Recent content by Earling

Maybe its not very nice, but I felt Le Carre just went full miserabilist as he got older. "Brits are bad and Americans are worse" is not exactly a new theme, but its full on face off mode after the Cold War ends. (Everyone else is also pretty bad, or functionally a child, but they are NPC...

Well... as Walter Bagehot put it: It would be schoolboyish to explain at length how well the two great republics, the two winning republics of the ancient world, embody these conclusions. Rome and Sparta were drilling aristocracies, and succeeded because they were such. Athens was indeed of...

Do we have to be nice about Stirling? I know on the other place there was a lot of "but but but this is how I got into AH" - but lets be frank. Its a bad premise. They are bad books as fiction. They are ridiculous as AH. The idea of having "problems" with them just prompts me to think you are...

This is perhaps not a new take (and might have come up elsewhere) - but I find it interesting just how "big" the Maquis were in sort of, Trek lore/canon at this time - as demonstrated by constantly showing up in spinoffs. "This is really going to matter" - "oh no, it doesn't."

I enjoyed the article. Its strange how as a child I quite liked Voyager. I think possibly because it was the first Star Trek series I saw released semi-live in the UK (inevitably years after it was out in the US, as was the fashion until the internet made this non-viable as people would just...

The idea Hitler would just write off North Africa seems completely contrary to everything that happened in OTL. So I imagine troops would have still been thrown at Tunis regardless - and if the allies can threaten that, then into ports further south.

I think you just had a lot of "my alternate history dad's bigger than your alternate history's dad". I.E. could 1860 Britain/US map paint over 1860 US/Britain and then rule the universe/go full Dan Hannan. Which then evolved into Confederatephilia from the British and "the US could have taken...

Never really been convinced by the idea of a crash. I mean the USSR was doing the same - why didn't their economy liquidate in the face of hyper inflation? I am not sure the wonders of glorious socialism is the answer. Obviously the later they do so the more damaging it would be - but Germany...

France got a de Gaulle. The issue with the POD as I see it is the manufacturing and logistical base in North Africa. Lets say you could move a substantial portion of the army to Algeria - 1 million or so - this would clearly be a potent force. In OTL I think the Free French mustered 150k...

I don't know about seats - but surely the key is that the ideological milieu would be fundamentally different? If there was an election (and its not guaranteed) it would be de facto the second Brexit Referendum. Which probably means greater voter engagement, more bitterness, anger, and polarisation.

The Tories obviously didn't call it the poll tax. Theoretically everyone is benefiting from council services so everyone should pay. Its not obvious that the size of your house determines how much use you make of local services. In any case Thatcher was stubborn and wouldn't give in - and...

Well - I think that's a reasonable example (even though I think fears of automation are dramatically exaggerated). Its one thing to prophesise the end of industry but its quite another to say what the millions of unemployed people will do instead. Its far easier to lean on government to...

The problem is I can't think of many instances where protectionist measures have encouraged innovation - or even rationalisation. I think its because usually - in the moment - all businesses appear in crisis. Typically all resources are earmarked for something, so its only later that you realise...

At the danger of showing my ideological blinkers, I don't see how you get there beyond a magic wand that makes everything better. I.e. lower inflation, greater productivity, happier management-worker-government relations. Giving a detailed breakdown on what AES is likely to do is difficult -...