Recent content by Simon

The UK came up with a method of express loading an IRBM or ICBM with liquid oxygen in only five minutes IIRC, but storable propellants were either on the horizon or being introduced so it was never used.

One idea I had previously was the Habsburg ending up with them and Northern Dobruja in the wake of the Crimean War mainly as a way of blocking Russia from the Balkans. This was as an independent neutral state under a cadet branch but adding it directly to the Empire works, if more difficult.

They'd probably have more success selling the idea by reversing that framing and having it as a "fast lane" for countries that wanted to push on ahead.

I was under the impression that the administering of the Hanoverian government was mainly in the hands of local leaders. From their point of view wouldn't a continuing absentee monarch be preferable to one that was in residence?

IIRC the Kingdom of Sarawak didn't become majority Malay until well after WWII, I was going to suggest it remaining independent as a way of tilting the demographics but the thread linked to suggests that could make things worse.

Well there's always the (probable) Israeli-South African method of loading it onto a ship and then conducting the test somewhere out of the way.

Seems like carrying out an actual test would be kicking over a hornets nest for little real advantage, the Israeli path of nuclear ambiguity potentially being the better option.

Unfortunately?

IIRC Russia offered it for sale to Britain, and then to the US – possibly hoping to work up the bidding – but the American Civil War got in the way. Does it change massive amounts if the Great White North becomes the Great(er) White North?

There are a number of more knowledgeable board members but off the top of my head stayed with steam traction too long, the switch to diesel was messy with development contracts given to too many companies, then orders placed without enough testing to see which were decent, and money invested in...

Ignoring butterflies for a minute. British Rail handle things slightly better in the 1950s, whilst passenger numbers still drop drastically the nadir isn't as deep as our timeline. Heath signs a treaty agreeing construction of a Channel railway tunnel and connecting high-speed lines in the...

Are we talking just Minorca, or – due to other events – would it also include the other three Balearic islands? That's going to make something of a difference.

I have actually been kicking around the rough outline for a timeline where Britain launches the first satellite into orbit, albeit during the International Geophysical Year so roughly a decade later than you're talking about. One of the mid-1930s Air Ministry specifications for a twin-engine...

Main problem I could see there is that the 1970s weren't really a great time for large capital intensive infrastructure projects.

What's the earliest people think you could reasonably get high-speed rail in the UK? The easiest option I can think of is an Anglo-French treaty in the late 1960s or early 1970s to build a Channel tunnel that includes clauses requiring lines linking it to London (HS1) and Paris, and similar ones...