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Epilogue (Part II): The Days Ahead
The author of Albion and Empire scribed the history of the United Kingdom in a comprehensible time, devoid of ethnic entanglements and geopolitical complexities. From Churchill to Fitzpatrick, the world was plainly partitioned into two camps; the disciples of capitalism and the devotees of communism. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the democratic Union of Eastern Republics in 1982, the concept of clarified ideological wrangling disintegrated. British foreign policy, long consumed with the prevention of Communism in the former Empire and Commonwealth, became a disheveled moral conundrum only disguised by nineteen years of splendid isolation from the accumulating turmoil of the post-Cold War world. It seemed from the standpoint of western countries that the dangers ahead were more or less confined to the business cycle and the controversiality of globalization. For the author, the difficulties of the twenty-first century would have been far too difficult for his early 20th century ideological proclivities to comprehend. What does Burke know of terrorism? What does Horkheimer know of technological culture? What does Hayke know of Collateral Debt Obligations? The new millennia, not unlike the previous century, ushered in ambiguities of peculiar scale—perhaps we should rejoice that the author never stumbled his way into the years of social media and religious terrorism.
The New Millenia
Prime Minister Richard Hastings had contested political power since Ryley’s deposition from power, but had found the attainment of power less gratifying in the turbulence of the millennial transition. The rupture of the so-called “dot-com bubble” had dire effects in Europe, where the sector disruption snowballed mobile operators into deep debt and wrecked telecom enterprises in early 2001. European countries compensated for the economic shortfall with cheap credit from the European Central Bank, which had replaced the Bank of England upon Britain’s entrance into the European Union. The provision of cheap credit became the norm on the European continent, where needed public services were soon founded on the pretense that the government’s creditors were low-interest bond purchasers as the abundance of credit turned into a bonanza. Integration into the European Union, the availability of cheap credit, and the continental deregulation that followed Britain’s entrance enabled a strong London-centered recovery from the dot-com bubble. Britain’s financial sector boomed, while London competed with New York for the first time since the Second World to be the global community’s central market. Despite the economic recovery, outstanding issues in Britain dragged Hastings’ popularity; repeated incidents in the NHS and the deceleration of the crime decrease made the Conservative government almost as unpopular as President John McCain, who had u-turned on promised tax-cuts. The unpopularity did not last long.
A World Changed
[Disclaimer: 9/11 footage below if that disturbs you]
At 7:35 AM on a sprightly Tuesday morning, Mohammad al-Omari and Abdulaziz al-Shehhi, two Libyan nationals, boarded American Airlines Flight 11. Five minutes later, three Kenyan compatriots also boarded the Logan International Airport flight. At 8:09 AM EST, brothers Aklaeya al-Ghamdi and Mohand al-Ghamdi, in addition to three other Kenyan muslims, boarded British Airways Flight 189 in Heathrow. At 8:14 AM, American Airlines 77 departed from JFK International Airport, along with five Rhodesian passengers. At 8:45 AM, United Airlines Flight 93, took off with 37 passengers and seven crew members, including six covert members of the South African Umkhonto we Sizwe. A fifth flight from Newark Airport, Delta Flight 81, boarded by various Arab nationalists, was delayed due to technical difficulties and never departed.[Disclaimer: 9/11 footage below if that disturbs you]
Forty-three minutes after takeoff, Mohammad al-Omari, Abdulaziz al-Shehhi, and three other Libyan participants stabbed two flight-attendants and stormed the cockpit. Within the next the hour, every plane is gradually hijacked by the participants, confounding air-traffic control and passing aircraft. At 8:46 AM, just over one-hour after takeoff, Flight 11 crashed at roughly 466 mph (790 km/h) into the north face of the North Tower (1 WTC) of the World Trade Center, between floors 93 and 99; hundreds are killed instantly, while others suffocated from fume inhalation and burn to death. Over the next fifteen minutes, news crews rapidly refocused to downtown New York, while rescue teams streamed towards lower Manhattan. Three minutes after 9:00 AM, United Airlines Flight 175 crashed at about 590 mph (950 km/h) into the south face of the South Tower (2 WTC) of the World Trade Center, between floors 77 and 85. Unable to withstand the heat, nearly two-hundred people leap from the impact zones and above, exploding on the ground and killing two other firefighters on the ground. Ten minutes later, at 9:13 AM (2:13 PM GMT), British Airways Flight 189 completes an Atlantic U-Turn and speeds back towards London. Seven minutes later (2:20 PM GMT), BA Flight 189 crashed at rough 466 mph (790 km/h) into Big Ben as the debris of the plane scattered as far as Birdcage Walk. A second explosion from the fuselage gas would collapse the tower eight minutes after the initial collision and collapse the adjacent wall of Parliament. At 9:37 AM, Flight 77 crashed into the western side of the Pentagon at 530 mph (853 km/h) and collapsed the entire section’s structure. Twenty-two minutes later, the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses, 56 minutes after the impact of Flight 175, killing everyone above the impact zones and anyone who had yet to evacuate.. After the collapse, the fire department orders an evacuation of the Northern Tower by firefights; those who do not heed the call will be dead within the hour. Seven minutes later, rogue United Airlines Flight 93 appears above Washington DC after a failed passenger rebellion; President John McCain orders F-15s to intercept the planes before the flight can crash into the Capitol Building. One minute after the order, United Flight 93 is obliterated by AIM-7 Sparrows just outside of Washington. The debris is fatal. At 10:28 AM, the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed, killing everyone above the impact zones and anyone who had yet to evacuate. The death tally is immense; 4,300 have perished and thousands more are injured.
British troops in Angola.
British tanks storm towards Benghazi
Almost certainly DensleyBlair
The Great Recession
In February 2007, HSBC wrote down its holdings of subprime-related mortgage securities by $10.5 billion, the first major subprime related loss. As financial firms reeled from the collapse in US housing prices, over 50 mortgage companies declared bankrupts, including New Century Financial. By the end of the year the number had doubled and over 100 mortgage companies had either shut down, suspended operations, or were sold off. These mortgage companies had profited on the origination and sale of mortgages, rather than the interest from holding the security. These companies had depended upon investor capital for survival, and when the investors noted housing price losses, the credit crunched. The issue was compounded by the presence of structured investment vehicles and hedge funds that had borrowed from investors to purchase MBS — mortgage defaults destroyed the value of MBS and compelled investors to demand for additional collateral or be faced to pay back immediately on margin call. The panic deepened the sale of MBS and further reduced their prices; the marginal call and price reductions sapped Bear Stearns and their hedge funds in July 2007, and by the next quarter the entire firm was reporting a quarterly loss. China, inarguably the world’s strongest economic force, authorized sovereign wealth funds to sustain investment banks, such as Investment Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. These banks had multiplied their debt as the bubble inflated; the high leverage ratio meant that only a 3% reduction in the value of its assets would render the investment banks’ assets insolvent. Unable to withstand the high leverage and the reduced access to capital, Bear Stearns collapsed in March 2008 with the loss of $175 billion before it was sold to JP Morgan Chase Barclays at fire-sale with the help of $30 billion of guarantees from the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank. With the intertwined collapse of credit on condition of MBS devaluation, the world economy teetered on economic depression. Central banks were compelled to compensate for the sudden and devastating loss of global assets. The entire financial system was broken.
Britain, after one century of Liberal rulership
Her Prime Ministerialship
--
Well, ladies and gentlemen (and nobody in-between), that's the end of our little tale. I hope you enjoyed it, I certainly did (and didn't).
For those well informed spiders among you, y'all might be interested to know that I'm considering a new IAAR this May (once school is finished) in 1815 Restoration France. If that would interest you please drop a line. If it wouldn't interest you should just go kill yourself you terrible liberal. Peace.
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I think there are a few "Harwick"s in there that should be "Hasting"s, but other than that all that one can say is:
Bravo!
It was a gas.
Bravo!
It was a gas.
Gibbons will live on forever, Holy Protector of the UK, the Prime Minister under the Mountain (given it's the UK, it's actually a rundown mill, but whatevs).
((I like to think that Macpherson is in a old folks home somewhere, well over a century old but still alive, shedding a single tear of joy at the glorious unity of Europe. And thinking of Gibbons. Always Gibbons.
1815 France sounds like a good setting for an iAAR. Another chance to make a mildly-crazed reactionary.
))
1815 France sounds like a good setting for an iAAR. Another chance to make a mildly-crazed reactionary.
))
((IMO, this guy does it better:
Anyway, I'm looking forward to France! Vive le roi, vive la monarchie!))
((Nice to see Levesley playing an important role!
I'm certainly interested of France, as you probably could guess. Vive la République! ))
I'm certainly interested of France, as you probably could guess.
Vive la République! ))
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NewStatesman
Democracy Dies in Darkness
_________________________________________
Monday August 10th, 2020
______________________________________
In Memoriam: Parris Marr
by Marina Hyde
Whether you knew him as a peer of the realm, a cabinet minister, a member of parliament, an editor, a writer, a television personality, a spy, or not at all, Parris Marr, who died yesterday at the age of 101, left a lasting impression on the collective imagination of Britain during the Twentieth century. Following a series of events that seem, to modern eyes, almost unbelievable, Marr went from reading English at Cambridge to coming within touching distance of the very top of The Establishment, before turning tail to fashion for himself position as Britain's ‘hipster-in-chief’ whilst serving as perhaps the most infamous editor of this very magazine.
To his family, Parris Marr was simply ‘Will’. Always a country lad at heart, paradoxically for a man so associated with London, he was born in rural Norfolk during the last weeks of the First World War. The second child of four, he was the eldest son in a family of obscure, though ultimately Celtic origins. His father Robert, a natural Liberal of Anglo–Irish stock, was a local publisher in Holt. Mother Rosa, born into a family of devout Anglicans, ensured that all of her children were brought up as regular churchgoers. Although he soon disavowed organised religion whilst a Communist at Cambridge in the early years of the Second World War, Marr was always touched by the tradition of Christian decency.
Academically, Will did well. His family managed to secure for him a scholarship to study at Gresham's School, before he was accepted to read English at Queens’ College, Cambridge. Here, although briefly a paying member of the Communist Party of Great Britain—much to the glee of countless political opponents decades later—he apparently considered that writing would be his lot. Never one for student politics, he spent his time instead on sports and theatre, notably earning a Blue as part of the winning crew in the 1939 boat race. It was only because of his girlfriend's influence that he joined the Labour Party in 1940. Marr married Cordelia Bonner, a fellow English student who later found recognition independably as an author, in 1945. They remained together until her death in 2009 at the age of 88.
When war broke out, Marr—now Parris, only Will to close friends and family—joined the Royal Artillery, where he first met Kingsley Amis, later his best man and a lifelong friend even after Amis’s rightward turn in middle age. He soon transferred to working for military intelligence, however, working variously for MI3 and MI6 in both Eastern Europe and North Africa. Throughout his life, Marr remained uncharacteristically unforthcoming about his days as a spy—even after he was ‘outed’ by the Daily Telegraph in 1969. Ever a civilian at heart, he declined that chance to stay on in the services and was discharged as Major Parris Marr in 1945, just in time to contest the seat of York in the Labour interest.
Never expecting to win the reliably Tory seat, Marr almost accepted an offer to assist in a production of Hamlet at Alec Clunes’ Arts Theatre in London. Of course, he did win—again and again. Marr turned the gentle Yorkshire country town into a quiet hotbed of Labour support, the seat returning him again in 1949, 1950 and 1954—and after him, returning George Kellaghan consistently from 1959 until his retirement from the Commons half a decade later. This probably spoke more of Marr's natural affinity for the provincial town. Even whilst foreign secretary at the height of one of the most strained moments in the Anglo–American relationship in 1958, Marr was a regular presence in York—as often spotted in its pubs as watching the football at Bootham Crescent. (Few people will have been as happy as Marr to see York City fight off relegation from the Championship at the end of last season.)
Elsewhere, Marr's political life has been covered in so much detail that it seem so redundant to say much here. Truthfully, he never comfortable being thrust into the cabinet by Attlee in 1947. Initially, he turned down an opportunity to work in the Treasury, preferring to stay on the backbenches, though could not decline a second offer, to head the Colonial Office, after having demonstrated a keen interest the in colonial affairs. Managing the fractious Anglo–Indian divorce as colonial secretary at the age of 28 soon soured his faith in the sort of managerial socialism that Attlee espoused and wished to applying on the world stage. Equivocating on India, his primary achievement was to insist on a two-state solution in Palestine. Later, as foreign secretary under Arthur Bennett, Marr was always a reluctant cold warrior, continually frustrated by both the Americans and his boss in Downing Street. The relationship between Marr and Bennett grew steadily worse as the Fifities wore on, almost deteriorating completely over the twin issues of Lords reform and Bennett's refusal to call an election in 1958. Although he kept himself from resigning from the cabinet, his eventual course of action was no less shocking to the political establishment when he declined to defend his seat in 1959, instead taking up the editorship of the New Statesman and embarking on a career in media.
Although Marr returned to frontline politics as first a reforming home secretary between 1966–9, overseeing the sort of sweeping liberalisation of British society he had been advocating as an editor, and then Labour leader in the finally-reformed House of Lords from 1969–79, it is clear now that political life was more of an itch to scratch than an actual calling. That the Labour Party today continue to use the term ‘Marrite’ is arguably far more down to his agitation in the media during the Sixties than due to his foreign policy work in the Forties and Fifties. Marrism is the dream of a social democratic Britain just as attuned to people's social, cultural and intellectuals needs as to their economic ones. If it isn't a viable, pragmatic political policy doctrine—those ‘what if?’ stories that have Marr beating Monaghan in 1966 and ushering in a liberal socialist paradise in Britain by the end of the Seventies always seem a tad farfetched—it remains a noble aspiration for the British Left.
Marr was happiest in cultural, rather than political circles. (He once joked that he preferred his wife's friends to his own.) As editor of this magazine during the Sixties, he was instrumental in kindling and stoking the flames of the Bright Society, the socially liberal and culturally daring set of London society who transformed life for a certain type of person (metropolitan, middle-class) at the height of the Cold War. As the presenter of BBC Two's New Society, he did much to modernise the role of public-service television, bringing a revolutionary mix of reportage, discussion and popular culture to British screens. He later expanded this philosophy when he was appointed as the inaugural director of Channel 4 in 1982, fashioning the new broadcaster as a force for the promotion of new and unheard voices. By the time he stepped down in 1990, and whilst the BBC had always maintained its lead in areas like news and sport and mass appeal, Channel 4 had become the darling of viewers looking for bold comedy, intelligent discussion and modern culture. By the time of the 1994 election, the second won by old Marr protégé George Kellaghan, one commentator quipped that Marr could do more to influence British society by leaving politics than by staying in it. It was meant as a put-down, but it was accurate: the triumph of Kellaghan's ‘Modern Socialism’ during the Nineties arguably represented the flowering of seeds planted by Marr back in 1959. It therefore only seemed natural that the traditional rightwing tabloid media should loathe Kellaghan with an almost unprecedented passion. When he came out as gay after retiring to the backbenches in 1995, it was almost the perfect punchline: the apotheosis of the Marrite ideal.
Marr, of course, could not carry on forever. He entered semi-retirement when he accepted the role of president of his beloved Queens’ College in 1992, though still appeared regularly on television as both a commentator and a presenter. His definitive Parris Marr's New Society, a history of post-war British popular culture broadcast every Sunday night for what seemed like an age in the mid-Nineties—naturally, on Channel 4—will always have a special place in the hearts of a certain type of person my age. Largely, however, he resumed a literary career that had been put on hold, seemingly for good, four decades earlier. His three-volume memoir, The Marr Years, was published to acclaim in 1998, in his eightieth year, following a two-volume cultural history to accompany his TV series in 1996. In 2001, he fronted a fortieth-anniversary special episode of New Society—pinched for Channel 4 and revived by Marr in 1983 after having spent the previous decade sliding into irrelevance following the departure of presenter Jonathan Miller in 1972. A decade later, at the age of 92, he appeared as a guest on the show to mark its fiftieth birthday.
Retiring from his Queens’ presidency soon after the Millennium, Marr spent his final two decades in peace at his home in Norfolk. The death of his wife Cordelia in 2009 after 64 years of marriage was a deep personal blow, after which largely retreated from public life. In 2009, he guest-edited a special issue of this magazine to mark fifty years since the seminal “Manifesto For A Human Society”—and in 2016, as part of the celebrations of Shakespeare's four-hundredth anniversary, he even helped Sir Ian McKellen put on a special one-night production of Hamlet at the Barbican, only delayed by 61 years. It seems a fitting note on which to end any examination of Marr's life, and no doubt he knew it. Hamlet, that famous figure of dualities and restlessness, alienated by power at a young age and sheltered by knowledge alone, is a fanciful fit for Marr. But then he was always one for theatre.
• William Parris Marr, Lord Marr of Blackfriars. Cultural figure, born October 3 1918; died August 9 2020. Marr is survived by his three children, Eve, David and Ellen. He served as editor of the New Statesman from 1959 to 1966.
To his family, Parris Marr was simply ‘Will’. Always a country lad at heart, paradoxically for a man so associated with London, he was born in rural Norfolk during the last weeks of the First World War. The second child of four, he was the eldest son in a family of obscure, though ultimately Celtic origins. His father Robert, a natural Liberal of Anglo–Irish stock, was a local publisher in Holt. Mother Rosa, born into a family of devout Anglicans, ensured that all of her children were brought up as regular churchgoers. Although he soon disavowed organised religion whilst a Communist at Cambridge in the early years of the Second World War, Marr was always touched by the tradition of Christian decency.
Academically, Will did well. His family managed to secure for him a scholarship to study at Gresham's School, before he was accepted to read English at Queens’ College, Cambridge. Here, although briefly a paying member of the Communist Party of Great Britain—much to the glee of countless political opponents decades later—he apparently considered that writing would be his lot. Never one for student politics, he spent his time instead on sports and theatre, notably earning a Blue as part of the winning crew in the 1939 boat race. It was only because of his girlfriend's influence that he joined the Labour Party in 1940. Marr married Cordelia Bonner, a fellow English student who later found recognition independably as an author, in 1945. They remained together until her death in 2009 at the age of 88.
When war broke out, Marr—now Parris, only Will to close friends and family—joined the Royal Artillery, where he first met Kingsley Amis, later his best man and a lifelong friend even after Amis’s rightward turn in middle age. He soon transferred to working for military intelligence, however, working variously for MI3 and MI6 in both Eastern Europe and North Africa. Throughout his life, Marr remained uncharacteristically unforthcoming about his days as a spy—even after he was ‘outed’ by the Daily Telegraph in 1969. Ever a civilian at heart, he declined that chance to stay on in the services and was discharged as Major Parris Marr in 1945, just in time to contest the seat of York in the Labour interest.
Never expecting to win the reliably Tory seat, Marr almost accepted an offer to assist in a production of Hamlet at Alec Clunes’ Arts Theatre in London. Of course, he did win—again and again. Marr turned the gentle Yorkshire country town into a quiet hotbed of Labour support, the seat returning him again in 1949, 1950 and 1954—and after him, returning George Kellaghan consistently from 1959 until his retirement from the Commons half a decade later. This probably spoke more of Marr's natural affinity for the provincial town. Even whilst foreign secretary at the height of one of the most strained moments in the Anglo–American relationship in 1958, Marr was a regular presence in York—as often spotted in its pubs as watching the football at Bootham Crescent. (Few people will have been as happy as Marr to see York City fight off relegation from the Championship at the end of last season.)
Elsewhere, Marr's political life has been covered in so much detail that it seem so redundant to say much here. Truthfully, he never comfortable being thrust into the cabinet by Attlee in 1947. Initially, he turned down an opportunity to work in the Treasury, preferring to stay on the backbenches, though could not decline a second offer, to head the Colonial Office, after having demonstrated a keen interest the in colonial affairs. Managing the fractious Anglo–Indian divorce as colonial secretary at the age of 28 soon soured his faith in the sort of managerial socialism that Attlee espoused and wished to applying on the world stage. Equivocating on India, his primary achievement was to insist on a two-state solution in Palestine. Later, as foreign secretary under Arthur Bennett, Marr was always a reluctant cold warrior, continually frustrated by both the Americans and his boss in Downing Street. The relationship between Marr and Bennett grew steadily worse as the Fifities wore on, almost deteriorating completely over the twin issues of Lords reform and Bennett's refusal to call an election in 1958. Although he kept himself from resigning from the cabinet, his eventual course of action was no less shocking to the political establishment when he declined to defend his seat in 1959, instead taking up the editorship of the New Statesman and embarking on a career in media.
Although Marr returned to frontline politics as first a reforming home secretary between 1966–9, overseeing the sort of sweeping liberalisation of British society he had been advocating as an editor, and then Labour leader in the finally-reformed House of Lords from 1969–79, it is clear now that political life was more of an itch to scratch than an actual calling. That the Labour Party today continue to use the term ‘Marrite’ is arguably far more down to his agitation in the media during the Sixties than due to his foreign policy work in the Forties and Fifties. Marrism is the dream of a social democratic Britain just as attuned to people's social, cultural and intellectuals needs as to their economic ones. If it isn't a viable, pragmatic political policy doctrine—those ‘what if?’ stories that have Marr beating Monaghan in 1966 and ushering in a liberal socialist paradise in Britain by the end of the Seventies always seem a tad farfetched—it remains a noble aspiration for the British Left.
Marr was happiest in cultural, rather than political circles. (He once joked that he preferred his wife's friends to his own.) As editor of this magazine during the Sixties, he was instrumental in kindling and stoking the flames of the Bright Society, the socially liberal and culturally daring set of London society who transformed life for a certain type of person (metropolitan, middle-class) at the height of the Cold War. As the presenter of BBC Two's New Society, he did much to modernise the role of public-service television, bringing a revolutionary mix of reportage, discussion and popular culture to British screens. He later expanded this philosophy when he was appointed as the inaugural director of Channel 4 in 1982, fashioning the new broadcaster as a force for the promotion of new and unheard voices. By the time he stepped down in 1990, and whilst the BBC had always maintained its lead in areas like news and sport and mass appeal, Channel 4 had become the darling of viewers looking for bold comedy, intelligent discussion and modern culture. By the time of the 1994 election, the second won by old Marr protégé George Kellaghan, one commentator quipped that Marr could do more to influence British society by leaving politics than by staying in it. It was meant as a put-down, but it was accurate: the triumph of Kellaghan's ‘Modern Socialism’ during the Nineties arguably represented the flowering of seeds planted by Marr back in 1959. It therefore only seemed natural that the traditional rightwing tabloid media should loathe Kellaghan with an almost unprecedented passion. When he came out as gay after retiring to the backbenches in 1995, it was almost the perfect punchline: the apotheosis of the Marrite ideal.
Marr, of course, could not carry on forever. He entered semi-retirement when he accepted the role of president of his beloved Queens’ College in 1992, though still appeared regularly on television as both a commentator and a presenter. His definitive Parris Marr's New Society, a history of post-war British popular culture broadcast every Sunday night for what seemed like an age in the mid-Nineties—naturally, on Channel 4—will always have a special place in the hearts of a certain type of person my age. Largely, however, he resumed a literary career that had been put on hold, seemingly for good, four decades earlier. His three-volume memoir, The Marr Years, was published to acclaim in 1998, in his eightieth year, following a two-volume cultural history to accompany his TV series in 1996. In 2001, he fronted a fortieth-anniversary special episode of New Society—pinched for Channel 4 and revived by Marr in 1983 after having spent the previous decade sliding into irrelevance following the departure of presenter Jonathan Miller in 1972. A decade later, at the age of 92, he appeared as a guest on the show to mark its fiftieth birthday.
Retiring from his Queens’ presidency soon after the Millennium, Marr spent his final two decades in peace at his home in Norfolk. The death of his wife Cordelia in 2009 after 64 years of marriage was a deep personal blow, after which largely retreated from public life. In 2009, he guest-edited a special issue of this magazine to mark fifty years since the seminal “Manifesto For A Human Society”—and in 2016, as part of the celebrations of Shakespeare's four-hundredth anniversary, he even helped Sir Ian McKellen put on a special one-night production of Hamlet at the Barbican, only delayed by 61 years. It seems a fitting note on which to end any examination of Marr's life, and no doubt he knew it. Hamlet, that famous figure of dualities and restlessness, alienated by power at a young age and sheltered by knowledge alone, is a fanciful fit for Marr. But then he was always one for theatre.
• William Parris Marr, Lord Marr of Blackfriars. Cultural figure, born October 3 1918; died August 9 2020. Marr is survived by his three children, Eve, David and Ellen. He served as editor of the New Statesman from 1959 to 1966.
Whelp, Britain is doomed. Somebody start a Martian colony, and make sure the bloody frogs aren't allowed to come.
BBC Historian(s) Ranking of Prime Ministers (1945-1982)
Note: It is customary in British ratings to exclude Sir Reginald Gibbons from worldly competition and simply give a word of thanks to Christ Almighty for his time on earth.
1. David Bennett (Labour) - @TJDS
2. Lochlan Fitzpatrick (Conservative) - @Eid3r
3. Clement Attlee (Labour)
4. Talfyrn Rylee (Conservative) - @Firehound15
5. Ted Jacobs (Conservative) - @Plank of Wood
6. Sylvia Leighton (Labour) - @Syriana
7. Alistair Monaghan (Labour) - @Scrapknight
8. Anthony Eden (Conservative)
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Sir Johnny Staines: Died in 1995 in an armwrestling competion with Rupert Murdoch.
Ted Jacobs: Survived until 2001, when he had a heart attack whilst eating his favourite food (a raw onion, bitten into like an apple)
Private Eye: Still edited as a hobby by obscure Cornish Duck farmer.
Ted Jacobs: Survived until 2001, when he had a heart attack whilst eating his favourite food (a raw onion, bitten into like an apple)
Private Eye: Still edited as a hobby by obscure Cornish Duck farmer.
Achilles Carter-Douglas went on to become the Governor of Bermuda, where he continues to write questionable pieces demanding Labour's adoption of monetarism.
Talfryn Ryley's body continues to decay in the woods of Monmouthshire, although an increasing number of conspiracy theorists believe that he was assassinated by the Illuminati.
And, of course, everyone's favorite squirrel-obsessed publication, the British Ecologist, went on to become the shining beacon towards which all green conservatives must pray seven times each day, in recognition of the only seven years in British history in which any sort of green would be in power.
Ah yes, and there's something about Lord Scarsdale, but I think there's nothing more which needs to be said on that matter.
Talfryn Ryley's body continues to decay in the woods of Monmouthshire, although an increasing number of conspiracy theorists believe that he was assassinated by the Illuminati.
And, of course, everyone's favorite squirrel-obsessed publication, the British Ecologist, went on to become the shining beacon towards which all green conservatives must pray seven times each day, in recognition of the only seven years in British history in which any sort of green would be in power.
Ah yes, and there's something about Lord Scarsdale, but I think there's nothing more which needs to be said on that matter.
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Jarlath Connor continued to write and be politically engaged after the crisis within the party, and was present on all subsequent BBC electoral shows, analysing and discussing electoral results while continuing to argue in favour of Communism in Great Britain. With the time, he earned the nickname of the "Last Stalinist of Europe" due to his repeated interventions in favour of the politician, of which he by principle never rejected any policy. Visiting the Soviet Union frequently, he died of a heart attack shortly after its collapse, famously asking whether or not it was still possible for him get a copy of the latest Pravda the day the news were announced.
Charles Levesley remained a member of Parliament for his constituency until the late 2010's. During his long career, he challenged the Labour leadership after Kellaghan no less than six times and continued to repeatedly defy party whips when possible by rejecting the policies of the right and campaigning passionately against the EEC and latter leading the anti-war marches against the military intervention abroad. Vehemently opposed to the coalition with the Liberals, Levesley's rabid attacks against the government of the time were sometimes considered to be harsher than those of the Tories. He passed away peacefully in 2024 out of natural causes, having in 2016 been one of the main supporters of the "No" on the referendum.
Charles Levesley remained a member of Parliament for his constituency until the late 2010's. During his long career, he challenged the Labour leadership after Kellaghan no less than six times and continued to repeatedly defy party whips when possible by rejecting the policies of the right and campaigning passionately against the EEC and latter leading the anti-war marches against the military intervention abroad. Vehemently opposed to the coalition with the Liberals, Levesley's rabid attacks against the government of the time were sometimes considered to be harsher than those of the Tories. He passed away peacefully in 2024 out of natural causes, having in 2016 been one of the main supporters of the "No" on the referendum.
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Well, I may be a bit late but can't complain about that ending. Barton is the best, isn't she?
Anyway, was a fun time. Don't know if I'd involve myself in a Restoration France IAAR but we'll see about that!
As a parting gift I've put together a complete list of post-war British PMs:
Clement Attlee (1945-1949)
Anthony Eden (1949-1954)
Sir Reginald Gibbons (1954)
David Bennett (1954-1963)
Sylvia Leighton (1963-1964)
Ted Jacobs (1964-1966)
Alistair Monaghan (1966-1969)
Talfryn Ryley (1969-1976)
Lochlan Fitzpatrick (1976-1982)
David Thornbloom (1982-1988)
Margaret Thatcher (1988-1989)
George Kellaghan (1989-1995)
Stephen Harwick (1995-1999)
Richard Hastings (1999-2006)
Jeremy McCoy (2006-2009)
Elizabeth Barton (2009-)
Anyway, was a fun time. Don't know if I'd involve myself in a Restoration France IAAR but we'll see about that!
As a parting gift I've put together a complete list of post-war British PMs:
Clement Attlee (1945-1949)
Anthony Eden (1949-1954)
Sir Reginald Gibbons (1954)
David Bennett (1954-1963)
Sylvia Leighton (1963-1964)
Ted Jacobs (1964-1966)
Alistair Monaghan (1966-1969)
Talfryn Ryley (1969-1976)
Lochlan Fitzpatrick (1976-1982)
David Thornbloom (1982-1988)
Margaret Thatcher (1988-1989)
George Kellaghan (1989-1995)
Stephen Harwick (1995-1999)
Richard Hastings (1999-2006)
Jeremy McCoy (2006-2009)
Elizabeth Barton (2009-)
I'm surprised the British equivalent of William Henry Harrison placed even that highly.Glad to see this finally wrapped up. Shame that a fictional IAAR had a happier ending than real life (he says, knowing that King can't cast a thunderbolt from the sky at them any more).
I've always wanted to do an interactive game set in Restoration France, so I'm very keen for this idea.