Alternate news broadcast (Diesel World)

Ashtagon

Just a little drabble that came to me for an AH I have titled Diesel. Names may change.

Sarah Palin, MIP for Alaska, was once again in the news for her outspoken views on the aristocracy. According to reporters at a press conference in New Archangel, she has publicly called for the House of Lords to be abolished and replaced with elected members from each dominion.

Her husband, the Lord Richard, Duke of Alaska (popularly known as the Duke of Hazard for his participation in extreme sports) has not made any comment on her press conference. It is understood that he is due to make a speech in the House of Lords next week on the Railways Bill currently under discussion in the House of Commons.

Nigel Farage, leader of the Radical Liberal Party, was reported to have withdrawn the party whip from Palin over her remarks. "We are fully committed to traditional British values in the context of a free market," he was quoted as saying on Newsnight.
 
Penny for The Guy

Penny for The Guy

Banned
The Coffee Klatch

Sarah Palin, well-known leader of the Coffee Klatch ("Tea is Sooo English") once read in Parliament her recipe for something called "moose chili", claiming she had not only shot and butchered the moose herself, but also fought off a wild Grizzly bear for the trophy.

Upon being informed that MP Palin offered to teach the chef at Sandringham her collection of food recipes, the official spokesman for Queen Elizabeth II demurred, "Her majesty is not amused."

The Russian Ambassador, however, expressed interest. "After all, you can see her house from Siberia on a clear day."
 

Ashtagon

The original "political" PoD is around 1850, when the theosophist society failed to form. This has knock-on effects through history, changing various decisions by political leaders. Austria manages to perserve itself as a federation post-WW1. The USA enters a permanent recession and begins to fragment. Jet aircraft research never (ahem) takes off. The formation of the Nazi Party is cancelled, with Germany experimenting with coalition liberal/communist leadership. Eventually, Trotskyist Russia leads WW2 with an invasion of Europe which gets stopped by a much bigger Maginot Line and British support. Japan is free to set up an empire in the ast, which after a war with Britain enters a stable mode in which it dominates a balkanised China and goes technocratic.

But yeah. British empire reformed as a federation of dominions, with a British Imperial Parliament being the main governing body (hence Member of the Imperial Parliament - MIP). It's chock full of rotten boroughs, and the main voting franchise is limited to landowners, commissioned officers, and graduates. Soviet empire is big, but on the verge of either going on another rampage or imploding. Japan is busy taking over the world economy.

It's mostly an excuse to tell odd stories.
 

Ashtagon

In Today's speech in the House of Lords, Lord Richard of Alaska gave a speech on the Railways Bill.

"Privatising the Imperial rail network is vital for the revitalisation of our transport services," he began. "It will create competition between rail companies, improving speeds and reducing prices."

Cynics noted that his own privately run rail network doesn't go much farther than his estate in Alaska at one end and the shores of British Columbia at the other, and that his family has personally intervened to prevent competition within Alaska. It was also unclear how a rail company operating on the Cape to Cairo line might compete with a rail company in Canada.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top