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Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State

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1953 - 1955: Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican)
1952 (with Richard Nixon): Adlai Stevenson (Democratic)
1955 - 1957: Richard Nixon (Republican)
1957 - 1958: Estes Kefauver (Democratic)
1956 (with John F. Kennedy): Richard Nixon (Republican), T. Coleman Andrews (States' Rights)
1958 - 1963: John F. Kennedy (Democratic)
1960 (with Stuart Symington): Nelson Rockefeller (Republican), Orval Faubus (States' Rights)
1963 - 1965: Stuart Symington (Democratic)
1965 - 1972: Robert F. Kennedy (Democratic)
1964 (with Lyndon B. Johnson): Barry Goldwater (Republican), Ross Barnett (States' Rights)
1968 (with George McGovern): J. Edgar Hoover (States' Rights), George Romney (Republican)

1972 - 1974: George McGovern (Democratic)
1972 (with Sargent Shriver): Jim Rhodes (Republican), Curtis LeMay [replacing J. Edgar Hoover] (States' Rights)
1974 - 1981: Sargent Shriver (Democratic)
1976 (with Mo Udall): Richard Nixon (Republican)
1981 - 1989: Ted Kennedy (Democratic)
1980 (with Tom Bradley): John Wayne (Republican), Charles Mathias (Independent)
1984 (with Tom Bradley): Bob Dole (Republican)

1989 - 1997: Joe P. Kennedy II (Democratic)
1988 (with John Glenn): Paul Laxalt (Republican)
1992 (with John Glenn): Dick Cheney (Republican), Jerry Brown (People's)

1997 - 2005: Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (Democratic)
1996 (with Paul G. Kirk): Colin Powell (Independent), Jesse Jackson (People's), Pat Buchanan (US Taxpayers)
2000 (with Paul G. Kirk): John McCain (Independent), Ralph Nader (People's)

2005 - 2009: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Independent)
2004 (with Orrin Hatch): Mark Kennedy Shriver (Democratic), Cornel West (People's)
2009 - 2017: John F. Kennedy Jr. (Democratic)
2008 (with Patrick J. Kennedy): Arnold Schwarzenegger (Independent), Dennis Kucinich (People's)
2012 (with Patrick J. Kennedy): David Petraeus (Independent), Bernie Sanders (People's)

2017 - 0000: Joe P. Kennedy III (Democratic)
2016 (with Caroline Kennedy): Mitt Romney (Independent), Bernie Sanders (People's)
2020 (with Caroline Kennedy): Ed Markey (People's), John Kasich (Independent), Michael Flynn (Independent)


Dwight Eisenhower's heart attack and Richard Nixon's inexperience would doom the Republican Party. Estes Kefauver and his young charismatic running mate narrowly won the 1956 election but from the start weren't afraid to make controversial political decisions. Southern Democrats were determined that Estes Kefauver would pay for federalizing the Arkansas National Guard.

And pay he would. In January, 1958 a dossier on the President's sex life was soon plastered across every major newspaper in the country. Maybe some Americans in 1958 could tolerate a President who cheated on his wife, but very few could tolerate a President who preyed on teenage girls, even if they were legally adults. Within months Kefauver would leave office in shame, in lieu of being forced out by the Senate.

John F. Kennedy was determined to not let his presidency's scandalous beginnings define it. Quickly the youngest President in the nation's history made a name for himself. He saved his party from certain defeat in the midterms, he beat the Soviets to getting a man in orbit, he lead the country out of an economic recession, and now he was ready to take on the issue of civil rights. Running to the left, Kennedy would defeat Nelson Rockefeller and in quick succession sign the monumental Civil Rights Act of 1962 and Voting Rights Act of 1963. It appeared that Kennedy would retire with high approval ratings and be remembered as a man who turned his party's misfortune right around. While campaigning for "reformed" Mississippi gubernatorial candidate James P. Coleman in June 1963, Kennedy would be assassinated by white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith.

Although Stuart Symington would ascend to the presidency it would be JFK's brother who waved his bloody banner in the next election. Robert F. Kennedy was his brother's Chief of Staff Attorney General Secretary of Defense in 1963 and used his platform and friendship with President Symington to swap positions with him at the 1964 DNC. Forced into a strategic alliance with Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, RFK would win a landslide over his segregationist opponents. He would get to work quickly, declaring a "War on Poverty" in his first 100 days, a proposed continuation of his brother's domestic policies. But he would struggle. Within weeks his relationship with Vice President Johnson had completely broken down and by summer, 1965 the two were not on speaking terms. The War in Vietnam, started under Symington in 1964, was continuing to rage. In 1966, following a multi-month public spat RFK would fire FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover would respond by releasing enough information to give the Democrats a catastrophic midterm, despite attempts by Kennedy to discredit Hoover.

In 1967 RFK would finally initiate a negotiated withdrawal from Vietnam, the war was beginning to seem unwinnable and he really didn't need a reason for his base to turn on him during an election year. From then on he would declare that the worst was probably behind him and that now he could really push for what he wanted - barring he won re-election of course. Kennedy booted a bitter Johnson off the ticket and replaced him with a political ally. By the fall it was clear that despite his opponents' initial strength they had weaknesses. Hoover was posed to carry much of the South and some of the Mountain West but was a terrible politician and had trouble expanding his based while Romney was initially the election's frontrunner but disastrous debate performance after disastrous debate performance revealed he was born with a silver foot in his mouth. The first lunar landing in October sealed the deal and Kennedy and his faction would come out of 1968 as victors.

Given a new mandate, RFK would work towards completing his War on Poverty proposals and many would pass through Congress by the end of his term. His term would be cut short however, in Ottawa in April 1972 when President Kennedy was assassinated by Arthur Bremer shortly after meeting with Prime Minister Trudeau. George McGovern's ascension to the Presidency would secure his victory in the Democratic primaries and the rally-around-the-flag effect following RFK's assassination would give him a big enough wave to win in November. McGovern's tenure would be short. Although he would continue the War on Poverty and pass a UBI program, McGovern's administration would be better remembered for its ending. On February 22, 1974 amateur pilot Samuel Byck hijacked a commercial airplane and flew it into the White House. The carnage would be caught on TV and millions of Americans would strongly remember the speech given by new President Sargent Shriver over the rubble of the White House.

The first Director of the Peace Corp and RFK's Secretary of State, Shriver was seen by the public as a virtual member of the Kennedy family - not just one by marriage. Now with three assassinated presidents in just eleven years, Sargent Shriver saw his chief duty as uniting the country. Shriver would use his massive post-Byck popularity to institute security measures ranging from comprehensive gun control to making the airport a pain in the ass to go through airport security, and to finally finish off the declared bits of the War on Poverty. Shriver would find his popularity waning by 1976 though and would enlist House Speaker Mo Udall to assist him in his campaign against a resurgent Richard Nixon. It would be a close race, the closest since Nixon last ran in 1956, but Shriver would narrowly pull off a victory.

Shriver's second term would be marred by oil embargo and recession but his late misfortune would not spell the end of the Kennedy Dynasty. In 1979, party bosses ushered in Senate Majority Leader Ted Kennedy to seize the party's nomination. Ted was basically given the party's nomination and kept out of the limelight for much of early 1980. What initially was an uphill race would become easier as his main opponent turned out to be controversial California Governor John Wayne whose statements would cause him to hemorrhage votes in the fall and lead to the insurgence of a Republican splinter ticket.

President Ted Kennedy quickly dealt with the economy in 1981 and worked by the end of the year to create a comprehensive universal healthcare program with House Speaker Jesse Unruh and Senate Majority Leader Birch Bayh. "TeddyCare" would be well remembered as a part of the prosperity of the 1980s, prosperity seemingly heightened by the peaceful fall of the Soviet Union in 1987's Eastern Spring.

By 1988 Americans would truly begin to catch on. For 26 of the last 30 years a member of the Kennedy family had served as the country's President. And now, with a new generation of the family waiting in the wings, things were about to get out of control. The 1988 Democratic Primaries would disgust many liberals and Democratic Party loyalists as the party establishment (eventually including President Kennedy) backed freshman Representative Joe P. Kennedy II over Vice President Tom Bradley in a divisive and close primary. Although many would claim racism on behalf of Democratic voters in the so-called "Bradley Effect" many knew that Kennedy had only gotten that close through help from the party.

In November, the Boy with the Golden Name would be elected President. The Democratic Establishment would spend much of JPKII's years preventing the young President and his congressional allies from tearing down the Welfare State that his forefathers had created. The 1992 Election would see the President roll over House Minority Leader Cheney but what would be more remarkable would be former Senator Jerry Brown's return from the political wilderness to challenge "the Establishment, the Democrats, and the Kennedy family" from the left. Following this appearance of significant left-wing opposition the Democratic Old Guard would be more acquiescent to the President's desires to chip away at and "streamline" the Welfare State. DNC Chair Bill Clinton triangulated the party to moderate on fiscal issues so as to strike devastating blows to the rump GOP in 1994.

The 1996 election would be one of the closest in American history and see four major candidates. It was the first election to feature the Republican Party backing independent candidates rather than their own, this time backing General and hero of the Somalian Intervention Colin Powell. Despite losing Washington DC to Jesse Jackson, Maryland Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend would maintain enough of her base to narrowly beat General Powell and become the first woman President.

Townsend continued JPKII's soft-neoliberal "modernization" of the American welfare state while also balancing the concerns of old guard social democrats like House Speaker John Dingell and Vice President Paul Kirk. She would win re-election handily despite the increasing radicalization of her opposition whether it be San Francisco Supervisor Eric Boucher's Green Party or the "Great Awakening" conspiracy theory that had consumed the radical right and alleged that Townsend stole the 1996 election and that the Kennedy family was behind the Byck Attack.

The 2004 election would be the first time in 52 years that America had voted against the Democratic Party. California Governor and former Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger had beaten Steve Westly in 2002 and was immediately primed by opposition politicians to run for President in 2004. To make this happen though they would need to pass a constitutional amendment allowing foreign-born citizens to serve as President. This amendment would be surprisingly popular amongst Democrats and pass in late 2003. Schwarzenegger's campaign launched within a couple weeks and many thought that he could beat presumptive Democratic nominee Maryland Governor Mark Kennedy Shriver. The two would face off as the major candidates in November's election and Schwarzenegger would comfortably defeat his brother-in-law's lethargic campaign. His brother-in-law. The new President had married into the extended Kennedy family. Even when the Democrats lost the Kennedys won.

Not that Schwarzenegger's administration would have much luck. Democratic Party entrenchment made it difficult for the new President to remove popular "cabinet czars" and in early 2006 a recession would begin that the President would respond to with austerity not seen in many decades.

And so JFK Jr. rode in on a white horse to save the country. Or so some of his supporters thought. Although his stimulus measures would help the country rebound from the Aughts Recession he would double down on the Democratic Party's soft-shift to neoliberalism. Also many were a bit unnerved that his Vice President was his cousin and many members of his administration were either family members or close friends.

Thus began a new status quo, one continued by the young President Joe P. Kennedy III following his election in 2016. To many it appeared that the country was and will be dominated a clique of close family members. Just ask Senator turned Secretary of State turned Vice President Caroline Kennedy or RFK Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services since 1995. The Kennedys had grown far too wide as a family and far too entrenched in the country's dominant party and the seat of power.

In 2020 things changed. Initially predicted to be a comfortable victory for the President, wavering in the stock market and a feared recession sent Joe Kennedy III's approval ratings south and on election night he would be in for a surprise. He would win the election with less than 40% of the popular vote and 270 electoral votes and change. Not only that but he would lose the family's stronghold, Massachusetts.

Change was coming.
 
View attachment 26849

1953 - 1955: Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican)
1952 (with Richard Nixon): Adlai Stevenson (Democratic)
1955 - 1957: Richard Nixon (Republican)
1957 - 1958: Estes Kefauver (Democratic)
1956 (with John F. Kennedy): Richard Nixon (Republican), T. Coleman Andrews (States' Rights)
1958 - 1963: John F. Kennedy (Democratic)
1960 (with Stuart Symington): Nelson Rockefeller (Republican), Orval Faubus (States' Rights)
1963 - 1965: Stuart Symington (Democratic)
1965 - 1972: Robert F. Kennedy (Democratic)
1964 (with Lyndon B. Johnson): Barry Goldwater (Republican), Ross Barnett (States' Rights)
1968 (with George McGovern): J. Edgar Hoover (States' Rights), George Romney (Republican)

1972 - 1974: George McGovern (Democratic)
1972 (with Sargent Shriver): Jim Rhodes (Republican), Curtis LeMay [replacing J. Edgar Hoover] (States' Rights)
1974 - 1981: Sargent Shriver (Democratic)
1976 (with Mo Udall): Richard Nixon (Republican)
1981 - 1989: Ted Kennedy (Democratic)
1980 (with Tom Bradley): John Wayne (Republican), Charles Mathias (Independent)
1984 (with Tom Bradley): Bob Dole (Republican)

1989 - 1997: Joe P. Kennedy II (Democratic)
1988 (with John Glenn): Paul Laxalt (Republican)
1992 (with John Glenn): Dick Cheney (Republican), Jerry Brown (People's)

1997 - 2005: Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (Democratic)
1996 (with Paul G. Kirk): Colin Powell (Independent), Jesse Jackson (People's), Pat Buchanan (US Taxpayers)
2000 (with Paul G. Kirk): John McCain (Independent), Ralph Nader (People's)

2005 - 2009: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Independent)
2004 (with Orrin Hatch): Mark Kennedy Shriver (Democratic), Cornel West (People's)
2009 - 2017: John F. Kennedy Jr. (Democratic)
2008 (with Patrick J. Kennedy): Arnold Schwarzenegger (Independent), Dennis Kucinich (People's)
2012 (with Patrick J. Kennedy): David Petraeus (Independent), Bernie Sanders (People's)

2017 - 0000: Joe P. Kennedy III (Democratic)
2016 (with Caroline Kennedy): Mitt Romney (Independent), Bernie Sanders (People's)
2020 (with Caroline Kennedy): Ed Markey (People's), John Kasich (Independent), Michael Flynn (Independent)


Dwight Eisenhower's heart attack and Richard Nixon's inexperience would doom the Republican Party. Estes Kefauver and his young charismatic running mate narrowly won the 1956 election but from the start weren't afraid to make controversial political decisions. Southern Democrats were determined that Estes Kefauver would pay for federalizing the Arkansas National Guard.

And pay he would. In January, 1958 a dossier on the President's sex life was soon plastered across every major newspaper in the country. Maybe some Americans in 1958 could tolerate a President who cheated on his wife, but very few could tolerate a President who preyed on teenage girls, even if they were legally adults. Within months Kefauver would leave office in shame, in lieu of being forced out by the Senate.

John F. Kennedy was determined to not let his presidency's scandalous beginnings define it. Quickly the youngest President in the nation's history made a name for himself. He saved his party from certain defeat in the midterms, he beat the Soviets to getting a man in orbit, he lead the country out of an economic recession, and now he was ready to take on the issue of civil rights. Running to the left, Kennedy would defeat Nelson Rockefeller and in quick succession sign the monumental Civil Rights Act of 1962 and Voting Rights Act of 1963. It appeared that Kennedy would retire with high approval ratings and be remembered as a man who turned his party's misfortune right around. While campaigning for "reformed" Mississippi gubernatorial candidate James P. Coleman in June 1963, Kennedy would be assassinated by white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith.

Although Stuart Symington would ascend to the presidency it would be JFK's brother who waved his bloody banner in the next election. Robert F. Kennedy was his brother's Chief of Staff Attorney General Secretary of Defense in 1963 and used his platform and friendship with President Symington to swap positions with him at the 1964 DNC. Forced into a strategic alliance with Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, RFK would win a landslide over his segregationist opponents. He would get to work quickly, declaring a "War on Poverty" in his first 100 days, a proposed continuation of his brother's domestic policies. But he would struggle. Within weeks his relationship with Vice President Johnson had completely broken down and by summer, 1965 the two were not on speaking terms. The War in Vietnam, started under Symington in 1964, was continuing to rage. In 1966, following a multi-month public spat RFK would fire FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover would respond by releasing enough information to give the Democrats a catastrophic midterm, despite attempts by Kennedy to discredit Hoover.

In 1967 RFK would finally initiate a negotiated withdrawal from Vietnam, the war was beginning to seem unwinnable and he really didn't need a reason for his base to turn on him during an election year. From then on he would declare that the worst was probably behind him and that now he could really push for what he wanted - barring he won re-election of course. Kennedy booted a bitter Johnson off the ticket and replaced him with a political ally. By the fall it was clear that despite his opponents' initial strength they had weaknesses. Hoover was posed to carry much of the South and some of the Mountain West but was a terrible politician and had trouble expanding his based while Romney was initially the election's frontrunner but disastrous debate performance after disastrous debate performance revealed he was born with a silver foot in his mouth. The first lunar landing in October sealed the deal and Kennedy and his faction would come out of 1968 as victors.

Given a new mandate, RFK would work towards completing his War on Poverty proposals and many would pass through Congress by the end of his term. His term would be cut short however, in Ottawa in April 1972 when President Kennedy was assassinated by Arthur Bremer shortly after meeting with Prime Minister Trudeau. George McGovern's ascension to the Presidency would secure his victory in the Democratic primaries and the rally-around-the-flag effect following RFK's assassination would give him a big enough wave to win in November. McGovern's tenure would be short. Although he would continue the War on Poverty and pass a UBI program, McGovern's administration would be better remembered for its ending. On February 22, 1974 amateur pilot Samuel Byck hijacked a commercial airplane and flew it into the White House. The carnage would be caught on TV and millions of Americans would strongly remember the speech given by new President Sargent Shriver over the rubble of the White House.

The first Director of the Peace Corp and RFK's Secretary of State, Shriver was seen by the public as a virtual member of the Kennedy family - not just one by marriage. Now with three assassinated presidents in just eleven years, Sargent Shriver saw his chief duty as uniting the country. Shriver would use his massive post-Byck popularity to institute security measures ranging from comprehensive gun control to making the airport a pain in the ass to go through airport security, and to finally finish off the declared bits of the War on Poverty. Shriver would find his popularity waning by 1976 though and would enlist House Speaker Mo Udall to assist him in his campaign against a resurgent Richard Nixon. It would be a close race, the closest since Nixon last ran in 1956, but Shriver would narrowly pull off a victory.

Shriver's second term would be marred by oil embargo and recession but his late misfortune would not spell the end of the Kennedy Dynasty. In 1979, party bosses ushered in Senate Majority Leader Ted Kennedy to seize the party's nomination. Ted was basically given the party's nomination and kept out of the limelight for much of early 1980. What initially was an uphill race would become easier as his main opponent turned out to be controversial California Governor John Wayne whose statements would cause him to hemorrhage votes in the fall and lead to the insurgence of a Republican splinter ticket.

President Ted Kennedy quickly dealt with the economy in 1981 and worked by the end of the year to create a comprehensive universal healthcare program with House Speaker Jesse Unruh and Senate Majority Leader Birch Bayh. "TeddyCare" would be well remembered as a part of the prosperity of the 1980s, prosperity seemingly heightened by the peaceful fall of the Soviet Union in 1987's Eastern Spring.

By 1988 Americans would truly begin to catch on. For 26 of the last 30 years a member of the Kennedy family had served as the country's President. And now, with a new generation of the family waiting in the wings, things were about to get out of control. The 1988 Democratic Primaries would disgust many liberals and Democratic Party loyalists as the party establishment (eventually including President Kennedy) backed freshman Representative Joe P. Kennedy II over Vice President Tom Bradley in a divisive and close primary. Although many would claim racism on behalf of Democratic voters in the so-called "Bradley Effect" many knew that Kennedy had only gotten that close through help from the party.

In November, the Boy with the Golden Name would be elected President. The Democratic Establishment would spend much of JPKII's years preventing the young President and his congressional allies from tearing down the Welfare State that his forefathers had created. The 1992 Election would see the President roll over House Minority Leader Cheney but what would be more remarkable would be former Senator Jerry Brown's return from the political wilderness to challenge "the Establishment, the Democrats, and the Kennedy family" from the left. Following this appearance of significant left-wing opposition the Democratic Old Guard would be more acquiescent to the President's desires to chip away at and "streamline" the Welfare State. DNC Chair Bill Clinton triangulated the party to moderate on fiscal issues so as to strike devastating blows to the rump GOP in 1994.

The 1996 election would be one of the closest in American history and see four major candidates. It was the first election to feature the Republican Party backing independent candidates rather than their own, this time backing General and hero of the Somalian Intervention Colin Powell. Despite losing Washington DC to Jesse Jackson, Maryland Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend would maintain enough of her base to narrowly beat General Powell and become the first woman President.

Townsend continued JPKII's soft-neoliberal "modernization" of the American welfare state while also balancing the concerns of old guard social democrats like House Speaker John Dingell and Vice President Paul Kirk. She would win re-election handily despite the increasing radicalization of her opposition whether it be San Francisco Supervisor Eric Boucher's Green Party or the "Great Awakening" conspiracy theory that had consumed the radical right and alleged that Townsend stole the 1996 election and that the Kennedy family was behind the Byck Attack.

The 2004 election would be the first time in 52 years that America had voted against the Democratic Party. California Governor and former Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger had beaten Steve Westly in 2002 and was immediately primed by opposition politicians to run for President in 2004. To make this happen though they would need to pass a constitutional amendment allowing foreign-born citizens to serve as President. This amendment would be surprisingly popular amongst Democrats and pass in late 2003. Schwarzenegger's campaign launched within a couple weeks and many thought that he could beat presumptive Democratic nominee Maryland Governor Mark Kennedy Shriver. The two would face off as the major candidates in November's election and Schwarzenegger would comfortably defeat his brother-in-law's lethargic campaign. His brother-in-law. The new President had married into the extended Kennedy family. Even when the Democrats lost the Kennedys won.

Not that Schwarzenegger's administration would have much luck. Democratic Party entrenchment made it difficult for the new President to remove popular "cabinet czars" and in early 2006 a recession would begin that the President would respond to with austerity not seen in many decades.

And so JFK Jr. rode in on a white horse to save the country. Or so some of his supporters thought. Although his stimulus measures would help the country rebound from the Aughts Recession he would double down on the Democratic Party's soft-shift to neoliberalism. Also many were a bit unnerved that his Vice President was his cousin and many members of his administration were either family members or close friends.

Thus began a new status quo, one continued by the young President Joe P. Kennedy III following his election in 2016. To many it appeared that the country was and will be dominated a clique of close family members. Just ask Senator turned Secretary of State turned Vice President Caroline Kennedy or RFK Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services since 1995. The Kennedys had grown far too wide as a family and far too entrenched in the country's dominant party and the seat of power.

In 2020 things changed. Initially predicted to be a comfortable victory for the President, wavering in the stock market and a feared recession sent Joe Kennedy III's approval ratings south and on election night he would be in for a surprise. He would win the election with less than 40% of the popular vote and 270 electoral votes and change. Not only that but he would lose the family's stronghold, Massachusetts.

Change was coming.

NOTHING BAD EVER HAPPENS TO THE KENNEDYS
 
It's Halloween, and there's nothing spookier than over-convoluted world-building no-one asked for!

Ministers for Industrial Planning

Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom

1937-1939: Neville Chamberlain (Conservative)
1939-1940: Neville Chamberlain (Conservative leading War Government)
1940-1940: Cyril Deverell (Independent leading War Government)
1940-1945: Frederick Marquis (Conservative leading War Government)
1945-1950: Stafford Cripps (Labour)
def 1945: (Majority) Richard Law (Conservative), Archibald Sinclair (Liberal)
1950-1958: Oliver Stanley (Conservative)
def 1950: (Majority) Stafford Cripps (Labour), Jo Grimond (Liberal), Herbert Morrison (Patriotic Labour)
def 1955: (Majority) Hugh Dalton (Labour), Jo Grimond (Liberal), Herbert Morrison (Patriotic Labour)

1958-1962: Douglas Jay (Labour)
def 1958: (Majority) Oliver Stanley (Conservative), Alfred Suenson-Taylor (Liberal), Honor Balfour (Radical), Herbert Morrison (Patriotic Labour)
def 1961: (Minority) Selwyn Lloyd (Conservative), Oliver Smedley (Liberal), Bob Mellish (People's), Honor Balfour (Radical)

1962-1965: T. Dan Smith (Labour)
1965-1969: Victor Montagu (Conservative)
def 1965: (Coalition with Liberals) T. Dan Smith (Labour), Oliver Smedley (Liberal), Pat Arrowsmith (Radical), Bob Mellish (People's)
1969-1979: Barbara Castle (Labour)
def 1969: (Majority) Patrick Wall (National Movement), Peter Walker (New Democracy), Bob Mellish (People's), Eric Lubbock (Radical), Oliver Smedley (Liberal), Victor Montagu (Conservative)
def 1973: (Majority) Peter Walker & Edmund Dell (Centre Pact), Eric Lubbock (Radical), Patrick Wall (National), Ralph Harris (Liberal), Jock Stallard (People's)
def 1977: (Majority) Anthony Meyer (Centre), Piers Dixon (National), David Penhaligon (Radical), Norris McWhirter (Liberal)

1979-1984: Hugh Scanlon (Labour)
def 1979: (Minority with Radicals support) Norman St John-Stevas (Centre), Teddy Taylor (National), Dafydd Wigley (Radical), Norris McWhirter (Liberal)
1984-1987: Robert Gascoyne-Cecil (Centre)
def 1984: (Majority) Hugh Scanlon (Labour), Geoffrey Dickens (National), Christopher Foxley-Norris (Liberal), Dafydd Wigley (Radical)
1987-1997: Brendan Donnelly (Centre)
def 1987: (Majority) Eric Varley (Labour), Geoffrey Dickens (National), Chris Tame (Liberal), Michael Meadowcroft (Radical)
def 1992: (Majority) Frank Dobson (Labour), Geoffrey Dickens (National), Chris Tame (Liberal), Richard Holme (Radical)
1997-2005: Andreas Adonis (Labour)
def 1996: (Majority) Brendan Donnelly (Centre), Chris Tame (Liberal), Peter Tapsell (National), Sara Parkin (Radical)
def 1999: (Majority) Peter Bottomley (Centre), David Davis (Defending Democracy: The Liberals), Sara Parkin (Radical), Ian Anderson (National)
def 2003: (Majority) Simon Woodroffe (Centre), David Davis (Defending Democracy: The Liberals), Adrian Ramsay (Radical), David Campbell Bannerman (National)
2005-2008: Tony Lloyd (Labour)
2008-2013: David Willetts (Centre)

def 2008: (Majority) Tony Lloyd (Labour), Adrian Ramsay & Amir Taaki (Civil Liberties Alliance), Dave West (Defending Democracy: The Liberals), Neil Herron (National)
2013-2017: Charles Stross (Labour)
def 2013: (Coalition with Civil Liberty) David Willetts (Centre), Harley Faggetter (Civil Liberty), Paul Strasburger (Defending Democracy: The Liberals), Ashley Mote (National)
2017-xxxx: INTERSYN NETWORK ASSUMES GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTIONS

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"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the future's embassy to the present!"
--Stafford Beer's remarks welcoming Government dignitaries to the Intersyn control room at the top of the Post Office Tower, as depicted in the 2005 biopic Everything Is Systems. Often attributed to the real Stafford Beer, but this is a misconception.

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THE BIG FIVE: Postwar Prime Ministers

With Charles Stross's recent entry into Admiralty Arch, unseating David Willets, it's a good idea to devote today's Big Five to looking back to the biggest shoes he has to fill. Will he stack up in a century's time? We'll see.

FIVE: Oliver Stanley
Steady As He Went

It was never Stanley's ambition to join the list of the greats; indeed, Stanley once joked in private conversation that his aim was to be forgotten by history. Nevertheless, his tenure has mostly gone down well in the history books, despite overseeing a chaotic period in foreign affairs. Harold Macmillian, the foreign secretary, had his hands full with the insurgency in Cyprus, American requests to intervene in China, soothing the Egyptian government after the Ismalia barracks incident, and desperately trying to keep all the colonies in the Western tent. Privately, many Foreign Office insiders despaired at Britain's loss of status. However, Stanley's great strength as a leader was keeping Britain insulated from all of this as much as possible, trying to wield the soft-power scalpel rather than the military club wherever he could.

Many advisors urged a rapid rollback of Cripps' reforms, but Stanley wisely stuck to the middle path, choosing only to drop the most ridiculous nationalisations like British Sugar and overly grandiose schemes like the Garden Cities. Sometimes he went left, with the Smallholdings Act, and sometimes he went right, refusing to end National Service, satisfying as many as he could. Thanks to these steady and common-sense policies, not rocking the boat too far either way, the common Brit enjoyed his time in office. With a chicken in their pot, a house they could call their own, and a new car in the drive, what did they care for what happened far away? Public opinion only turned when British body bags started coming back from the Kenyan highlands--when what was far away came back to Britain. Stanley's Prime Ministerial career offers an important lesson--most people care more for their bellies than for lofty ideals.

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FOUR: Brendan Donnelly
Hands Across The Channel

Donnelly's ascension to the Prime Ministership was a fluke. While he had been particularly busy as Foreign Secretary, he'd never been hotly tipped--Heseltine was the uncrowned king of the pro-European faction, and next to Tarzan all but the most dynamic personalities faded into the background. Then it turned out that Gascoyne-Cecil meant it when he said he'd rather quit than sign the Hillsborough Accords. And then Heseltine caught a nasty flu, and the Bow Group panicked and picked their most senior ally, and then no-one else in the party really wanted to fight the snap election, and then Varley dropped the ball on Europe and lost the suburbs, and then the Nationals slowly collapsed without Dickens there to lead them, and on the nineteenth of September Brendan Donnelly shook hands with the Queen and wondered what to do next.

Some have argued that his premiership merely continued Gascoyne-Cecil's agenda, but that doesn't detract from his genuine achievements. Tax cuts and limited free-market measures revitalised a stagnant economy, the Employee Share Scheme gave thousands of workers a greater stake in their company's future, and the depoliticisation of the Industrial Control Group paved the way for greater technical achievements. His real crowning achievement, however, was foreign policy. After years of Labour vacillating on the issue and caving to protectionist unions, Donnelly finally brought the UK back into the world. The photograph of Donnelly shaking hands with President Barre and Chancellor Ortleb outside the EC's Parliament became an iconic image of Anglo-European co-operation. By achieving this perennial goal of his party, Donnelly shows that greatness doesn't necessarily require new ideas, just new accomplishments.

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THREE: Andreas Adonis
The Millennium Man

More than any other PM on this list, Andreas Adonis was aware of the power of image. His aspirational backstory, combined with a practised manner and political know-how, made him a bookie's favourite for Labour leader even when he was just the GLC chair. Once leader, his publicity strategy could be reduced to one goal--make Labour the party of the future. Out went the suspicion of Europe and antagonism to the cyber-economy that had defined Labour's opposition years, and in went a whole-hearted commitment to the EC and to world-leading technology. The "Millennium Election" was perhaps his greatest gamble for publicity--a mercenary snap election prompted by high polling, rebranded as "letting the British people choose their future". It worked like a charm. Next to the dynamic young PM, Bottomley and his party looked old and tired, and the Labour majority went from thin to healthy.

Of course, politics isn't just about the image you project, it's about what you do. Adonis was criticised by both wings of the party for his increased openness to Europe, but it got results--greater access to the European market massively improved the British economy, as did linking Intersyn up to the pan-European industrial management system. Adonis' domestic policy was more in line with previous Labour achievements. While finally achieving Beer's end-goal of completely computerised industrial management, freeing the economy from human error and irrationality, would be sufficient for any PM to go down in history, Adonis wouldn't stop there. The National Enterprise Board, based off the scheme he and Mike Cooley had piloted in London, the complete modernisation of British Rail, and the historic recognition of civil partnerships as marriages, stand as a testament to what a well-developed image can let you achieve.

-------------------------------------------
-PROCESSING-
-------------------------------------------

TWO: Frederick Marquis
St Crispian's Day

Britain's future had never looked so bleak as in May 1940. The country was at war with most of Europe. All its efforts had ended in failure, from the slaughter at Bjørnfjell to the men hastily rescued from Dunkirk. To top it all off, the Prime Minister had just fallen dead at his desk. While General Deverell was a safe pair of hands for the moment, protocol demanded a leadership election. The interventionist faction were largely headless. Their main cheerleader and de-facto candidate, Winston Churchill, had been forced to resign in disgrace for the Norway debacle. In desperation, they picked an outsider to politics, a canny businessman with a head for figures, one of the few ministers who could be said to be handling their brief well. They made the right choice.

Many were anxious about how his public performance would be received, but Marquis exceeded expectations with his first speech. Refusing to sugar-coat the bleak post-Dunkirk situation, he emphasised that the British people "must take a ration of iron with their daily bread, and, in Shakespeare's words, stiffen their sinews for the fight". In a way, Marquis was that ration of iron himself, his campaigns of publicity encouraging the British people to fight on. His background in business served him well--Marquis was the first modern Prime Minister to grasp that one could advertise morale in the same way you advertised soap and tea. While his personal property may have reached giddy heights thanks to this, his focus on the home front largely left the war effort up to General Ironside. However, Marquis' decision to let the generals do their job and get out of the way has been credited by many historians as a major factor in Allied performance in the war, compared to the continually interfering Hitler and (until 1942) Stalin. Sometimes the best thing a leader can do is get out the way and let their subordinates do their job.

-------------------------------------------
-PROCESSING-
-------------------------------------------

ONE: Barbara Castle
Red Queen

No Prime Minister has ever achieved such a radical transformation of the UK. While a wet dishcloth with a Labour rosette could have demolished Montagu after the revelations around his family, her 1973 victory was a rare case of a startling realignment becoming visible from a re-election. Castle went to the nation with a question--what was Britain? Was Britain a country that was mired in an Edwardian past? Or was Britain a country that could let go of its colonies, and build towards a grand design? The answer was resounding. With a mandate for her program sufficient to convince any wavering backbenchers, Castle was free of all constraints. The achievements of her first ministry--the new settlement with the unions, the Open University--were remarkable enough, but would be forever overshadowed by what came next. On the 12th of April 1974, the Hub went online, and suddenly all the nationalised industries could be controlled from one room. The modern economic system as we knew it had arrived.

While the ideas behind it weren't entirely new--Bellamy had dreamed of a planned economy in the 1880s, and Premier Kosygin had already begun what would later be called the Kharkevich-Lange Project when Castle first took office--Britain's radical implementation was. Not only was this a boost to British prestige, but many historians claim that this perceived willingness to meet the East halfway, as it were, was a contributing factor to the European Thaw. If so, then it is ironic that the Thaw ended with Premier Kardashev merging the Warsaw Pact into the European Community, as Castle's insistence on working outside the EC is seen by many as her greatest failing. Trade with the Commonwealth simply wasn't enough to make up for Western Europe, and by her decision the UK missed out on the chance to shape the EC's formation and her party's factional splits ended up holding them back for a decade.

It feels trivial, however, to focus on this flaw. In decolonisation, in industrial policy, in infrastructure, in science, the Red Queen changed the UK permanently. Nearly every Prime Minister after her has been influenced by her. To borrow a phrase, we are all living in the shadow of the Hub. Mr Stross has grand designs, but he has a long way to go before he can be said to match her impact.

--Weekly Big Five column taken from the 13th August, 2014, edition of NewSheet

-------------------------------------------
-PROCESSING-
-PROCESSING-
-PROCESSING-
-FINISHED-

-------------------------------------------

Mark Fisher gazed at his screen, not quite responding.

Was this it? Was this really all he had to do to realise the vision of centuries of philosophers, to end the reign of capital? No barricades, no Molotovs, no guillotines--he just had to reach out and push a button.

It was almost disappointing, in a way.

-INTERSYN NETWORK ONLINE-
-ASSUME GOVERNMENT? y/n-

Taking a deep breath, he steadied his hands and reached towards the keyboard.

Y

-THANK YOU-
-ASSUMING CONTROL...-


The screen flashed to brilliant life.

=Good Morning Britain=
=Welcome To The Future=


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--This extract was take from Here Comes Tomorrow, the 2089 biopic of INTERSYN.
For 5 points, discuss historical inaccuracies visible. For 15, comment on the use of juxtaposition.
For 30 points, write an essay on the extent to which pre-Singularity portrayals of AIs neglected their personal autonomy, using the above as a primary source. Your time starts now.​
 
It's Halloween, and there's nothing spookier than over-convoluted world-building no-one asked for!



Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom

1937-1939: Neville Chamberlain (Conservative)
1939-1940: Neville Chamberlain (Conservative leading War Government)
1940-1940: Cyril Deverell (Independent leading War Government)
1940-1945: Frederick Marquis (Conservative leading War Government)
1945-1950: Stafford Cripps (Labour)
def 1945: (Majority) Richard Law (Conservative), Archibald Sinclair (Liberal)
1950-1958: Oliver Stanley (Conservative)
def 1950: (Majority) Stafford Cripps (Labour), Jo Grimond (Liberal), Herbert Morrison (Patriotic Labour)
def 1955: (Majority) Hugh Dalton (Labour), Jo Grimond (Liberal), Herbert Morrison (Patriotic Labour)

1958-1962: Douglas Jay (Labour)
def 1958: (Majority) Oliver Stanley (Conservative), Alfred Suenson-Taylor (Liberal), Honor Balfour (Radical), Herbert Morrison (Patriotic Labour)
def 1961: (Minority) Selwyn Lloyd (Conservative), Oliver Smedley (Liberal), Bob Mellish (People's), Honor Balfour (Radical)

1962-1965: T. Dan Smith (Labour)
1965-1969: Victor Montagu (Conservative)
def 1965: (Coalition with Liberals) T. Dan Smith (Labour), Oliver Smedley (Liberal), Pat Arrowsmith (Radical), Bob Mellish (People's)
1969-1979: Barbara Castle (Labour)
def 1969: (Majority) Patrick Wall (National Movement), Peter Walker (New Democracy), Bob Mellish (People's), Eric Lubbock (Radical), Oliver Smedley (Liberal), Victor Montagu (Conservative)
def 1973: (Majority) Peter Walker & Edmund Dell (Centre Pact), Eric Lubbock (Radical), Patrick Wall (National), Ralph Harris (Liberal), Jock Stallard (People's)
def 1977: (Majority) Anthony Meyer (Centre), Piers Dixon (National), David Penhaligon (Radical), Norris McWhirter (Liberal)

1979-1984: Hugh Scanlon (Labour)
def 1979: (Minority with Radicals support) Norman St John-Stevas (Centre), Teddy Taylor (National), Dafydd Wigley (Radical), Norris McWhirter (Liberal)
1984-1987: Robert Gascoyne-Cecil (Centre)
def 1984: (Majority) Hugh Scanlon (Labour), Geoffrey Dickens (National), Christopher Foxley-Norris (Liberal), Dafydd Wigley (Radical)
1987-1997: Brendan Donnelly (Centre)
def 1987: (Majority) Eric Varley (Labour), Geoffrey Dickens (National), Chris Tame (Liberal), Michael Meadowcroft (Radical)
def 1992: (Majority) Frank Dobson (Labour), Geoffrey Dickens (National), Chris Tame (Liberal), Richard Holme (Radical)
1997-2005: Andreas Adonis (Labour)
def 1996: (Majority) Brendan Donnelly (Centre), Chris Tame (Liberal), Peter Tapsell (National), Sara Parkin (Radical)
def 1999: (Majority) Peter Bottomley (Centre), David Davis (Defending Democracy: The Liberals), Sara Parkin (Radical), Ian Anderson (National)
def 2003: (Majority) Simon Woodroffe (Centre), David Davis (Defending Democracy: The Liberals), Adrian Ramsay (Radical), David Campbell Bannerman (National)
2005-2008: Tony Lloyd (Labour)
2008-2013: David Willetts (Centre)

def 2008: (Majority) Tony Lloyd (Labour), Adrian Ramsay & Amir Taaki (Civil Liberties Alliance), Dave West (Defending Democracy: The Liberals), Neil Herron (National)
2013-2017: Charles Stross (Labour)
def 2013: (Coalition with Civil Liberty) David Willetts (Centre), Harley Faggetter (Civil Liberty), Paul Strasburger (Defending Democracy: The Liberals), Ashley Mote (National)
2017-xxxx: INTERSYN NETWORK ASSUMES GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTIONS

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"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the future's embassy to the present!"
--Stafford Beer's remarks welcoming Government dignitaries to the Intersyn control room at the top of the Post Office Tower, as depicted in the 2005 biopic Everything Is Systems. Often attributed to the real Stafford Beer, but this is a misconception.

---------------------------------------------
-PROCESSING-
-PROCESSING-

---------------------------------------------

THE BIG FIVE: Postwar Prime Ministers

With Charles Stross's recent entry into Admiralty Arch, unseating David Willets, it's a good idea to devote today's Big Five to looking back to the biggest shoes he has to fill. Will he stack up in a century's time? We'll see.

FIVE: Oliver Stanley
Steady As He Went

It was never Stanley's ambition to join the list of the greats; indeed, Stanley once joked in private conversation that his aim was to be forgotten by history. Nevertheless, his tenure has mostly gone down well in the history books, despite overseeing a chaotic period in foreign affairs. Harold Macmillian, the foreign secretary, had his hands full with the insurgency in Cyprus, American requests to intervene in China, soothing the Egyptian government after the Ismalia barracks incident, and desperately trying to keep all the colonies in the Western tent. Privately, many Foreign Office insiders despaired at Britain's loss of status. However, Stanley's great strength as a leader was keeping Britain insulated from all of this as much as possible, trying to wield the soft-power scalpel rather than the military club wherever he could.

Many advisors urged a rapid rollback of Cripps' reforms, but Stanley wisely stuck to the middle path, choosing only to drop the most ridiculous nationalisations like British Sugar and overly grandiose schemes like the Garden Cities. Sometimes he went left, with the Smallholdings Act, and sometimes he went right, refusing to end National Service, satisfying as many as he could. Thanks to these steady and common-sense policies, not rocking the boat too far either way, the common Brit enjoyed his time in office. With a chicken in their pot, a house they could call their own, and a new car in the drive, what did they care for what happened far away? Public opinion only turned when British body bags started coming back from the Kenyan highlands--when what was far away came back to Britain. Stanley's Prime Ministerial career offers an important lesson--most people care more for their bellies than for lofty ideals.

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-------------------------------------------

FOUR: Brendan Donnelly
Hands Across The Channel

Donnelly's ascension to the Prime Ministership was a fluke. While he had been particularly busy as Foreign Secretary, he'd never been hotly tipped--Heseltine was the uncrowned king of the pro-European faction, and next to Tarzan all but the most dynamic personalities faded into the background. Then it turned out that Gascoyne-Cecil meant it when he said he'd rather quit than sign the Hillsborough Accords. And then Heseltine caught a nasty flu, and the Bow Group panicked and picked their most senior ally, and then no-one else in the party really wanted to fight the snap election, and then Varley dropped the ball on Europe and lost the suburbs, and then the Nationals slowly collapsed without Dickens there to lead them, and on the nineteenth of September Brendan Donnelly shook hands with the Queen and wondered what to do next.

Some have argued that his premiership merely continued Gascoyne-Cecil's agenda, but that doesn't detract from his genuine achievements. Tax cuts and limited free-market measures revitalised a stagnant economy, the Employee Share Scheme gave thousands of workers a greater stake in their company's future, and the depoliticisation of the Industrial Control Group paved the way for greater technical achievements. His real crowning achievement, however, was foreign policy. After years of Labour vacillating on the issue and caving to protectionist unions, Donnelly finally brought the UK back into the world. The photograph of Donnelly shaking hands with President Barre and Chancellor Ortleb outside the EC's Parliament became an iconic image of Anglo-European co-operation. By achieving this perennial goal of his party, Donnelly shows that greatness doesn't necessarily require new ideas, just new accomplishments.

-------------------------------------------
-PROCESSING-
-------------------------------------------

THREE: Andreas Adonis
The Millennium Man

More than any other PM on this list, Andreas Adonis was aware of the power of image. His aspirational backstory, combined with a practised manner and political know-how, made him a bookie's favourite for Labour leader even when he was just the GLC chair. Once leader, his publicity strategy could be reduced to one goal--make Labour the party of the future. Out went the suspicion of Europe and antagonism to the cyber-economy that had defined Labour's opposition years, and in went a whole-hearted commitment to the EC and to world-leading technology. The "Millennium Election" was perhaps his greatest gamble for publicity--a mercenary snap election prompted by high polling, rebranded as "letting the British people choose their future". It worked like a charm. Next to the dynamic young PM, Bottomley and his party looked old and tired, and the Labour majority went from thin to healthy.

Of course, politics isn't just about the image you project, it's about what you do. Adonis was criticised by both wings of the party for his increased openness to Europe, but it got results--greater access to the European market massively improved the British economy, as did linking Intersyn up to the pan-European industrial management system. Adonis' domestic policy was more in line with previous Labour achievements. While finally achieving Beer's end-goal of completely computerised industrial management, freeing the economy from human error and irrationality, would be sufficient for any PM to go down in history, Adonis wouldn't stop there. The National Enterprise Board, based off the scheme he and Mike Cooley had piloted in London, the complete modernisation of British Rail, and the historic recognition of civil partnerships as marriages, stand as a testament to what a well-developed image can let you achieve.

-------------------------------------------
-PROCESSING-
-------------------------------------------

TWO: Frederick Marquis
St Crispian's Day

Britain's future had never looked so bleak as in May 1940. The country was at war with most of Europe. All its efforts had ended in failure, from the slaughter at Bjørnfjell to the men hastily rescued from Dunkirk. To top it all off, the Prime Minister had just fallen dead at his desk. While General Deverell was a safe pair of hands for the moment, protocol demanded a leadership election. The interventionist faction were largely headless. Their main cheerleader and de-facto candidate, Winston Churchill, had been forced to resign in disgrace for the Norway debacle. In desperation, they picked an outsider to politics, a canny businessman with a head for figures, one of the few ministers who could be said to be handling their brief well. They made the right choice.

Many were anxious about how his public performance would be received, but Marquis exceeded expectations with his first speech. Refusing to sugar-coat the bleak post-Dunkirk situation, he emphasised that the British people "must take a ration of iron with their daily bread, and, in Shakespeare's words, stiffen their sinews for the fight". In a way, Marquis was that ration of iron himself, his campaigns of publicity encouraging the British people to fight on. His background in business served him well--Marquis was the first modern Prime Minister to grasp that one could advertise morale in the same way you advertised soap and tea. While his personal property may have reached giddy heights thanks to this, his focus on the home front largely left the war effort up to General Ironside. However, Marquis' decision to let the generals do their job and get out of the way has been credited by many historians as a major factor in Allied performance in the war, compared to the continually interfering Hitler and (until 1942) Stalin. Sometimes the best thing a leader can do is get out the way and let their subordinates do their job.

-------------------------------------------
-PROCESSING-
-------------------------------------------

ONE: Barbara Castle
Red Queen

No Prime Minister has ever achieved such a radical transformation of the UK. While a wet dishcloth with a Labour rosette could have demolished Montagu after the revelations around his family, her 1973 victory was a rare case of a startling realignment becoming visible from a re-election. Castle went to the nation with a question--what was Britain? Was Britain a country that was mired in an Edwardian past? Or was Britain a country that could let go of its colonies, and build towards a grand design? The answer was resounding. With a mandate for her program sufficient to convince any wavering backbenchers, Castle was free of all constraints. The achievements of her first ministry--the new settlement with the unions, the Open University--were remarkable enough, but would be forever overshadowed by what came next. On the 12th of April 1974, the Hub went online, and suddenly all the nationalised industries could be controlled from one room. The modern economic system as we knew it had arrived.

While the ideas behind it weren't entirely new--Bellamy had dreamed of a planned economy in the 1880s, and Premier Kosygin had already begun what would later be called the Kharkevich-Lange Project when Castle first took office--Britain's radical implementation was. Not only was this a boost to British prestige, but many historians claim that this perceived willingness to meet the East halfway, as it were, was a contributing factor to the European Thaw. If so, then it is ironic that the Thaw ended with Premier Kardashev merging the Warsaw Pact into the European Community, as Castle's insistence on working outside the EC is seen by many as her greatest failing. Trade with the Commonwealth simply wasn't enough to make up for Western Europe, and by her decision the UK missed out on the chance to shape the EC's formation and her party's factional splits ended up holding them back for a decade.

It feels trivial, however, to focus on this flaw. In decolonisation, in industrial policy, in infrastructure, in science, the Red Queen changed the UK permanently. Nearly every Prime Minister after her has been influenced by her. To borrow a phrase, we are all living in the shadow of the Hub. Mr Stross has grand designs, but he has a long way to go before he can be said to match her impact.

--Weekly Big Five column taken from the 13th August, 2014, edition of NewSheet

-------------------------------------------
-PROCESSING-
-PROCESSING-
-PROCESSING-
-FINISHED-

-------------------------------------------

Mark Fisher gazed at his screen, not quite responding.

Was this it? Was this really all he had to do to realise the vision of centuries of philosophers, to end the reign of capital? No barricades, no Molotovs, no guillotines--he just had to reach out and push a button.

It was almost disappointing, in a way.

-INTERSYN NETWORK ONLINE-
-ASSUME GOVERNMENT? y/n-

Taking a deep breath, he steadied his hands and reached towards the keyboard.

Y

-THANK YOU-
-ASSUMING CONTROL...-


The screen flashed to brilliant life.

=Good Morning Britain=
=Welcome To The Future=


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--This extract was take from Here Comes Tomorrow, the 2089 biopic of INTERSYN.
For 5 points, discuss historical inaccuracies visible. For 15, comment on the use of juxtaposition.
For 30 points, write an essay on the extent to which pre-Singularity portrayals of AIs neglected their personal autonomy, using the above as a primary source. Your time starts now.​
 
Nice Pirate placement there, Mumby. Love how this implies that the post-singularity world is maybe not as bad as I feared

Thanks!

It's not exactly "post-singularity" yet--as the text below implies, just having an AI run the economy doesn't a singularity make.
I felt it appropriate to throw a Pirate into a very tech-themed list, although I did go back and forth over putting in a somehow more hipster pick. Ultimately, their recent collapse got them in out of pity.

thats not me

but i am flattered

I'm also flattered to have been mistaken for you, so we can call it even.
 
2015: Chukka Umunna (Labour)
Labour leadership election 2015 Round 1: Chukka Umunna (32.8%), Andy Burnham (27.9%), Jeremy Corbyn (27.7%), Yvette Cooper (13.8%)
Round 2: Chukka Umunna (37.1%), Andy Burnham (32.4%), Jeremy Corbyn (32.7%)
Round 3: Chukka Umunna (52.1%), Andy Burnham (47.9%), Jeremy Corbyn (17.2%)

Umunna was the favourite throughout the leadership campaign, however a strong campaign from Corbyn and outrage over Labour's voting under their interim leader meant that his win was actually by a narrow margins. His first big challenge was the European referendum where he made a point of putting party politics, aside and campaigning with Cameron in favour of remain.

EU Referendum: Leave: 51.6%, Remain 48.4%

Following the referendum, Cameron resigned but Umunna made it clear that he felt the most important thing was to deliver Brexit. He swapped out some high profile remainers in his cabinet for Leavers, including Kate Hoey (the new Shadow Brexit Minister) and Frank Field.

2016-2019: Theresa May (Conservative)

Theresa May was elected unopposed when Michael Gove stood down - he would go on to serve as Foreign Secretary. Immediately the Conservatives started to storm ahead in the polls. By the start of 2017 the lead was abating. The Tories were facing criticism for not calling a snap election to secure May's position, and for delaying activating Article 50 until March 2017. However, their lead was still sufficient for an electoral wipe out Labour in the 2017 locals - Labour lost over 500 seats in a single night, their worst local election swing since 2007.

There was talk of a leadership challenge, but it never quite materialised. Instead there was a "chicken coup" of people hinting at a challenge that never quite appeared. However, there were resignations from Umunna's cabinet - including Heidi Alexander, Liz Kendall, and Luciana Berger. The chicken coup was seen as a damp squib at the time, then Chukka caved into their demands. The full story of what happened is still being pieced together, but in one big reorganisation of cabinet it was out with the leavers and back in with the remainers, along with new faces such as Jess Philips and Jo Stevens. The weird about face cost the party in credibility, but that was already shot, with nobody quite trusting them to be fully remain or completely leave. However Jess Philips, the new Shadow Brexit Minister, attempted to take on the Lib Dems directly and prove that Labour was the natural home for remainers.

In 2018, riding high on the opinion polls and hoping to outflank Labour, the Conservatives attempted to establish themselves as a party for the whole nation. Part of this was a consultation on reform of the Gender Recognition Act, and this opened up a cultural can of worms. Over the course of the first GRA Consultation hate crimes against trans people went up, events were picketed and Pride marches invaded. The Conservatives were usually arrayed against their own party's suggestions. The SNP boasted about its own far more comprehensive plan for trans rights that never happened. The Liberal Democrats, bouyed up by new remain members largely from the Tories, were split on the matter. Things were made worse after Tim Farron's disastrous gaffe on whether trans lesbians having sex with women were sinning - his quick response that it wasn't, followed by his silence on whether gay sex was a sin, caused a rift in the party and opened a space for the Lib Dem Women's Declaration and other groups to establish themselves. All this gave Labour an easy ride on the matter - the party had a diversity of views, but the leadership could come down strongly in favour of self-ID.

2018 was an interesting intermediate year in Brexit, with intra-party wrangles as May attempted to produce a brexit deal that would satisfy all sides of her party, in the hope that the Conservatives could take full credit for Brexit.The Chequors Plan was drafted in July 2018 but by November 2018 it was clear it would not meet with unanimous approval from the Conservatives. Resignations began. Backroom deals on the plan were complex, with concessions both to Tory remainers and to Labour, and thesises have been written on trying to dissect who won in these negotiations. But the end result was that in December 2018 Labour mostly abstained in the Meaningful Vote. An action that was seen as a betrayal by remainers and as sabotaging Brexit by forcing the government to soften it by leavers. The only thing that was certain was that nobody was happy.

The UK officially left the EU on 29 March 2019, and May announced she would step down as leader the next day.

2019-2023: Boris Johnson (Conservative)
2019 Conservative Leadership Election: Boris Johnson (63.1%) Amber Rudd (36.9%)

Boris Johnson called an election immediately after getting elected, planning it for 4 July 2019. The Conservatives intended the election to be about Brexit, but with this issue seemingly resolved in the public's mind they fell back to focusing on immigration and law and order. Labour attempted to persuade the voters that they were tougher on both issues, but they could do little on the trans issue. With people's attention straying from Brexit and with an election during Pride month, this issue became highly contentious, with protests at most prides, near daily articles in the papers and constant pieces on the television.

The Conservatives promised to ban all medical treatments for under 18s and legislate to ensure it could be legal for trans women with penises to be kept out of women's spaces. While Labour promised to respect women's places and await the results of the consultation, they came down in favour of self-ID. The Liberal Democrats and Greens ironically had the most clearly trans inclusive policies, but were also mired in conflict with their own transphobic wings.

While repeated studies have shown that the issue didn't really cut through to voting intention, the idea that it did would have a long impact on all parties.

2019: Boris Johnson (Conservative) [341] Chukka Umunna (Labour) [231] Nicola Sturgeon (SNP) [48] Arlene Foster (DUP) [8] Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat) [7] Michelle O'Neill (Sinn Fein) [7] Adam Price (Plaid Cymru) [3] Colum Eastwood (SDLP) [2] Caroline Lucas and Jon Bartley (Green Party England & Wales) [1] Naomi Long (Alliance) [1] Lindsay Hoyle (Speaker) [1]

Boris had a strong honeymoon after the election while the Liberal Democrats, Labour, and UKIP held their leadership contests. UKIP had experienced a steady decline under Paul Nuttall, but on the election of Anne Marie Waters the process would go into overdrive as the party lurched to the far-right while the NEC fought with the membership.

The Lib Dems had an easier ride. Jo Swinson and Ed Davey stood for leader and Ed Davey just edged ahead, promising a more stable and professional party. In his mumsnet Q&A session he promised there would be no rolling back on trans rights, then quietly replaced references to gender self-ID with "reform of the GRA".

2019: Richard Burgon (Labour)
2019 Labour Leadership Election: Richard Burgon (51.8%), Lisa Nandy (22.4%), Jess Philips (19.3%), Luciana Berger (6.5%)

Burgon was, without a doubt, the most leftwing leader in his party's history and his election was almost definitely a response to the perceived weakness of the Labour right on the issue of Brexit. Attempts to work matters out with his party almost immediately collapsed when the moderates in his own party resigned on discovering that he had appointed Corbyn and Diane Abbott as Shadow Foreign and Home Secretaries. For the year, Boris Johnson had an easy ride in parliament as the Labour Party fought a desperate battle to the death with itself.

The trans issue would raise its head very soon into matters - while rebels such as Jess Philips and Luciana Berger were perceived as very strong on the issue, Burgon's side was not. Key Burgon allies like Ann Henderson, Laura Pidcock, Ken Livingstone, Chris Williamson and Jared O'Mara were all connected with transphobia, and the party's silence on self-ID and education in favour of "health and class" was taken as the leadership distancing itself from the promises of the 2019 manifesto. By the end of the year, discussions had moved on to antisemitism as well, and the party's lack of progress on these issues would increasingly allow the moderates to speak from a moral highground in criticising the leadership.

In 2020 the national conversation changed. The COVID-19 pandemic locked down the country for most of the year and flung the country into the worst recession in its history. Boris Johnson's handling of the pandemic is now universally accepted as poor. In the world of party politics, this caused a problem - the lack of elections meant there were few opportunities to oust Burgon, but most agreed that in this post-Brexit era, with a massive pandemic and the Tories in government for 10 years, there was really no reason for Burgon to be behind Boris in the polls aside from his own personal ineffectiveness.

Rumours had been that the PLP would attempt a coup after Burgon did badly in the 2021 elections, but these elections were delayed due to the ongoing crisis and the party moved anyway. Rosena Alin-Khan was their preferred candidate

2021 Labour Leadership Election: Richard Burgon (54.2%) Rosena Allin-Khan (45.8%)

The election was close, but also, in some ways not. It was clear to the party that they were stuck with Burgon till the next election. Meanwhile he was seen as ever more radical, supporting the anti-fascist riots and the National Rent Strike. He even spoke in favour of Permanent Revolution communities and camps as they began to appear in 2022. This put him completely at odds with the government at every turn, but usually not in a way that impacted policy. However, the government were defeated on a new benefits cap, workfare, and the Covert Intelligence Act, the Anti-Extremism Register, and various other motions.

In 2022 austerity was in full swing, as were increasingly vicious riots and protests. Unlike the Corbynistas of 2015, the Burgonistas were a subset and an outgrowth of the new left in the UK. Burgon had little support in his parliamentary party, and relied heavily on an increasingly fractured and extreme extra-parliamentary movement. And that movement was increasingly hardened to identity politics, which it associated with centrist politics, particularly since the left in America had rallied around Biden to the British Left's view at the expense of Bernie Sanders.

April 2022 saw a political realignment of sorts - with an initial "Gang of Eight" made up of Jess Phillips, Luciana Berger, Ruth Smeeth, Rosie Duffield, Ben Bradshaw, Dan Jarvis, Tristram Hunt, and Liz Kendall. By July this was at 14 members. It had also fallen foul of its own scandals over racism and transphobia, particularly after accepting money from disgraced former novelist, JK Rowling. The visible existence of transphobia issues in centrist politics began to change views on the left of the party. Dissatisfaction grew within the Burgonistas.

In 2023, the Conservatives called another election. Despite personal unpopularity, the Conservatives had consistently polled over 40% and expected an easy ride - their manifesto promised tax cuts, HS2, stop and search and tough but vague measures against crime. The Labour manifesto, on the other hand, was a catalogue of promises - they even managed to promise self-ID for trans and non-binary people over 16, alongside. The Liberal Democrats promised likewise but were keen to point out that they would be sensitive to the cultural change this would be and to protect women's spaces. The Greens followed suit, though their statements were vague and attempted to keep a lid on growing disputes within the party. Jess Philips Open Britain, despite announcing that they were the foremost party for trans allies in the UK, said nothing about the matter in their manifesto beyond that.

2023: Boris Johnson (Conservative) [314] Richard Burgon (Labour) [249] Joanna Cherry (SNP) [54] Michelle O'Neill (Sinn Fein) [10] Arlene Foster (DUP) [7] Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat) [9] Adam Price (Plaid Cymru) [5] Jess Philips (Open Britain) [1] Caroline Lucas (Green Party England & Wales) [1] Naomi Long (Alliance) [2]

2023-: Rishi Sunak (Conservative) Coalition with Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

Boris was not popular by the end of his term, and the election did nothing to fix that. With fears growing of a border poll in Northern Ireland, a referendum in Scotland that looked likely to favour independence, and riots in the rest of the UK, the Conservatives opted for strong government and Boris quietly resigned. His space was filled by Rishi Sunak and Ed Davey joined him in the rose garden, and into coalition.

It is not yet clear whether Burgon will resign, the news were expecting his utter wipeout so confidently that the party's survival looks like a triumph.
 
Thanks!

It's not exactly "post-singularity" yet--as the text below implies, just having an AI run the economy doesn't a singularity make.
I felt it appropriate to throw a Pirate into a very tech-themed list, although I did go back and forth over putting in a somehow more hipster pick. Ultimately, their recent collapse got them in out of pity.

It's a good piece, I'd say sorry for mistaking it for a mumby piece, but its the dieselpunk mood which you caught really well.

Also, who wouldn't want to be a little mumby sometimes?
 
It is not yet clear whether Burgon will resign, the news were expecting his utter wipeout so confidently that the party's survival looks like a triumph.

Interesting, Burgon ends up looking a lot like Corbyn's election against May rather than his election against Johnson here.

On the other hand, a left wing stance on the economy is probably a lot more relevant in the covid crisis circumstances than among the whole Brexit debacle.

Pretty good piece all told!
 
Interesting, Burgon ends up looking a lot like Corbyn's election against May rather than his election against Johnson here.

On the other hand, a left wing stance on the economy is probably a lot more relevant in the covid crisis circumstances than among the whole Brexit debacle.

Pretty good piece all told!

Thanks, I genuinely think that along with May being a bad campaigner over-confidence was a real factor in her winning, here Burgon lacks Corbyn's appeal but has an advantage that the country is in a worse state and the tories have been in longer.

Basically, this was me thinking - WI Corbynism came about now? Would it be better? More aware of intersectionality? Or would it have been lead by the Pidcocks and Williamsons and other monsters of the movement?

Also, otl people like Dawn Butler and Angela Rayner got to represent the Labour Party early on in the GRA issue and generally got out sounding okay, while the moderates were out of power and running their mouths off pretty much at random on twitter all the time. Corbyn was willing to listen to TERFs, just like Starmer, and transphobia is as bad on the left as on the right of the party. But Corbyn got away with it more. What if JK Rowling and all the other stuff dropped while the left was in the ascendent, after the moderate wing had been seen to be okay on it?

So, in this world, Rosie Duffield is far less radical. When she thinks of transphobes she thinks of Pidcock and her ilk. Dirty leftists and communists all. She's still transphobic, of course, but she's closer to power and less likely to side with the visible transphobes in her party. Meanwhile, your dirtbag left men only podcaster types are less likely to be passionate on trans issues because they're used to seeing it as "of course transphobia is an awful issue in and beyond the Labour Party, but-"

idk, it's a half formed thought. Issues percolating
 
Jess Philips Open Britain, despite announcing that they were the foremost party for trans allies in the UK, said nothing about the matter in their manifesto beyond that.
This is the most Jess Philips to Jess Philips in a Jess Philips.
Basically, this was me thinking - WI Corbynism came about now? Would it be better? More aware of intersectionality? Or would it have been lead by the Pidcocks and Williamsons and other monsters of the movement?
I think it’s hard to say, your list is a good grasp at it but Corbynism seems like such an entity of it’s time of Left Wing Populism and Anti-Austerity politics mixed with the skeleton of Labour’s past mixing in with it’s new dangerous elements.

Damn I need to ponder this idea more, really is making me think.
 
I think it’s hard to say, your list is a good grasp at it but Corbynism seems like such an entity of it’s time of Left Wing Populism and Anti-Austerity politics mixed with the skeleton of Labour’s past mixing in with it’s new dangerous elements.

Damn I need to ponder this idea more, really is making me think.

Some thoughts
  • The modern New Left is coming up anyway, without our equivalent of Bernie Bros we can expect them free floating, building up a culture, which will then come to Labour, as opposed to being constructed within Labour
  • Many will end up in the Greens, and did, in the 2014 surge
  • This means six years of young leftist feminists getting their foot in the door with Green politics - they'll still be outflanked by the mid-party transphobic senior activists by 2020, but they'll be much more powerful and will dominate the party in studenty progressive places like Brighton, Bristol, etc.
  • It also means a lot of experienced activists won't break for Labour so quickly - I doubt that'll determine what happens but it has an impact.
  • People like Chris Williamson and Ken Livingstone will be able to just carry on. There's much less views on the left's problems
  • From the election on, !2020Corbyn will have to nail their colours to the mast on trans issues - it'll be an election issue and TERFs on their side will be discussed.
  • All this means that issues of systemic transphobia break in the consciousness of voters before antisemitism issues.
  • Whether this matters depends on what a transphobe looks like in the minds of Momentum equivalent members - if a TERF is a Karen who votes Tory then this will be an embarrassment for the movement. If a TERF is seen as a leftist union guy with a banner, then the existence of transphobia in Labour is unfortunate and anyway the Tories-
  • This impacts how these people will perceive accusations of antisemitism made against often the same people.
 
I wonder if a radical labour would see the greens as the natural allies it lacks in its own party, if it's even less institutional than Corbynism?

One thing I'm perpetually baffled by is Britain's lack of electoral pacts in general. French large parties have always had a willingness to throw a few seats at minor parties who align with them to get them to stop spoiling races, which usually result in quite a bit of influence for them. To be sure, our two turns election system plays into that because it gives you more data about where you want to trade endorsements, but that still sounds possible based on internal polling.

I think it's also worth distinguishing between transphobic guys and TERFs in the analysis of transphobia within a movement.

Another thing to think about is that every year that passes means more young people entering the voting pool, and they tend to break away from the older TERF crowd. 5 years may not seem like much but that can be the tipping point. Corbynism already had quite a bit of youth activist feel to it, and something more non Labour, New Left based will probably have even more of that at its core. Rejection of TERFs as "those middle aged women" is always a possibility.
 
One thing I'm perpetually baffled by is Britain's lack of electoral pacts in general. French large parties have always had a willingness to throw a few seats at minor parties who align with them to get them to stop spoiling races, which usually result in quite a bit of influence for them. To be sure, our two turns election system plays into that because it gives you more data about where you want to trade endorsements, but that still sounds possible based on internal polling.

Okay, so post Alliance there have been a few attempts at this - most notably in the 90s Plaid attempted an alliance with the Greens and got an MP elected on the basis of a joint candidacy, Cynog Dafis has made it clear he doesn't consider himself a contender for first Green Parliamentarian and the deal really didn't work - Plaid holding meetings in Welsh and the Greens not all speaking Welsh was a problem. The deal apparently kept a Green Counillor in Aberystwyth until the 00s but other candidates put forward included someone who went on to a job defending nuclear energy so maybe the fusion ticket thing never quite worked. And now the Greens still don't really have a presence in Wales despite how by the numbers Cardiff meets all the demographic conditions to be favourable for them

In Tatton in 1997 Labour and the Lib Dems stood down for an Indo to get out Neil Hamilton. The Liberal Democrats stood down for Health Concern in 2005.

Then, in 2017 obviously the greens pushed hard for a progressive alliance and it was horrific - British voters don't seem to understand it - campaigning in a Green minor target seat and having to explain why people should vote Green when you're standing down for the Lib Dems in other seats was pretty bad. In 2018 the party voted never again, then did basically the same thing again in 2019. Along the way there've been big problems - how do two parties that value local party autonomy swap the Isle of Man for Lewes, for example? The Greens are really bad at this kind of disciplined thinking, and if the Lib Dems say they'll do something it's 50/50 whether they will or not.

I kinda think electoral pacts will happen one day, but right now not so much. Too much bad blood. Also, well, the Tories won Mansfield and Labour win Canterbury. Surprise wins are possible and lots of people don't quite trust targetting right now. It makes it tough to make deals.

Maybe election after next, if the Tories are still in power, Labour will consider a limited amount of that
 
Okay, so post Alliance there have been a few attempts at this - most notably in the 90s Plaid attempted an alliance with the Greens and got an MP elected on the basis of a joint candidacy, Cynog Dafis has made it clear he doesn't consider himself a contender for first Green Parliamentarian and the deal really didn't work - Plaid holding meetings in Welsh and the Greens not all speaking Welsh was a problem. The deal apparently kept a Green Counillor in Aberystwyth until the 00s but other candidates put forward included someone who went on to a job defending nuclear energy so maybe the fusion ticket thing never quite worked. And now the Greens still don't really have a presence in Wales despite how by the numbers Cardiff meets all the demographic conditions to be favourable for them

In Tatton in 1997 Labour and the Lib Dems stood down for an Indo to get out Neil Hamilton. The Liberal Democrats stood down for Health Concern in 2005.

Then, in 2017 obviously the greens pushed hard for a progressive alliance and it was horrific - British voters don't seem to understand it - campaigning in a Green minor target seat and having to explain why people should vote Green when you're standing down for the Lib Dems in other seats was pretty bad. In 2018 the party voted never again, then did basically the same thing again in 2019. Along the way there've been big problems - how do two parties that value local party autonomy swap the Isle of Man for Lewes, for example? The Greens are really bad at this kind of disciplined thinking, and if the Lib Dems say they'll do something it's 50/50 whether they will or not.

I kinda think electoral pacts will happen one day, but right now not so much. Too much bad blood. Also, well, the Tories won Mansfield and Labour win Canterbury. Surprise wins are possible and lots of people don't quite trust targetting right now. It makes it tough to make deals.

Maybe election after next, if the Tories are still in power, Labour will consider a limited amount of that

Yeah, I can see how our two rounds system makes the whole "explain the calculus to your voters" part much easier, actually, that makes sense.

If it happens under UK FPTP, it'll probably be in pretty obvious seats to start with, where it just amounts to one party standing down where the other already has much of the support and the voter flow is expected to be obvious?

I imagine for a coalition of minor parties you'd be better off with an actual joint ticket to avoid the same confusion, but that's a bridge further.
 
Besides what @Sideways said, electoral pacts used to be a lot more common in the 1920s-1960s when Liberals and Conservatives would routinely stand down for each other in order to consolidate the anti-Labour vote (sometimes with formal mergers on the municipal level). Arguably this came to an end with the Jeremy Thorpe era of the Liberal Party when there was more of an effort to make the Liberals into a genuine third force again (partly due to public dissatisfaction with the big two and the Butskellite consensus starting to break down, though there were other reasons).

In the modern UK I think there's a perception that 'pacts = trying to rig the system in your favour' and will lose you more votes than it'll gain, but it's very situationally dependent.
 
Besides what @Sideways said, electoral pacts used to be a lot more common in the 1920s-1960s when Liberals and Conservatives would routinely stand down for each other in order to consolidate the anti-Labour vote (sometimes with formal mergers on the municipal level). Arguably this came to an end with the Jeremy Thorpe era of the Liberal Party when there was more of an effort to make the Liberals into a genuine third force again (partly due to public dissatisfaction with the big two and the Butskellite consensus starting to break down, though there were other reasons).

In the modern UK I think there's a perception that 'pacts = trying to rig the system in your favour' and will lose you more votes than it'll gain, but it's very situationally dependent.

I wonder if there's room for a Britain that maintains a 3 parties system. You'd have to find a clearer niche for the liberals, but that would make for interesting electoral politics. Though the pressure for electoral reform would probably be great enough to have change if people keep abusing pacts left right and center.
 
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