TLIAW: Making Murder Sound Respectable
- Thread starter Mumby
- Start date
Sideways
Donor
This remains very good.
I wonder if this is a Weber's Germany style timeline - separating the Jews, persecuting them, allowing them to inevitably radicalise then punishing them for it seems a very Friedrich Weber-ish arrangement.
If you find you have an irresistable urge to do me a solid, a dramatis personae of our non-politician characters would be quite useful. I like em. They are well written.
Also - I'd love to hear more about who the other parties are.
I wonder if this is a Weber's Germany style timeline - separating the Jews, persecuting them, allowing them to inevitably radicalise then punishing them for it seems a very Friedrich Weber-ish arrangement.
If you find you have an irresistable urge to do me a solid, a dramatis personae of our non-politician characters would be quite useful. I like em. They are well written.
Also - I'd love to hear more about who the other parties are.
is nick clegg the leader of socred
i think david tennant wil be revealed to be the pm
Srsly though, this continues to be minty phresh. Election night TLs are really fun, and by focusing on DA YOOF you give us a unique set of viewpoint characters.
You mean, extra dank.
On that note, is weed legal TTL?
I will point out that I've only imagined this world in very broad brush strokes, and while in my mind Korea is definitely in the Japanese sphere, I don't know if its part of Japan, a Dominion-analogue, or simply an economic dependency.
Sounds a lot like what I envisaged. Basically the Jewish ghettoes are not that unpleasant, and are collected together as a non-contiguous state of the German federation, hence the 'Jewish state within our borders'. I have a notion of this ironically becoming a focus of OTL's Zionism, with many Jews escaping anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe to live in the densely populated city-states of the Judenstaat, where they can be sure that at least some politicians are certain to fight their corner.
is nick clegg the leader of socred
i think david tennant wil be revealed to be the pm
Srsly though, this continues to be minty phresh. Election night TLs are really fun, and by focusing on DA YOOF you give us a unique set of viewpoint characters.
how poplar can the popular front be if they didnt win a majority?
Spicy.
I honestly haven't given it a single thought.
Last edited:
The door slammed open, and the party of five staggered inside, giggling and swaying. It was now half past five in the morning, and they half-walked, half-fell into the living room, plonking boxes of half-eaten pizza onto the floor. Alice lay down on the nearest chair, which just happened to be Alan's chair. Alan glared at her for a moment before becoming preoccupied with his pizza. The unstoppable Frederick Dimbleby continued his commentary on the television.
'Ish the 'lection still going on?' asked Alice incredulously, though she seemed to be addressing her question to a cushion. As if to answer her, a big red graphic suddenly came up on the screen.
'We are now calling the election for the Labour Party. The combination of a surge for the Communists and Liberals in various areas along with the decline in numbers for those parties that were in the governing coalition has ensured that no combination can reasonably allow the National Party to retain power unless they somehow break Labour and the Communist's long-standing Popular Front agreement. While the Prime Minister retains the right to try and form a government, it is unlikely that this will amount to much.'
'There youse go, Alice. S'all over. Now we can go to bed.'
'No!' shouted Helen, looking at her brother sternly, before grinning and murmuring, 'pizza...'
As they chomped through their greasy food, Dimbleby summoned yet more talking heads from the British political establishment.
'Miss Krish, the Liberal Party has had a very good evening indeed, benefiting from the collapse of the Unionists, and the continued attrition of the Nationals. What are you going to do with your greater numbers? Become a party of government? Or will you become the now most energised party of the Opposition?'
'Well, Frederick, I am certainly open to a deal with the Labour party, though we will want to ensure that we aren't pushed around in the same way the Unionists were by the Nationals. We want to see the agenda that many Britons voted for given a chance to shine.'
'Well, quite. But if you do make a deal, how are you to square your fundamentally free market agenda with the commitment to socialism of the Labour party, let alone their Communist allies?'
'With great difficulty. However, in terms of social policy, we believe much the same thing. We want to see the overbearing moralism of successive National governments undone in favour of true freedom of expression, in all matters. While Labour's love for freedom certainly doesn't extend into the economic sphere, we can certainly come to a concord on matters like homosexual marriage or gender equality.'
'But the fact remains, Miss Krish, that any government you will be involved in will be extremely discordant on the correct economic path to take. How stable could such a government be?'
'Well, we could certainly find some kind of agreement on economic matters, assuming that Labour proves as reasonable as us.’
‘But, Miss Krish, of all the major parties at Westminster, the Liberals and Labour are considered the most committed to a specific ideology, and those two ideologies do not align very well at all. This isn’t a question of Labour being reasonable, it is a question of you being reasonable too.’ Krish opened her mouth to reply, when she was interrupted by Dimbleby. ‘I’m sorry, but we’ll have to stop you there, as the Prime Minister is making an address in front of Downing Street.’
The screen cut to a feed outside the most famous terrace in the world. A lectern, made of plastic but textured to look like the same black polished wood as Number 10’s front door, had been placed in the road. Behind it, resplendent in a sharp, pinstriped trouser suit, was the Prime Minister. The woman who had ruled Britain for eight years, struggling through two coalitions and had ultimately been burned for it. Her grey eyes are piercing, and one might be forgiven she was angry about her situation if it wasn’t for the fact she looked like that all the time. Her white hair is cut in a bob, the iconic look that saw her voted ‘Sexiest Prime Minister in the Commonwealth’ by an infamously glossy magazine in Canada.
‘Tonight has been an awakening. For all of us. The people of Britain have decisively thrown out my government. It would be arrogant for me to try and to keep my grasp on the power that the voters this evening have told me I should not have. In the coming days, I will vacate the house behind me, and my party will take its seat on the Opposition benches. There will be some, especially amongst our own movement, who will criticise me for this decision. However, part of government is not only trying to take and retain power, it is conceding it respectfully when there is no option. I have been criticised over the years of my Premiership for keeping power, and now seems a good time to give in to those voices. But this does not mean an end to us pressing hard for what we believe is in our country’s best interest. We will be an effective Opposition, defending our institutions from Labour’s grasping hands, and our position overseas from their ideological whimsy. We will be a government in waiting, and be sure of one thing. We will return.’ There was a moment as the camera lingered upon her face. There was complete silence. Then Dimbleby reappeared.
‘The Prime Minister, Natalia El-Hashem, there resigning her position and seemingly conceding victory for Labour. However, it seems she has left the future open for herself to stay on as National leader, and as one of its more successful leaders, she may well be able to stave off a challenge. And she has made it quite clear that she doesn’t intend to allow Labour to have a comfortable start to any new government they lead.’
‘I think it’s time for bed.’ Murmured Alan.
'Ish the 'lection still going on?' asked Alice incredulously, though she seemed to be addressing her question to a cushion. As if to answer her, a big red graphic suddenly came up on the screen.
'We are now calling the election for the Labour Party. The combination of a surge for the Communists and Liberals in various areas along with the decline in numbers for those parties that were in the governing coalition has ensured that no combination can reasonably allow the National Party to retain power unless they somehow break Labour and the Communist's long-standing Popular Front agreement. While the Prime Minister retains the right to try and form a government, it is unlikely that this will amount to much.'
'There youse go, Alice. S'all over. Now we can go to bed.'
'No!' shouted Helen, looking at her brother sternly, before grinning and murmuring, 'pizza...'
As they chomped through their greasy food, Dimbleby summoned yet more talking heads from the British political establishment.
'Miss Krish, the Liberal Party has had a very good evening indeed, benefiting from the collapse of the Unionists, and the continued attrition of the Nationals. What are you going to do with your greater numbers? Become a party of government? Or will you become the now most energised party of the Opposition?'
'Well, Frederick, I am certainly open to a deal with the Labour party, though we will want to ensure that we aren't pushed around in the same way the Unionists were by the Nationals. We want to see the agenda that many Britons voted for given a chance to shine.'
'Well, quite. But if you do make a deal, how are you to square your fundamentally free market agenda with the commitment to socialism of the Labour party, let alone their Communist allies?'
'With great difficulty. However, in terms of social policy, we believe much the same thing. We want to see the overbearing moralism of successive National governments undone in favour of true freedom of expression, in all matters. While Labour's love for freedom certainly doesn't extend into the economic sphere, we can certainly come to a concord on matters like homosexual marriage or gender equality.'
'But the fact remains, Miss Krish, that any government you will be involved in will be extremely discordant on the correct economic path to take. How stable could such a government be?'
'Well, we could certainly find some kind of agreement on economic matters, assuming that Labour proves as reasonable as us.’
‘But, Miss Krish, of all the major parties at Westminster, the Liberals and Labour are considered the most committed to a specific ideology, and those two ideologies do not align very well at all. This isn’t a question of Labour being reasonable, it is a question of you being reasonable too.’ Krish opened her mouth to reply, when she was interrupted by Dimbleby. ‘I’m sorry, but we’ll have to stop you there, as the Prime Minister is making an address in front of Downing Street.’
The screen cut to a feed outside the most famous terrace in the world. A lectern, made of plastic but textured to look like the same black polished wood as Number 10’s front door, had been placed in the road. Behind it, resplendent in a sharp, pinstriped trouser suit, was the Prime Minister. The woman who had ruled Britain for eight years, struggling through two coalitions and had ultimately been burned for it. Her grey eyes are piercing, and one might be forgiven she was angry about her situation if it wasn’t for the fact she looked like that all the time. Her white hair is cut in a bob, the iconic look that saw her voted ‘Sexiest Prime Minister in the Commonwealth’ by an infamously glossy magazine in Canada.
‘Tonight has been an awakening. For all of us. The people of Britain have decisively thrown out my government. It would be arrogant for me to try and to keep my grasp on the power that the voters this evening have told me I should not have. In the coming days, I will vacate the house behind me, and my party will take its seat on the Opposition benches. There will be some, especially amongst our own movement, who will criticise me for this decision. However, part of government is not only trying to take and retain power, it is conceding it respectfully when there is no option. I have been criticised over the years of my Premiership for keeping power, and now seems a good time to give in to those voices. But this does not mean an end to us pressing hard for what we believe is in our country’s best interest. We will be an effective Opposition, defending our institutions from Labour’s grasping hands, and our position overseas from their ideological whimsy. We will be a government in waiting, and be sure of one thing. We will return.’ There was a moment as the camera lingered upon her face. There was complete silence. Then Dimbleby reappeared.
‘The Prime Minister, Natalia El-Hashem, there resigning her position and seemingly conceding victory for Labour. However, it seems she has left the future open for herself to stay on as National leader, and as one of its more successful leaders, she may well be able to stave off a challenge. And she has made it quite clear that she doesn’t intend to allow Labour to have a comfortable start to any new government they lead.’
‘I think it’s time for bed.’ Murmured Alan.
Nice stuff. Wasn't quite expecting that of the Nationals, but eh, these things happen.
What were you expecting?
Naw. This lady has white hair and grey eyes (I was aiming to make her look and sound like a female Randian hero).
Well, there isn't much they could do.
Thanks!
Japhy
Banned
That was good. Very cool. I like the hint about how the Nationals aren't really ideological, as a party based on the National governments of old wouldn't be able to be and the Liberals and Labour parties are. A nice little twist on perceptions there. Its a bit crazy to imagine that the rest of the parties aren't thought of as unified, though I'm assuming thats because there are different strands of Social Credit or Fascism to appeal towards?
You did it, you saved the site from me burning it down.
You did it, you saved the site from me burning it down.
Social Credit has sort of turned away from Douglasism towards a kind of populist socialism plus soft conservatism (which is kind of what Social Credit did everywhere it lay down roots, though here its a little leftier due to the technocratic consensus in government). And as for the Unionists, I would say there are three factions. There are the Mosleyites, the middle class sorts who rose through SPADishness, the Blackshirts, who are working class types who have risen through streetfighting, and the Ulster branch who are the Orangemen in black uniform.
Danke, genosse.
I don't really know. Something else other than that
Oh, right then.
i looked up arab surnames online.
I will write a World of Making Murder Sound Reasonable Afterword, which will make running up any sort of map easier.
Right, I've found my words;
I suppose, given that it's a continuation of the political ideologies of the interwar years that some of the social attitudes would have also remained the same from then too; a political and social time-capsule, if you will. With that, I hadn't expected anything like a female PM who was also "voted ‘Sexiest Prime Minister in the Commonwealth’ by an infamously glossy magazine in Canada." Now, of course this is a huge fault on my part; you'd already shown that society had moved forward still to some degree in the previous update.
I also didn't expect a non-White British PM as the leader of the National-led coalition; again, I don't know quite what any of this says about myself as a person, but it's in part due to the concept of the intrinsic inter-war British values still being in retention idea that I previously had. I was expected an old-hat, somewhat stilted gentleman to be leading the Nationals, though you did an excellent job of upsetting that mental image I had. Butterflies also seem to have done an excellent job of making all major politicians ITTL as fictional, which would give you far more licence to do as you wish with them and works with the PoD of keeping things the same for generations, politically speaking.
I'll just end by saying that I have found this to be a brilliantly well-put together piece of writing that has been both unnerving and exhilarating to read - so a hearty well done, Comrade! I mean every ounce of it.
