This is a TL of sorts, made up of snippets from news reports and books, which depict a parallel world in which - from 1945 onwards - things are similar to our own but not quite. Sometimes events happen as they did in ours, sometimes they happen in a more dramatic fashion, sometimes less, and sometimes they don't happen at all while that which didn't happen does happen.
Britain “ready and willing” to relaunch 2018 World Cup bid
“David Cameron has told the House of Commons that he “completely supports” the possibility of the Football Association being among those to bid for the FIFA World Cup in 2018 after the organisation, beleaguered by its ongoing corruption scandals, announced it would reset bidding for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. In an apparent effort to regain the public’s trust, FIFA announced earlier today that it intended to restart the bidding process for both tournaments with the original winners of 2018 and 2022 – Russia and Qatar respectively – guaranteed places in the bidding process. The Russian government has threatened legal action against FIFA, with rumours that the Russian Football Union may boycott the 2018 tournament if it is not returned to Russia. Minister of Sport Vitaly Mutko – himself at the centre of the Russian doping scandals which saw Russia banned from the 2016 Olympic games in Brazil – said on Twitter that ‘FIFA has bowed to anti-Russian pressure and become yet another weapon with which the West can bludgeon and humiliate our country. They will fail.’
If a country other than Russia does win the bidding process for 2018, it will face significant challenges in preparing for a major sporting event which is now only three years away. David Cameron suggested that Britain can benefit from well-established existing infrastructure, and he appeared to have received widespread cross-party support. A poll by the Telegraph has found robust public support for such a bid, at 68%, though the same poll found only 18% of those voting expressed confidence that the Great Britain team – which would be competing in its fifth World Cup since being formed in 2001 – could make it to victory.”
- The Guardian, June 10, 2015
Prince Andrew puts on brave – and unbeatable – face
“Yesterday’s parading of Prince Andrew before television cameras by his Argentine captors has been met with condemnation and mockery from across Britain and the wider world, after the Duke of York – sporting a bandaged left arm – refused to cooperate with the press conference arranged in Buenos Aires. Despite efforts to compel the duke to read from a prepared text Prince Andrew repeatedly made sarcastic comments and at several points caused the assembled journalists, many of whom were foreign, to laugh. After approximately six minutes of the farcical scene, during which Prince Andrew at one point began singing Julie Covington’s 1976 song Don't Cry for Me Argentina and claimed his broken arm was the result of an accident while shaving, he was hastily removed from the room by a pair of Argentine soldiers. Mrs Thatcher told reporters outside Downing Street that she was “very glad His Royal Highness is in good spirits” but expressed grave concern at his treatment by Argentine forces. Prince Andrew has been in captivity for approximately four days after his Sea King helicopter was shot down off the coast of West Falkland before he and his crew were transported via submarine to the Argentine mainland. It appears clear that last ditch efforts by Argentina to win a propaganda victory, amid widespread public unrest following news of the destruction of their fleet two weeks ago and last week’s initiation by the RAF and Fleet Air Arm of a bombing campaign against bases in southern Argentina, has failed spectacularly.”
- The Times, May 19, 1982
Russia stands humiliated by Yeltsin incident
“The Russian government is refusing to comment after yesterday’s publication by the Capitol Post of photographs which clearly depict a heavily intoxicated President Yeltsin engaging in unpresidential antics on Pennsylvania Avenue. The photographs, which were snapped in the late hours on Saturday, clearly show an almost-naked Mr Yeltsin engaging in several scuffles with unfortunate Secret Service agents who eventually succeed in returning him to Blair House – the residence of visiting foreign dignitaries. The exact nature of the confrontation – and the reasons for President Yeltsin’s condition – are not known and the Secret Service is also refusing to make any public remarks. The Russian president’s visit to the U.S. has continued without any official comment on the incident, but the response in Russia itself is known to be one of bewilderment and humiliation. One opposition politician described the incident as “the most miserable moment in Russian history,” lamenting Yeltsin as “everything that Russia is in the modern age.”
- The Hill, September 26, 1994
Britain “ready and willing” to relaunch 2018 World Cup bid
“David Cameron has told the House of Commons that he “completely supports” the possibility of the Football Association being among those to bid for the FIFA World Cup in 2018 after the organisation, beleaguered by its ongoing corruption scandals, announced it would reset bidding for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. In an apparent effort to regain the public’s trust, FIFA announced earlier today that it intended to restart the bidding process for both tournaments with the original winners of 2018 and 2022 – Russia and Qatar respectively – guaranteed places in the bidding process. The Russian government has threatened legal action against FIFA, with rumours that the Russian Football Union may boycott the 2018 tournament if it is not returned to Russia. Minister of Sport Vitaly Mutko – himself at the centre of the Russian doping scandals which saw Russia banned from the 2016 Olympic games in Brazil – said on Twitter that ‘FIFA has bowed to anti-Russian pressure and become yet another weapon with which the West can bludgeon and humiliate our country. They will fail.’
If a country other than Russia does win the bidding process for 2018, it will face significant challenges in preparing for a major sporting event which is now only three years away. David Cameron suggested that Britain can benefit from well-established existing infrastructure, and he appeared to have received widespread cross-party support. A poll by the Telegraph has found robust public support for such a bid, at 68%, though the same poll found only 18% of those voting expressed confidence that the Great Britain team – which would be competing in its fifth World Cup since being formed in 2001 – could make it to victory.”
- The Guardian, June 10, 2015
Prince Andrew puts on brave – and unbeatable – face
“Yesterday’s parading of Prince Andrew before television cameras by his Argentine captors has been met with condemnation and mockery from across Britain and the wider world, after the Duke of York – sporting a bandaged left arm – refused to cooperate with the press conference arranged in Buenos Aires. Despite efforts to compel the duke to read from a prepared text Prince Andrew repeatedly made sarcastic comments and at several points caused the assembled journalists, many of whom were foreign, to laugh. After approximately six minutes of the farcical scene, during which Prince Andrew at one point began singing Julie Covington’s 1976 song Don't Cry for Me Argentina and claimed his broken arm was the result of an accident while shaving, he was hastily removed from the room by a pair of Argentine soldiers. Mrs Thatcher told reporters outside Downing Street that she was “very glad His Royal Highness is in good spirits” but expressed grave concern at his treatment by Argentine forces. Prince Andrew has been in captivity for approximately four days after his Sea King helicopter was shot down off the coast of West Falkland before he and his crew were transported via submarine to the Argentine mainland. It appears clear that last ditch efforts by Argentina to win a propaganda victory, amid widespread public unrest following news of the destruction of their fleet two weeks ago and last week’s initiation by the RAF and Fleet Air Arm of a bombing campaign against bases in southern Argentina, has failed spectacularly.”
- The Times, May 19, 1982
Russia stands humiliated by Yeltsin incident
“The Russian government is refusing to comment after yesterday’s publication by the Capitol Post of photographs which clearly depict a heavily intoxicated President Yeltsin engaging in unpresidential antics on Pennsylvania Avenue. The photographs, which were snapped in the late hours on Saturday, clearly show an almost-naked Mr Yeltsin engaging in several scuffles with unfortunate Secret Service agents who eventually succeed in returning him to Blair House – the residence of visiting foreign dignitaries. The exact nature of the confrontation – and the reasons for President Yeltsin’s condition – are not known and the Secret Service is also refusing to make any public remarks. The Russian president’s visit to the U.S. has continued without any official comment on the incident, but the response in Russia itself is known to be one of bewilderment and humiliation. One opposition politician described the incident as “the most miserable moment in Russian history,” lamenting Yeltsin as “everything that Russia is in the modern age.”
- The Hill, September 26, 1994