My turn to do this because everyone does it.
Everyone does what - this absurd internal dialogue.
Yep and because this is a Stodge TL it's a good honest British political ATL. That'll please everyone ?
No it won't, the American won't understand it.
The colonials will be fine as will everyone else.
What does TLIAWK mean ?
Tineline In A Who Knows Because I've no idea how long I will spend on it.
No, it's a Doctor Who TL based on politicians playing the Doctor. Brilliant - Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Michael Heseltine, David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Jeremy Corbyn as Capaldi. I like this a lot...
Er, no. I live Doctor Who TLs to others. This is a political TL.
Oh Dear, the Doctor Who one was better.
Maybe and I've not given up on my earlier Liberal revival one - the 1974 election is going to be a real rout for the Tories.
Spoilers - is this another bad TL for the Conservatives ? You have a bit of a reputation.
Yes and No. Read on...
England 2015:
That they still come, in ones and twos, nearly a decade later, is illuminating. To put flowers or little tributes on the grave of the man widely considered to be not only the greatest Prime Minister since the War but also the father of modern Europe, speaks volumes.
The grave has also been the subject of political vandalism from the British Independence Party (though the Party denied any involvement) and from individuals angered by the direction the country took under his leadership.
The irony is this coolest and indeed most personally remote of men, in stark contrast to the current incumbent, should inspire such respect and indeed adulation is something with which those who knew him struggle. Indeed, some of the sharpest barbs have come from those who knew him best.
There are those in what was the Conservative Party who can never forget or forgive and indeed yearn to replay the past and the opportunity to remove him when he was at his weakest.
For Labour and above all Alliance politicians, he remains a figure of awe and mystery. That he shaped the Britain, Europe and indeed the world of the 21st Century is undeniable. That he gave them the 21st Century as some see it is perhaps more debatable – perhaps the 21st Century was always going to be the “progressive century”.
The curiosity is how he bridged nations and ideologies and inspired respect – Americans and Chinese, basking in the warmth of the Sino-American Alliance, trace that Alliance’s origins to this one man and in China in particular, he is afforded almost “hero” status. Even in America, the respect is there though more equivocal and tainted with the bi-partisanship that colours so much of the American political scene.
There were rumours Gorbachev himself has visited the grave on more than one occasion. Oddly enough, their friendship, perhaps the ultimate curio, will turn out to be as significant as that between Churchill and Stalin. Time, as always, will tell.
So they come, old and not-so-old, to this small grave behind Salisbury Cathedral, to pay their respects to the man some call giant and others call Judas but that is, many would argue, the fate of great men and women, to inspire respect and contempt in equal measure.
That Edward Heath does so is tribute enough.