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AH Run-downs, summaries and general gubbins

My latest silly project is a list of Popes where the Avignon Papacy lasts ~250 years longer. I finished the Avignon and Return to Rome side of things and might carry on the Avignon antipopes to a sad sack Michael of Kansas conclusion. There's a very faint chance I'll do an AH vignette in the Avignon side of this setting. What do you, the readers at home, think?

Urban V 1362-1370 Guillaume de Grimoard
Urban VI 1370-1401
Benedict XIII 1401-1423
Clement VII 1423-1446
Urban VII 1446-1463
Clement VIII 1480
Clement IX 1492
Benedict XIV 1517
Felix V 1531
Pius II 1536
Pius III 1550
Felix VI 1562
Sixtus IV 1585
Julius II 1599
Julius III 1623
Augustine I 1625
Augustine II 1640
Leo X 1649
Linus II 1659 (return to Rome)
Julius IV 1681
Adrian VI 1699
Leo XI 1721
Clement X 1732
Clement XI 1746
Pius IV 1758
Gregory XIII 1774
Augustine III 1793
Linus III 1805
Pius V 1828
Gregory XIV 1847
Leo XII 1880
Linus IV 1892
Gregory XV 1907
Clement XII 1925
Innocent VIII 1943
Ambrose I 1958
Augustine IV 1978
Innocent IX 1983
Alexander VI 1999
Linus V 2012
Ambrose II incumbent
 
Royal Advanced Tactical Police

Introduced in the early 1980s in response to the rising crime rates and riots, not to mention the need to use the SAS in the Iranian embassy siege, the RATP (swiftly nicknamed "the Rats", with the RATP nicknaming themselves "the Rat Pack" or "Sinatras" as a result) were intended to fill in a perceived gap. While the bobbies on the beat would remain unarmed, the new national gendarmerie would wear riot gear as standard and be armed with shields, tear gas, and assault rifles as standard. Dedicated brances were established in seven cities, along with eight regional 'flying squads', under the command of a Chief Constable headquartered in Liverpool: a decision made as a gesture towards the recent Toxteth Riots.

For the most part, the RATP - after an early surge in raids and a famous 'baptism of fire' - were deliberately sidelined by the existing city police services, who would rather handle their own sieges and armed responses. The RATP would primarily see use in dealing with riots, which the Met and others were quite happy to outsource, and became celebrated and loathed in equal measure. Football hooliganism was pretty heavily squashed when 'firms' feared the Rats would come pouring out of their famous blue-and-grey vans.

The RATP became infamous in the late 1980s for two uses. First, Thatcher opened branches in Belfast, Londonderry, and Amargh, in order to withdraw some of the soldiers that were controversially patrolling the streets. These branches were half Northern Irish recruits and half existing RATP on a tour of duty, and the two halves suffered a major culture clash and often failed to cooperate with each other, leading to incoherence on the ground - the locals could not tell in any encounter how they'd be treated or what the officers were after. Back on the mainland, the RATP was stretched to its limits by the miner's strike and crackdowns on violent protests; now, for many Britons, instead of dealing with young tearaways, hooligans, and commie weirdos, the Rats were beating up good honest decent folk.

Recruitment plummetted as a direct result of these deployments and standards were 'relaxed' to keep numbers up. Several embarrassing events in the early 1990s caused John Major to launch a major purge of leadership and reorganisation of the force, shutting and merging several branches; heavier training was brought in for the Northern Irish branches to better integrate the locals with the seconded men. The RATP would also be sent to Bosnia after the war as part of the UN policing mission, with the government promoting this as part of the future of the force.

New Labour disagreed: scrapping the RATP had been a demand from the party's members since 1983 (when it had also been a Foot pledge) and the reorganisation was not good enough for them. Outside of Bosnia and Northern Ireland, the force was shut down - and with the formal introduction of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, it ceased to exist in Belfast as well.

A new RATP was almost brought in after the 2011 riots but blocked by the Liberal Democrats. While it remained a Conservative election pledge in 2015, they never got round to it and "a new RATP" remains, for now, akin to "bring back hanging" and "send them on national service".
 
Labour Party Factions, 2020 (Some Sort of Gouldverse):

Political Faction:Ideologies:Prominent Figures (Still Living):
Radical Gouldites:
The 'Left' of the Gouldite Strain, taking the Socialist part of Market Socialism. Originally starting out as members of Ken Livingstone's Democratic Left Group the organisation carried on post Livingstone's 1997 Leadership Bid under the firm hand of John McDonnell. The group gained prominence in the aftermath of the Dot Com. Crash of the Early 10s and have managed to get various positions in the cabinet.

The current leaders would probably be Faiza Shaheen (Chief Treasury Secretary) and Ed Miliband (Secretary for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy).
Democratic Socialism, Decentralisation, Eco-Socialism, Soft Euroscepticism, Left Wing Populism, Democratic Confedralism (Minority), Alter-globalisation (Minority), Economic Nationalism (Minority)John McDonnell, Alan Simpson, Rachel Maskell, Lynne Jones, Ed Miliband, Clive Lewis, Faiza Shaheen, Monica Lennon
Fundamentalist Gouldites:
The 'Right' of the Gouldite Strain, rather more interested in the Market side of Market Socialism. They believe prominently in not altering the Anglo-Model set up by Bryan Gould in the 1990s though unlike the Radical Gouldities they believe in taking more part with the EU (to a point) and funding more of the growing British Creative Industry to.

Currently the dominant strain in the Labour party under the leadership of Lisa Nandy.
Market Socialism, Decentralisation, Anglo-Model, Economic Nationalism, Industrial Democracy, Social Democracy (Minority), Soft Euroscepticism (Minority)Bryan Gould, Jon Cruddas, Lisa Nandy, Annaliese Dodds, Cat Smith, Mark Seddon, Bill Morris, Peter Hain, Owen Jones, Richard Leonard
Tribunites (Beckettites):
The European Social Democrats of the Labour Party, following Bryan Gould's Premiership, Margaret Beckett would takeover. Changing very little in her time in office she did ensure that the Gould Consensus would stick within the British psyche. Her organisation would takeover the Tribune during the 00s and would influence the papers direction in the years to come.

Could be considered the Centre of the Labour Party and does mainly follow the party line, though Angela Rayner (Justice Secretary) and Katy Clark (Scottish Secretary) seem to be willing to push there factions envelope forward.
Social Democracy, Centralisation, Nordic Model, Pro-Europeanism, Keynesian Economics (Minority), Democratic Socialism (Minority)Margaret Beckett, Paddy Tipping, Paul Boateng, Angela Rayner, Diane Abbott, Katy Clark, Hilary Benn
Brownites:
The Hard Right of the Labour Party, a gaggle of Third Wayers and Neoliberals who believe that the Gould consensus should be dismantled similar to Thatcherism. Not very popular and were depleted after Blair defected to the Liberal Democrats, it mainly spends it's time being intellectual and ensuring the flame of the Third Way stays lit.

Has the most amount of say within the Scottish Labour Party.
Social Democracy, Centralisation, Third Way, Pro-EuropeanismGordon Brown, Jack Straw, Ian Murray, Emily Benn
 
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¡Adelante, Hispania!

Alianza Socialista y Democrática: Roberto Lavagna went on Teleglobo to talk shit about Bachelet's deficit spending and response to student protests. This naturally translated to a billion Sonico posts saying that this will finally, finally, be the thing that breaks the XXIth Century ASD hegemony, sends Bachelet back to Chile, and returns the PPU to its natural place in government. Meanwhile, in real life, the ASD deputies remember that Lavagna's been talking shit about every ASD leader since Cárdenas.

Partido Popular Unificado: Hey, everyone, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría is so great! She's on all the news shows, and doing so much #girlpower stuff in the Cortes, and negotiating peace in Dixie, and people seem to like her vision for a new conservatism based on expertise and meritocracy, and nobody cares because Uribe just got arrested by the AFI and that's opening up a whole lotta wounds.

Nuestro Movimiento: I'll never forgive AMLO for not just up and calling it "Alianza Moderna Laborista de Obreras" or whatever. We should be honest with each other and ourselves.

Partido Nuevo: At least Newsom doesn't pretend it's anything more than his party. It's real fun to watch all the wacko oligarchs under him, Musk and Thiel and the like, sharpen their knives when we all know that Slim Helú is going to drop the party like a hot potato the moment it starts getting weird.

Concertación Cristiano y Antirrevolucionario: Responding to Uribe being arrested in a very normal way, with a combination of weird conspiracy theories and blatant sexism about Bachelet and 3S. Rafael Cruz, who is ostensibly their leader, was also there, and why not?

Partido de Trabajadores Comunistas: Another "minor fluff" where Dr. Guevara started talking about Fujimori and it took a full minute for his handlers to figure out he wasn't talking about Keiko. A week ago he was talking about Aramburu like he was still in office. I don't have anything funny to say about that.

Liberación: RIP Felipe Quispe, who died yesterday from cardiac arrest. With Moto and Sáenz Vargas now pretty firmly retired, Guillén now doing whatever the hell he's up to, and Gus Envela Jr. now in the catbird seat, leadership of Liberación has passed, once and for all, from the militant leaders to a new generation, mostly comprised of LARPers.

Anglophone Alliance: One of their state deputies in Coahuila y Tejas accidentally sexted an El Tiempo reporter, claimed it was meant for his wife, and then got caught having an affair with a different El Tiempo reporter; another got caught with a gun in the State Capitol when it fell out of the holster and down his pant leg. Rick Perry sure is setting the tone for his party, but on the other hand he can believably claim not to remember any of these people.
 
A continuation of a series of vaguely connected wikiboxes, based on some ideas I've been toying around with. My sincere apologies to any french forum members, or anyone with a basic understanding of French politics for that matter. While I concede that it wouldn't be anything less than I deserve it's probably not worth the potential legal issues to beat me to death. I'm also tall and really heavy, so getting rid of the body would be an issue.

The State of the Republic, January 2018

Mouvement des citoyens:
Yes, I always say that President Mélenchon is a bad afternoon away from dismissing the government, but it's still true! The only reason it hasn't happened yet is that Prime Minister Laurent controls enough of the party machinery that it would cost him his majority, so now we're stuck with the two most powerful men in the country pretending they don't want to kill each other as they raise the child allowance and wait it out for the inevitable showdown in 2021. At least Mélenchon got to call Chancellor Hauk a cuck (if not in so many words) at the latest Council meeting.

Union pour la démocratie française: For the first time since the election (and to be honest, since President de Sarnez's retirement) they have all their ducks in order, with no party or faction threatening to run away or airing their dirty laundry for the press. This should be unequivocally good news, but it also means no one pays them any attention. Yes, you could read about Jégo's very sensible critique of the new labour code reform, but wouldn't you rather hear about how the President allegedly called his own Prime Minister a traitor (among other things) again?

Mouvement pour une république sociale: Bruno Retailleau is starting to realize that there might be downsides of uniting the respectable non-UDF right and revitalizing Gaullism as a serious independent force. Like getting a party group that goes from people who will serve in the next center-right government to deputies who would sit with FN and the identitarians if they were just a wee bit less fascist.

Union progressiste
-Les Verts:
I know the ecologist voters were the driving force behind most-to-all of the unions electoral successes, and that it's really unfair how the Socialists have managed to dominate both the parliamentary group and what shared bureaucracy you have, but you really should've thought of that before you married your political project to people with a century of experience when it comes to procedural fuckery. Yannick Jadot is doing a reasonably good job at the Ministry of Ecological Transformation, at least.
-Parti socialiste: Harmon has in the last months hinted that he will resign from the government, that he will challenge Delphine Batho for the First Secretaryship and that he will defect to the RDG (or possibly start his own thing). It's one way to get your name out, but I'm not sure it will work in the way he might hope.
-Parti des radicaux de gauche - Mouvement Marianne: While I think that their insistence that their adoption of UBI as their key policy was what paved the way for their relative resurgence back in 2016 is confusing correlation with causation I appreciate that they're 1) focusing on the issues and 2) appears to have a good time, which is more than I can say about some other people.

Parti communiste français: One consequence of the MDC constant internal Mexican standoff and whatever petty drama that's going through the progressives this week is that the communists come off as the most serious members of the Presidential majority. Say what you will about room-temperature Marxism-Leninism that's barely been updated since the USSR was more than just Russia with some random Central Asian states attached, it's not overly dramatic.

Rallye de gauche: Split between those trying to fight Mélenchon's inevitable takeover of the alliance when he splits with the MDC in 2023, and the ones actively embracing the prospect.

Front Nationale: Will run a joint list with the identitarians, Dupont-Aignan's lot and assorted microfash for the EU election next year, so no longer will we have to choose what kind of democratically dubious white supremacist we will send to join such dignitaries as the Italian Social Movement and the National Democrats in the hallowed halls of Brussels.

Pôle du 20 juin: Still can't decide if they want to sit with the UDF, progressives or go NI, so they're continuing with the "all of the above" option. Not that it matters much, since Valls is about to fuck off to Spain. I would say something about how this is a loss for progressive liberals and other non-UDF centrists, but it's not like they were much use before either.

Nouvelle gauche européenne: Look, Olivier Besancenot didn't expect to keep his seat either, so stop complaining that he haven't really managed to do much with the promise of being the left-opposition to Mélenchon & Co.
 
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Far-Right Members of the European Parliament from the United Kingdom

It is difficult to suppress a certain amount of mirth at the fate of the Liberal Party in 1979: having sold their support to Labour for a mess of pottage (namely the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote at the newfangled 'European elections', they reaped a paltry four seats due to several factors, including the emboldening of voters to waste their high preferences on frivolous minor parties. One of the less frivolous parties, indeed, equalled the Liberals' haul on a much smaller vote - namely, the National Front. For the next ten years, readers of British newspapers thrilled to hear the exploits of their fascist representatives in Brussels. For devotees of soap-opera drama, it was a halcyon period.

John Tyndall
  • National Front MEP for London North (1979-1980)
  • New National Front MEP for London North (1980-1982)
  • British National Party MEP for London North (1982-1984)
  • British National Party MEP for London North West and Thames Valley (1984-1989)
The central figure of the National Front for the previous decade, the officious Nazi Tyndall was facing party turmoil even as the Front achieved as good a result as it could ever hope to achieve. A month before, the general election had brought Margaret Thatcher to office on a ticket broadly acceptable to many NF supporters, leaving the many expensive candidacies mounted by Tyndall's party looking like white elephants - with the emphasis firmly on 'white'. The elevation of some of Tyndall's rivals to five-year sinecure positions in Europe hastened the end of Tyndall's leadership of the NF, and an attempt to oust the main organiser, Martin Webster, ended up with Tyndall starting his own new racialist party, the New NF, in opposition to the 'gay National Front'.

As the NF's demise continued apace, multiple far-right groupuscules emerged, and by 1982, there was a mood to reunite: hence the BNP, an "SDP of the far right" and a personal plaything of the Chairman. The Tyndallites achieved little more than the re-election of their regimental-tie leader to a redrawn, but still crucially five-member, constituency in 1984, from which platform he attracted headlines for his racist outbursts and spiralled into ever more autocratic behaviour - such as a bizarre command to the rank and file not to contest the 1987 general election at all. Tyndall was defeated in 1989 and lapsed into obscurity.

Anthony Reed Herbert
  • National Front MEP for Midlands East (1979)
  • British Democratic Party MEP for Midlands East (1979-1982)
  • British National Party MEP for Midlands East (1982-1984)
Reed Herbert followed an unusual path to the National Front: he was bullied at school by Salman Rushdie and clearly bore a grudge. In the early 70s, he was a key mediating figure between the Powellite populists and the avowedly fascist Tyndall wing of the Front, and split off in late 1979 in order to start a new, more respectable party, free from the taint of neo-Nazi skinheads and biological racialists. However, the BDP was holed below the waterline almost immediately: a key organising figure in the Party was Ray Hill, an anti-fascist mole, who leaked the membership list and revealed that the supposedly moderate BDP was holding secret vigils on Hitler's birthday. In 1981, members of the BDP were discovered to be attempting to smuggle weapons and radio equipment into the country, which rather put the lie to their branding. Reed Herbert returned to the Tyndallite fold upon the formation of the BNP, apparently having moved beyond his qualms regarding open Fascism.

The BDP achieved some ephemeral success in local government in Leicester, the group was dead by the time Reed Herbert was defeated (pitifully) at the next European elections.

Andrew Fountaine
  • National Front MEP for East Anglia and Cambridgeshire (1979)
  • Constitutional Movement MEP for East Anglia and Cambridgeshire (1979-1982)
  • Nationalist Party MEP for East Anglia and Cambridgeshire (1982-1984)
Similarly to Reed Herbert, Andrew Fountaine was elected in 1979 with the full intention of moving away from the boot-boy image of Tyndall and Webster, and formed the Constitutional Movement in the November of that year, after losing a leadership challenge. Fountaine, who had fought for Franco in the Spanish Civil War, was a founding member of the NF, but had moved away from Tyndall and sought to present a moderate image. However, it was not to be: the Constitutional Movement was cursed with bad luck, its headquarters catching fire in mysterious circumstances and one of its camaigners being murdered. Fountaine swiftly grew tired of faction-fighting both internal and external (sharing a building with the NF head office caused some difficulties) and lost the initiative when Tyndall announced the formation of the BNP. Many of the members switched over at this point, despite the 'Nationalist Party' rebrand. Fountaine rarely appeared in Brussels after 1982, preferring to tend his country estate in Norfolk.

Martin Webster
  • National Front MEP for Midlands West (1979-1983)
  • Our Nation MEP for Midlands West (1983-1984)
The homosexual Martin Webster had been the main organiser (and the only candidate ever to save a deposit) for the National Front in the 1970s and, despite his extracurricular activities, retained more loyalty among the upper echelons than John Tyndall did - ultimately becoming Chairman when Tyndall left for the New NF. In the early 1980s, Webster was the main player in a party increasingly marginalised and radicalised by the existence of more moderate alternatives, such as the BDP, the CM and the Tories. The younger generation, hitherto closely associated with Webster, began to dabble with oddball ideas around Strasserism and continental clerico-fascist theories espoused by people with foreign names. This grouping had the numbers to oust Webster in 1983, and his attempt at a more traditional alternative party failed to attract the people who had been loyal to him in 1979 and 80. Nevertheless, Webster scored a creditable 5% in 1984.

Andrew Brons
  • National Front MEP for Yorkshire North and West (1984-1986)
  • National Front (Flag Group) MEP for Yorkshire North and West (1986-1989)
Most commentators predicted the demise of the far-right in the 1984 Euro elections, save perhaps for the re-election of John Tyndall, but the voters demonstrated that the recognisable name of the National Front was worth a considerable number of votes, and three NF candidates fluked their way into Strasbourg. One, Harrogate-based school-teacher Andrew Brons, was significant at first in his role as the lynch-pin between the fractious alliance in the Front between the old-style racialists and the 'Political Soldier' wing of pallid young men quoting Codreanu, Evola and Tolkien at each other. Brons was Chairman from 1980, but was consistently overshadowed by others (Webster at first), and only came into his own in 1986, when he staged the walkout of the 'Flag Group' from the National Front. This group was rooted in the racialism and Nazism of the 1970s NF, but differed in its promotion of populist Strasserism as a key point of difference from the Tories. Nevertheless, Brons now played second fiddle to other Flag Group personalities, and failed to achieve a merger with the BNP - although he sat in a group with Tyndall from 1987 until his retirement at the end of the term. Harrogate College did not rehire him.

Nick Griffin
  • National Front MEP for London South and Surrey (1984-1986)
  • Official National Front MEP for London South and Surrey (1986-1989)
  • International Third Position MEP for London South and Surrey (1989)
Croydon-based Nick Griffin was the hope of the Political Soldier faction of the National Front in 1984. A close friend of Italian terrorist Roberto Fiore, he devoured Evola, Codreanu and ruralist mysticism. Griffin made special reference to black nationalism and won the support of Colonel Gaddafi, who donated a crate of copies of his book for the 'Official' NF to flog. Of course, the Officials were just as odd from an organisational point of view as they were from an ideological perspective, refusing to accept new members, demanding full dedication to the revolutionary cadre, and refusing to participate in elections. Griffin even had to be persuaded to vote in European Parliament divisions. Since the 1989 schism in the ONF, Griffin has lived on an environmentalist commune in Spain with his fellow Political Soldiers, and has only disturbed the headline-writers once more since then, pooh-poohing the idea that there is any financial tawdriness involved in the funding system for said commune.

Patrick Harrington
  • National Front MEP for London North East and Essex (1984-1986)
  • Official National Front MEP for London North East and Essex (1986-1989)
  • Third Way MEP for London North East and Essex (1989)
Another of the Political Soldiers, Patrick Harrington took the ethnopluralist ideas of the movement to their logical conclusion: in 1989, he gave tacit approval to the IRA and actual approval to the state of Israel, neither of which made him flavour of the month in the far-right ecosystem. Even the majority of the Official NF drew the line at 'Zionism', and split off under Nick Griffin to form the International Third Position, while Harrington and friends transformed their group into Third Way, a party espousing Distributism, Social Credit, environmentalism and co-operatism. Unlike the ITP, Third Way has returned to electoralism as a strategy, but has not seen any success whatsoever. In later years, Third Way has made a point of running candidates from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

The 1989 election saw all far-right candidates defeated, concluding an interesting and distressing period in the UK's political history. Since 1989, all third-party action has been concentrated on the Lib Dems, the Scottish and Welsh nationalists, and especially the Greens, who first broke through in those same European elections. As such, no subsequent British MEP can be seriously considered a Fascist - with the arguable exception of David Icke.
 
Socialism with Nottinghamshire Face

Chairmen of the Nottinghamshire Congress of Cooperatives and Unions (1980-1992):


1980-1982: Roy Lynk (CPGB)
1982: Ken Coates (CPGB-Solidarity)
1982-1984: Alan Meale (CPGB)
1984-1986: Neil Greatex (CPGB)

1986-1988: Dermot Arthur (Solidarity)
1988-1992: John Peck (CPGB-Solidarity)

1988 def: Ken Clarke (CPGB), Geoffrey Trease (Independent)
1990 def:
Neil Greatex (CPGB-Conservative), Alan Sillitoe (Independent)

Nottinghamshire was probably one of the most prosperous regions in the Federal Cooperative Union of Britain, with a strong Mining Industry and a surprisingly vibrant Night-life Culture Nottinghamshire and the City it was named after were considered the places to be in the FCUB. After the 20 year Chairmanship of Jack Dunnett it was decided that a 2 year tenure-ship was much better for the ‘democratic process’ (inset laugh track).

The appointment of Roy Lynk was uncontroversial, he was a fairly decent leader of the Miner’s Union and was opposed to the increase corruption that was going on. Ken Coates would follow, a self proclaimed Democratic Socialist, Anti-Corruption reformer and member of the controversial Solidarity Trade Union it was inevitable that he would be replaced. Two months into tenure-ship he would find himself under house arrest under charges of fraud as part of a crackdown under the orders of General Secretary Tebbit.

The next four years were the same old corrupt conservatives that had been cosy with Dunnett in the 70s. The so called Dunnett Squad sat over stagnation of the Nottinghamshire economy. This would change when a Nottinghamshire Legend and Radical CPGB member Brian Clough became General Secretary. His attempts to reform the FCUB allowed Solidarity to return. Dermot Arthur had been a secret member of the Union since 1980, alongside being a practicing Catholic and former Transport Administrator. He would win and set about reforming Nottinghamshire’s economy, the Miners Unions would be split off from the National Formation and Modernised, Cooperatives would spring up and emphasis on Art and Culture would occur. Following Dermot came the first election for Chairman.

It was expected that the fairly dull and even-handed Ken Clarke (being Central Office’s favourite) but a surprise campaign from the eccentric John Peck who had Solidarity support and an independent run from Nottinghamshire Author Geoffrey Trease ripped Clarke’s campaign to shreds. John Peck's tenure-ship was about ensuring that Nottinghamshire had a future post Coal, attempts to start creating recycling's schemes, sustainable energy schemes and increasing the amount of public transport that Nottinghamshire had. His leadership would be popular and he won handily against his corrupt predecessor Neil Greatex. Peck's next two years could be seen as him shoring him the defences as the FCUB began to collapse.

In 1992 the FCUB would become the Federal Republic of Britain as a democratic election would replace the Clough Government with the election of the Solidarity Party under the leadership of Bill Morris. From there they would change Britain and by extension, Nottinghamshire...




Mayor of the Nottinghamshire Assembly (1992-2020):

1992-2000: Paddy Tipping (Solidarity)

1992 def: Neil Greatex (CPGB), John Peck (Ecology), Tim Ball (Social Liberals), Ken Coates (Workers Alliance), Alan Sillitoe (Independent Socialist)
1996 def: Fiona Jones (CPGB), John Peck (Ecology), Jonathan Bullock (Democrats), Tim Ball (Social Liberals), Ken Coates (Workers Alliance)

2000-2008: John Balance (Ecology)
2000 def: Vernon Coaker (Solidarity), Fiona Jones (CPGB), Jonathan Bullock (Democrats), Ed Davey (Social Liberals), Alan Simpson (Workers Alliance)
2004 def: Glenis Willmott (Solidarity), Fiona Jones (CPGB), Margot Parker (Democrats), Ed Davey (Social Liberals), Alan Simpson (Workers Alliance)

2008-2012: Ed Davey (Social Liberals)
2008 def: John Balance (Ecology), John Mann (Solidarity), Geoff Hoon (CPGB), Margot Parker (Democrats), Alan Simpson (Workers Alliance)
2012-2020: Lillian Greenwood (Solidarity)
2012 def: Ed Davey (Social Liberals), John Balance (Ecology), Brent Charlesworth (CPGB), Tim Martin (Democrats), Alan Simpson (Workers Alliance)
2016 def: Francesco Lari (Social Liberals), Paris Lees (Ecology-Workers Alliance), Jane Urquhart (CPGB), Tim Martin (Democrats), Anna Soubury (Independent Social Democrat)

2020-: Paris Lees (Greens & Red)
2020 def: Alex Norris (Solidarity), Jason Zadrozny (Democratic Alliance), Nadia Whittome (CPGB), Vicky McClure (Independent)
 
Invasion of the Quarks (1995)

The Dominator Tarkan has arrived on Earth with a team of Quarks and is sealing off Aberystwyth as his bridgehead. Cut off from support, a team of UN soldiers have to work with the locals to save the day.

Part of the 'Wilderness Years' run of Doctor Who inspired direct-to-videos, IotQ was a production by a group of students at Aberystwyth. The budget is extremely low even by the prevailing standards and the acting is performed by various Drama Soc people, with a tall Australian student playing the Dominator who leads the (two) Quarks. For legal reasons, the (three) soldiers are only visually implied to be UNIT rather than anything said outright. Various rude jokes bump this up to a 15.

Despite all of the obvious flaws, if taken for what it is - a cheap romp by young fans - it can be quite enjoyable and there are a few inspired shots. It rained heavily for part of the 'shoot' and this was sucked into it, with the weather indicated to be part of the Dominator's "forcefield" and the soldiers shown pounded by rain in a desolate road, desperately calling for aid (that part was dubbed on later).


The Quark Rides Out (1996)

A lone Quark remains under guard in Aberystwyth, examined by a core of students - one, Rehana Khan, is part of the survivors from the invasion, and warns not to underestimate the Quark. It duly escapes and starts to pick people off one by one.

A sequel by those of the team who hadn't graduated, with a new group of Drama Soc students. Priti Chandra was the only returning actress, as she was the only a) fan b) still there c) not put off by the last time. It's deliberately scaled down to save money and time, and the Quark starts to act like a more generic 'killer alien'. Several university buildings play 'themselves', which either makes the video more grounded or the kill scenes dafter depending on your POV.

More serious and less fun that IotQ, the flaws are all the more obvious this time (you can see the actor inside the Quark for three seconds due to prop damage). Its big legacy is that in Virgin's The Dying Days, mention is made of "that Quark getting loose" as an embarrassing accident that saw UNIT replace Brigadier Crichton with Brigadier Bambera.


Return of the Quarks! (2003)

The Dominators and Quarks are back, this time offering a secret alliance with the British government. Rehana Khan gathers a group of conspiracy-loving students and busts the plot wide open, forcing the government to back off it.

While the university was faintly embarrassed by the Quark films, the nerds going there thought this was the bees knees and constantly joked about doing another one. This finally happened in 2002/03, hoping to profit from Doctor Who's 40th Anniversary and the DVD market. Just as in the 1990s, the shoot was a bit of a mess but this time everyone involved was a Who fan (which did mean some of the actors, uh, weren't) and this carried it. The script is a on-the-nose War on Terror 'satire', with the government and Dominators planning to 'regime change' the Middle East in its entirety. Chandra, at this point a jobbing actor with TV secondary roles, returned for three days of filming.

The 'satire' landed badly even at the time and production values are variable, but it's committed to a 'so bad it's good' comedy romp and, if you're a bit drunk, mostly pulls it off. The best part is that Khan reacts to the whole thing with weary seriousness, the straight man for the whole affair. (The iffiest part is that everyone is clearly younger than Khan, even the government envoy, making it extra clear you're watching students)
 
Parties of the United Kingdom of Great Britain as of the end of the Ostkrieg (1949-1965) [aka the final outcome of one KR game I had]

Well. I can't believe it's actually over. That we're finally at peace. First the Second Weltkrieg and now the Ostkrieg. Even Prime Minister Lloyd George looks tired while announcing what's arguably Britain's greatest victory ever. I mean, holy fuck we defeated India, China and Japan at the same time. But all those dead bodies and veterans limping back home. 35 million people died in all. At least this Lloyd George knows what happened last time this country went off to war, and has pledged to work with the rest of the Government to properly and truly make this country a home fit for heroes.

National Government (been in power for donkeys' years)

Liberal: There's talk of Lloyd George resigning. After all, he's in his late-60s and just oversaw the final end of the worst war in human history. Those that want to replace him often talk of Michael Foot, who is popular in Liberal commentary circles, even if not quite so with the other parties. Still, Lloyd George seems irritated by this talk, and has declared that he will step down when he deems it prudent, and no earlier. Meanwhile, drastic plans have been drawn up, many apparently from his old man's notes when he thought he would return to free Britain. I just hope those notes have been updated...

Conservative: Since Eden was forced to resign in 1962 after one too much humiliating defeats in Insulindia, the Tories have been quite peeved about not getting the Prime Ministership. Why can't Butler lead, the muttering goes. He has been an able Chancellor, why can't he lead the country? This is where the real mutterings of a need for another leadership change from the Liberal Gwilym to the Tory Rab comes from, mostly. Oh and of course there's Lord Salisbury on the hard-right saying that syndicalist elements meant the Ostkrieg took that long. He's... annoying, everyone agrees. Given quite a few Tory voters come from people who were generally fine with the syndies, and they don't know why, talk of "reconciliation" is key.

Labour: At once the "Party of Mosley" (boo hiss) and the "Party of Gaitskell" (yay), Labour is currently under the leadership of Tony Crosland, who is quite keen for the "Ostkrieg politics" of an increasingly-right-wing National Government to end, and hopes to exploit people's wishes for a better Britain (not a restoration of the Union, but you know, quite a few things we like in Britain those days are still from that era) to surge once more to their 1944 landslide. Is it possible? Well, who knows. But everyone knows that with Labour goes control of the House of Trades and hence any chance of legislating.

Opposition (they exist?)

Independent Labour: Not to be confused with Labour, this is the vaguely-syndicalist party that has safely been marginalised, and MI5 keeps a firm eye on them to make sure there's no more chances of a third British republic. Even the trade unions that are in the House of Trades prefer to side with Labour to ensure there's as much power for them. There's even talk the ILP is really just more MI5 than anything else those days.

Autonomist League: Only just got away from being banned by the sheer virtue of Mosley purging them and hence they were seen as the most anti-UoB elements apart from the Loyalists. Still perhaps one of the last somewhat-syndicalists left. Mostly only wins seats in Wales and Scotland, and lobby mostly for Home Rule, which gets general agreements from Liberals and a few Labour sorts, but Tories are opposed because they think it would just enable the split of the UK like what the Autonomist founder Niclas y Glais would have wanted. But then the Tories want them banned.

British Action: This is one of the two British Nat-Pop parties. Yes, we're that sort of country. Quite Francophile, they believe in bringing the French idea of integral monarchism to Britain, abolishing the House of Trades (which, okay yikes) and empowering the House of Lords. While Francophile sentiment in Britain has always been there on the left and right since the Revolution, this is the most simpering party ever. Their ideas of what count as "Anti-Britain" is fourfold - 1) Jews 2) Marxists 3) Freemasons and 4) Dissenters. It's the last bit that gets them the most controversy, as they're unrepentantly Anglo-Catholic in their belief, with even some muttering of "bringing London back into the Mother Church".

Protestant People's: This is the other Nat-Pop party. And yes it's just as crazy. It blames the French for well, everything, and believes Britain should align itself with the Reichspakt and away from the French. To them, the Ostkrieg was the French's fault, the Revolution was the French's fault, the First Weltkrieg was the French's fault, and everything great Britain had was ruined by the Entente. They're often the culprits for any anti-Catholic attacks, declaring that Britain is "a fundamentally Anglo-Saxon Protestant country". It... generally doesn't do well outside England. Or even in England for that matter. But both it and BA has seen greater numbers leading to mutters of extending the ban on most syndicalists to the far-right.
 
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53rd New Zealand Parliament, 14 October 2020

HM Government:
Labour are back, baby! Yes, we may have the worst infection rate in the developed world outside the UK (does America still count as 'developed'?) and Joyce left a cheery "we're broke, get fucked" note for Robertson on his desk, but back in power is back in power.

Labour [41.92%; 54 seats]: They did it. It took twelve years, five leaders, a pandemic and a recession, but they did it. A comfortable *checks notes* two-seat majority and a coalition with a party despised by a solid 40-60% of the population.

Now we just have to see how David Clark does at taking the reins of Coleman's dead horse and whether Twyford can make good on the promises to use the 'once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fix our housing'. Given how thoroughly National has abdicated leadership, I've got a good feeling about this.

Greens [6.85%; 9 seats]: And lo, there came much wailing and gnashing of teeth from Mike Hosking and Federated Farmers. Managed to get three Ministers inside Cabinet, a commitment to reroute the power from Manapouri to the general network, and whatever else lurks in the Coalition agreement.

HM Opposition: It'd probably be tasteless to say "a plague on both your houses", wouldn't it?

National [38.59%; 50 seats]: At last, Bill English can retire in peace, with only 37 stab wounds in the back.

ACT [4.11%; 5 seats]: Signs of the End Times:
  • Pestilence
  • War
  • David Seymour leading a caucus too big to fit in one taxi.

Signs this isn't the End Times:
  • ACT MP in the firing line for refusing to wear a mask in their Crown car as some sort of principled protest against "globalist tyranny".

Maori [1.88%; 3 seats]: Honestly, I didn't have anything written for this. I've had a fortnight to come up with something and I've really got nothing. But it's fucking glorious to see. And I thought ACT were the underdog story.

Parties outside Parliament

NZ First [2.45%]:
Winston put in all that mahi, screwed enough concessions out of Bill English to go into coalition, and he's only got a dole queue and some abandoned earthworks for a spur line to Marsden Point to show for it. Paula Bennett, whose career was sacrificed for this, is taking no small amount of pleasure in reminding us of how badly Winston has failed during her regular appearances on The Project.

New Conservative [1.08%]: Taking all bets, guys. Will they blame their defeat on the left or the gays?

Real New Zealand/HeartLand/Outdoors/BAN 1080 Alliance [0.87%]: Sound the microparty alarm: the freakish hydra came second in Port Waikato! Cue Shane Jones kicking off about the mass movement he's started, even as Mark Bell (who did all of the mahi for none of the treats) stands there bemused.

Opportunities [0.81%]: People for whom pitching herd immunity hasn't worked out: Anders Tegnell, Boris Johnson, Gareth Morgan. Gaweth has stepped down as leader, which would invite a comparison to rats and sinking ships if they hadn't jumped ship months ago and the ship wasn't already underwater.

Reset NZ [0.69%]: Demonstrating on Parliament lawn, again. Getting arrested for refusing to obey social distancing laws, again. Making incoherent posts on Facebook that your weird uncle on the West Coast is sharing, again.

Still, that voteshare is pretty lit.

Vision NZ [0.12%]: Hopefully they take the hint to just piss off already, but the Tamakis are the one thing more persistent than a case of long COVID.

ONE Party [0.09%]: Do you like insane Christian fundamentalism, but not the compromises with reality those conformists in the New Conservatives have made? Apparently, 2,423 New Zealanders do.

Social Credit NZ [0.04%]: Boosted their voteshare by 33% relative to 2017, which makes for an inspiring story of pensioner turnout amidst a pandemic.

Sustainable NZ [0.02%]: So much for the Teal Deal. Lol.
 
Going a bit retro here

Progressing Though the Pandemic

Long Eaton Progressive Coupon:
On the one hand the suspension of the local elections for another year means a reprieve for the governing party in Long Eaton. On the other hand that just means more councillors can get involved in dog-fights over who managed to screw-up the High Street Bailout. Still, at least nobody's talking about the Midland Mainline Electrification anymore.

Wilne RDC Social and Liberal Democrats: Between their careful distancing from the Progressives in Long Eaton and the continued troubles with the Region over a lack of co-operation on some matters there's a possibility the whole local branch just leaves. Which ironically might just save the local Conservatives.

Wilne and Long Eaton Conservative Association: That majority in Wilne RDC back in 2017 is really looking like a poisoned chalice now. Handled the High Street Bailout better than the Progressives did in Long Eaton UDC but when you put that next to the care homes, and the furlough, and the fact that Kilroy-Silk appears to have driven everyone who might criticise his little jaunt to Penzance out of the local party...

Long Eaton and Wilne Combined Authority Labour Party: Between the general sense the Cruddas government has been handling the pandemic 'reasonably well' and the utter failures of local governments, LEWC Labour Party are pretty much guaranteed to take control in Long Eaton when the elections actually happen, and have a decent shot in Wilne.

Socialist Coalition (Long Eaton): 'A fresh rebrand is bound to let everyone know that we're still around and not just a splinter of discontented Labourites'. Might actually have worked if they hadn't ended up endorsing Piers Corbyn's anti-vax campaign.

Ecology Party of Long Eaton: Surprisingly they're fully on board with both lockdown restrictions and the vaccine. They're still massive racists however.

Ecology Party of Wilne RDC: Have signed the Great Barrington Declaration. Has anyone told them that the AIER believes climate change is a myth?

National Front (Derbyshire Committee): Half of them are in prison for hate crimes, the other half have either defected or are in the process of doing so.

Britons Against the Lockdown: Held a rally in Derby. One local policeman was photographed at it.

Veterans Alliance: Appear not to have done anything in 6 months.

National Vanguard: Will probably be banned as soon as normal business resumes.

Wilne Independents Alliance: The local remnants of South East Derbyshire Rural District Council Community Group since the formal split and the collapse of the Derby administration. Appear to be discussing joining the Wilne SLDs en masse. Which might explain a lot actually.
 
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