least thirteen times; it didn't work, and the Rally found out that entryism and splintering works way better.
 
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Labour: Founded largely by former progressive Democrats, Democratic Socialists and moderated Evergladers concerned with the disturbing rise of Langfordism in Florida politics, the Labourites are quite frequently lambasted by both Reform Conservatives and Rallyites as "syndicalist extremists", even if they're no more lefty than your average European social democrat.

I'm guessing the "Evergladers" are a reference to the mooted Maoist plan to establish a commune/revolutionary cell there?
 
1935

Counterfactual writers like to look at two significant points: Ernest Bevin having the flu and thus being unable to deliver a scathing response to George Lansbury's call against sanctions on Italy (as Bevin's diary indicates he would have done) and if Baldwin had waited until after the election to have Hoare quietly work on a solution to the 'Abyssinia problem'. The "Bonfire Surprise" (actually the news leaked on the 4th November) was a humiliation for Baldwin and the Conservatives, costing them a large number of seats that went to the opposition, mostly Labour - Lansbury's "Christian pacifism" at least looked honest and principled - and to a lesser extent Simon's National Liberals.

Result was a flailing, half-mad coalition between what were technically three different Labour parties and Herbert Samuel's more social-reformist Liberals. Lansbury's coalition agreed on social reform, if not how to do it, and general peace work.

One of these turns out better than the other.


1938-1940

The fall of Spain, Czechoslovakia, and Poland to fascist and Nazi aggression overshadows Lansbury's domestic reforms - so, it being the 30s, does him granting dominion status to most of India, Burma, and Singapore. and wanting to, dare we even think it, to some Africans. Eden's Conservatives win the election promising strength. That means some harsh austerity and deliberate debt to rapidly build up the armed forces.

A victorious Germany knows France won't attack it without British aid and, handily enough, Britain is a few years away from being able to wage war in Europe - the full might of the Reich can be aimed at the Soviet Union. And the full might of Italy can be aimed at Greece, which goes very, very badly wrong and Eden makes noises about defending the Greeks, after making sure the Germans aren't going to step in if they do. The Greek-Italian War ends with Greek forces pushing into Albania and the Mussolini government falling over, which would be good if the Nazis don't slip in to support the random functionaries dug up and told "you are the government now".

However, Western Europe seems safe for now but Asia does not - Japan is looking likely to move. Eden decides that protecting British colonies and dominions is more important, and the focus is there. The Soviets are worried.


1941-5

The USSR attacks first with Operation Groza. The Soviets are unable to attack with any element of surprise but the Germans are unable to fully pull off their defensive plan, Operation Bertha, as Hitler sticks his oar in. The result is three weeks of carnage that significantly maul the Germans and leave the Soviets with many of their best soldiers dead or crippled; Zhukov's great plan hasn't worked but it's not a loss, the Red Army could fall back to the frontier and prepare for a weak German counterattack.

Stalin has Zhukov 'removed' for failing and demands an advance to Warsaw, an advance by raw recruits with meagre resources. Initial gains do not last and in three years of bloody slog, the Axis powers are victorious. The Soviet Union has no foreign aid at all - in fact, the USSR looks like it's planning to march West and so various democratic powers tacitly lift sanctions and share intelligence with the Nazis until their electorates start to revolt.

Britons, the Dutch and Americans do not, because they've got a war in the Pacific to focus on (French Indochina is left alone as Germany and France are talking a bit and Japan is leaving that for later). Imperial Japan lasts the best part of a year before giving up, signing the Treaty of Singapore - which basically moves everyone back to their pre-war borders and sees Japan agree to not conquer any more of China - and running off to be in at the end of the fall of Russia, carving out a big chunk of land.

As far as Britain's concerned in 1945, those dastardly Japanese have been thwarted from having our empire, the Hun and his Spode friends are exhausted, the Reds have been vanquished forever - and Britain itself is still fine. Hurrah!

News of the genocides across Europe do reach British soil, souring the mood a bit, but what could we have done?

Barely noticed, France is turning fascist under fear of Soviets, the need to pivot to Germany, the false view that cor look how impressive those jackboot regimes are.


1945-1948

Germany has won a big smoking graveyard and few Germans actually want to move to the new lebensraum; neither do the Japanese and the Italian Nazis. Only the Nazi's Nazis will do this. Which means there's less hardcore Nazis in Greater Germany and a lot more disgruntled people asking "is this it?", and military men feeling they haven't got their dues compared to those shiny arseholes in the black shirts. When Hitler dies of a stroke, the Wermacht try to take over but they can't quite manage it without the help of newly fascist France, the one country in Europe that's both big, an empire, and completely untouched by war so far.

Now fascism is within bombing reach of England. "I told you so," say the socialists, who point to the atrocities fascsts & Nazis did in Europe, WHAT WILL THEY DO HERE; the also point to the big strides made by President Wallace in the States (who isn't a socialist but never mind that), and a decline in welfare and living standards since the Lansbury days, argue for a grand People's Health Service, argue for all sorts of things. Mosley's Blackshirts are also on the march again, and a scandal breaks out when it's discovered the French are sending him a few bungs.

Eden is well aware this is going to be a problem but wants the breathing space of an early election, so he doesn't have his party worrying about that too. He miscalculated: Ernest Bevin's Labour just about makes it to a majority, as the Liberals have continued to decay. Socialist domestic reforms are back on but the big one is preparing for the inevitable war with France. The plan will be to bomb the living crap out of Calais first, then have troops across Africa and Asia - bribed by promise of dominion status - make numerous strikes, try to turn this into an overseas conflict.

(Meanwhile, the Nazi states in the massacred east are cut off and feuding with the Italian Nazi states, and each other, and "traitors" within, and Slavic partisans - nobody outside cares. It is Hell.)

1949

France deploys a new type of German-derived missile to hit London. Most of them blow up on the gantry or land in the sea because it's barely tested, a necessity of keeping it secret. Calais is duly bombed, but it was better guarded than expected and isn't fully knocked out - and the French construction of submarines is greater than Naval Intelligence suggested. As the Home Fleet is hit badly and French bombers try to hit the RAF, it's clear France is preparing to invade and to hell with the colonies, they've got less French people in them and will be regained when Britain surrenders.

Enemy troops land in Dover, supported by constant air supply and bombing runs - even as Britain wins the colonial wars, the British Army is being pushed back to the Waterloo Line of defences that seal off Kent, the Estuary, and an unfortunate chunk of Sussex. At that point, the Battle for Britain stalls for a bit. France was pushed to the limits there, it can't advance much further without much more resources or mass bombing & paratrooper raids elsewhere to terrify Britain into giving up. (Anyway, RAF bombers and Royal Navy raids are terrorising the French!)

Stalemate is ended when Bevin's government and the army fake out that the Waterloo Line around Surrey is weakening, and the staunch conservatives of the county don't want to die for some bally socialists. (This much is true for many people, helping the deception) French forces plunge at this weak underbelly, planning to sweep through and to London, and blunder into a meatgrinder at Esher-Walton while being cut off at the rear. Half the invading force is gone.

At this point, France gives up and decides to try retaking the colonies instead, then try Britain again later - but too much damage has been done. When Paris sues for peace, the price is half the empire (of which a third was being lost anyway).

Socialism Beats Fascism. But with much of Europe still fascist, the threat of France and Japan still great enough to require constant watch, and the Americas not caring, for how much longer? And as Britain looks at this, and it considers the true horror of the exterminations in Eastern Europe, people wonder "what if?"

George Orwell's last book before death, 1935, imagines a world where if only Bevin had been health and around back then...
 
1935

Counterfactual writers like to look at two significant points: Ernest Bevin having the flu and thus being unable to deliver a scathing response to George Lansbury's call against sanctions on Italy (as Bevin's diary indicates he would have done) and if Baldwin had waited until after the election to have Hoare quietly work on a solution to the 'Abyssinia problem'. The "Bonfire Surprise" (actually the news leaked on the 4th November) was a humiliation for Baldwin and the Conservatives, costing them a large number of seats that went to the opposition, mostly Labour - Lansbury's "Christian pacifism" at least looked honest and principled - and to a lesser extent Simon's National Liberals.

Result was a flailing, half-mad coalition between what were technically three different Labour parties and Herbert Samuel's more social-reformist Liberals. Lansbury's coalition agreed on social reform, if not how to do it, and general peace work.

One of these turns out better than the other.


1938-1940

The fall of Spain, Czechoslovakia, and Poland to fascist and Nazi aggression overshadows Lansbury's domestic reforms - so, it being the 30s, does him granting dominion status to most of India, Burma, and Singapore. and wanting to, dare we even think it, to some Africans. Eden's Conservatives win the election promising strength. That means some harsh austerity and deliberate debt to rapidly build up the armed forces.

A victorious Germany knows France won't attack it without British aid and, handily enough, Britain is a few years away from being able to wage war in Europe - the full might of the Reich can be aimed at the Soviet Union. And the full might of Italy can be aimed at Greece, which goes very, very badly wrong and Eden makes noises about defending the Greeks, after making sure the Germans aren't going to step in if they do. The Greek-Italian War ends with Greek forces pushing into Albania and the Mussolini government falling over, which would be good if the Nazis don't slip in to support the random functionaries dug up and told "you are the government now".

However, Western Europe seems safe for now but Asia does not - Japan is looking likely to move. Eden decides that protecting British colonies and dominions is more important, and the focus is there. The Soviets are worried.


1941-5

The USSR attacks first with Operation Groza. The Soviets are unable to attack with any element of surprise but the Germans are unable to fully pull off their defensive plan, Operation Bertha, as Hitler sticks his oar in. The result is three weeks of carnage that significantly maul the Germans and leave the Soviets with many of their best soldiers dead or crippled; Zhukov's great plan hasn't worked but it's not a loss, the Red Army could fall back to the frontier and prepare for a weak German counterattack.

Stalin has Zhukov 'removed' for failing and demands an advance to Warsaw, an advance by raw recruits with meagre resources. Initial gains do not last and in three years of bloody slog, the Axis powers are victorious. The Soviet Union has no foreign aid at all - in fact, the USSR looks like it's planning to march West and so various democratic powers tacitly lift sanctions and share intelligence with the Nazis until their electorates start to revolt.

Britons, the Dutch and Americans do not, because they've got a war in the Pacific to focus on (French Indochina is left alone as Germany and France are talking a bit and Japan is leaving that for later). Imperial Japan lasts the best part of a year before giving up, signing the Treaty of Singapore - which basically moves everyone back to their pre-war borders and sees Japan agree to not conquer any more of China - and running off to be in at the end of the fall of Russia, carving out a big chunk of land.

As far as Britain's concerned in 1945, those dastardly Japanese have been thwarted from having our empire, the Hun and his Spode friends are exhausted, the Reds have been vanquished forever - and Britain itself is still fine. Hurrah!

News of the genocides across Europe do reach British soil, souring the mood a bit, but what could we have done?

Barely noticed, France is turning fascist under fear of Soviets, the need to pivot to Germany, the false view that cor look how impressive those jackboot regimes are.


1945-1948

Germany has won a big smoking graveyard and few Germans actually want to move to the new lebensraum; neither do the Japanese and the Italian Nazis. Only the Nazi's Nazis will do this. Which means there's less hardcore Nazis in Greater Germany and a lot more disgruntled people asking "is this it?", and military men feeling they haven't got their dues compared to those shiny arseholes in the black shirts. When Hitler dies of a stroke, the Wermacht try to take over but they can't quite manage it without the help of newly fascist France, the one country in Europe that's both big, an empire, and completely untouched by war so far.

Now fascism is within bombing reach of England. "I told you so," say the socialists, who point to the atrocities fascsts & Nazis did in Europe, WHAT WILL THEY DO HERE; the also point to the big strides made by President Wallace in the States (who isn't a socialist but never mind that), and a decline in welfare and living standards since the Lansbury days, argue for a grand People's Health Service, argue for all sorts of things. Mosley's Blackshirts are also on the march again, and a scandal breaks out when it's discovered the French are sending him a few bungs.

Eden is well aware this is going to be a problem but wants the breathing space of an early election, so he doesn't have his party worrying about that too. He miscalculated: Ernest Bevin's Labour just about makes it to a majority, as the Liberals have continued to decay. Socialist domestic reforms are back on but the big one is preparing for the inevitable war with France. The plan will be to bomb the living crap out of Calais first, then have troops across Africa and Asia - bribed by promise of dominion status - make numerous strikes, try to turn this into an overseas conflict.

(Meanwhile, the Nazi states in the massacred east are cut off and feuding with the Italian Nazi states, and each other, and "traitors" within, and Slavic partisans - nobody outside cares. It is Hell.)

1949

France deploys a new type of German-derived missile to hit London. Most of them blow up on the gantry or land in the sea because it's barely tested, a necessity of keeping it secret. Calais is duly bombed, but it was better guarded than expected and isn't fully knocked out - and the French construction of submarines is greater than Naval Intelligence suggested. As the Home Fleet is hit badly and French bombers try to hit the RAF, it's clear France is preparing to invade and to hell with the colonies, they've got less French people in them and will be regained when Britain surrenders.

Enemy troops land in Dover, supported by constant air supply and bombing runs - even as Britain wins the colonial wars, the British Army is being pushed back to the Waterloo Line of defences that seal off Kent, the Estuary, and an unfortunate chunk of Sussex. At that point, the Battle for Britain stalls for a bit. France was pushed to the limits there, it can't advance much further without much more resources or mass bombing & paratrooper raids elsewhere to terrify Britain into giving up. (Anyway, RAF bombers and Royal Navy raids are terrorising the French!)

Stalemate is ended when Bevin's government and the army fake out that the Waterloo Line around Surrey is weakening, and the staunch conservatives of the county don't want to die for some bally socialists. (This much is true for many people, helping the deception) French forces plunge at this weak underbelly, planning to sweep through and to London, and blunder into a meatgrinder at Esher-Walton while being cut off at the rear. Half the invading force is gone.

At this point, France gives up and decides to try retaking the colonies instead, then try Britain again later - but too much damage has been done. When Paris sues for peace, the price is half the empire (of which a third was being lost anyway).

Socialism Beats Fascism. But with much of Europe still fascist, the threat of France and Japan still great enough to require constant watch, and the Americas not caring, for how much longer? And as Britain looks at this, and it considers the true horror of the exterminations in Eastern Europe, people wonder "what if?"

George Orwell's last book before death, 1935, imagines a world where if only Bevin had been health and around back then...

YOU NEED TO WRITE MORE AH BOOKS
 
(From a random bit from SW in Ghaz's universe, if Francisco Juarez won the 2016 Presidential election)

Well, let's just say that if Americans like divided Congress, they now have it in spades. Democratic House, a narrow (if fractious) Senate Republican majority, and Francisco Juarez, beseiged but still President. Yeah, yeah, I know the primaries aren't until January, but we all know they keep announcing candidacies earlier and earlier, the better to suck money out of gullible sheep ask for the financial support from the electorate.

The Big Two:

Republicans: Pay no attention to the dumpster-fire. Pay no attention to Franniegate, or Theatergate, or the seemingly insoluble rift on the President's plan on immigration, or the Holmes Affair, or every time David McIntosh opens his mouth, or the whole "the Castro is on fire" thing. Everything is just fine.

President Francisco Juarez (R-CA): I have no idea whether it's out of denial, or just pig-headedness, but to hear him talk, you wouldn't know he angrily fired several Cabinet members in the past month for the various scandals they got involved in. Yeah, yeah, he wasn't personally involved, but still, focusing on I Can't Believe It's Not Obamacare Americare is kinda dodging the elephant in the room.
Donald Trump (R-NY): probably this is just self-promotion, because you can't in this day and age run even in the GOP primary on the platform of "the Mexicans are taking over," right? Besides, Juarez's camapign machinery will probably roflstomp him in a few weeks.

Democrats: Well, one out of three ain't bad. Too bad the front runners are an adulterer and a sex pest, respectively. Maybe they're banking on people saying "at least it's not Juarez?"

Senator Carl Cisco Rutter (D-OR): Of course it was inevitable, the man is literally the opposite of President Juarez. Yeah, yeah, cheating on his husband with a staffer is a pretty assholish thing to do, but I don't think the #Resistance types are going to hold it against him after the whole Jurisdiction Act thing. Besides, even Juarez didn't attack him for it really in 2016, why is this relevant now?
Former Vice-President Joe Biden (D-DE): Still neck and neck in the polls, but given the whole sexual misconduct thing, I think he's gonna have an uphill battle to even keep himself as a leading candidate. "I'm less libertarian than Rutter" isn't gonna turn out primary voters.
Senator Angie Bennett (D-PA): Yet another alumni of 2016. Yeah, yeah, hasn't actually declared, but when you spend your time making fiery speeches in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina alongside Bernie Sanders, it's just a matter of time.
Former Governor Jerry Brown (D-CA): Or as Bennet calls him, "Corporate Jerry". Which is a little unfair, but that's Angie for you. Anyway, being the firsy Democratic candidate not named Rutter to make repealing the Jurisdiction Act his number-one priority has probably earned him the undying love of every LGBT voter who hasn't pledged himself to Rutter, or to the inveterate fans of RBG (RIP). But all in all a standard Democrat, maybe he can present himself as a compromise candidate?
Governor Cornelius Kennard (D-SC): I have no idea why he's running. If people want a fiscally moderate, socially conservative candidate, the Republicans already have one in the White House. Not saying he's a horrible person, just that IMO Juarez already has his natural constituency in his camp.

Others:

Congressman John Zmirak (C-VA): First of all, ignore the 10% in the polls, it's probably gonna degenerate to 5% if he's lucky by the time January rolls around. Second of all, "Amnesty is Abortion" doesn't work when the country's first Latino President has defanged Roe, evem if it plays well with your gerrymandered AF base. Thirdly, fuck him. Fuck him with a rusty spatula. After the stunt he pulled at the March two months ago? Yeah, fuck him, [incoherent rage].
 
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SURREY METRO AREA

Mayor - Conservative

RUNNYMEDE - Conservative

SPELTHORNE & NORTH ELMBRIDGE - Surrey Residents Alliance

GREATER WEYBRIDGE - Social Democratic Party

HEATH - Green

WOKING - Conservative

CLANDON & HORSLEY - Conservative

GUILDFORD CENTRAL (also site of Assembly) - Social Democratic Party

WEST GUILDFORD & WAVERLY - Social Democratic Party

SURREY HILLS - Surrey Residents Alliance

SOUTH MOLE VALLEY - Conservative

EPSOM & EWELL - Conservative

GREATER BANSTEAD - Conservative

REIGATE & HORLEY - Social Democratic Party

CATERHAM & TANBRIDGE - Social Democratic Party

TATSFIELD & DORMANSLAND - Social Democratic Party

The Tory-Residents coalition has broken down due to personal issues caused by LGBT education in schools - namely, the Assemblyman for South Mole Valley is a gay man and took the Residents' stance on 'the parent's individual views' personally, which the Residents took very personally. This leaves the SDP in control of the Assembly itself as long as they can keep the Assemblywoman for Heath on-side, which they're doing by preventing the closure of a (pretty much unnecessary) police station in Heath. the main issue that got the Greens (who have started to get quite cynical) to win the seat, and making their environmental policies a priority.

The Mayor has made the most of his limited executive powers and otherwise waters down his policies to get the SDP to back anything. He's quietly working on scraping up the funds for an ambitious parks and tree-planting program in exchange for the Assemblywoman for Heath switching sides for the five months necessary to reach the election.

Surrey Metro is actually working effectively as a method of local governance, proving itself for two terms to be a workable Tory idea to transfer the London-style model to the home counties, but it's not working out for the Tories in Surrey as local polls show they're seen as weak. That could turn around if "Operation Swampy" works out.
 
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News leaks in October 1960 that nuclear war almost broke out because the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System saw the moon.

This terrifies the hell out of the entire human race. It's clear something has to be done to reduce this risk. What we'd recognise as some of the US-USSR negotiations after Cuba happen almost two years earlier and, under these different circumstances, a few 'blue sky' proposals take place as well: NATO and the Warsaw Pact agree a non-aggression pact, plans are made to halt nuclear weapon construction (for now). Negotiations indicate the USSR might have less nuclear missiles than America suspected anyway (it did), making it easier to scale down the US arsenal. De Gaulle is forced out of office as the French scream "HOLY MERDE DUDE" and demand the nascent nuclear programme is killed off, which he won't do. May we face a non-nuclear world--

No, because in 1964 China still tests Project 596. Johnson Goes To China, allied naval forces build up around Taiwan to calm Kai-Shek, nobody's really sure what this means for Vietnam. After a very, very scared 1964, we see a recurring carrot-stick approach akin to OTL's North Korea to threaten, bribe, cajole etc China into not making anything more than a few bombs.

As the risk of nuclear war greatly recedes, large swathes of Western pop culture never happens; nuclear energy faces less opposition in some countries, as the weapons aren't linked to it; a brief pause in US-USSR tensions butterflies away a few acts of silly buggers by intelligene agencies.

And as tensions between power blocks inevitably start to go up later, those silly buggers start and people start to panic about the destructive land-air wars that could happen. (Many years later, articles online will talk about various times a mistake almost happened at the East/West German border and caused a tank battle.) The eventual end of the Cold War means NATO disbands - which years later means the much-talked-about European armies are built, because once it's clear history hasn't actually ended the EU has to build its own shit.
 
The year is 1975. Prime Minister Powell has shunned the EEC and US both, withdrawn from NATO, and signed the Gibraltar Pact with the USSR - leaving competing CIA and Soviet agents in the annoying position of the CIA having to try & covertly help a very socialist Labour into power, and Soviets to help a hardline conservative. Both are planning to blackmail Liberal leader Thorpe over a 'mysterious death' so he'll help them. Can Thorpe play triple agent for MI5 and use this whole thing to get himself into a really plum position?

HUGH GRANT is JEREMY THORPE in:
A VERY ENGLISH ELECTION
 
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