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I agree that PR would've helped. Yes, I suspect the anti-PR team would've attacked it even harder, but I think conversely it would've been popular with people. As you say, AV is a pretty crap system, and I think if it had been genuine, big reform then it would've been more popular.

Frankly I don't know where the idea that the Yes campaign was so sensible is coming from. Both sides were as ridiculous as each other, I mean people on the Yes campaign heavily 'pointed out' that the BNP supports FPTP, therefore AV must be good. I would argue a different system to AV being...

In 1992 Bill Clinton won a fairly big victory over incumbent President George Bush. Let's say there are no major changes from IOTL, and that simply 361,000 votes in certain states, specifically those states with a 5% margin of victory between Democrats and Republicans. This leads to Bush...

I think Libya would be majority-Italian by the 50's or 60's. The massive expansion of the infrastructure in Libya will increase living standards there and, if Italy continues to get Italians to settle in Libya, its population will boom. This boom will only speed up when oil's discovered...

I believe I've read on here an interesting opinion about the Boer War that, if it, hampered the attempt to push Imperial Federation. The embarrassment of the war hurt Britain's standing both internationally and within the Empire - the latter of which may've helped lead to the gradual distancing...

Hey Guys, Let's say in 2011, for some reason, western leaders decide against supporting Libyan rebels. Perhaps the public is decidedly against any intervention, I don't know why they don't intervene, they just don't. So, without the no-fly zone, how do the rebels fare against Gaddafi? Would...

Exactly. There was a genuine fear at the time that Charles I would take the Church to Catholicism: he attacked stricter Protestants whilst he was generally okay with Catholics, his wife was Catholic, his reforms were certainly a throwback to many Catholic policies, he attacked the Presbyterian...

The Church policy of James II saw an endpoint of returning to the Catholic fold, sure. But Charles II really didn't care, he said he'd bring it back but knew it was impossible, and Charles I definitely didn't want to return to Rome, merely emulate many Catholic practices. So Charles I winning...

I imagine Hitler would try and intervene directly if the fascists had won some hard victories against any republicans. Prior to that it'd probably be scaled back to purely being supplies and maybe a small-scale troop escapade. In saying that, if the French fascists were winning the war I...

IOTL David Jason, of future Open All Hours and Only Fools and Horses fame, initially worked with Michael Palin, Eric Idle and Terry Jones, future Python's, on Do Not Adjust Your Set from 1967 until 1969. After this show ended the future Python's created Monty Python’s Flying Circus, but they...

Fun fact: Blair was ill, he went to hospital at one point and they needed a good distraction from him being seen as possibly weak and/or having to stand down. Ergo making some big announcement which Blair came to regret multiple times. Are you being so ignorant you're contesting he didn't win...

It's true, and him going for another term would require the POD of him not saying he'd stand down. Yeah, his trust issues were so bad that they re-elected him in 2005... Who cares about polls against him? Personal polls rarely actually mean anything in an election. I believe Thatcher won...

Compared to what was needed, Charles II didn't do enough. In the First Anglo-Dutch War the Commonwealth Navy comprised about 300 ships and vast amounts of money were spent on it. The issue over why money wasn't spent on it is a difficult one, and comes down to whether Charles II was willing...

I'd argue that if Blair remained leader in 2010 Labour could've pulled off a slim victory, maybe akin to Major in '92 where the polls are against Labour, but in the end they pull it off. Though most of the party did hate Blair by 2007 I reckon he could've stayed in, though the intense internal...

It's possible, though I doubt Charles II would be willing to do what's necessary to make it work. In the Commonwealth the Navy not only had lots of money spent on it, but mostly positions were given out based on ability, not titles, and there was a huge ship-building culture. Under Charles II...

The Tory Party, IMO, tends to be fairly safe from internal divides. I can't think of any particular time in history that it's occurred with large-scale after-effects. The biggest one I can think of are the Peelites. IOTL a party did split off from the Conservatives - The Pro-Euro Conservative...

I think it'd be give and take. Portillo would be more popular than Major I suspect, and his youth could help counter Blair's. I suspect without annoying the right-wing of the party anymore Portillo wouldn't lose the majority in 1996 either. However the Conservatives have to deal with a fresh...

The best way of getting Britain to accept San Stefano, IMO, is to have Gladstone win the 1874 Election. Gladstone took the opposite view of Disraeli and believed, if Britain supported independence movements in the Balkans against the Ottomans, those countries would be a lot less pro-Russian...

IOTL Michael Jackson wanted to buy Marvel so that he could star as Spiderman in the late 90's.

As has been said, the death of Osama Bin Laden would be helpful for a shorter war, I'd argue perhaps the morale damage of Mullah Muhammad Omar dying in Operation Crescent Wind, rather than just escaping, would be helpful too.