What are the Monkees like ITTL?
Also, what was Dick's final alternate history novel about? Thanks!
Also, what was Dick's final alternate history novel about? Thanks!
Blue Skies in Camelot: An Alternate 60's and Beyond
- Thread starter President_Lincoln
- Start date
I agree that writing consistently can be the hardest thing.
But if you ever get around to posting your TL, please send me the link, as I would love to read it! Dick's final Alt-History novel will be covered in the Pop Culture update, which should be up soon.
As for the Monkees, they still broke up around 1971 as per OTL due to the mass of conflicts and issues which resulted from constant label interference as well as wanting to be "legitimate" musicians and not just an act conceived for a television show. That being said, Davy Jones has had a moderately successful solo career and as the 70's wear on, there is already some nostalgic calls for a Monkees reunion. Tork, Dolenz, and Nesmith are open to the idea, but Jones would have to be persuaded to rejoin the fray.
Chapter 106
Chapter 106: Rock & Roll All Nite - 1976 Around the World
As the 1970’s wore on, the Sino-Soviet split began to escalate, leaving the Communist world bitterly divided and coming very close on several occasions to full scale war between the world’s major Marxist powers. Begun under Nikita Khrushchev and Mao Zeidong in the late 1950’s amidst the former’s policies of destalinization, the split deepened throughout the following decade, as Chairman Mao distrusted and later, openly denounced the Soviet leader’s pursuit of detente with the West under President Kennedy, and launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966 to purge all non-Maoist political thought from the country. Within two years however, Mao saw the writing on the wall and knew that his bluff had been called by Khrushchev. Mao could whip his people into a frenzy, march with them, have them parade, scream until he was red in the face about Khrushchev being a “revisionist” and a “traitor to orthodox Marxism”. In the end, the Soviet economy was growing faster than the PRC’s thanks to Alexei Kosygin’s decentralization programme, and the Soviet people were, on the whole, happier than their Chinese comrades. East-West cooperation would soon lead to a joint Soviet-American Mission to the Moon, and a marked decrease in tensions as the Soviets agreed to withdraw their support of North Vietnam in exchange for the Americans agreeing to withdraw their support for the South. As Nikita Khrushchev put it when replying to Mao’s accusations that the Soviet people were “soft” in the wake of Khrushchev’s emphasis on consumer goods: “If we could promise the people nothing, except revolution, they would scratch their heads and say: ‘Isn’t it better to have good goulash?’.” In awe of the rapidly thawing conflict around him, Mao realized that his stubborn, Stalinist outlook was quickly becoming outmoded, and so soon opened back channel dialogues with President Kennedy via the CIA and State Department. Though Kennedy and Mao managed to reach a reasonable agreement for rapprochement with the help of Secretary of State Robert McNamara, thanks to Yuri Andropov’s rise to power in the USSR, and Mao’s swift assassination and removal by the Chinese Politburo under Lin Baio, the Sino-Soviet split would continue to escalate, with Andropov and Biao’s hardline approaches to Marxism heightening tensions in Asia once again. China's newfound status as a Nuclear power (having successfully tested its first A-bomb in December of 1964) did little to stem worries about conflict between the Communist powers, and though Nikita Khrushchev had been willing to work with China on a more cooperative basis. Yuri Andropov saw the PRC as rivals for leadership within the Communist world, and therefore, the USSR’s mortal enemies, just as much as the United States.
As these hostilities increased, in 1969, the Soviet Army massed several dozen divisions along the 2,720 mile border with China, mostly at the Xinjiang frontier, in north-west China, where the Soviets hoped they might readily induce the local Turkic peoples into a separatist insurrection. Back in ‘61, the Soviets had stationed 12 divisions of soldiers and 200 fighter planes at that border, by ‘69, the Soviet Union had stationed six divisions of soldiers in Outer Mongolia and 16 divisions, 1,200 fighters, and 120 medium-range missiles at the Soviet-Chinese border to confront 47 light divisions of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA); by March of 1970, the border confrontations escalated into the Sino-Soviet border conflict (March 2nd – September 11th, 1970), which featured fighting at the Ussuri River, the Zhenbao Island incident, and at Tielieketi. Thankfully, the conflict remained limited to mostly small skirmishes and was swiftly brought to an end, thanks in part to a ceasefire agreement mediated by the then Secretary of State Richard Nixon. This permanently settled the status of the two countries’ borders, and opened the door to Zhou Enlai’s rise to power and eventually, President George Bush’s decision to “open” the country in 1973. Though the world had avoided an incredibly close brush with nuclear war, and the pragmatic Chairman Zhou was once again willing to work to build a better relationship with the Soviet Union, First Secretary Andropov remained cold, distant, aloof.
He continued to prove a thorn in the side of the PRC’s goals, countering Chinese influence in Third World proxy conflicts such as the Angolan Civil War by backing rival Marxist rebel groups to those chosen by the PRC for aid. Despite the differences between them, as Zhou Enlai began to formulate plans for his succession and the possibility of experimentation with a Socialist Market economy in China, Andropov simultaneously began to push for similar reforms in his own country. As much as Andropov staunchly opposed political liberalization, he saw the benefits of opposing bureaucracy and corruption within his state, as well as considering the possibility of switching tact in foreign policy toward using the KGB to covertly aid "fraternal socialist brothers" rather than sending expensive material aid. Though Zhou had managed to keep tensions between their countries to a minimum, despite the continued buildup of arms and divisions at the border and the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in 1974, there was only so much that the aging statesman in Beijing could do. He could control his military and state apparatus, but the Chinese people, angered by years of receiving patronising and dismissive treatment by the Soviets, soon took matters into their own hands.
On April 29th, 1976, a concealed bomb exploded at the gates of the Soviet embassy in Beijing, killing four Chinese civilians as they passed by on the street. Though no Soviets were killed in the attack, the target, according to a note left by the terrorist perpetrators on the scene, had been Vasily Tolskitov, the Soviet Ambassador, whose car just barely avoided being blown up when the Ambassador returned to work from lunch early. Zhou’s government was quick to denounce the attack and offer whatever aid it could in rebuilding the damaged embassy, but First Secretary Andropov was still livid. “Who are these Chinese, who feel they can lecture us on true Marxism?!” He declared to his politburo. “We, not they, are the true sons and daughters of the Revolution!” The incident would, thankfully, not lead to conflict between the countries, but it would strengthen the relationships between the USSR and Pakistan, as well as the PRC and India. While territorial disputes between China and India would continue to bog down their relationship throughout the 70’s and 80’s, the common threat of Pakistan and the Soviets was enough to bolster the bonds between New Delhi and Beijing, as well as isolate Pakistan and the USSR from two potentially lucrative trade partners. By the end of the decade, China and India would be on their way to continued industrialization and prosperity. The Soviet Union would be facing severe economic hardship.
...
While the United Kingdom’s economy languished under stagflation in much the same manner as their “special” ally’s across the Pond: the United States, the Troubles in Northern Ireland saw, according to The Times of London, “One of the bloodiest years of the conflict” in 1975. Sectarian killings reached an all time high, and internal feuding between the various Nationalist and Unionist paramilitary groups made the violence that much more atrocious and difficult to understand. On July 31st, 1975 at Buskhill, outside Newry, the popular Irish cabaret band “The Miami Showband” was returning home to Dublin after a gig in Banbridge when it was ambushed by gunmen from the UVF wearing British Army uniforms at a bogus military checkpoint along the main A1 road. Three of the band members, two Catholics and a Protestant, were shot dead, while two of the UVF men were killed when the bomb they had loaded onto the band's minibus detonated prematurely. The following January, eleven Protestant workers were gunned down in Kingsmill, South Armagh after having been ordered off their bus by an armed republican gang. One man miraculously survived despite being shot 18 times, leaving ten fatalities and the nation to only mourn ever more deeply. These killings were reportedly in retaliation to a loyalist double shooting against the Reavey and O'Dowd families the previous night. Meanwhile, throughout the year, bombs detonated in London, Manchester, and other British cities, as the PIRA, led by figures such as Dolours Price, Brendan Hughes, and “chief strategist” Gerry Adams, continued its “homefront” campaign to try and scare the British people into supporting a united and fully independent Ireland. The people of Northern Ireland were learning the awful truth about the cycle of violence. Meanwhile, in Dublin and London, the question of what exactly to do about the escalating fighting was seeing intense debate in the Halls of Parliament. Though British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher refused to return political status to republican paramilitary prisoners, a common demand of the PIRA and other nationalist groups (and cause of frequent PIRA hunger strikes), she did believe that the time had come for the UK to take a more active role in negotiating a peace. On April 6th, 1976, Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave announced the creation of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Council, a forum for meetings between the two governments, especially over the issues pertaining to Northern Ireland. Agreeing with Cosgrave’s appraisal that “war-weariness” was beginning to settle in on both sides of the conflict, Thatcher’s government went to work crafting a ceasefire, which they hoped would see an end to the violence for at least a period of several years. This did little to please either side, but as both were hurting and in need of a reprieve to regroup and resupply, the talks were somewhat successful. Though the ‘76 Ceasefire as it came to be known would not be the end of the Troubles, they did bring about a peace which would last until 1978. For two years, few people were killed in the name of sectarian conflict in Ireland, giving both Cosgrave and Thatcher much needed time to focus on their own respective domestic issues as well.
For Thatcher the single biggest issue facing the British people was the country’s ailing economy. This she blamed principally on the dreaded Keynesian consensus which had emerged between the Labour and Conservative parties in the aftermath of the Second World War. Favoring privatization and staunchly monetarist economics, the new Prime Minister rejected much of the economic policy of her predecessor, Randolph Churchill, and instead instituted new programmes inspired by the work of U.S. Treasury Secretary Milton Friendman. Thatcher’s government, under her new Chancellor, Geoffrey Howe, lowered direct taxes on income and increased indirect taxes (which disproportionately affected the poor and working classes). She increased interest rates to slow the growth of the money supply and thereby lower inflation, introduced cash limits on public spending, and reduced expenditure on social services such as education and housing. This last change lead to her infamous nickname from Leader of the Opposition Denis Healey - “Thatcher the Milk Snatcher” - due to the decreases in free school lunches her government instituted. These policies, similarly to President Bush’s in the United States, certainly served to combat inflation, but also caused unemployment in Britain to skyrocket, leading to protests and dropping the Tories’ approval ratings to as low as 23% by the end of 1976. To make matters worse for the average Briton, Thatcher and Howe’s attempts to stimulate economic growth primarily relied on the sale/privatization of state-controlled industries and the near complete deregulation of the financial market and London stock exchange. Though opposed by Heath-ite Conservatives and denounced outright by Labour, these moves managed to slip their way through Parliament, resulting in short term cash infusions for the government, followed by years of corruption, mismanagement, inefficiency, and private monopolization in the water, gas, steel, and electricity industries to be endured by British consumers. Though, to her credit, Thatcher resisted calls to privatize British Rail, which she claimed would be “the Waterloo of this government” if attempted. Next, Thatcher took on the next of her “great enemies to liberty” - organized labour. Thatcher believed that organized labour, and especially trade unions, were harmful to both ordinary trade unionists and the public She was committed to reducing the power of the unions, whose leadership she accused of undermining parliamentary democracy and economic performance through frequent and devastating strike action. Though Thatcher attempted to frame legislation aimed at limiting union power as “winning power back to the people”, most working class Britons saw through her gambit. Labour leader Healey, himself the son of a dedicated trade unionist, rallied opposition to the bills and managed to see them defeated in the House of Commons. “We may not have been able to stop privatization,” Healey exclaimed. “But Maggie has another thing coming if she believes we will allow our rights to be taken away!” Meanwhile, Healey and his Labour Party built a case for Thatcher’s removal around the fact that her “draconian” austerity measures slashed social services, but did not lay so much as a finger on the “bloated” defence budget left over from the days of the Rhodesian War. In fact, Thatcher’s proposed budget for 1977 included increases in defence spending, which Healey decried as “a thinly veiled return to British imperialism”.
...
Having been swept into power in 1974’s Federal elections by a country deeply dissatisfied with then Liberal Prime Minister John Turner’s handling of several issues, especially inflation and the oil crisis, now Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Robert Stanfield of Nova Scotia was faced with the reality of having to deliver on his party’s many campaign promises to try and return Canada to plenty and prosperity amidst a western world seemingly crippled by economic malaise. To his credit, he got to work straight away, and managed several sweeping achievements. After two years as Premier, Stanfield was thrilled to announce that his 90 day price and wage freeze had largely been a success. Inflation across Canada dropped to less than 2% for the first time in a decade, and consumers from Halifax to Vancouver began to feel confidence in their dollars once again. Handily reelected with an increased majority in 1978, Stanfield’s government would oversee the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, the first (and thus far only) time the summer games have been held in Canada (though the Winter games would come to Calgary in 1988 and Vancouver in 2010.) Hailed throughout his home country and around the world for his civil, gentlemanly behaviour and personal kindness, Stanfield’s tenure as PM was able to continue, despite a dip in his popularity after unemployment increased as a result of his anti-inflationary measures. This victory was largely due to his personal magnetism and an unexpected economic upturn which would bloom into full on growth across North America by 1978. Continuing on as Prime Minister until his retirement from politics in 1981 at the age of 66, Stanfield is today remembered fondly as one of Canada’s finest Prime Ministers. His successor, fellow Red Tory and a brilliant, overwhelmingly popular former Mayor of Toronto named David Crombie, would lead Canada into a bold new decade, cementing its status as a secondary power in the world, a staunch ally of the United States, and a country with possibly the highest, cleanest standard of living in the entire western world.
...
“Oh, Mexico
It sounds so sweet with the sun sinking low
The moon's so bright like to light up the night
Make everything alright” - American singer songwriter James Taylor in his 1975 hit “Mexico”
The six years of Carlos A. Madrazo's Presidency had been utterly transformative for Mexico, her institutions, and her people. Renowned throughout the world for his reform-minded policies and energetic zeal toward good government, Mexico’s 50th President prepared to leave office in 1976, one of the most beloved and respected men in his country’s history. Unlike many Latin American leaders who promised change but provided very little action to bring it about, Madrazo hit the ground running from day one, and managed to produce several key achievements. Most of President Madrazo’s policies were inspired by those he had previously championed as Governor of Tabasco, and were aimed at modernizing and democratizing the nation, as well as turning around its economy, which had slowed dramatically along with the rest of the world after several decades of unimpeded, nearly miraculous growth. First on his legislative slate were a series of political reforms aimed at breaking once and for all PRI’s dominance of Mexican politics. So long as millions of Mexicans were fearful of intimidation or violence, there could never be true freedom at the ballot box. Madrazo’s reformers instituted a new series of primary contests and party convention systems, modeled on the American party system to the north. Next, Madrazo fought back against decades of Old Guard corruption by firing thousands of PRI toadies from civil positions and instituting rigorous civil service exams to ensure that merit, rather than political allegiance, would become the chief means of earning a government job. Virtually overnight, government expenditure plummeted as the practice of embezzlement became a serious, heavily enforced offense. This worked perfectly for Madrazo and his Partido de Reforma Liberal, who in turn used the funds saved to bankroll their ambitious economic programs.
Passing a series of “emergency improvement acts” modeled on the American New Deal and New Frontier, the Madrazo government took bold steps toward continuing progress for their country. Thousands of kilometers of new railways and highways were constructed, connecting the poor, rural sections of the country to major cities and industrial centers. From Baja California to the Yucatan, hundreds of new hospitals and schools were constructed, with a publically funded K - 12 education becoming mandatory for all students nationwide. Matching the promise of Brazilian President Goulart to spend at least 15% of the federal budget on education, President Madrazo also pioneered a program for poor students to receive government assistance to attend university in Mexico for the very first time. Virtually overnight, the percentage of the population which was illiterate seemed to disappear. Mexico City, and in particular the national university, would develop into one of the finest centers of learning in Latin America. In order to reverse the recent economic downturn, the Mexican Congress also doubled down on other public investment in infrastructure and industry. When Madrazo took office, traditional industries such as mining and agriculture continued to dominate the Mexican economy. This benefited the wealthy landowners and industrialists, but was a tremendous burden to the country’s labor force, who were paid little, and had to pay exorbitant rates for imported manufactured goods and electronics from the United States, Europe, or Japan. Hoping to remedy the situation, the Madrazo government worked to diversify Mexico’s resource base, and succeeded through a combination of domestic spending and attracting continued foreign investment. By 1976, the country was largely self-sufficient in food crops, steel, and most consumer goods. Although its imports remained high, most were capital goods used to expand domestic production. Publications such as The Economist predicted that if ‘75 - ‘76 growth rates for Mexico held, then by the end of the decade, it would have reached the makings of a secondary economic power, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) approaching roughly the size of Canada’s. Madrazo, fearful that this new prosperity and wealth would be kept in the hands of the business class, and reflecting on his own upbringing in poverty, also signed into law new reforms which legalized and protected the rights of labor to organize and collectively bargain across the country. His last major radio address as President, in May of 1976, saw him declare “I have done all I can. Now it is up to you, the people of Mexico, to continue the good work that we have begun.” The 1976 Presidential Election would see three major parties - Madrazo’s center-left PRL, the increasingly prominent and right-wing Partido Accion Nacional (PAN), and the still powerful, largely centrist PRI vie to do exactly that.
Above: Mexican President Carlos A. Madrazo as he prepares to leave office in 1976.
Though Madrazo and the PRL’s policies were widely popular across Mexico, there were many more conservative (and wealthy) voters who disliked the liberals’ pro-American foreign policy and center-left economics. Running as a “traditionalist” alternative to the reformers, PAN nominee Luis Echeverria decried President Madrazo’s moves toward secularization, especially his approval of free birth control for women and his insistence that theology classes be removed from the mandatory curriculum of government-funded schools. Playing on the fears and prejudices of the devoutly Catholic population, Echeverria, who as a PRI Secretary of the Interior had been responsible for the Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968, sought to return Mexico to its prior state, before the “revisionists and pro-American perdedores” came to power. On the left, President Madrazo hoped to set a precedent that Presidents would play next to no role at all in determining their successor. In line with this vision, he did not actively campaign for or against any candidate in his PRL. As a result, a crowded primary field developed. After months of raucous campaigning, Madrazo’s finance minister, Jose Lopez Portillo, a self-proclaimed “economic nationalist” and strong advocate for developing the country’s petroleum industry, managed to win a majority of delegates at the national convention and with it, the PRL’s nomination. Still reeling from their first ever years spent in the political wilderness, the formerly dominant PRI did a great deal of soul searching throughout Madrazo’s Presidency, and ultimately came to the conclusion that they needed to adjust their image and policies to keep up with changing times. In accordance with this vision, the PRI nominated a little known banker and low-level civil servant named Miguel de la Madrid. Intensely telegenic, soft spoken, stoic, a graduate of the (recently renamed) John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and incredibly young for Mexican politics at only 42 years old, De la Madrid lacked any sort of electoral experience when he was drafted and thereafter nominated at the PRI convention in 1976. Entirely overwhelmed, he very nearly declined the nomination, but was convinced by his wife, Paloma, to accept on the grounds that both of the other major parties had nominated “radicals” and the PRI needed a moderate who could help ground the country and win the election for “reason’s sake”. Her husband agreed, and began his campaign on the last night of the convention by giving a short, but powerful address in which he vowed “to continue the work of modernization and reform, but not at the cost of common sense.” De la Madrid argued that Madrazo had done fine work, but by staying out of the PRL’s nomination process, he had allowed the “crazies” to take over the party and rally behind Portillo. By contrast, the PRI adopted a new suite of policies which political scientists would likely qualify as “neoliberal”. They advocated for the privatization of several state held industries, and for continued secularization of academia and government. Throughout the spring and early summer, the race would remain close, but in the end, the reformers won the day, and Jose Lopez Portillo was elected the 51st President of Mexico by a slim margin, with De La Madrid coming in second. In his victory speech to the Mexican people, Portillo vowed to “continue President Madrazo’s policies”, and pursue continued friendship with the United States and her allies. He would go on to make good on both of these promises, as well as beginning a movement for Mexico to join NATO as an official military ally, though such a move would require amending Article 10 of the Foundational Charter of NATO.
Next Time on Blue Skies in Camelot: Pop Culture in 1976
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Great foreign snapshot @President_Lincoln.
However I am surprised that Scotland gets its own devolved parliament given that the Tories were opposed to devolution at that time...after all IOTL after the Tories won the 1979 election there would be no devolution referendums in Scotland and Wales until the Labour government in 1997. And the Tories opposed it till then.
However I am surprised that Scotland gets its own devolved parliament given that the Tories were opposed to devolution at that time...after all IOTL after the Tories won the 1979 election there would be no devolution referendums in Scotland and Wales until the Labour government in 1997. And the Tories opposed it till then.
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So whats Kieth Joseph been doing in Thatcher's government? I take it he's part of Thatcher's inner circle with Whitelaw and Howe as OTL.
AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
The penultimate update to Act II, if memory serves me correctly! And a pleasant surprise, too.
It's a shame that we still lose the Miami Showband, but if this were a perfect world... well, we'd still have Bob Dylan, Robert Plant, and a few others.
...and party every day!
The un-official official playlist for BSiC will be maintained for the ages, so long as Spotify remains a thing. I'm tempted to add some more music mentioned in updates just for the heck of it, but unless popular demand says otherwise I'll probably be a purist in this regard and stick to chapter titles.
The Soviets, for the ways they have changed and in spite of Brezhnev no longer being alive, are still falling into stagnation. China's on an early path to socialist market economics, but will they democratize too? That's a mystery only the flow of time will allow to solve.
Hooray for Scotland! Hopefully Wales gets a similar treatment down the road. That said Thatcher's Britain... could be worse, but I'll keep my politics out of this.
Excellent update, as always. Looking forward to the '76 Pop Culture update!
It's a shame that we still lose the Miami Showband, but if this were a perfect world... well, we'd still have Bob Dylan, Robert Plant, and a few others.
...and party every day!
The un-official official playlist for BSiC will be maintained for the ages, so long as Spotify remains a thing. I'm tempted to add some more music mentioned in updates just for the heck of it, but unless popular demand says otherwise I'll probably be a purist in this regard and stick to chapter titles.
The Soviets, for the ways they have changed and in spite of Brezhnev no longer being alive, are still falling into stagnation. China's on an early path to socialist market economics, but will they democratize too? That's a mystery only the flow of time will allow to solve.
Hooray for Scotland! Hopefully Wales gets a similar treatment down the road. That said Thatcher's Britain... could be worse, but I'll keep my politics out of this.
Excellent update, as always. Looking forward to the '76 Pop Culture update!
BTW you missed out on using Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap for a chapter about a major scandal.
Im going to be very amused when the Unions cripple Healy's premiership...
Great update. Hopefully Yuri Vladimirovich will groom a reform-minded First Secretary to take over for him in future. David who? Haven't heard of him before.
Good update; like how China, Britain, Canada, and Mexico are doing...
Scotland's devolution sounds interesting; wonder if Wales will follow...
Wonder who'll succeed Andropov...
The song "Rock and Roll All Nite" was sung and released by KISS in April of 1975, so congrats for continuing the pattern, @President_Lincoln, and waiting for more, of course...
Scotland's devolution sounds interesting; wonder if Wales will follow...
Wonder who'll succeed Andropov...
The song "Rock and Roll All Nite" was sung and released by KISS in April of 1975, so congrats for continuing the pattern, @President_Lincoln, and waiting for more, of course...
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Thank you, @C2sg! I'm glad you all enjoyed the update.
Though the Tories ITTL were indeed opposed to devolution, they were forced to concede the point by popular demand after Scotland's astounding victory in the 1974 World Cup.
Amidst the Conservative Government's IMMENSE unpopularity over the economy, the last thing they needed was a devolution protest on top of it.
Early devolution for Scotland, interesting to see how Scottish politics will be butterflied in many ways with the SNP taking a different course considering they were rather pally with the Tories then and the relationship broke after OTL's first vote on devolution. Crazy to think what might happen for them in the long term.
Seeing here that the British economy is somewhat in the gutter here, something tells me that the Flying Scotsman tours to promote British business might've not had the immediate effect they were hoping for, other than say tourism promotion on Scotland and Wales?
On the edge of seat for how things will progress...
Seeing here that the British economy is somewhat in the gutter here, something tells me that the Flying Scotsman tours to promote British business might've not had the immediate effect they were hoping for, other than say tourism promotion on Scotland and Wales?
On the edge of seat for how things will progress...
Great update, as usual, but there is one glaring issue. Margaret Thatcher would never pass devolution for Scotland. She was a dedicated unionist and nothing short of another Jacobite Uprising would make her want to hold a devolution referendum in Scotland.
Good to see Mexico and Scotland doing well.
Only if it's followed by a chapter called Tusk.
Only if it's followed by a chapter called Tusk.
I agree that the Scottish devolution should've been more of a fight, potentially leading to the fall of Thatcher's government in a Brexit-esque crisis with Scotland threatening secession and an empowered, left-wing Labour and resurgent LibDem party clawing votes from the Tories in critical constituencies.
All of the comments about Scottish devolution being extremely unlikely under Thatcher are striking me as true.
Thank you all for your upfront honesty on this particular issue. I admit, I may have just gotten a little carried away in the hype of Alba winning the World Cup, and apologize for presenting this very unlikely circumstance. I'm going to remove that section from the TL for now, and will cover the issue more properly in the next full length UK update. Sound good? Cool! IMO it's the perfect material for a political dramedy of errors as resurgent nationalist hubris, decaying imperialist hubris, and economic frustration collide into a truly British political disaster. The parliamentary negotiations alone are a potential gold mine!
