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The Eighteenth HoS Challenge

The Eighteenth HoS List Challenge--Independence

  • Why Can't I Just Be Happy?--Qaz_plum

    Votes: 3 15.0%
  • Destiny Still Arrives, NSL Version--allthepresidentsmen

    Votes: 3 15.0%
  • Óró, Sé Do Bheatha Abhaile--Time Enough

    Votes: 7 35.0%
  • Divided, We Will Succumb--Venocara

    Votes: 4 20.0%
  • The South Has Standards--Walpurgisnacht

    Votes: 7 35.0%
  • In The Whirlwind--Wolfram

    Votes: 13 65.0%
  • The King Wakes In Our Darkest Hour--Charles Ep M

    Votes: 3 15.0%

  • Total voters
    20
  • Poll closed .

Walpurgisnacht

The Mystery Pond
Location
Banned from the forum
Pronouns
He/Him
Guess who's back, back again.

The rules are simple; I give a prompt, and you have until 4:00pm on the 27th (or whenever I remember to post the announcement on that day) 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.

July is best known for a holiday where a nation in the Americas celebrates its unification into one nation, free from its colonial overlords. Yes, it's Canada Day today! Later in the month, I believe the Yankees have some sort of fireworks festival. As such, this month's challenge is Independence! The struggle for seperation from a larger mass is one that's animated many a political movement, and many of said movements have faced unique challenges after breaking free. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Good luck.
 
Why can't I just be happy ?

Governors
1945-1963: Sir Bernard Powell
1963-1972: Will St.Clouds †
1972-1972: Enoch Russell
1972-1975: Albert Churchill

Prime Ministers
1975-1977: Albert Churchill (Independent)
1977-1983: Albert Churchill (National)

1977: Rupert Roosevelt (Alliance of the 70s:Communist-Grange-Beast)
1982: Simon Feline (Alliance of the 70s:Communist-Grange-Beast)
1983-1984: Norman Smith (National)
1984-1984: Eli Buckingham (National)
1984-1989: Nigel Sale (National)
1987: Simon Feline (Alliance for Moreau Sapiens)
1989-1989: Wilbur Craigs (National)
1989-1992: Eli Buckingham (National)
1992-1992: Tony Clockhands (Independent)
1992-1994: Patty Pussycat (Alliance For The 90's)
1992: Mikey Quinn (Radical), Simon Hyde (Ultimate Nation), Bark Woof (Beast)
1994-1997: Rupert Rodent (RIGHT) †
1994: Patty Pussycat (Alliance For The 90's), Collin Maxwell (Anti-Rodent)
1997-2004: Malcolm Mouse (RIGHT)

1999: Seb Barnum (Anti-Corruption), Lori Smalls (Anti-RIGHT Rodents), Carl Barks/Chairman Meow (MSWWKTTAC)
2004:
Seb Barnum (New Truth), Lori Smalls (Anti-RIGHT Rodents), Sal Gardner (Labor)
2005-2006: Seb Barnum (New Truth)
2005: Malcolm Mouse (RIGHT), Lori Smalls (Anti-RIGHT Rodents), Sal Gardner (Labor)
2006-2008: Howard Shawn (New Truth)
2008-2009: Enoch Barnum (New Truth)

thatcat said:
Master_D said:
@hig @Master_Moreau @thatcat how was your guy's independence day ?
You wanna know how the last independence day of the decade started ? Getting awoken by the feeling of rain hitting my face at 5 AM. Had to call my landlord about it. Zero fucking help, Chairman Meow was right. I make my way down my local haunt. Friends have said they're worry about how much time I spend there but ehh fuck 'em it's my life. The walk makes me realise how I should get a umbrella eventually I see Blinky on the bar steps. Blinky is a kid who hangs around alotta statters so she always has some injury.I honestly think about her a lot like I have nightmares about her dying and shit. "Oh god Ed are you seriously coming here on a holiday ?" Blinky squeaked out "heh weather's too bad for anything else" I let out a little smirk and headed in. The place wasn't too crowded but there was still too many people for a day like this. Most of the usual suspects were there although the vets were out,probably at some parade, and half of the salary-boys were gone too. I sat down in my standard spot,one of the tenders told me they might set off a few fireworks if the weather clears up,and old man Nige already had ten empty glasses next to him. Oh boy. Immediately he taps my shoulder and lifts his hand to point at the television and askes "Doesn't that guy piss you ?". The Prime Minister's Independence day speech was playing and Nige was right,he does piss me off and the worst thing was every channel is legal required to play at least the audio. So perfectly good friendlies and parades are ruined by the prime minister's voice and or face. "Heh remember that time he compared 23/8 to his father's tax fraud trial ?" I chuckled out;just trying to continue the talk which in hindsight was a mistake. "Listen boy Buckingham was the last honest man;the rest are getting pay off by the rods" By the time I realized I was going to have sit through another Tod's rants I was too late to do anything besides sit and nod. Luckily salary-boy Bruce drunkly bluntly some stupid "Hey! Hey! Let's sing the...the..that nursery rhyme! c'mon! C'mon! 🎶 OH BUCKINGHAM BUCKED BUT HE DIDN'T CLUCK SALE HAD A TAIL BUT DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO USE A PAIL 🎶" "SHUT IT WILL YOU ?!" "OH FUCK OFF DEN!" as those two started one of their daily screaming matches about nothing I decided to go to the bathroom but uh oh some swine a few days ago broke the toilet so now you gotta walk across the street to get to the portals so I do and get hit by a fucking car so now I'm in the hospital so that's how my independence day was.
 
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I am nothing if not on-brand.

Destiny Still Arrives, NSL Version

Chief Executives of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

2022-2028: John Lee Ka-Chiu (Nonpartisan) [“resigned”]
2022: Unopposed
2027: def. Leung Chun-ying (Nonpartisan)
2028: “resignation” of John Lee over handling of anti-education “reform” protests (see: 2022–2030 Hong Kong governmental policy changes)

2028-2029: Eric Chan Kwok-ki (Nonpartisan)
2029-2034: Holden Chow Ho-ding (D.A.B.)
2029: def. Junius Ho Kwan-yiu (Nonpartisan), Erick Tsang Kwok-wai (Nonpartisan)
September 20, 2033: Protests over the Chinese invasion of Vietnam (see: Second Sino-Vietnamese War) results in 3 protestors being shot and killed by the HKPF and over 20 injured

2034-2036: Chris Tang Ping-keung (Nonpartisan)
2034: def. Holden Chow Ho-ding (D.A.B.)
2035: establishment of first “anti-terror detention and rehabilitation facilities” (see: Xinjiangization of Hong Kong, 2034–2039)

2036-2039: Chris Tang Ping-keung (Hong Kong Patriotic Front)
2039: unopposed
January 12, 2039: minor student demonstrations outside Tamar Park end in shooting of students and several passers-by; beginning of the Bauhinia Uprising
May 23, 2039: Assassination of Chris Tang via remote-controlled drone

2039-2039: Frederic Choi (H.K.P.F.)
June 20, 2039: U.S. President Ron Nirenberg authorises deployment of U.S. special forces into Hong Kong (see: U.S. involvement in Chinese Emergency)
August 10, 2039: surrender of HKSAR government following arrival of U.S.S. Elmo Zumwalt in Hong Kong

2039-2040: Lam Cheuk-ting (Democratic)
October 17, 2039: PRC government under Hu Haifeng (Nationalist faction) dissolves rump HKSAR
May 10, 2040: referendum for HK independence succeeds; official abolishment of the HKSAR, establishment of the Republic of Hong Kong


Presidents of the Republic of Hong Kong
2040-present: Lam Cheuk-ting (Revival)
2040: def. Adrian Ho (Alliance), Andy Chan Ho-tin (Indomitable)
2044: def. Christian Ma (Nonpartisan, Alliance-endorsed), Cheng Tak-fai (People’s)
 
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Óró, Sé Do Bheatha Abhaile

January 10th,
1940,
London;


Michael was on his lodgings balcony, he lit a cigarette and ponder all that was about to happen, it was a big moment, the people of Ireland were about to be Free.

Freedom.

The very word that had caused so many to die and often for very little show. He had pondered if it would ever come around, there was always a fear that the London Government would scoff at his little referendum.

“You already have a Parliament” they would say “That’s all you people deserve” he heard there hollow laughs as they finished.

They probably would have been the case if Leo Amery and King Eddie had been around, but they managed to effectively destroy each other in a glorious blaze of petty squabbles.

Instead a dapper Socialist Scot called Tom Johnston had become Prime Minister and the new King George had appeared, both more amicable it seems to the project that Collins was proposing once he had successfully won in 37’.

“Ah damn” Michael swore as the cigarette burned his fingers, so consumed by thought that he’d actually forgot the thing he’d come out to do.

He lit up a second time, took a drag and savoured the moment, in half an hours time he was going to bring Ireland the independence it had so bloody sought over the years.

~~~

“Michael, it’s time” Archie said, nervously adjusting his tie as he prepared to get out the car. The man who had once so readily prepare to take bullets for his commander, now feeling nervous about being a witness for some document signings.

“Aye, Archie lead the way” Michael said as they wandered out of the car past the flashing cameras, the whirring of the film cameras and the crackling microphones of the radio towards No10 Downing Street. It was to be a world wide event, the scattered remains of Ireland’s people being able to see the motherland as it was formerly created.

“First Minister Collins, what do you have to say to the people of Great Britain on this illustrious day?” the fast clipped tone of a BBC reporter enquiring.

Collins turned and looked at the scrum and let out a grin.

“What I’ve always said, that whilst we may be leaving, we’re not shutting the door behind us” he said as reporters let out a few chuckles as they scribbled down what he had said, and within a moment the pair had zipped into the cool rooms of No10.

“Ah, Michael how are things?” Tom clapped as the pair came in “Soon I’ll have to start calling you...what’s the name they’ve proposed again?”

“Taoiseach” Archie murmured from behind Collins. Tom raised a slight eyebrow as he continued to smile.

“Ah, Chief...or Captain is it’s meaning I’ve been told?” Tom asked.

“Aye, a Captain of the good vessel Eíre as it heads out on it’s maiden voyage” Michael said with aplomb.

“Well you’d be fine Captain indeed” Tom said as he lead them towards the drawing room of No10 “Indeed, I read the some of the proposals for the new nation, it seems that Democratic Program for modernisation takes a bit after what we’ve been doing here in Britain” Tom said wistfully.

Indeed whilst Ireland had tussled and tumbled under the austere MacDermot, a man who believed that the best way out of a massive recession was to pull up the big businesses, the rest of Britain had seen great work schemes emerge, Collins had seen the many dams and power plants that spread across the North of England, worker owned projects distilling a sense of the future that Collins wanted.

“Well, at the end of the day, this Ireland shouldn’t be built by God or King...but Man” Collins said passionately as Tom grinned.

“Forever a disciple of the cause of Labour if I’ve ever seen one” he continued as he opened the door to the drawing room.

Inside sat Mr Alexander, the Home Secretary puffing on a pipe before getting up sharply and coming over to shake Collins hand.

“Fffine day for it” Alexander said cumbersomely through his teeth, pipe jostling with each utterance.

“Indeed it is, so shall we get down to the matter at hand?” Collins said as he clapped his hands.

Everyone nodded as they sat down in the representative seats. An aide on stand by delicately placed the treaty down on the table in front of Collins and pen next to it.

“Now, here we have the treaty which proclaim Ireland to be an independent sovereign nation, that of the Republic of Ireland” Tom said “Ireland will still be part of the Commonwealth trading bloc, the Northern Counties will be for the meanwhile under a neutral administration until a compromise between Unionists and Republicans can be met and lastly any Irish Citizen will be allowed to become a British citizen if they so chose” he continued as Collins looked at the treaty, scanning it for any loopholes.

“There’s a collection of other elements, payments and reparations that will be solved over the coming months, if our Chancellor’s can actually sit in a room together that is” Tom said with a slight smile. Bevin and Hogan didn’t particularly get along, the main element for the treaty taking longer than it needed to.

Collins shook his head and grabbed the pen, he contemplated the weight of it. He thought back, back to when he was young members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, thrust into power by the deaths of the Easter Rebels, of his time in prison and his release as the Law Government awkwardly created the Irish Parliament, the years on the run, organising assassinations and underground military actions throughout the bloody twenties.

He pondered his first stumbling in electoral politics, meeting the well meaning if awkward MacDonald, who gave him no assurances on a Irish Nation. Then the long grey years of Amery, till finally the whirlwind of the last three years where he not only brought Ireland back from the Economic brink but proved that the possibility of a Secular, Socialist, Republican Eíre was possible despite the misgivings of the establishment, the church and even some of his fellow politicians.

Collins pondered the many hundreds, many thousands, the many tens of thousands who had died for the cause of Irish Nationalism. He guessed the number was both bigger and smaller than he had ever imagined. He wondered what they thought about this moment, probably cautious jubilation. This wasn’t the end, but it was certainly the end of the beginning.

He thought about Kitty, he thought about his children, John, Arthur and Mary and what lay in there future, he hoped they would remember this day for the rest of there lives. When there father would become the one to sign the most important document in Ireland’s long tumultuous history.

He signed his name, Archie would sign as his witness, the treaty was passed back to Tom and Alexander who signed swiftly. The aide scrambled to get copies made the four were left in silence.

Collins got up and took out a cigarette, Alexander leaned over and lit with a match before lightning his pipe.

“So this is how Ireland becomes independent, not with a bang, but signature on a page and a lit up cigarette” Collins sighed.

He felt the weight of history leave his body for just a second as a grand new future awaited...

1920-1923: Stephen Gwynn (Irish Centre)†
1920 (Majority) def. Arthur Griffith (Sinn Fèin), William O’Brien (Labour), Denis Gorey (Farmers), Arthur Maxwell, 11th Baron Farnham (Unionist)
1923-1931: William A. Redmond (Irish Centre)
1925 (Majority) def. Michael O'Flanagan (Sinn Fèin), Thomas Johnson (Labour), Frank MacDermot (National Enterprise), Denis Gorey (Farmers), Arthur Maxwell, 11th Baron Farnham (Unionist)
1930 (Coalition with National) def. Michael O'Flanagan (Sinn Fèin), Frank MacDermot (National), Thomas Johnson (Labour), Michael Heffernan (Farmers), Arthur Maxwell, 11th Baron Farnham (Unionist), Jim Larkin (Workers)

1931-1937: Frank MacDermot (National Centre)
1932 (Majority) def. Michael Collins (Sinn Fèin), Thomas Johnson (Labour), Michael Heffernan (Farmers), Ernald Mosley (Unionist), Jim Larkin (Workers)
1937-: Micheal Collins (Sinn Fèin)
1937 (‘Popular Front’) def. Frank MacDermot (National Centre), Patrick Hogan (Labour), Michael Heffernan (Farmers), Ernest Blythe (Fine Gael), Ernald Mosley (Unionist), Denis Ireland (Economic Democratic League), Jim Larkin (Workers)
1939 Referendum on National Sovereignty: Yes 77%, No 23%


~~~

1918-1921: Bonar Law (Conservative & Unionist)
1918 (Majority) def. H.H.Asquith (Liberal), William Adamson (Labour), Winston Churchill (Independent Liberal), Henry Page-Croft (National)
1921-1926: Austen Chamberlain (Conservative & Unionist)
1921 (Majority) def. J.R.Clynes (Labour), Reginald McKenna (Liberal), Henry Page-Croft (National Unionist), John Simon (Constitutional)
1926-1928: Ramsay MacDonald (Labour)
1926 (Liberal Confidence & Supply) def. Austen Chamberlain (Conservative), Walter Runciman (Liberal), Henry Page-Croft (National Unionist)
1928-1935: Leo Amery (Conservative)
1928 (Majority) def. Ramsay MacDonald (Labour), Walter Runciman (Liberal), Noel Pemberton Billing (National Unionist)
1932 (Majority) def. Arthur Henderson (Labour), Francis Dyke Acland (Liberal)

1935-: Tom Johnston (Labour)
1935 (Majority) def. Leo Amery (Conservative), Francis Dyke Acland (Liberal), Leopold Canning (National Unionist)
1939 (Majority) def. Duff Cooper (Conservative), Edgar Louis Granville (Liberal), Leopold Canning (National Unionist)
1940: Irish Independence, Irish Republic is declared as the Irish Nation leaves from United Kingdom and British Commonwealth
 
Divided, We Will Succumb

List of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1927-2034), United Kingdom of Britain (2034-2035), United Kingdom of England and Wales (2035-2037):

2019-2022: Boris Johnson (Conservative)
2022-2028: Liz Truss (Conservative)

2022: Liz Truss is chosen as the Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party, requests permission from the Queen to form a government
2023: Truss requests the dissolution of Parliament
2023: Conservative government wins a majority of seats in the General Election, def. Keir Starmer (Labour), Nicola Sturgeon (SNP), Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat), Mary Lou McDonald (Sinn Fein, abstentionists), Jeffrey Donaldson (Democratic Unionist), Naomi Long (Alliance), Adam Price (PC), Jim Allister (TUV)
2023: Keir Starmer resigns as Leader of the Labour Party, Andy Burnham wins the resultant leadership election to replace him
2023: Queen Elizabeth II passes away, King Charles III ascends to the throne

2028-2032: Andy Burnham (Labour)
2028: Labour opposition wins a majority of seats in the General Election, def. Liz Truss (Conservative), Kate Forbes (SNP), Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat), Emma Little (New Unionist), Michelle O'Neill (Sinn Finn, abstentionists), Naomi Long (Alliance), Adam Price (PC)
2031: Government officially loses its majority, Burnham requests the dissolution of Parliament
2031: Labour government wins a plurality of seats in the General Election, def. Rishi Sunak (Conservative), Kate Forbes (SNP), Emma Little (New Unionist), Cara Hunter (Alliance), Michelle O'Neill (Sinn Fein, abstentionists), Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrats), Richard Holden (Reform), Ben Lake (PC)
2031: Labour government agrees confidence and supply agreements with the SNP, the Alliance Party, the Liberal Democrats and PC, agrees to hold referendums on independence and electoral reform within three years
2031: Rishi Sunak resigns as Conservative and Unionist Party leader, Kemi Badenoch wins the resultant leadership election to replace him
2032: Scottish Independence Referendum: YES def. NO (50.7%-49.3%)
2032: Northern Irish Referendum: LEAVE def. REMAIN (50.1%-49.9%)
2032: Andy Burnham resigns as Leader of the Labour Party, Louise Haigh wins the resultant leadership election to replace him

2032-2035: Louise Haigh (Labour)
2032: Replaced Andy Burnham
2033: Northern Irish Referendum: UNIFICATION def. DOMINION (51.3%-48.7%)
2033: Welsh Independence Referendum: NO def. YES (72.2%-27.8%)
2033: Electoral Reform Referendum: NO def. YES (61.0%-39.0%)
2034: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland dissolved, United Kingdom of Britain declared
2035: United Kingdom of Britain dissolved, United Kingdom of England and Wales declared

2035-2037: Joy Morrissey (Conservative)
2035: Conservative opposition wins a plurality of seats in the General Election, def. Louise Haigh (Labour), Richard Holden (Reform), Emma Hardy (NIP), Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat)
2035: Kemi Badenoch deposed as Conservative and Unionist Party leader, Joy Morrissey elected unopposed to replace her
2035: Conservative and Unionist Party agrees to a confidence and supply agreement with the Reform Party, agrees to hold a referendum of the future of the Union within two years
2036: English Independence Referendum: YES def. NO (59.6%-40.4%)
2036: King Charles III abdicates, King William V ascends to the throne

2037-????: Position abolished
2037: United Kingdom of England and Wales dissolved

The fact that Liz Truss somehow won the leadership of the Conservative Party came as a shock to many. Kemi Badenoch, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak and even Suella Braverman were initially more popular amongst the Conservative membership, but good performances in the debates, the discovery of new skeletons in her opponent’s closets and the machinations of Boris Johnson ensured her safe passage to the membership ballot to face Rishi Sunak, where she defied the odds to defeat him narrowly.

The first year of Liz Truss’ premiership produced mixed results. The Russo-Ukrainian War and the COVID-19 pandemic continued to rage in the background, but inflation was slowly brought under control as the effects of supply shocks were brought under control and economic growth gradually began to pick up again. The Northern Ireland Protocol was the major unresolved issue going into the 2023 General Election, which the government used to gage public opinion on Truss’ attempts to amend the protocol. With Boris Johnson’s presence no longer present to weaken Conservative support, most pollsters predicted a hung parliament with the Conservatives and Labour having near-identical seat numbers. In the end, Truss defied the odds again to win a small but comfortable majority for the Conservative government.

However, in Northern Ireland, things weren’t looking so good for Truss. Parties opposed to Truss’ protocol amendments had won a majority of Northern Ireland’s 18 seats, which dealt a big blow to Truss’ ambitions and eventually forced her to drop protocol reform entirely. Unionists saw this as a massive betrayal; it was evident that the Conservative and Unionist Party could no longer be trusted to safeguard the Union. This combined with the Ulster Unionists seeing their worst ever result forced the realisation that Unionism needed to unite or die. In 2024, the New Unionist Party was formed as a merger of the Democratic Unionist Party, the Ulster Unionist Party and the Traditional Unionist Voice. Meanwhile, the Alliance Party's success resulted in a gradual but definite shift towards unificationism.

The luck that Liz Truss had enjoyed over the last two years and indeed for most of her political career quickly began to run out over the course of her second term. Before the end of 2023, the long reign of Elizabeth II finally came to an end. In 2024, the Russo-Ukrainian War came to an end as Russia finally managed to complete their “special military operation”; the Donbas was annexed directly to the Federation and the rest of Ukraine was placed under martial law with the aim of completing the country’s Russification as a prelude to integration. This combined with the victory of Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election sent shockwaves throughout the global economy and marked the beginning of a second global wave of populism, and the relentless march of global climate change continued unabated. Slowly but surely these problems manifested to weaken Truss’ government; 2025 saw severe flooding across the UK and the SNP’s grip over Scotland tightened as they maintained their 2021 results and continued to assail the British government for refusing to grant permission for a second referendum. Hopes that the Alba Party would cause a major split in the Scottish separatist movement proved to be futile. And from 2026, economic growth began to decelerate and unemployment began to climb, with Truss’ always tenuous popularity suffering greatly as a result. Delaying the next election as long as possible had no effect on the final results, and the Labour Party under Andy Burnham won a majority for the first time since 2005.

Liz Truss’ premiership would not be remembered especially fondly by historians, but Andy Burnham’s premiership could only be classified as the worst in British history. The majority he won in 2028 was never especially comfortable, and many of his MPs had been conditioned by 18 years of Conservative rule and as a consequence unwilling to act too drastically for fear of losing power in the next election. As time went on, Burnham became increasingly frustrated as his dreams to radically reform the country were ruined by the reality of the country’s poor finances, a party he could not fully trust and continuously shrinking majority in Parliament. In 2031 his government became a minority one, and with the smaller parties demanding unacceptable concessions he was forced to go to the people having achieved very little. In most circumstances, he would have found himself evicted from Number 10 and forced to watch as a Conservative government took power. However, this was not to be, as the Conservatives became the largest party in the Commons but unable to form a government even with support of the New Unionists. With his tail firmly between his legs, Burnham was forced to go back to the minor parties who extracted even more severe concessions, including immediate Devo-Max and referendums on independence within three years for all the devolved governments. When Burnham returned to his party with the deal he had worked so hard to secure, he was thanked with a leadership challenge from Anas Sarwar. Sarwar recognised himself as the last chance the country had to save the Union, and pleaded with the membership to allow him to try. They listened to him and they sympathised, but in the end Burnham managed to eke out a horribly narrow victory, winning by less than 100 votes. And as Sarwar predicted, this would be the moment that doomed the nation.

Burnham tried hard. He campaigned across the breadth and width of both Scotland and Northern Ireland, desperate to make up for his mistakes and to avoid being known as the man who destroyed the United Kingdom. He unified his party behind him for the first time in his nine-year leadership and mobilised it with the sole purpose of ensuring the continuation of the Union. He even offered to work with the Conservative and New Unionist parties to crusade against separatism, but these offers were declined. Both referendums were held in the winter of 2032, one which proved to be unusually long, bitterly cold and generally miserable, but Burnham persevered regardless. In the end, the weather proved to reflect the mood of the nation. In 2023 and 2031 narrow margins served to Burnham’s benefit, in 2032 they would not. Ultimately, Burnham failed, and resigned in a flood of tears.

Louise Haigh took the reins and the responsibility of negotiating the secession of half of the country. Her approach was likened to that of the British delegates at the Treaty of Paris negotiating American independence; she wanted to resolve the discussions as soon as possible so she could focus on domestic reform in the short time before an election was forced on her. She was buoyed by the convincing victories in the two of the three referendums held in 2033; contrastingly Unionist attempts to create a “Dominion of Northern Ireland” to keep the flame of Union alive failed. When her minority government fell in 2035, Louise Haigh had more than a little confidence that she had displayed enough competence to win another term. The electorate disagreed.

The 2035 General Election was the first in 230 years not to include Scottish or Irish constituencies, and it was the second in a row to produce a hung parliament with the Conservatives as the largest party. This time there was no New Unionist Party to form an agreement with, but there was the Reform Party. However, as leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party, Kemi Badenoch had an issue with this.

The problem was, in the days since Brexit the Reform Party had struggled to find a reason for existence and as a result had struggled greatly during the 2020s and the party almost found itself wound up. However, with the second wave of populism rising over Europe and Britain, the party had discovered a new niche; ethno-centric English nationalism. And Kemi Badenoch could not agree to form an agreement with a party which contained MPs that saw her existence as the leader of the country’s natural party of government as a personal insult. However, her party did not have the same qualms. Desperate to avoid Labour governance for even another second, and with many of the party's members convinced by the argument that England would be able to prosper without being shackled to Wales, the party deposed Badenoch and chose Joy Morrissey to replace her. With some mild reluctance, she agreed to a confidence-and-supply agreement with the Reform Party, conceding that a referendum on the secession of England from the United Kingdom of England and Wales would be held within two years. The result was inevitable, and in 2037, for the first time in 230 years, the flag of St. George was raised over Westminster Palace.
 
The South Has Standards
Leaders of the Southern National Party
1974-1983: Alexander Thynn
1983-1985: Colin Bex
1985-1992: Alexander Thynn
1992-1994: Tony Linsell

Leaders of the League for Wessex

1994-1996: Tony Linsell
1996-2000: Andrew Perloff
2000-2004: James Michie
2004-2004: Steve Uncles
2004-2006: David Campbell-Bannerman
2006-2018: Kelvin MacKenzie
2018-XXxx: Mary Truss

Where Now For A Free South?
Kelvin MacKenzie has brought the League for Wessex higher than ever before--but the contradictions he embraced could break his movement.
By: Ena Vrbanec

The colours of Britain are, allegedly, red, white, and blue. Here in Winchester, one would be forgiven for thinking it was red, white, and gold. With the exception of the Winchester Public Employment Board office, still flying a lonely Union Jack, the whole town is draped in a banner unrecognisable to most foreigners--a red cross on a white field, with a red shield backing a golden dragon in the top-left corner. This flag was first flown here, in 1989, as the symbol of a fringe nationalist movement clinging to the edge of political relevancy. Now, it's a flag widely embraced across the region it represents, and its advocates dictate terms in Westminster. As the delegates for the League for Wessex assemble in Winchester for the party's annual conference, however, the mood is dampened by an elegaic concern. The man more responsible than anyone else for this status is not with them.

While there's been some supposition, even outright accusations, that Kelvin MacKenzie intends to continue running the party from his palatial villa in Ryde, MacKenzie has made it quite clear that his retirement is permanent, and his conspicuous physical absence from the conference--having even sent a proxy to flog his own autobiography--has made clear the truth of these claims. This will be the first conference without his presence, in some form, for decades. After being sent to cover the inaugural conference in 1974, MacKenzie quickly developed an affection for the party's policies and strain of nationalism, and built a rapport with the eccentric leader and largest donor, Alexander Thynn. When he was fired in 1986 from the Daily Sketch after his claims of Lawrence Daly being an NKVD agent were found to be libel, he took a "temporary" job editing the party's newspaper, The Wyvern. This would turn into a decades-long tenure, and one of the most important jobs in the party.

While the claims of member-voter suppression and threatening of party officials, alleged by many former members, are uncomfirmed, it's indisputable that MacKenzie adeptly used the role to promote the party's right-wing within the League, and promote himself within the right-wing. More than that, his relentless courting of publicity made him a household name well before his leadership. While some might deplore the effect midget Parliamentary by-election candidates, claiming David Cairns's death was due to HRID, and "Tits Out For Wessex Day" have had on British public discourse, their effect has been undeniable. MacKenzie has made himself the party's permanent face--arguably even outshining his nominal superior, Liam Fox, during his tenure as Deputy Prime Minister. Many still refer to the man as "The Guv", and claim they only joined the party because of him. For these die-hards, the League is no longer itself without Kelvin.

"It's a crying shame he's gone, a crying shame." Mark, 34, an Essex carpenter, has been campaigning for the party since university. "I met him once, you know? We were in a pub, y'know, after [A.A.] Johnson quit the Cabinet, celebrating, and some bloke by my mate Mike's elbow went 'Next round's on me, lads.' and I turned around and--I still get chills thinking about it." His mood turned contemplative. "I kept the glass, I'm thinking about getting a plaque for it. He deserves a rest, but still...a great man. A great man. A real lad. There's no-one like The Guv. I'm not...well, I won't leave, but without him..." He paused for a moment. "Well, what's the point? I got into politics because of him, and now he's out..."

The loss of MacKenzie's personal charisma isn't the only struggle the League now face. With the new leadership, cracks are starting to show in the party's coalition. While Truss initially pledged "to keep the party united in the interim, and step down as soon as a new vote can be held", that was nearly six months ago, and in that time, her leadership has solidified firmly. Her Shadow Cabinet has drawn heavily from her allies in the party's centre-right "Wessex Unchained" faction, and her rhetoric has echoed that. Prioritising the South's economy, and stoking resentment politics over having to subsidise an "unproductive" North, the party has slammed the recent British Shipyard strikes as "classic workshy Scots trying to hold back progress", and implied an independent Wessex would be able to relegalise private liquor sales. Yet for many members, the true downside of Truss isn't what she does, it's who she is, and who her allies are.

"I'm not racist, but that Fred Kwarteng--he's a bit off, isn't he?" David, 65, a car salesman from Devon, is a long-time voter, but is this is his first time attending the party conference. "Funny type. You couldn't imagine getting a pint with him, could you? Bit of an intellectual, too urban, too polished. Not your ordinary man in the street, and that's the problem. Look at what Truss was doing in university--she was a Young Communist, for chrissakes! The party's been taken over by a bunch of big city technocrats who'll sell Wessex down the river! Don't know how they talked The Guv into resigning, that is, if they didn't off him like they did to Kennedy Young, eh?" At this point, I was forced to step back, to avoid a wagging finger. "Mappin's a proper bloke, and if he doesn't get in in this vote, the party is doomed. Truss and Kwarteng just don't represent the party!"

The problem is, they do. The unique thing about the League for Wessex has always been the case it made for independence. Most of the prominent nationalist-seperatist movements in Europe--the Meridione, Wallonia, or our own Macedonians--represent economically-deprived peripheral areas, and make their cases based on emotional sentiment more than economic logic. Wessex, on the other hand, is largely defined by economic logic. When it was refounded in the late Nineties, the League defined itself in contrast to the romantic nationalists of the remnant Southern National Party by focusing on the wealthy south-east, as opposed to the more historic and agrarian south-west. Despite a recent turn to being more of a "national" party, much of their rhetoric still centres around the alleged vast sum the financial industries and small businesses of the South spend propping up the deindustrialised workers and rampant unions of the North. It's certainly not an unpopular platform--and more to the point, popular among donors.

"I was sympathetic to the party before, but, well...the stunts put me off. Beyond the pale, some of them." Rishi, 38, is a financial analysist based in Southampton, here representing his firm. "Still, I could always understand the appeal. I had a job up in Richmond for a few years, during the big break-up of British Steel, and the working culture there was grotesque. Feet on desks, lunchbreaks for half the day, offices that stank of beer--the cleaners wouldn't come in unless they were featherbedded three to a shift! That was the state of things up North. We can't go on like this! My mum and dad studied hard to give me opportunities they could only dream of, and it was the South that gave them those opportunities. I think Truss and her team are the right people for the job, and we need them--not comforting fairytales from the lunatic fringe."

Still, it wouldn't do to discount the harder edge of the party. A growing faction since the League's formation, the far-right "Wessex for the Wessexers" grouping have a major ace up their sleeve. The sudden propulsion of the party into the spotlight was done by expanding their coalition not ideologically, but geographically. Thanks to Campbell-Bannerman's "National Turn", a solid handful of seats held by the League are now well outside the boundaries of their definition of Wessex--most bizarrely, a defection from the Unionist Party has given them a seat on Doncaster City Council. These voters, peeled off from the other right-of-centre parties, aren't interested in Southern vs Northern. To them, the League is a party that offers independence for the whole UK, an independence from international law, modern liberalism, and foreigners taking jobs. The right's challenger to Truss, John Mappin's keynote policies reflect this vision, with far more interest in ritual slaughter in Islington, troops in Cyprus, and kirk schools in Scotland, than in the region he supposedly represents.

"It's utterly ludicrous, what's happened to the party." Jeff Kent, 66, was involved in the old Southern National Party, but currently belongs to the Campaign for Real Politics (part of the Radical Democratic Alliance). "Mappin's a great symbol of that. A millionaire hotel owner with no connection to the soil, focused on stirring up division instead of bringing unity, and elected representing occupied Kernow. This is the man half the members want at the helm of the Aenglisch cause!" He took a long sip from his pint at this point, before continuing. "At this point, the League is no more about Wessex than the Archers is about farming. It's just another aristocrat-run right-wing greviance party, taking old Orange Order talking points and slapping a big Wessex dragon on them. Still, at least the beer here's still good. Got that right at least."

Despite having gone from strength to strength, the League might be facing the biggest crisis in its history. The niche it's found for itself and the niche it was originally built to live in are too far apart. On the one hand, upwardly-mobile immigrants and young professionals in the commuter towns, but on the other, downwardly-mobile Anglos and embitterred pensioners north of Watford. These cracks were papered over by belligerent charisma and a skill at reading the national political mood, but now the League is being forced to choose between them. Truss's vows to seek Wessex's membership in EFTZ, and Mappin's attempts to court the Liverpool-based Protestant Conservative Party for an alliance, clearly mark an awareness of this. Either choice will still mean cutting off a significant source of votes. While the League still believe Wessex can survive independent from the United Kingdom, it remains to be seen if the party can survive independent from The Guv.

-------------------
Ena Vrbanec is an investigative journalist whose work has appeared in Sažetak, Sarajevski Dnevni, and many other magazines. She is currently the Western Europe correspondant for Novi List. Her book Sewers, Grass, and Eccentrics: Political Notes from a Small Island is due to be published in September.
 
In The Whirlwind

When the dust settled from the Revolution of '68 - when the Farmer-Labor-Student United Front occupied the Capitol and the New York Stock Exchange, when the Servicemen for Democracy presented President Crommelin and General Power to the victors in chains, when General Secretary Mikoyan shook hands with Tom Hayden and Elaine Brown - the future of the Commonwealth of New Africa was uncertain. The new government was ideologically deeply committed to the people New Africa was, on paper, responsible for and to, but most members of the government - including most Afro-American members - viewed New Africa as a grotesque parody and a millstone around the neck of Black Southerners. As such, they wanted it gone.

It's not hard to see why. The Commonwealth of New Africa, established by the Racial and Ethnic Autonomy Act in 1964, had been created as a substitute for equality, a 'separate but equal' fig leaf to legitimize stripping voting rights from Afro-Americans across the country. New Africa overlapped eleven Southern states, but controlled no territory of its own except when those states deigned to share it; its only real powers were to elect non-voting delegates to Congress and pass, through its legislature, non-binding resolutions. Even its legislature was comically undemocratic; though elections to the House of Representatives were ostensibly fair, the Justice Department regularly barred candidates on the grounds of "communism" and "sedition", and the (presidentially appointed) Governor unilaterally set its agenda.

Only two things stood in the way of its total abolition. One was the new regime's Soviet sponsor; though the new doctrine of lekhkost ensured that Moscow would not attempt to force its own government model on the United States too aggressively or strictly, the fact remained that both Soviet advisors and their American followers saw the Soviet system of ethnic federal republics as a useful way to manage the interests of diverse groups in a diverse state, and the governance of what was once a world superpower was too important to leave completely to chance. The other was the Black Nationalist movement, controversial but influential within its own community; though many viewed separatism as a de facto legitimation of Patriot-era segregation, others saw it as the only way to ensure that Afro-Americans could be free from fear of domination.

So it was that, after two years of legal limbo, New Africa was given new grounding. Henry Winston, a widely respected member of the Communist Party recently returned from French exile, was appointed Governor with a commission to make good on the project of self-determination. A border poll was established to give New Africa territory to call its own, and a constituent assembly was established to negotiate both the internal governance of the Commonwealth and its relationship with the United States as a whole. The former effort led to specific flashpoints, most notably in New Orleans and Atlanta; the latter, meanwhile, was carried out in relevant quiet and quietly created a new political culture with new political divides.

The first thing to go was the Communist Party. The Party had long been popular among Black Southerners, but times were changing, and the Party's vague and uncertain attitudes towards nationalism lost it support from both integrationist and separatist voters. The former rebuilt the ruins of the NAACP into a party structure, or, for the most conservative of them, joined the Republicans, recreated as a vehicle for upper-class liberal-conservative politics. The latter - for the moment - picked an old hero as their champion.

Malcolm X was an unusual champion, in some ways, for New Africa. Born and raised in the North, he was to some extent an outsider in New Africa, not to mention an apostate member of a rapidly-growing minority religion and a faithful member of one with even fewer adherents. Nevertheless, his speeches - smuggled through Black America as tape records and pamphlets - and his Prison Diaries gained him recognition and fame as a radical, and his postwar conversion to universalism on the Hajj gained him respect among integrationists. In other words, he was seen as all things to all people - and with the integrationists more divided than the nationalists, that was enough to see him through.

Nevertheless, many nationalists still had different visions of what New Africa should be. Should it be based on capitalism, socialism, or religion - and what religion? Should it be a light on the hill to all of the Global South, or to all Black Americans, or just to its own residents? Was the armed struggle of the '60s a regrettable necessary evil or a great triumph? Malcolm X's election answered none of those questions - but it was, at least, how New Africa began to ask those questions of itself, a process which is still ongoing...

Governors of the Commonwealth of New Africa

1965-1967: George Schuyler (Patriot) ✞
'65 appointed by President John Crommelin
1967-1968: Jay Parker (Patriot)
'67 appointed by President John Crommelin
1968-1969: abolished
1969-1970: Henry Winston (Communist)
'69 appointed by President Gil Green
1970-1973: Malcolm X (People's Radical) ☠
'70 def. Roy Wilkins (non-partisan), Harry Haywood (Communist), Philippa Schuyler (Republican)
1973-1974: Robert F. Williams (People's Radical)
1974-1982: Charles Evers (New Progressive)
'74 def. Robert F. Williams (People's Radical), Stokely Carmichael (Black National Congress), Louis Farrakhan (Twenty Million), Jay Parker (Republican)
'78 def. Bob Moses (People's Radical), Jarvis Tyner (Communist), Louis Farrakhan (Twenty Million), Clay Smothers (Republican)
1982-1986: Jesse Jackson (Sunrise)
'82 def. Barbara Jordan (New Progressive), Lenora Branch (Communist), Louis Farrakhan (People's Radical), Clay Smothers (Republican)
1986-1994: Don King (non-partisan)
'86 def. Jesse Jackson (Sunrise), Lenora Branch (Communist)
'90 def. Betty Shabazz (Radical), Jesse Jackson (Sunrise), Lenora Branch (Communist)
1994-1998: Mike Espy (New Progressive)
'94 def. Jesse Jackson (Sunrise), Kweisi Mfume (Radical)
1998-: Raphael Warnock (Radical)
'98 def. Mike Espy (New Progressive), Michael Symonette (Yahwist)
 
The King Wakes In Our Darkest Hour

Kings of England

1066: Harold II

1066 - 1075: William the Subjugator

1075 - 1089: Hereward I (1071 - 1075, King of Grantbridgeshire)

1089 - 1132: Morkere I

1132 - 1180: Hereward II

1180 - 1183: Robert I

1184 - 1207: Queen Edith and King Duncan of England (Prince Duncan of Scotland)

1207 - 1241: disputed, then vacant

1241 - 1242: John (subsequently High King of Briton)



Hereward Brand was a ruffian who left England to work as a mercenary on the continent, returning after the Norman Invasion and starting the most successful of the early rebellions. With the aid of the Danes, he forced William the Subjugator to accept an area around Grandbridgeshire as an independent kingdom - something both men knew was a short-term settlement. After the Rise of the Earls, Hereward and his men rode out into the country and, with further Danish aid, liberated England.

Following that, Hereward and his counterparts in Wales and Scotland agreed to a general union, "the Feast of Ely", where the kingdoms would exist in (relative) harmony and stand against foreign foes (such as the betrayed Danes). The union stood under his son Morkere and all the way until the 1207-09 War of English Succession and resulting Age of Anarchy.

The legends of Urther, the rebellion of Hereward, the unification under John the Right, and the restoration from the Black Death by Gwalchmei the Younger has embedded a myth that in Briton's darkest hours, a new king will rise to deliver it. This has been used a lot in politics as whatever issue the government has is presented as a "darkest hour" crying out for change, and rebellious movements had implied their leader is a future king to deliver. The nation's two most famous examples include Banquo II and a cabal of earls in the 17th century using the claim to roll back the expanded suffrage of Banquo I's reign - the resulting civil unrest leading to his own son deposing him, who then claimed the 'darkest hour' legend to justify his purges of various earls and rising up of 'common' allies to earldom - and King Moses of the 1790s Caribbean Rebellion, where slaves and maroons used Briton's own myth as a rallying cry for the successful uprisings. (Ely tied itself in knots trying to argue how the non-royal Hereward Brand counted as a real king but Moses didn't)

The legend has also been attributed genuinely to several monarchs: John V for resolving 'the Cornish Question' that almost resulted in a new civil war in the 1620s, 'King' Mary I for seeing Briton throught the 1820s crop blights, and Morkere IV for his leadership during the Dutch invasion of 1902.

(Briton's most famous fictional example - if you discount Urther - is Robin Hood, who began to be used as a 'king-in-our-darkest-hour' in fiction and satires since at least the 17th century and from the 19th century became a fictional character who overthrew Banquo II. Polls find 39% of Britons and 50% of the rest of the world believes King Robin was real.)
 
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