I'm Glad We Don't Need This In Essex

I see the Weather Channel gives mosquito forecasts in the US....

Airstrip One And The 1966 World Cup

Another thread at alternatehistory.com explores a timeline in which George Orwell's 1984 actually happens - or at least , Big Brother and Ingsoc rule England , but as a North Korean type hermit state. Everyone is brainwashed into believing that the rest of the world comprises Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia.

The creator of this thread suggests that the point of departure for this timeline would be Mosley sticking with the Labour Party in the 1930s; the allies still win WW2, but things go downhill from there onwards :

30th July 1966 - "And here comes Hurst. Some people are on the pitch. They think it's all over!"

England clinched the FIFA World Cup after a valiant 2-1 victory over Uruguay at Parc des Princes in Paris. Duncan Edwards made the pass to Hurst that sealed the game for the English.

As the last minute goal went into the back of the net, sealing an unexpected victory for England, thousands of French supporters charged the stewards and ran on to the pitch, swamping the England team.

Later that evening the England players and staff, sought political asylum at the American embassy in Paris, while in London the BBC broadcast news reports of a Uruguay victory, and presented "evidence" of collusion with terrorist groups within the England team.

Freddie Mercury As Lib Dem Prime Minister ?

It's here at www.alternatehistory.com

In response to the overbearing social conservatism of Thatcher, Queen becomes far more political. Freddie never enters the underground scene (bathhouses, frequent unprotected sex, etc.), so he never gets HIV. In 1982, the album "Hot Space" is shelved in place of a very political album about the Falklands War.

Freddie Mercury is seen as a "spokesman of a generation". He publicly endorses the Liberals in the '83 election, leading to a resurgence in Lib popularity, despite an overwhelming Conservative victory. In 1984, the song "I Want to Break Free" is released, but rather than being a love/breakup song as in OTL, it is a left-wing anthem about oppressive conservatism controlling people's lives. At Live Aid, widely considered Queen's best performance, Mercury announces that Queen will be taking a hiatus after the band's next album is released so that he can run for parliament from the Hammersmith constituency (he resided in West Kensington at the time, within the Hammersmith constituency). In the 1987 election, Mercury wins. He is seated and quickly rises in the (admittedly small) ranks of the Liberal party. He helps to negotiate the merger with the SDP, with the rallying cry "A United Left for a United Britain". Mercury becomes vital for the Lib Dems, reaching out to young people (under 40) to run and vote in the next elections.

In 1992, a seemingly Labour lead was trounced by late-deciding young voters, who responded to criticism of Labour in The Sun and to left-wing attacks on Major's economy, especially the recession. The election resulted in a Hung Parliament ...

Just how well did we really do in Hammersmith in 1987?

What I Did On My Vacation From Blogging

In case anyone has been wondering, I haven't disappeared from the face of the earth, I merely stopped blogging because I was immersed in the County Council Elections in Rayleigh North.

To cut a long story short, I finished a cheerful second out of six candidates, closing the gap on the Conservative incumbent to about 6 percent:

Stephen Charles Castle The Conservative Party Candidate 2095
Chris Black Liberal Democrats 1739
John Hayter English Democrats 718
Tony Smith Say No To European Union 416
Lisa Byrne British National Party 278
David Dennis Bodimeade The Labour Party Candidate 226

I represent one-quarter of Rayleigh North on the District Council, and was ahead by a landslide there. So if I want to win in four year time, I know what I need to do.

The Conservatives didn't have any fun in the campaign, and were too frit to even put their candidate's home address on any of his campaign material (he lives more than 20 minutes away, on Canvey Island. And they had to, ahem, twist the truth quite a bit in their last leaflet.

Meanwhile the Lib Dems advance across Essex, making 4 gains and becoming the second party in the County with 12 seats.

Iran

It's not the voting that creates a democracy, it's the counting....

Reshuffle Rumours

Some things don't change.....

Daffodils and Strings