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The Thirteenth HoS Challenge

The Thirteenth HoS Challenge: The City

  • Batting for Boateng--Time Enough

    Votes: 2 8.7%
  • Urbi et Orbi: The Dozen Popes--Excelsior

    Votes: 5 21.7%
  • Diamonds are Forever--Mumby

    Votes: 7 30.4%
  • Layton Plus Debris--Callan

    Votes: 4 17.4%
  • Prezzagrad--cikka and bd_roberts

    Votes: 11 47.8%
  • "This guy is FUCKED"--SpudNutimus

    Votes: 7 30.4%
  • No Place To Stop, No Place To Go--Tsar of New Zealand

    Votes: 10 43.5%
  • The City and the City?--Wolfram

    Votes: 7 30.4%

  • Total voters
    23
  • Poll closed .

Walpurgisnacht

The Mystery Pond
Location
Banned from the forum
Pronouns
He/Him
The List Challenge is completely unredacted. The Sue Grey Report isn't. Point in favour of us, I think!

The rules are simple; I give a prompt, and you have until 4:00pm on the 25th to post a list related to the prompt. As for what constitutes a list? If you'd personally post it in Lists of Heads of Government and Heads of State rather than another thread, I think that's a good enough criterion. Writeups are preferred, please don't post a blank list, and I'd also appreciate it if you titled your list for polling purposes. Once the deadline hits, we will open up a multiple choice poll, and whoever receives the most votes after a week gets the entirely immaterial prize.

February is the month of St Valentine's Day, a time of love and romance. This of course means that this month's theme is The City [is this right?--Ed.] For centuries, history has revolved around the governance of the great cities, whether they be city-states in their own right or autonomous within a greater nation, and regimes sought to create new cities as symbols of their new ideas. Of course, as alternate historians, we're not limited merely to the cities that exist now...

Good luck!
 
Batting for Boateng:

Heads of the Greater London Council:
1977-1981: Horace Cutler (Conservative)
1977 def: Reg Goodwin (Labour), Stanley Rundle (Liberal)
1981-1987: Illtyd Harrington (Labour)
1981 def: Horace Cutler (Conservative), Adrian Slade (Liberal)
1985 def: Jeffery Archer (Conservative), Adrian Slade (Liberal)

1987-1989: Paul Boateng (Labour)
1989-1997: Bob Neill (Conservative)

1989 def: Paul Boateng (Labour), Graham Tope (Liberal), John Cartwright (Reform)
1993 def: Toby Harris (Labour), Graham Tope (Liberal), Ken Livingstone (Green Left), John Cartwright (Reform)
1993 Referendum on Mayoral Elections: Yes 60%, No 40%

1997-: Clive Efford (Labour)
1997 (Coalition with Liberal) def: Bob Neill (Conservative), Louise Bloom (Liberal), Valerie Wise (Green Left)

Mayors of London:
1994-1998: Seb Coe (Conservative)
1994 def: Ken Livingstone (Green Left), Toby Harris (Labour), Graham Tope (Liberal)
1998-: Paul Boateng (Labour)
1998 def: Seb Coe (Conservative), Louise Bloom (Liberal), Peter Tatchell (Green Left)

Prime Ministers of UK:
1978-1981: Keith Joseph (Conservative)
1978 (Majority) def: James Callaghan (Labour), David Steel (Liberal)
1981-1983: Willie Whitelaw (Conservative)
1983-1989: Peter Shore (Labour)
1983 (Majority) def: Willie Whitelaw (Conservative), David Steel (Liberal)
1987 (Majority) def: Cecil Parkinson (Conservative), David Penhaligon (Liberal)

1989-1992: Bryan Gould (Labour)
1992-: Michael Heseltine (Conservative)

1992 (Majority) def: Bryan Gould (Labour), David Penhaligon (Liberal), David Owen (Reform)
1996 (Majority) def: Kevin Barron (Labour), Malcolm Bruce (Liberal)


“Red Ken turns Green;
May 14th 1994, Guardian
“Hero of the Labour Left, Chat Show Regular and terminal defender of Newts has declared himself a member of the New Left Wing Party, Green Left lead by Dave Cook. Comprised out of the remains of the CPGB and the Left Wing of the Green Party when the split occurred 5 years ago, Green Left declares itself the party of those who want a competent EcoSocialist party who won’t compromise to big interests or the Trade Unions when fighting for Social Justice and Green Issues. Ken has stated those are the reasons he’ll be running as then party’s candidate for the London Mayoral Election this year...”

“Paul Boateng won’t win, because he’s, you know...” An Infamous Focus Group answer against Paul Boateng’s campaign, 1998

“Will Paul Boateng be the next Labour leader? Though Peter Hain is currently the man of the hour within the Labour Party for many in the party they see him as keeping the seat warm whilst Paul Boateng runs London, discussions about Boateng running for a seat at the next election have not been out of the question as the recent problems within Heseltine’s Government and slumping polls point to a 2001 election”
-Guardian Article On Paul Boateng, 1999
 
Urbi et Orbi: The Dozen Popes
To the city of Rome and the world

1958-1963: John XXIII (Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli)
1963-1971: Gregory XVII (Gregorio Pietro Agagianian)
1971-1976: John XXIV (Giacomo Lercaro)
1976-1978: Paul VI (Giovanni Batista Montini)
1978-1978: John Paul I (Albino Luciani)
1978-1980: Paul VII (Sergio Pignedoli)
1978-1981: John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla)
1981-1982: Pius XIII (Giovanni Benelli)
1982-1987: Gregory XVIII (Giuseppe Siri)
1987-1995: John Paul III (Aloisio Lorscheider)
1995-2008: Victor IV (Bernardin Gantin)
2008-2012: Leo XIV (Carlo Maria Martini)
2012-pres: John Paul IV (Jorge Mario Bergoglio)

1. The death of John XXIII occurred in the middle of the Second Vatican Council. As such, the future of the council was a major concern for cardinals as they went to elect a new pope. Early frontrunners Giacomo Lercaro and Giuseppe Siri were perceived to represent the two main factions in favor and against the council's reforms, so neither candidate could gain the necessary 2/3 majority. Giovanni Montini emerged as a potential compromise candidate, but he withdrew himself from balloting due to the long deadlock. Montini ended up backing Gregorio Pietro Agagianian, head of the Armenian Catholic Church. Agagianian had been the runner-up to John XXIII in the 1958 conclave and was an early contender this time but fell behind. With Montini's support and his status as a moderator of the Vatican Council, he became the main compromise candidate and was elected. He selected Gregory as his name, the first Pope to use his birth name as his papal name since Marcellus II in the 16th century. He was the first non-Italian Pope since Adrian VI, also in the 16th century. Gregory XVII re-opened the Vatican Council and went on to implement the reforms determined by the council.
2. Gregory XVII had tipped Giacomo Lercaro and Giovanni Montini, both candidates in 1963, as his potential successors. With the Italian cardinals strongly desiring another Italian pope, it was certain that one of these two papabili would win. Montini was the early favorite, as Lercaro was quite old, nearing the cardinal retirement age of 80. Indeed, if the conclave had occurred a few months later, he would no longer be eligible to participate in it. Although other candidates received votes in the first ballot, Lercaro had the lead, with Montini closest behind. Many cardinals respected Lercaro for his support of the two proceeding popes and wanted to give him the honor of the papacy before his time was over, as he would certainly not survive to the next conclave. Montini withdrew himself from consideration once again and Lercaro then won handily. He took the name John XXIV to honor John XXIII, whom he sought to emulate as pope. Like his predecessor he continued to implement the reforms of Vatican II.
3. When John XXIV died, there was no doubt that Giovanni Montini would be elected, so long as he accepted it. He had chosen to pass on the office twice, and all three previous popes had favored him as a potential successor. When the conclave opened, Montini signaled to his fellow cardinals that he would accept this time, and he was quickly elected. He took the name Paul VI in honor of Paul the Apostle. However, his tenure was quite brief, and began the series of short-reigning popes. Many wondered how things would have changed if he had been elected in 1963 and had a longer papacy.
4. There were a few papabili in 1978, with Giuseppe Siri, who had been papabile in the two previous conclaves, and Sergio Pignedoli emerging as the top candidates. The first few ballots were inconclusive, but soon Albino Luciani began gaining votes as the compromise candidate. He was enthusiastically supported by other cardinals such as Aloisio Lorscheider and Carlo Confalonieri, the Dean of the College. Pignedoli began falling behind and his votes went to Luciani, as did many Siri voters, and soon enough Luciani was elected. He selected a new papal name, John Paul I, in honor of his two immediate predecessors. However, his reign began as soon as it ended when he died only 33 days later. His death, and those of his successors, would prompt many conspiracy theories for years to come.
5. With the death of the pope so soon into his reign, it was the same cardinals who reconvened to elect a new pope for the second time in 1978. It was not immediately clear who could be elected, as the main candidates of the previous conclave remained untenable for the same reasons, and no obvious compromise candidate emerged. Siri held the early lead once again, but his lead was merely a plurality, caused by the majority against him splitting between Pignedoli and other cardinals. Balloting continued for several days as compromise candidates rose and fell. Finally, the deadlock was resolved when Siri withdrew his candidacy, for reasons unknown. Theories abounded, ranging from accusations of international political interference from either the United States or Soviet Union, to a deal between Pignedoli and Siri that Pignedoli would retire after a few years and then endorse Siri as his successor. Regardless, it was Pignedoli who emerged victorious and became Pope Paul VII, taking his name from Paul VI.
6. When Paul VII died not two years into his reign, it was cause for grave concern with the Church and Catholic community as a whole. Three successive popes had now died after extremely short tenures. The conclave convened for the third time in two years, with very few changes as Paul had not appointed many cardinals, and fewer had retired or become ineligible from participation. Many expected Siri to win, due to his long standing as papabile, and rumors of the alleged deal made at the previous conclave. However, Siri had irked many cardinals by actively campaigning for the office. The loyalists of John Paul I and Paul VII, led by Franz Konig of Germany, backed another candidate, Karol Wojtyla of Poland. Wojtyla defeated Siri and took the name John Paul II, signaling his intention to fulfill the unfinished legacy of John Paul I.
7. Tragedy struck when John Paul II was felled by the assassin's bullet in 1981. Now people began to wonder if the papacy or Church were truly cursed. The prevailing theory was that the Church was facing divine retribution for implementing the Second Vatican Council's reforms. As such, Giuseppe Siri was the most potent papabile yet. However, the sudden deaths of four consecutive popes had made him and many other cardinals wary of the papacy. Siri shocked the conclave by declaring that he would not accept the office if elected. The conclave then scattered between various candidates. Ultimately it was Giovanni Benelli who emerged victorious. At the age of 60, it was expected that he would be able to live for at least 20 more years. He selected the name Pius XIII, to emulate Pius IX, the longest serving pope with the exception of St. Peter himself.
8. When Pius XIII died not 18 months in office, fear and even madness gripped the church. The anti-Vatican II theory was now common thought, and when the conclave convened, the cardinals quite literally begged Siri to accept. Accept he did, and took the name of Gregory, perhaps to signal a reversal of the previous Gregory's papacy. Thankfully for everyone involved, Gregory XVIII made it past a year, two years, even three, and reigned for a total of five years. However, he did not do much to undo reform, as he had already become quite old and there was significant momentum propelling the reforms due to the appointments of the previous popes. He is mainly remembered for providing a respite from the ill-fated popes.
9. Come 1987, it was time for a true upheaval in the Church. Due to Gregory XVIII's inaction, the progress of Vatican II was now set in stone, the question was what direction the church would take in future. With Siri's ascension, there was no longer a single standard bearer of the anti-reform group, which was quite outnumbered these days due to the appointments made by the popes from Gregory XVII to Pius XIII. Most of the conservatives were now backing Jaime Sin (Cardinal Sin) of the Philippines. However, he was seen as too politically involved by some due to his involvement in the People Power Revolution of his homeland. The main opposing candidate was Aloisio Lorscheider of Brazil. Remarkably, these two main papabili were non-European, and along with the third compromise candidate, Joseph Ratzinger, they were all non-Italian. Lorscheider was also a political liability due to his association with liberation ideology, social activism, and opposition to the Brazilian regime. Sin fell behind, as his negatives were seen as bigger problems which would imperil the political power and independence of the Vatican. However, Lorscheider was strongly opposed by the conservatives, perhaps more than any papabile since Gregory XVII. Lorscheider and Ratzinger gained as Sin disappeared. Ultimately it was Lorscheider who prevailed, representing the culmination of efforts to reform the Church over the past decades. Although he initially planned to take the name Adrian, after Adrian VI, the last non-Italian Pope before the 20th century, he instead chose to be John Paul III, in recognition of John Paul II. John Paul III confirmed his opponent's greatest fears once he became pope, openly criticizing political regimes he disliked and advocating for the Church to take a direct role in working against poverty and oppression across the globe. The "activist papacy" sparked considerable dissent from Catholics and even rumors of an anti-papacy forming. John Paul III celebrated the end of the Cold War with the reform of the Soviet Union, reunification of Germany, and fall of many communist regimes.
10. The third pope to hold this concerning name ultimately met the same fate as the second, being assassinated in the Philippines by Islamist terrorists. With his death, there was great uproar in the Catholic community and a dangerous bloodthirst emerging. Cardinal Sin, in whose homeland the dastardly plot had occurred, was not seen as papabile this time due to his nationality. Instead, the conservative faction backed Maurice Michael Otunga of Kenya. However, the conclave feared his papacy would be highly inflammatory to Muslims. The liberal faction backed Carlo Maria Martini, a close associate of the late Pope. Numerous compromise candidates were proposed, including Ratzinger, Basil Hume of England, Stephen Kim Sou-hwan of Korea, and Antonio Riberio of Portugal. In the end, it was Bernardin Gantin of Benin, Dean of the College of Cardinals, who became the main compromise candidate and winner. He took the name Victor IV, after Victor I, the first and theretofore only Pope from the Africa continent. Victor IV emphasized peace between nations, peoples, and religions. Unlike his activist predecessor, he was very reserved and focused on the pastoral aspects of the papacy. He privately criticized increasingly activist and political involved priests such as Cardinal Sin, who continued to be a major figure in Philippine politics and assisted in the U.S. campaign against the Moro insurgents in the late 90s.
11. Victor IV's quiet and relatively long papacy was much appreciated for giving Church stability and normalcy. With his death, the old battle lines were drawn once again. The liberal faction chafed under his restraint and was eager to elect Carlo Maria Martini, but Victor IV's long reign meant that Martini had become sick and elderly. Conservatives had begun waving the banner of Jaime Sin again, but he predeceased Victor IV. Thus the two factions were somewhat disorganized coming into the conclave. The other papabili were Ratzinger once again, Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, and Camillo Ruini. Sodano was supported by Italian cardinals of various persuasions as they were strongly desiring an Italian Pope once again, after nearly 20 years without one. Ratzinger was seen as the "continuity" candidate from Victor IV. Another candidate emerged as the leader of the liberal faction, Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, who was (favorably and unfavorably) compared to John Paul III. The liberals rallied to Bergoglio and he was nearly elected, but for the withdrawal of Ratzinger and Sodano in favor of Carlo Maria Martini. Bergoglio would not stand against Martini, who had been a mentor to him. Martini was elected to the satisfaction of most cardinals, as he was Italian, pleasing Italians, liberal, pleasing liberals, and quite old and therefore soon to be replaced, pleasing conservatives. Martini surprisingly chose the name Leo XIV, after the previous Pope Leo, who had been a major reformer in his day.
Leo XIV had no intention of being a placeholder pope. Indeed, he was gravely concerned about the state and future of the Catholic Church, believing the reforms of Vatican II to be insufficient for a modern age when irreligion was on the rise and the perception of the Church had been greatly damaged by ever-emerging pedophilia scandals. Although he considered calling an ecumenical council to address these issues, he was dissuaded by strong opposition from within the Church, even from the liberal faction, who feared the destruction of the church if a council was held so soon after the previous one. Leo instead made his thoughts known by encyclicals and masses. His public criticisms and reprimands sowed deep controversy in the Church. Even his own supporters were perhaps not unhappy when he finally passed and allowed them the opportunity to move on in a more conciliatory manner.
12. After the disruption of of Leo XIV's reign, the Church was primed for a conservative reaction. However, the ultraconservatives lacked the numbers to elect one of their own, their preference being the comparatively young Guinean Robert Sarah. Sarah was far too conservative for the wider conclave to agree upon, so it was likely a compromise candidate would emerge at the conclave. The unlikely papabile who ended up filling this role was none other than Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Although he had been the chief liberal candidate just four years prior, the papacy of Leo XIV had made him look far more palatable in comparison, and indeed he had moderated his own views and become closer with conservative cardinals. Yet he was still liberal enough for many liberal candidates to support. Thus, he became pope, taking the name John Paul IV in honor of the previous South American Pope. Fortunately, he has not met the fate of previous John Pauls and has already reigned for a decade.
 
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Diamonds Are Forever

Prime Ministers of South Africa (also serving as Co-Premiers of the Imperial Cabinet from 1924)

1910-1919: Louis Botha (South African)
1910 (Majority) def. Leander Starr Jameson (Unionist), Frederic Cresswell (Labour)
1915 (Minority, with Unionist support) def. Thomas Smartt (Unionist), Barry Hertzog (National), Frederic Cresswell (Labour)

1919-1932: Jan Smuts (South African)*
1920 (Minority, with Unionist support) def. Barry Hertzog (National), Thomas Smartt (Unionist), Frederic Cresswell (Labour)
1921 (Majority) def. Barry Hertzog (National), Frederic Cresswell (Labour)
1924 cancelled
1927 (Majority) def. Barry Hertzog (National), Frederic Cresswell (Labour), Walter Madeley (Labour)

1932-1935: Tielman Roos (National-Labour)
1932 (Minority) def. Jan Smuts (South African)
1935-1936: Barry Hertzog (National-Labour minority)
1936-1950: Jan Smuts (South African)
1936 (Majority) def. Barry Hertzog (National-Labour), D.F. Malan (Nationalist), Walter Madeley (Socialist Labour)
1940 (Majority) def. Barry Hertzog (Peoples'), D.F. Malan (Nationalist), Mary Fitzgerald (Socialist Labour), H.W. Sampson (National-Labour)
1944 (Majority) def. D.F. Malan (Nationalist), Nicolaas Havenga (Peoples'), Moses Kotane (Socialist Labour)
1948 (Majority) def. Nicolaas Havenga (Peoples'), Moses Kotane (Socialist Labour), various 'Afrikaaner' candidates

1950-1952: Harold Macmillan (South African majority)

*also served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ulster from 1924 to 1925

The Weltkrieg was a mixed bag for the British Empire. On the one hand, the eventual defeat in Europe was unequivocal and was further reinforced after the Red Summer of 1924. The French Revolution was snuffed out by the Reichsheer like the Bolsheviks before them, but the British on their island were able to repulse the Kriegsmarine just as they had in the last days of 1919. You might have assumed the wider empire would have suffered like their metropole, winnowed away by Berlin and then lost to Wobblies. But you'd be wrong. For the Colonial Office, the war could almost have been considered a victory. Berlin had won it's place in the sun with mastery over Europe, but the Peace With Honour of 1920 had conceded the reality on the ground. The German colonial empire was lost.

It was only for a few short years that Britain and France enjoyed their pyrrhic expansion in Africa. And while the Red Summer saw much of the French empire placed into German 'trust', the British remained a little steadier. While the Royal Navy organised a hurried flight of 'Blues' to Canada, another major institution of the Pre-Revolutionary United Kingdom organised it's own exile. The City and Corporation of London was too important, had it's fingers in too many pies, to simple disappear - even as the Reds stormed the walls. The inhabitants of the Square Mile, and the financial establishment that had put Britain at the centre of the world, quietly packed their bags and looked for a new home. The obvious answer was to follow the rest of the Blues into Canadian hostelry. But the Americans and more importantly, Wall Street, were wary of the City establishing itself on the ground of their northern neighbour. Instead, they found a new host in the home of the suddenly anointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom - South Africa.

The wealth of diamonds and gold in the country put the re-established City And Corporation on a steady footing and helped keep South Africa within the empire, even as India tore itself bloodily away and Japan negotiated control of much of the Pacific. A bloody strike in 1924 was put down and South Africa was governed by martial law for many years. But in the long-run, many of the British exiles who had initially clamoured to Canada began to be drawn to the new centre of power in Africa. Smuts' long, once-interrupted, tenure as Prime Minister saw the sectionalist opposition either driven into extra-legality or split against themselves - and as the exile government took shape, the largest remaining parts of the Empire were increasingly governed from Pretoria.

The new Prime Minister is a British exile, and on the surface things couldn't be better for South Africa and the Empire. The other Dominions maintain good relations, and the King made his move to Cape Town permanent some years ago. The political system appears stable, with the Afrikaaners either isolating themselves on their homesteads or integrating into the system. The Socialists are legal now, with a black leader, but their prospects are limited with the trade union movement firmly under the government's boot, and black electoral opportunities strictly limited. There is talk of accession of former German Tangayika, now known as Smutsland, as a province - joining Southwest Africa and the Rhodesias. Macmillan is also a beneficiary of the 'Second Peace with Honour', which has seen the Empire align with Germany. And all along the way, the presence of the City and Corporation of London has helped pave the way.

A wind of change is blowing however. The young niece of the King is becoming a thorn in the side of the Empire, having moved from Canadian exile to American celebrity. She moves in the circles of black civil rights activists and diplomatic attaches originating from Red Britain. She talks about the wealth which has flowed into the coffers of Cape Town, of the alliances forged with Japan and Germany - the so-called Weltsystem - and of the injustices upon which it has all been built. All of that, is very embarrassing.
 
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Layton Plus Debris: Frustration, Fortune and Farce in the 416

1991-1997: Jack Layton

1991: June Rowlands, Betty Disero, Susan Fish
1994: Chris Korwin-Kuczynski, Paul Christie

1997-2000: John Tory
1997: Jack Layton
2000-2007: Jack Layton
2000: John Tory
2003: Raymond Cho, Judy Sgro

2007-2011: Julian Fantino
2007: Cheri DiNovo, Rocco Rossi, George Smitherman
2011-2015: Adam Vaughn
2011: Julian Fantino, Rocco Rossi
2015-2019: Julian Fantino
2015: Adam Vaughn, Linda McQuaig
2019-: Annamie Paul
2019: Sue-Ann Levy, Linda McQuaig

To the centre-right political and business establishment of Toronto, Jack Layton was always an accidental mayor. He was first elected with barely a third of the vote with the right-wing electorate hopelessly divided between three nearly-identical female candidates. And then Layton behaved like he'd won a landslide: big spending, bike lanes, campaigning for all manner of worthy social causes and lowlife rabble-rousers, regularly locking horns with Toronto's police. It was embarrassing, especially as Layton became an icon for the left across Canada for the frequent fights he would get into with the Liberal provincial government and the austerity measures put in place by Ottawa. While his second victory was bigger than his first, all the money and resources flowing into the race from provincial and federal Liberals and Tories could not overcome yet another split in the anti-Layton vote. That Mr. Layton was finally dislodged by the full weight of a "silent majority" of Torontonians coalescing around the very well-funded former Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister was proof of how accidental the Layton era really was.

Until Layton beat an unaccomplished Mayor Tory by ten points in a clear rematch three years later. He continued his radical dalliances and bully-pulpit politics, combined with frequent fights with councillors and the right-wing provincial government. When Premier Bassett merged the City of Toronto with the conservative municipalities surrounding Toronto it was hard not to see the move as legislative score-settling. While Ontario Tories murmured that any incumbent was going to win in 2003 after the SARS pandemic of 2002-2003, Layton's victory across the much larger city of Toronto came down to him running up close margins in the suburbs, even if they also elected councillors who viewed him unfavourably.

That this disagreement turned to outright dysfunction in Layton's final term in office set the scene for a great backlash. Julian Fantino was the biggest name in the race to succeed Layton, having frequently clashed with his predecessor over police corruption and brutality. When Layton unceremoniously fired him in 2004 the surprise was not that he did it but that it took so long. His colourful language, frequent gaffes and dog-whistle politics (especially against the DiNovo and Smitherman) seemed to charm as many as it alienated especially outside of the downtown core; he easily won against a hopelessly split field. But a backlash did not equal a plan for governance and after rolling back as many Layton reforms as possible and giving Toronto's police a free reign for their worst instinct it became clear that Mayor Fantino did not have much of an agenda. His frequent inflammatory remarks and targeted harassment of opponents not making up for policy. The spectacle of Toronto police brutalising protestors outside the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games was a national embarrassment which offended even many of his own supporters; it was of little surprise that he went down to defeat.

There was an audible sigh of relief from many Torontonians and even many Tories when one of Fantino's most prominent critics succeeded him, but Adam Vaughn turned out a great disappointment. He presided over skyrocketing housing costs and passionate opposition to new housing projects in the name of protecting the interests of existing homeowners, alienating many of his left-wing and centrist supporters. The presence of many Fantino supporters on the city council and the unpopularity of Peggy Nash's provincial government only hampered him further. Despite all of that, his successor narrowly beating him on the night despite a litany of corruption investigations dogging him.

While Fantino got little done in his second term (the Downtown Relief Line finally broke ground during the Vaughn years, too late for Fantino to cancel the project for a second time), his term was just as remarkable. Remarkable for his constant attacks on his critics and those investigation allegations of corruption against him, the attempted spending cuts and near-shutdown of city services as a result, and the police trying and failing to break up wildcat strikes by city employees. But the most consequential part of his second term was not at City Hall: it was the rise of "Fantinites" in the federal and provincial Progressive Conservative Parties, hardline, socially conservative, law-and-order culture warriors who became kingmakers in leadership elections and arguably helped make Michelle Rempel Prime Minister.

Fantino quietly retired at the end of his second term amid rumours that he was facing criminal charges over decades of corruption allegations. The designated Fantinite candidate appeared to be the frontrunner but was undone by changes to the electoral system. The provincial Nash government in its dying days had reformed municipal elections to be elected by ranked-choice, and enabled the kind of tactical voting that had eluded both Toronto's left and right in decades past.

After jubilation at electing the first black and female Mayor, putting the Fantino era truly in the past, Mayor Paul's office is no less dysfunctional than her predecessor's. Her office has high turnover and there are frequent clashes with councillors and opponents, the former supporters of Fantino the most prominent. The left dislikes her too, for her lack of action on homelessness and her condemnation of a pro-Palestinian protest in front of City Hall. Paul dismisses any and all criticism of her the result of her intersectional identity, and while that defence has received widespread mockery there is likely more than a bit of truth to it.
 
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Prezzagrad
A joint submission by @bd_roberts and @cikka


Chairs of the North of England Metropolitan Assembly

2001-2005: John Prescott (Labour)
2004 North of England Metropolitan Area mayoral referendum: Yes 57%, No 43%
2005 Labour North of England Metropolitan Area mayoral candidate selection: Hazel Blears 44%, Richard Lesse 41%, Keith Wakefield 15%


Mayors of the North of England Metropolitan Area

2005-2007: Hazel Blears (Labour)
2005 def: John Ford (Conservative), Paul Scriven (Liberal Democrats), Keith Wakefield (Independent Yorkshire Labour), Celia Foote (Green Left)
2007 Labour North of England Metropolitan Area mayoral candidate selection: Andy Burnham 40%, Haras Rafiq 34%, Richard Lesse 17%, Jan Wilson 9%

2007-2011: Andy Burnham (Labour)
2007 def: Andrew Carter (Conservative), Mike Storey (Liberal Democrats), Celia Foote (Green Left), Keith Wakefield (Putting Yorkshire First)
2010 North of England Metropolitan Area devolution referendum: Yes 51%, No 49%

2011-2015: John Leech (Liberal Democrats)
2011 def: Andy Burnham (Labour), Andrew Carter (Conservative), Derek Hatton (Green Left), Keith Wakefield (Yorkshire First), Chris Packham (Save Our Green Belt Independent)
2012 Labour North of England Metropolitan Area mayoral candidate selection: Joe Anderson 52%, Richard Lesse 36%, Richard Corbett 12%

2015-2020: Joe Anderson (Labour)
2015 def: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative), John Leech (Liberal Democrats), Andy Budden (Yorkshire First), Derek Hatton (Green Left), Stephen Yip (Save Our Green Belt Independent)
2019 def: Shaffaq Mohammed (Liberal Democrats), Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative), Derek Hatton (Green Left), Andy Budden (Yorkshire First)

2020-2021: Julie Dore (Labour)
2021-prsnt: Jeremy Clarkson (Conservative)
2021 def: Julie Dore (Labour), Shaffaq Mohammed (Liberal Democrats), Stephen Yip (Anti-Corruption Independent), Keith Wakefield (Yorkshire First), Magid Magid (Green Left)

Livingstone's stunning victory over Mo Mowlam in London had wide-reaching consequences. A markedly nasty election, it set Mayor Ken on a direct collision course with Number 10, and massively damaged Blair's reputation within his own cabinet; many blamed him for forcing Mowlam into the contest, and for not compromising with Livingstone. The prime minister's iron grip weakened, his chancellor began posturing in public and pointing fingers in private. London was lost, cabinet was in crisis, and the architects of New Labour were at each other's throats.

The need for mediation between Blair and Brown was greater than ever; and so the mediator John Prescott found himself crucial to the functioning of the government. His internal status sky-rocketed, and power and the leeway to use it followed. John Prescott has a lot to thank Ken Livingstone for.

London was the reason for his rapid rise, but it was north of Watford gap where Prescott set his sights. He had kept his Environment, Transport and the Regions brief, despite rumours that it was to be stripped from him, and he wanted to use it achieve his Northern Dream. He wanted to connect the disparate northern conurbations of the M62 corridor with high-speed rail, so that Labour's post-industrial heartlands could act as a single economic region able to challenge the financial might of the Great Wen. One to be able to live in Hull, shop in Manchester and work in Liverpool.

Many in the cabinet were sceptical of the idea; not least those who were more at home in Hammersmith than Hillsborough. Without the public flogging of Labour in the capital, the deputy prime minister might not have had enough clout in the cabinet to push through the sceptics.

As planning began on a fearsome high-speed rail network and on shrinking the northern green belts, the newly-established regional assemblies also faced a shake-up. The North West and Yorkshire and the Humber assemblies had their development agencies merged, and were linked together. The high-speed rail and assembly plans were made public in early 2001, and the response was generally apathetic. The green belt plans were kept well under-wraps. The assemblies were suspicious of one another, however, and it wasn't long before a second shake-up took place in late 2001; much to the chagrin of the ONS, the regions were simply redrawn. Local authority areas along the M62 corridor were made to form the core of the new urban experiment, known as the North of England Metropolitan Area (NOEMA), while everything else was lumped into the Great Lakes and Moors Region. Prescott made himself Chair of the new North of England Metropolitan Assembly, which was now dominated by appointees from Labour councils.

Work on the high-speed rail began in earnest in 2002, setting off from Hull and Liverpool simultaneously, while plans were drawn up to relocate a few government institutions up north to help foster growth. Prescott might have led his pet project as chair for all time, were it not for the revelations in late 2003 that he had had an affair with his diary secretary, Tracey Temple. Prescott had been given a long leash from Blair, but once this was seen as a liability he was made to go. He hastily organised to replace the Chair of NOEMA with a directly-elected mayor, and groomed a successor.

The 2004 referendum approving a mayoralty was approved - albeit on a very low turnout - and Prescott convinced Hazel Blears to run. She was duly elected as the first mayor of the North of England Metropolitan Area in 2005. She quickly alienated Prescott and the 'Prezzagrad gang', however, when she mused scrapping one leg of the high-speed rail. Prescott then coerced her into stepping down in 2007, and put forward his empty suit successor - Andy Burnham, a newbie MP - and all but dragged him through the selection process.

Burnham was successfully elected in 2007, but was quickly faced with scandal when the plans to shrink the green belts were leaked. He ultimately tried to deflect from the scandal by embarking on a massive housebuilding campaign; though this quickly faltered when it became clear that many of the new builds would be built on former green belts. In 2010, the government legislated for an assembly to try and make the mayor more accountable, and this was put to the people in a very close-cut but poorly attended referendum. Burnham was ultimately unable to survive the onslaught of scandal, and John Leech managed to beat him in 2011 on a platform of saving the green belt along with bread and butter issues.

Leech had a much better start to his term than Andy, but he quickly hit a roadblock; much of the green belt that was due to be shrunk already had been, with new builds atop, and the remainder was technically the national government’s responsibility; Number 10 insisted, however, that the power was devolved, and this legal fiction combined with the fractious nature of the assembly to stop Leech dead in his tracks.

Anderson came in after him, with a strong platform; more for less. More houses, lower rents. More trains, lower fares. More shops, lower prices. It was a strong campaign. Leech claimed that Anderson would spend the cities to ruin; but his authority was shot, and in the end, Anderson won in the first round. The assembly, however, remained fragmented; the Labour group was only able to continue by entering an unprecedented coalition with Derek Hatton’s Green Left. Despite their differences, this coalition did work well; despite a rise in the business rates, houses were built and trains were chartered. Anderson was re-elected in 2019, with a stronger showing for Labour and the Green Left, and that seemed to be that.

It was, however, a front that all came tumbling down in December 2020. Anderson, Hatton and a slew of other figures in the municipal government were arrested for conspiracy to commit bribery, witness intimidation and a host of other crimes. Anderson was forced to resign, and his deputy mayor Julie Dore took over. Dore had not been implicated in the arrests, but without a mandate of her own she never really had the authority that the crisis demanded. When assembly members from Labour and Green Left joined the opposition in a call for fresh elections, her fate was clear.

No one expected that the Top Gear frontman would emerge as the anti-corruption candidate for the northern metropolis, perhaps not even the man himself, but fate cares little for pundits. Jeremy Clarkson was elected as the first Conservative mayor of the North of England Metropolitan Area – the first elected mayor to be from east of the Pennines – on an anti-corruption, pro-growth ticket, echoing the moderate style of the party leadership.

Surely back in those heady days when Prescott built his pet project, he never expected that Clarkson would be the one leading it, did he? Surely this is a setback for the Baron of Kingston-Upon-Hull, and surely he won't take this defeat sitting down, will he? Every mayor before Clarkson - Labour or Liberal - was struck down in their prime by scandal, and every downfall aided the cause of the Prezzagrad gang. What a curious coincidence.
 
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"This guy is FUCKED."
Presidents of the Free City of Jermopolis

March 4, 2023-March 7, 2023: Jeremy "Jerma985" Elbertson
March 7, 2023-March 7, 2023: Steven "Ster" Serge
March 7, 2023-March 8, 2023: Steven "Ster" Serge and Ludwig Ahgren (disputed)
March 8, 2023-March 10, 2023:
Jeremy "Jerma985" Elbertson

Ambassadors to the United States of the Free City of Jermopolis

March 9, 2023-March 10, 2023: Vincent "Vinesauce" Franzetti

"When I came up with this stunt, they said I was fucking insane. And I mean, yeah, that's true, but like, when has that not been true?"
- Jeremy Elbertson, March 5, 2023, in between streams to a cameraman
Jeremy Elbertson, better known as Jerma985, has always been a showman above all else. He didn't want fame, he didn't want power, he didn't want money, above all else he wanted to please his audience by any means necessary. He has, since he started streaming on Twitch in 2016, only gotten more and more outlandish and bizarre in his grandiose comedic stunts. From taking out a second mortgage to finance the live action "Jerma Rumble" stream, to spending $40,000 on a one-day remote-controlled carnival, to taking full corporate sponsorships in order to fund the "Jerma Dollhouse" streams, to the strange spectacle of the "Who Will Replace Me?" stream, he never hesitated to go bigger, weirder, and more surreal. This was inevitable really, in retrospect. He was always going to do more.

On March 4, 2023, Jerma985's Twitch channel would go live with the title "Becoming an Explorer". After 4 minutes and 23 seconds of an introduction screen, the stream cut to an aerial drone shot of Elbertson, alone, rowing an inflatable lifeboat towards a large wooden raft with a small bamboo hut on top, cursing to himself, with no land in sight. After pulling himself onto the raft and drying himself off, he marveled at the "new land" he had discovered, dubbing it "Jermopolis".

With a large corporate sponsorship from WWE, Elbertson had assembled what would soon become his grandest scheme yet, a series of streams dedicated to the prospect of starting his own nation aboard a raft in international waters. The next week was, for the most part, pre-planned, with audience interactions determining specific actions but the overarching plot set in stone. Three days after establishing his new "Free City", Elbertson would be toppled in a "coup" by fellow streamer Steven "Ster" Serge, only to retake the island after a dispute over the presidency with a third streamer, Ludwig Ahgren. The stream went through numerous pre-planned incidents, from fishing for food aboard the raft, to adopting a flag and an anthem, to establishing an "embassy" to the United States in New York City.

However, it would ultimately be his end. On March 10, the final day of the planned streams, Elbertson would set out to return home, having concluded nation-building to be more trouble than it was worth. As he departed aboard his small, powerless dinghy for the mainland as the stream ended, a strong wind would capsize it, drowning Elbertson live on stream. The nearby film crew wouldn't even realize he was drowning until it was too late, believing it to be a part of the act, and the lifeguard sent to save him would fail to resuscitate him as the stream cut to a "be right back" screen. In death, just as in life, he was a showman defined by comedic eventualities most would consider utterly surreal.
 
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"This guy is FUCKED."
Presidents of the Free City of Jermopolis

March 4, 2023-March 7, 2023: Jeremy "Jerma985" Elbertson
March 7, 2023-March 7, 2023: Steven "Ster" Serge
March 7, 2023-March 8, 2023: Steven "Ster" Serge and Ludwig Ahgren (disputed)
March 8, 2023-March 10, 2023:
Jeremy "Jerma985" Elbertson

Ambassadors to the United States of the Free City of Jermopolis

March 9, 2023-March 10, 2023: Vincent "Vinesauce" Franzetti

"When I came up with this stunt, they said I was fucking insane. And I mean, yeah, that's true, but like, when has that not been true?"
- Jeremy Elbertson, March 5, 2023, in between streams to a cameraman
Jeremy Elbertson, better known as Jerma985, has always been a showman above all else. He didn't want fame, he didn't want power, he didn't want money, above all else he wanted to please his audience by any means necessary. He has, since he started streaming on Twitch in 2016, only gotten more and more outlandish and bizarre in his grandiose comedic stunts. From taking out a second mortgage to finance the live action "Jerma Rumble" stream, to spending $40,000 on a one-day remote-controlled carnival, to taking full corporate sponsorships in order to fund the "Jerma Dollhouse" streams, to the strange spectacle of the "Who Will Replace Me?" stream, he never hesitated to go bigger, weirder, and more surreal. This was inevitable really, in retrospect. He was always going to do more.

On March 4, 2023, Jerma985's Twitch channel would go live with the title "Becoming an Explorer". After 4 minutes and 23 seconds of an introduction screen, the stream cut to an aerial drone shot of Elbertson, alone, rowing an inflatable lifeboat towards a large wooden raft with a small bamboo hut on top, cursing to himself, with no land in sight. After pulling himself onto the raft and drying himself off, he marvels at the "new land" he has discovered, dubbing it "Jermopolis".

With a large corporate sponsorship from WWE, Jerma has assembled what will soon become his grandest scheme yet, a series of streams dedicated to the prospect of starting his own nation aboard a raft in international waters. The next week was, for the most part, pre-planned, with audience interactions determining specific actions but the overarching plot set in stone. Three days after establishing his new "Free City", Elbertson would be toppled in a "coup" by fellow streamer Steven "Ster" Serge, only to retake the island after a dispute over the presidency with a third streamer, Ludwig Ahgren. The stream went through numerous pre-planned incidents, from fishing for food aboard the raft, to adopting a flag and an anthem, to establishing an "embassy" to the United States in New York City.

However, it would ultimately be his end. On March 10, the final day of the planned streams, Elbertson would set out to return home, having concluded nation-building to be more trouble than it was worth. As he departed aboard his small, powerless dinghy for the mainland as the stream ended, a strong wind would capsize it, drowning Elbertson live on stream. The nearby film crew wouldn't even realize he was drowning until it was too late, believing it to be a part of the act, and the lifeguard sent to save him would fail to resuscitate him as the stream cut to a "be right back" screen. In death, just as in life, he was a showman defined by comedic eventualities most would consider utterly surreal.
OH YES

ANOTHER JERMA FAN

I LOVE THIS
 
No Place To Stop, No Place To Go

Administrators of the Tangier International Zone

1929 - 1940: Joseph Le Fur (France [Third Republic])
1940 - 1941: Collective leadership of the Mixed Court of the Council of Control
1941 - 1943: José Prieto del Río (Spain [Spanish Republic])
1943 - 1944: Henri Rolin (Belgium [Kingdom of Belgium])*
1944 - 1945: William Birkett (United Kingdom)
1945 - 1948: Luís António de Magalhães Correia (Portugal)
1948 - 1952: Hendrik van Vredenburch (Netherlands)
1952 - 1955: François de Menthon (France [Fourth Republic])
1955 - 1959: Robert van de Kerchove d'Hallebast (Belgium [Belgian Republic])
1959 - 1960: Ali Yata (Democratic Republic of the Rif (de facto)); International Zone ruled directly from Rabat under Kingdom of Morocco (de jure)
12 April 1959: Retrocession to Kingdom of Morocco (de jure); assassination of Crown Prince Hassan and start of Moroccan Civil War
14 April 1959: occupation by the Popular Army of the Rif

1960: Mehdi Ben Barka (Union of Popular Forces for Tangerine Liberty)
18 March 1960: Tangerine Uprising
March - April 1960: intervention by US-led forces; establishment of Allied Control Commission in the territory of the former International Zone

1960 - 1961: Vice Admiral Charles Brown (United States Navy - Allied Control Commission)
1961 - 1962: Collective leadership (Allied Control Commission)
1962 - 1963: Abderrahmane Youssoufi (Popular Democratic and Constitutional Movement - backed by Allied Control Commission)

Presidents of the Independent Republic of Tangier

1963 - 1980: Abderrahmane Youssoufi (Popular Democratic and Constitutional Movement)
1963: Transfer of power to civilian government; declaration of independence
1964 Tangierian general election (as MPDC supported by Istiqlal): defeated Mehdi Ben Barka (Union of Popular Forces), Abdelkhalek Torres (Unity and Reform Movement)
1969 (as MPDC supported by Istiqlal) def. Mehdi Ben Barka** (UFP), Mohamed Wazzani (MUR), David Gaiman (The Organization/Al-Tanzim), William Burroughs (Factualist Tendency)
1974 def. Mohamed Bensaid Ait Idder (UFP), Mohammad Daoud (MUR), Abdullah al-Ghumari (Muslim Brotherhood), Abdelkrim Motii (Islamist Youth), Leon Benzequen (Mellah), Hunter Thompson (Factualist)***, David Gaiman (The Organization/Al-Tanzim)

1979 - 1984: Abdelkrim al-Khatib (MPDC)
1979 def. Abdullah al-Ghumari (Muslim Brotherhood), Mohamed Bensaid Ait Idder (UFP), Mohammad Daoud (MUR), Leon Benzequen (Mellah)
1984 - 1994: Abderrazak Afilal Alami Idrissi (MPDC)
1984 (as MPDC supported by Mellah) def.
Abraham Serfaty (Ila al-Amam), Omar Azziman (MUR), Mohamed Bensaid Ait Idder (People's Front), Abdelkrim Motii (Islamic Front of Morocco)***
1989 (as MPDC supported by Mellah) def. Jean-Luc Mélenchon (Tanger En Avant/Más Tánger), Omar Azziman (MUR), Abraham Serfaty (Ila al-Amam), Mohamed Bensaid Ait Idder (People's Front), Ahmed Benjelloun (Islamic Socialist Front)

1994 - 1999: Mohamed Choukry (Popular Front)
1994 (as Popular Front between Ila al-Amam/Tanger En Avant/Más Tánger supported by MUR
; rejected support from People's Front) def. Abderrazak Afilal Alami Idrissi (MPDC), Shlomo Amar (Mellah)
1999 - 2004: Driss Benzekri (MPDC)
1999 (as MPDC supported by Mellah) def.
Mohamed Choukry (FP), Mohammed Kabbaj (MUR)
2004 - 0000: Pierre Lellouche (Independent)
2004 (supported by MUR, Mellah,
and elements of Tanger En Avant) def. Mohammed Ziane (MPDC), Mohammed Achaari (FP)

* government operating in-exile.
** missing at time of election, later declared dead.
*** not present in Tangier at time of election.

A city of spies and intrigue; a city of junkies and revolutionaries; a city that was an armed camp on the frontlines of the Cold War; a city of religious tolerance and fanatical hatreds; a city of attempted Scientologist takeovers and Islamist-Haredi-Socialist coalition governments; a city where Arab Socialism flourishes and there is nothing the right price cannot buy: all of these titles have been hung on Tangier and all of them are true.

After making itself useful to both sides during the War as a backdoor into Spain (which even after Barbarossa was quite content to stick to glaring at the Wehrmacht across the Pyrenees until D-Day let them join in without fear of any serious reprisals), the Interzone remained a seedy backwater popular with bohemians, beatniks, and, after 1948, a growing number of Jews who weren't welcome elsewhere in the Maghreb.

The Tangier Protocol governing the Interzone wasn't meant to last forever, though, and despite the fraught negotiations about how exactly decolonisation should occur in Morocco (the French and Spanish eventually storming away from the bargaining table in a huff and setting up a pliable monarchy and a pocket-sized socialist republic, respectively) the Mixed Court voted to hand the city back over to the Kingdom of Morocco as an exclave.

The brief retrocession of the Interzone lasted on paper for fourteen months and lasted in practice for fourteen hours. No sooner had the flags been taken down and put up than the news broke from Casablanca that a group of disgruntled officers had shot the Crown Prince and put the King under house arrest. Sensing an opportunity, the Spanish-backed Riffians astroturfed a people's uprising and sent their militia in to 'maintain order', and promptly found themselves trying to hold down the lid on a pressure cooker. If the attempt to impose a revolutionary state of the masses went over predictably poorly with the assorted indolent Westerners and wary Jewish refugees, its reception by the native population - who had looked forward to continuing their business of squeezing cash out of dissolute American poets under the King's flag - was acutely disappointing.

And so, the moment the Rif's Spanish patron had its back turned (but before the Soviets could move in), the den of iniquity had staged a counter-revolution and rolled out the red carpet for an American carrier group that just sort of happened to be strolling around the neighbourhood. And that would have been that, if it weren't for the fact Morocco proper was still in a state of alarming disunity (there was no longer a shooting war as such, but the junta backing the new King was far more Nasserist than anyone in Brussels would have preferred) and that NATO decided that actually, having somewhere to park holidaying spies and from which 'embassy staffers' could listen in on the Soviets in Tetouan and the slowly thawing Reds in Madrid would just be so useful.

And thus was born the Singapore of the West at the Pillars of Hercules, as Tangier returned almost seamlessly to its former role as plausibly deniable clearing house for dodgy diplomatic dealings and libertine literati (well, almost; being surrounded on three sides by a vengeful Rif meant those US Marines stayed on speed dial until the Spanish Thaw). A subtle thumb on the scales of democracy helped put the right man in the Mendoubia (as much a filthy pinko as the guy he was up against, but a pro-Western filthy pinko), and between his efforts and an influx of Moroccan dissidents Tangier stayed on a path of leftish cosmopolitanism for the next forty years.

Granted, there has been some ebb and flow. The nipping in the bud of the Sea Org's attempt at entryism, the quiet crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in the 70s and its loopier spinoffs in the 80s, the Red terror bombings over the same period (in sympathy with the Riffians or the Palestinians or just to have a go at the Jews, depending which gang of thugs had planted the bomb), and the growing unpleasantness at the border as migrant numbers increased in the early 90s have all kept Tangier from being as inclusive of all views as it might otherwise consider itself.

But it's done pretty well. Like its counterpart in Southeast Asia, Tangier has remained democratic in a region of autocracies and feathered itself a nice nest as a tax haven and business hub; unlike Singapore, Tangier has done so with a much more fluid political consensus and a party of government that went out of its way to be a broad tent covering everything from democratic socialism to Moroccan nationalism to political Islam to a growing (if still peripheral) movement of syncretic non-Zionist Arab Judaism.

More to the point, elections in Tangier have been genuinely competitive since the revolutionary coalition fell apart in earnest after its founding father resigned, and a number of transfers of power have taken place since the end of the Cold War - to the point that the new President, a Tunisian Jewish emigre with a bold neoliberal agenda, has been able to break through with a populist independent campaign that pledges to build Africa's first 'superport' and make Tangier the beacon of the North Atlantic. How much of his reformist crusade he will accomplish (and how much it would really make a difference if he did, given the rightward shift of the MPDC since the 70s means they occupy very similar ground) is anyone's guess.
 
The City and The City?

Mayors of Houston, Texas since 1991
[note: Houston mayoral elections are non-partisan. Candidates are listed based on their publicly stated partisan affiliations where possible.]

1992-1994: State Representative Sylvester Turner (Dem)
'91 def. fmr. METRO Chairman Bob Lanier (Dem), Mayor Kathy Whitmire (Dem)
1994-1996: Investment Banker Ken Bentsen (Dem)
'93 def. Mayor Sylvester Turner (Dem), fmr. Sheriff Jack Heard (GOP), Radio Host Ray Hill (Ind)
1996-1997: Harris County Sheriff Chuck Rosenthal (GOP)
'95 def. City Councilwoman Sheila Jackson Lee (FDP), Mayor Ken Bentsen (Dem)
1997-1998: Mayor Pro Tem Martha Wong (GOP)
1998-2003: fmr. Mayor Sylvester Turner (Dem-FDP)
'97 def. fmr. State Representative Ed Emmett (GOP), Radio Host Dan Patrick (Ref)
'99 def. CEO Kenneth Lay (Ind), County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia (Dem)
2003-2007: City Attorney Ben Hall (Dem)
'03 def. State Representative Rick Noriega (Dem), City Councilman Chris Bell (Dem)
2007-2009: fmr. Mayor Sylvester Turner (Dem)
'07 def. State Representative Sue Lovell (Dem), County Commissioner Carol Alvarado (Dem), Mayor Ben Hall (FDP)
2009-2009: Mayor Pro Tem Ben Reyes (Dem)
2009-2011: Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Jessica Farrar (Dem)
2011-2015: City Councilman Ed Gonzalez (Dem)
'11 def. fmr. U.S. Representative Craig Washington (Dem), State Representative Carrin Patman (Dem)
2015-2019: Attorney Tony Buzbee (Ind)
'15 def. Rapper Brad Jordan (Ind), Mayor Ed Gonzalez (Dem)
2019-: fmr. Secretary of Transportation Sylvester Turner (Dem)
'19 def. State Senator Armando Walle (Dem), Mayor Tony Buzbee (Ind)

The modern history of Houston and the career of Sylvester Turner are inextricably intertwined. To many residents of the City of Houston, Turner is regarded as a folk hero like Huey Long, Juan Perón, or Jesse Jackson: the man they couldn't keep down, who never stopped fighting for Houston in general and its poorer Black and Hispanic residents in specific. To many of the people who live just outside its borders, though - in Bellaire and Westheimer and Montrose and Clear Lake - Turner was an unrepentant class-war demagogue who mortgaged Houston's peace and future for his own ambitions. The truth is, as always, more complicated.

Turner's first rise came amidst discontent with five-term incumbent Kathy Whitmire. As Houston's economy twisted in the grip of the oil glut and crime rose sharply, State Representative Sylvester Turner rose in the polls among moderate Anglos who saw Whitmire as an ivory-tower liberal and Bob Lanier as a corrupt oligarch, then swung Black voters behind him once it looked like he could win. The runoff saw that racial coalition almost fall apart - KTRK Eyewitness News, Houston's local yellow journalists, ran a story that accused Turner of scheming to help his roommate's client fake his death for the insurance money. The story briefly set race relations in Houston into sharp relief, as Anglo Houstonians turned against Turner and Black Houstonians saw the candidate they saw as theirs smeared by powerful Anglos - but the story began to fall apart almost immediately, and more to the point was traced back from KTRK to the controversial Clyde Wilson, Lanier's friend and a private investigator known for his cavalier attitude to legalities. Embarrassed Anglos stayed home or voted for Turner - not all of them, by any means, but enough.

But though Lanier had no formal power, he - and the Anglo good ol' boys scattered throughout the commanding heights of Houston business, administration, and news - still had a lot of informal ability to gum up the works. "Turner versus the Deep State" is far too deeply enmeshed in Houston's political heritage and narrative to judge properly, but it is undeniable that he faced a lot of hostility - negotiations with existing businesses went south, the transportation agencies on the state and local level Lanier had once headed stopped working with the city, previously uncontroversial Council motions got gummed up, and the city bureaucracy leaked like a sieve. Meanwhile, many of the liberals who had supported Turner found his willingness to stand by the police through controversy and his refusal (which some thought motivated by rumors that his former "roommate" was something more) to allow the city to expand spousal benefits to domestic partners beyond the pale.

In 1993, every ambitious Houston politician saw themselves as Texas' next Senator in 1994, and wanted to back the son of the incumbent in the hopes that would get them onto a shortlist for his endorsement. It worked; Ken Bentsen became Mayor, and an ambitious State Senator named John Whitmire had the honor of losing to Joe Barton a year later. But Bentsen could not overcome the crime or economic problems either, and as Black and liberal Democrats peeled off (the former briefly forming the Freedom Democratic Party) and moderates reacted against President Brown, Harris County Sheriff Chuck Rosenthal made his way into office. Rosenthal's unremarkable tenure is remembered mostly for its ignominious end as Rosenthal sought treatment for a prescription drug addiction; Wong is remembered mostly for making Houston the largest city to have an Asian-American Mayor until San Francisco's 2015 election of Fiona Ma.

In 1997 it was Turner's turn to benefit from scandal, as he climbed out of scandal made almost holy by having been struck down and coming back anyway. Ed Emmett's conflict-of-interest deals with developers weren't all that bad, all told, by Houston standards - but what mattered more was that they highlighted his ties to Bob Lanier and undermined his image as a clean moderate from outside the establishment. Emmett's failures prompted a period of peace of a sort - as members of the new administration passed around copies of The Accommodation and war stories of Turner's last term, the local establishment came to the conclusion that open war against Turner had hurt them about as badly as him. "We'll give him enough rope to hang himself," one administrator said, before immediately stating that that statement was off the record. The gamble - that local hero of the charity scene Ken Lay would be able to beat Turner if Turner were given enough room to govern as he saw fit - failed, with an economic recovery amid the Iran War and booming oil prices dovetailing with residual suspicions of sabotage letting many Houstonians look past Turner's minor issues and Ken Lay's image as a fundamentally empty suit.

From then on, the organized anti-Turner forces switched tactics. With a charter amendment ensuring he would be term-limited and not up for election for another four years, the Texas Legislature decided to "triage", passing urban secession ordinances that allowed neighborhoods to unilaterally secede from the city by petition. The rich Anglo neighborhoods of the suburbs and West Houston's "arrow" all broke off by the end of 1999; by the end, Houston had seen two hundred thousand residents leave without moving, and its tax receipts had dropped by more than 20%. Nevertheless, frantic predictions of a "death spiral" as worsening conditions prompted more neighborhoods to leave and turned Houston into a "Southern Detroit" were unfounded - oil prices remained high, and Turner's communitarian attention to the needs of poor neighborhoods extended into an zealous focus on attracting jobs, even as the Second and Third Wards saw worries of gentrification.

Turner's third administration was unexpected. Ben Hall had been, if anything, a liberal force as City Attorney, and the 2003 election had been far more about location than ideology. But he was, or saw himself as having had been, made an offer he couldn't refuse by Governor Stockman, and turned virulently against LGBT rights in exchange for a stay of execution for Houston Independent School District. Though more than a few Houstonians, especially the pastors of its most conservative churches, applauded the move, Hall's orders to enforce state laws banning sodomy and block equal rights ordinances prompted Montrose, the last really affluent neighborhood in the city and the center of its gay community, to secede. More importantly for Hall, though, it also prompted business to leave and Sylvester Turner to return.

With Turner's term cut short by a federal appointment by President Kennedy, Houston politics went in some odd directions. Ben Reyes, the longtime future first Hispanic mayor of Houston, melted down in scandal; Jessica Farrar fought City Council over a series of sarcastic "message" resolutions and gained an undeserved reputation for frivolity. Ed Gonzalez, backed by the Houston Police Department, overtook Craig Washington after a bizarre scandal involving the former Congressman shooting at local teenagers, but he himself was embroiled in scandals about interfering with collective bargaining and, more shockingly, covering up police murders after a raid on the wrong address. Tony Buzbee played his work as attorney for the victims into a mayoral bid, then drank his way through a mayoral term best described as a series of strange scandals and gaffes with no real legacy.

Now, 32 years after Sylvester Turner's first term as Mayor, the "adult in the room" is considering retirement. His legacy is written all over Houston - the end of one political establishment and the beginning of a new one, a city torn apart by conservative forces but relatively free to write its own fate, new roads and buses from Acres Homes to Denver Harbor to Sharpstown. There are other legacies, of course - more visible racial and class tensions, corruption, deals with the devil to preserve 'autonomy', and a deeply politicized administration. Turner is well-loved by many Houstonians, and hated with a burning passion by others within and without the city limits. More neutral observers might literally die if you put a gun to their head and asked whether he had been a good or bad mayor - it's that hard to imagine Houston without him bestriding it like a colossus...
 
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