The Anglo-Saxon Social Model - The Expanded Universe

Abolished in the social reforms of the 1960s.
Interestly, the ban was only tightened in 1980, from 1917 till 1980, a Priest could hold political office with the pomission of his Bishop. Therefore I could see the Pope allowing Catholic Bishops to take lords spritual seats in the House of Lords if the ban was never tightened.
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Interestly, the ban was only tightened in 1980, from 1917 till 1980, a Priest could hold political office with the pomission of his Bishop. Therefore I could see the Pope allowing Catholic Bishops to take lords spritual seats in the House of Lords if the ban was never tightened.

I did not know that - how interesting. Let's say that the 1980 ban is butterflied away (I might do some more thinking about the circumstances that would happen - I've been meaning to revisit TTL's Papacy at some point soonish) and that the Catholic Lords Spiritual formally ask the the relevant authority for permission. Although who would the Archbishop of Westminster ask for permission in this case? Himself? The Nuncio? The Pope directly? I could see the asking of a foreign head of state might stir some residual anti-Catholicism but nothing too grand.
 
Although who would the Archbishop of Westminster ask for permission in this case? Himself? The Nuncio? The Pope directly?
How does it work in Andorra, where the Bishop of Urgell is one of the Co-Princes (along with the Head of State of France)?
That would be the most comparable situation I can think of.

I suspect that a papal dispensation or other papal bull might need to be issued, not that I know at all anything about those.
 
How does it work in Andorra, where the Bishop of Urgell is one of the Co-Princes (along with the Head of State of France)?
That would be the most comparable situation I can think of.

I suspect that a papal dispensation or other papal bull might need to be issued, not that I know at all anything about those.

That's down to convention - I suspect that it's been that way for so long that no one's bothered to change it.
 
I mean by the same logic the pope would be breaking the rules too, since he is also a head of state.

Except, the Pope has no earthly superior - at least in theory. He's answerable to them upstairs, as it were.

Besides, a bunch of bishops, archbishops, abbots and so on were de facto heads of state within the HRE.
 
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The Royal Navy is the Commonwealth’s naval warfare force. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the Tudor maritime reforms of early 16th century England (although warships were used by the various English, Scottish and Irish kings beforehand). The oldest of the Commonwealth’s armed services, it is known as the Senior Service. From the middle decades of the 17th century, and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch and French navies for maritime supremacy. From the mid-18th century onwards, it has been the most powerful navy in the world. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing the British Empire as the preeminent world power during the 19th and 20th centuries, remaining the world’s foremost blue-water navy into the 21st. Due to its historical prominence, it is common, even in non-Commonwealth circles, to refer to it as the “Royal Navy” without qualification.

Unusually amongst global military institutions, the Royal Navy is a single fighting force which is shared amongst the sixteen member states of the Commonwealth. In 1906, as part of the Asquith Reforms, the fledgling Australian and Canadian navies were scrapped and control of the Empire’s naval capacity was centralised under the Imperial Chiefs of Staff (renamed the Commonwealth Chiefs of Staff in 1953). Following British entry into the Great War in 1917, the Royal Navy proved key to the ultimate defeat of the Central Powers, winning a decisive victory over the Imperial German Navy at the Battle of Jutland in October 1917. Foreseeing the increased obsolescence of battleships, during the interwar years the Royal Navy successfully transitioned to a carrier-based force, with several aircraft carriers being commissioned as part of the “People’s Home” program. It played a central role in the defeat of the Axis Powers in the World War, winning notable victories over the Spanish and Italian navies in the Mediterranean and the Chinese navy in the Pacific.

Following the World War, the Royal Navy transformed again into a power projection and anti-submarine force, active around the world. Its primary combat doctrine remains based around carrier fleets transporting advanced air and amphibious elements to deliver overwhelming firepower to combat zones. In the post war environment, it provided key logistics and fire-support capacity to conflicts such as the Malayan Emergency and the Third and Fourth Anglo-Boer Wars. It is the largest blue-water navy in the world in terms of the number of carriers (although the US Navy has a greater number of commissioned ships) with the ability to project force in a variety of theatres such as the Pacific, Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. It is also capable of engaging in forward deployments during peacetime, making it a frequent actor in non-military Commonwealth foreign policy.

The Royal Navy is part of the Commonwealth Armed Forces and its professional head is the First Sea Lord, who is an admiral and member of the Commonwealth Chiefs of Staff. The senior administrative body of the Royal Navy is based out of Portsmouth Station in the United Kingdom. Below Portsmouth Station, there are six ‘Fleet Stations’ around the world: Gibraltar Station, Singapore Station, Bermuda Station, Trincomalee Station, Stanley Station and Sydney Station. With the exception of Stanley Station, each Fleet Station is supplied with sufficient ships to maintain two carrier strike groups and remain (at least in theory) self-sufficient. The fleet at Stanley Station is different, being operated under a unique force-sharing agreement with the Argentinian government. It thus consists of a single carrier strike group, with the Argentinian Navy acting as a force-multiplier.

Portsmouth Station retains overall administrative competence over all of the Fleet Stations beneath it, as well as direct control over the 188 inactive or mothballed ships in the Royal Navy Fleet Reserve and the 169 ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (which includes 23 container ships, 41 oilers and 36 brown-water patrol vessels). In addition to Portsmouth and the Fleet Stations, the Royal Navy maintains a network of 27 smaller bases around the Commonwealth and 14 naval bases in foreign countries around the world, all of which come under the direct authority of one Fleet Station. Divided between its Fleet Stations, the Royal Navy maintains a fleet of technologically sophisticated ships and submarines, including 12 aircraft carriers, 11 cruisers, 22 helicopter carriers, 22 destroyers, 55 frigates and 22 submarines.

As one of the earliest Commonwealth-wide institutions, the Royal Navy retains a significant public profile around the Commonwealth as a symbol of unity and of the Commonwealth’s global influence. The concept of ‘Navy families’ - where multiple generations of a single family serve - remains common, particularly in the United Kingdom, Ceylon and the Pacific Islands and naval vessels continue to play prominent parts in civic Commonwealth celebrations such as Commonwealth Day, the monarch’s Official Birthday and Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
Is the RAF organised similarly along a pan-Commomwealth basis? It would be interesting to know its capabilities and what hardware it used.
 
Baseball: MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) is an American professional baseball organization containing the oldest of the major professional sports leagues in North America. A total of 32 teams play in MLB: 8 teams in each of the National League (NL), American League (AL), Southern League (SL) and the Western League (WL). The four leagues were formed as separate legal entities in 1876, 1901, 1920 and 1960, respectively. The NL and AL have cooperated since 1903, with the SL joining that agreement in 1932. The WL has cooperated with the other three leagues since its foundation in 1960. From 1932 to 1968, the SL was known as the Negro League. All four leagues operated as legally separate entities until they merged into a single organization led by the commissioner of baseball in 2002.

Baseball’s first openly all-professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, were founded in 1869, although teams had secretly paid players for many years before that. The period before 1920 is known as the dead-ball era, during which players would rarely hit home runs. The sport survived an enforced break during the Great War and then a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series. It rose to popularity in the 1920s and survived potential downturns during the World War.

During the 1920s and 1930s, MLB was made up mostly of teams in the northeast of the country, where the sport originated. In the South, meanwhile, teams in the Negro Leagues predominated, attracting large crowds of mixed black and white spectators. Competition between the Negro Leagues and the NL and AL for players led to the teams from the Negro National League joining MLB as the third league in 1932, which provided for an organized system of player trades between the three leagues.

In the 1950s, as commercial air travel became more common it became possible to include locations in the far west. Officials from Los Angeles attended the 1956 World Series with the intention of moving a team (rumoured to be Brooklyn Dodgers) to the West Coast. However, in response, MLB and various state governments instead collaborated on the creation of the WL, with seven new major league teams, who began playing in the 1960 season. The only East Coast franchise to relocate were the Philadelphia Athletics, who moved to become the San Francisco Athletics.

Today, MLB is composed of 32 teams: 30 in the United States, 1 in Canada and 1 in Cuba. Teams play 90 games each season, six against league rivals and two against every other team in MLB. The winner of each league advances to the postseason tournament that culminates in the World Series, a best-of-seven championship series that dates to 1903.

Today, MLB is the most popular sports league in the United States, with 33% of Americans describing it as their favorite sport. It is particularly known for its popularity amongst African Americans and Latino Americans. The games of the World Series are amongst the biggest club sporting events in the world, with the individual games often accounting for many of the most watched television programs each year. As well as its popularity in the United States, baseball, and by extension MLB, is also the national sport of a number of other countries including Cuba, Mexico, Japan and Korea. MLB is the wealthiest professional sports league in the world by revenue.

A total of 28 teams have won the World Series since it began in 1903. The New York Yankees are the most successful team in the competition, with 12 titles. The most successful teams in the NL, AL, SL and WL are the Brooklyn Dodgers (31 pennants), New York Yankees (39 pennants), Kansas City Monarchs (24 pennants) and San Francisco Athletics (14 pennants, with a further 9 AL pennants while the Philadelphia Athletics), respectively.

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Film: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2019)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is an American epic space-opera film directed by Taika Waititi, written by Jon Favreau and Waititi from a story by George and Marcia Lucas and produced by George and Marcia Lucas. It stars Ewan McGregor, Zazie Beetz, Adam Driver, Ian McDiarmid, Lupita Nyong’o, Oscar Isaac and Frank Oz, among others. It is the final installment in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and the sixth Star Wars film to be released overall.

Revenge of the Sith is set three years after the events of the previous film, Attack of the Clones. The Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems are continuing the vicious Clone Wars, with the Republic reeling under the attacks of the Confederate armies under the cyborg General Gideon and the former Jedi Count Dooku and Obi-Wan Kenobi, now known as Darth Tyranus and Darth Maul, respectively. Meanwhile, the Republic’s greatest hero, Anakin Skywalker, faces a crisis of confidence, haunted by visions of the death of his wife Padme Amidala and of the corruption of the Jedi Order. Behind the scenes, a mysterious force seeks to manipulate the tragedy on both sides to further its own grand plan.

Production of the film started in September 2017 and filming took place in the United Kingdom with additional locations in Thailand, Switzerland, China, Italy and Australia. The film premiered in May 2019, receiving positive reviews for its action sequences, score, visual effects and the performances of the central characters. It broke several box office records during its opening week and went on to earn over $2 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2019, the third highest-grossing film of all time (behind Titanic and The Phantom Menace) and the second highest-grossing film in the Star Wars franchise.

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CAST
  • Adam Driver as Jedi Anakin Skywalker
  • Ewan McGregor as Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi/Darth Maul
  • Zazie Beetz as Padmé Amidala
  • Ian McDiarmid as Commander-in-Chief Sheev Palpatine
  • Frank Oz as Jedi Grand Master Yoda
  • Oscar Isaac as Count Dooku
  • Joel Edgerton as Admiral Owen Lars
  • Laura Dern as Senator Breha Organa
  • Lupita Nyong'o as Jedi Master Adi Gallia
  • Giancarlo Esposito as General Gideon
In addition, Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker reprise their roles as C3PO and R2-D2, respectively, from the original trilogy. Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy, reprises his cameo as Darth Bane from Attack of the Clones. Carrie Fisher, Leia Organa from the original trilogy, was also in negotiation for a cameo but this was cut short by her death in 2016. Instead, her daughter Billie Lourd took her role doing the voice and motion capture performance of Darth Nihilus. In addition, Michael K. Williams, Tessa Thompson, Donald Glover and Danny Pudi reprise their roles from previous films.

PLOT

The film opens at a meeting between Republican political representatives, including Commander-in-Chief Sheev Palpatine and Senator Breha Organa, and senior Jedi, including Grand Master Yoda and Jedi Generals Anakin Skywalker and Adi Gallia. Palpatine explains that, in view of the deteriorating military situation, he will not be relinquishing the emergency powers granted to him by the Senate. He then orders Skywalker to lead his forces into battle against Tyranus and Maul on Anaxes. Yoda objects, citing Skywalker’s past relationship with Maul/Kenobi but is overruled. As the meeting breaks up, Yoda ruefully says to Organa that the Jedi had been wrong to wage war on the Republic’s behalf.

While travelling with the fleet to Anaxes, Anakin shares a private conversation with Padme via hologram. Padme reveals that she is pregnant with Anakin’s baby and the two of them resolve to raise the child in secret, as much as possible, and reaffirm their love for each other. Padme ruminates that she thinks the continuation of the war is a mistake and that Palpatine is gathering too much power around himself. However, Anakin grows angry and reminds her that Palpatine is his friend. After their conversation ends, Anakin walks to the bridge but is interrupted by a Force vision of a mysterious cloaked figure, who offers him the power to end the war if only he seizes it. Sensing the Dark Side, Anakin attempts to dispel the figure but is confronted by visions of Padme’s death, which the figure says is from the future. Anakin eventually manages to dispel the vision but is visibly shaken by the incident, although he doesn’t explain when Admiral Owen Lars notes this when he arrives on the bridge.

At the Confederate base on Anaxes, Maul and Dooku receive word from Darth Sidious that a Republic fleet is on the way. Maul reiterates his desire to destroy General Gideon in vengeance for the death of his lover Satine. Dooku, however, counsels him that, if all goes to plan, the forthcoming battle on Anaxes will enable him to destroy both Gideon and the Jedi. When the Republic’s fleet leaves light speed in Anaxes’ orbit, they are immediately set upon by a Confederate fleet that knew they were coming. Despite taking heavy damage, Anakin demands to go down to the surface with a small commando force, thinking that he may be able to destroy the control towers broadcasting orders to the droid army and fleet.

On Coruscant, Padme brings news that the battle has begun to Palpatine. She thinks that he looks too pleased at the prospect and confides in this to Organa. Organa, in turn, invites her to a secret meeting with some other disgruntled senators.

On Anaxes, Anakin’s forces are sorely overmatched when Dooku and Maul arrive. Anakin attempts to reason with his former mentor but Maul disarms him and knocks him unconscious. When Anakin comes to, he is being held prisoner and prepared for execution over a channel that will be broadcast around the galaxy. Anakin again attempts to reason with Maul, reminding him of their friendship and promising him that he will be able to find peace if he returns to the Light. Maul seems to ignore him.

At a makeshift arena on Anaxes, Anakin and the remaining commandos are taken out to be executed by Maul. However, when Maul ignites his lightsaber, the blade is revealed to have returned to its blue color, indicating his return to the Light. Obi-Wan frees the prisoners and together they stage a dramatic breakout, killing Gideon in the process. Anakin destroys the droid control node, allowing the Republican fleet to make its escape. Obi-Wan and Anakin, however, break off together in a two-person fighter, heading for Mandalore. There they visit Satine’s grave. Obi-Wan declares that he will return to the Jedi Order in the hope of changing it from within and Anakin says that he will help him reintegrate.

Back on Coruscant, Yoda welcomes Obi-Wan back into the Jedi fold and says that he will have to undergo trials to decide if he is clean of the Dark Side, with Anakin acting as his sponsor. Yoda informs him that, while he can never be fully redeemed for the evil he did as Darth Maul, he can return to the Light again.

While Obi-Wan undergoes his trials, Anakin experiences a series of increasingly apocalyptic visions, all of which depict Padme dying and the Republic crumbling. He finds Yoda’s advice - to release himself from earthly concerns - to be unsatisfying. During a shared meditation session, Anakin confesses his entire situation to Obi-Wan and expresses interest in using the Dark Side to halt this fate. However, Obi-Wan sadly informs him that no power can prevent those you love from dying eventually.

In one of his reintegration trials, Obi-Wan must travel through a portal underneath the Jedi Temple to the World Between World, where he will face a trial of his spirit. He is accompanied by Anakin, who is meant to act as his spirit guide. Once there, they are met by visions of Darth Bane and Darth Nihilus, who attack them. The two Sith apparitions tempt the Jedi with offers of untold power and the battle gradually separates into two duels: Bane against Obi-Wan and Nihilus against Anakin. The Bane vision transforms into an image of Satine and replays memories of Obi-Wan backing out of leaving the Jedi Order years ago. However, the reformed Jedi manages to resist temptation, asserting that the Dark Side offers only pain and that hope can only be found in the middle, cutting down the ancient Sith Lord. Nihilus also plagues his opponent with visions, this time of Padme dying and the mysterious hooded figure offering Anakin the power to save her. Stunned, Anakin drops his lightsaber and Nihilus begins to suck out his life force. He is only saved by the arrival of Obi-Wan, who manages to defeat and destroy the Nihilus vision.

Later, Anakin is having a drink with Palpatine in his office. The Commander-in-Chief hints at Dark Side powers which would enable him to prevent his loved ones from dying. When Anakin mentions Obi-Wan’s comments, Palpatine snorts and suggests that Darth Maul is either lying to protect his power or was not fully initiated in the Dark Side. Anakin’s increasing closeness to Palpatine causes a rift to grow between him and Padme, who is now secretly involved with covert Senate attempts to undermine Palpatine’s ever-growing powers.

Hidden in the outer rim, Dooku confers with Sidious. Sidious tells him to go to Mustafar with the Confederate leadership and launch diversionary attacks on Republican systems. Confederate Generals Gunray and Haako defect and arrive on Coruscant with news of planned Confederate assaults on the strategically vital system of Kessel. Yoda, Obi-Wan and Lars depart for the system with an army, leaving Adi Gallia and Anakin as the two most senior Jedi on Coruscant. Palpatine reveals to Anakin that he is the Sith Lord behind the war and promises Anakin the power to save Padme if he joins him. Anakin immediately leaves to tell Gallia and the two of them go to arrest the Commander-in-Chief. Following a vicious lightsaber duel, Palpatine is subdued. However, Gallia proposes to execute Palpatine unilaterally and, desperate to save Padme’s life, Anakin stabs her in the back. Realising that his lightsaber is bleeding, he pledges himself to the Sith and Palpatine dubs him “Darth Vader.”

Palpatine then declares that the Jedi’s treachery has been revealed and issues Order 66, which commands the clone troopers to kill their Jedi officers. Meanwhile, Vader and a battalion of clone troopers destroy the Jedi Temple, killing its inhabitants. Palpatine goes to the Senate, where he denounces the Jedi’s coup, declares himself the Emperor and transforms the Republic into the Galactic Empire. The pair then travel to Mustafar, where they attack Dooku and the surprised Separatist leaders. Vader disarms Dooku and then Palpatine finishes him off with Force lightning.

Lars, as a non-human and non-Jedi, is able to survive the chaos of Order 66 and rescue Yoda and Obi-Wan. They return to Coruscant where they link up with Padme and Organa and together they learn of Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side and the four of them travel to Mustafar in an attempt to defeat the two Sith Lords. Padme implores Anakin to return to the Light but, made paranoid by his turn, he thinks that Obi-Wan and Yoda concealed the true power of the Force from him and that Padme is now conspiring against him. He begins to Force-choke Padme, causing Yoda and Obi-Wan to spring into action (the former drawing his lightsaber for the first time on film), beginning a lengthy duel between the two Jedi and the two Sith.

The battle separates into two separate duels, between Yoda and Palpatine on the upper levels and Obi-Wan and Anakin on the lower ones. Obi-Wan repeatedly begs his former apprentice to repent, saying that the Dark Side cannot give him the peace and power he craves but Anakin rebuffs him every time. Anakin asserts that he cannot turn back now because he has gone too far but Obi-Wan claims that there is still good in him and he can return.

Meanwhile, Yoda succeeds in disarming Palpatine and looks to have him on the rocks but then Palpatine unleashes the full power of the Dark Side. He turns into a creature of pure Dark Force energy and begins blasting Yoda with Force lightning, forcing the Jedi into a desperate defence.

Meanwhile, seeing that his friend is fully lost, Obi-Wan opens his mind to the Dark Side once more and launches into an aggressive attack that surprises Anakin. Obi-Wan severs Anakin’s legs and arm, leaving him at the bank of a lava flow. Obi-Wan weeps by the body of his fallen friend, while Anakin angrily spits out his hate. He is about to give his friend a painless execution when an explosion from above alerts him to the danger Yoda is in. Obi-Wan joins the combat against Palpatine but even two Jedi are no match for the Dark Lord of the Sith, who defeats them both and prepares to suck out their life force before Lars’ arrival with a star ship allows Yoda and Obi-Wan to escape. However, in the escape Padme is hit by Palpatine’s Force lightning.

Regrouping on Polis Massa, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Lars and Organa muse on their failures. Alone in his quarters, Obi-Wan ignites his and Anakin’s lightsabers. When their blades are blue, he weeps in both despair and hope, knowing that there remains good in his friend but not knowing how to reach it. Padme gives birth to twins, named Luke and Leia, and then dies of her injuries. On Mustafar, Palpatine retrieves a barely alive Anakin and takes him to Coruscant, where his mutilated body is treated and covered in a black armoured suit. When Vader asks if Padme is safe, Palpatine says that he killed her in his anger, causing the junior Sith to lash out at him in rage. However, Palpatine subdues him with Force lightning, dropping Vader to his knees. Palpatine declares that Vader is now his servant and laughs.

Yoda muses on his failures and concludes to Obi-Wan that the dogmatic view he had propagated as Grand Master made the Jedi too inflexible to foresee or prevent Palpatine’s seizure of power. They are then joined by the Force ghost of Mace Windu, who explains to them that, through study of the Living Force, he has unlocked the secret to eternal spiritual life beyond physical death. The two living Jedi resolve to continue their study in exile, biding their time until it is right to build a new, better, generation of Jedi.

As Padme’s funeral takes place on her homeworld, Palpatine and Vader supervise the construction of the Death Star. Organa takes Leia to her homeworld of Alderaan, where she and her husband adopt her, while Yoda enters exile on Dagobah. Lars returns to his home planet of Tatooine with Luke and Obi-Wan enters exile on the Dune Sea, watching over the boy.
 
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