Luthori

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Re: Luthori

Postby Edmund » Mon Nov 08, 2021 10:51 pm

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                    A Church with an empire, not an empire with a Church

                    September 5025

FORT WILLIAM, ORANGE — That the Church would be re-established was obvious enough after the last election, but not even the most fervent Hosians could have hoped for the enthusiasm of the government in pursuing its wide-reaching restoration of its historic place in public life. Since the retirement of Robert Wrigley as Archbishop of Alchester last month and appointment of John Wolstenholm to that office, the Church has assumed near-absolute control over what were previously the government's two most important responsibilities of education and healthcare.

While Church involvement in education is far from unprecedented – it has long had a tight grip on nursery and primary education – the scale of this is, with even the grammar schools founded by the boroughs or with endowments to come under its authority. The only schools exempt from Church control will be those that specifically cater to minority religions or Hosian denominations.

The same goes for the Church's assumption of responsibility for healthcare: although it has maintained some role, in scale it is beyond a return to the medieval period, when secular, locally-run hospitals co-existed in the cities with Hosian establishments. But for the Shieldwall, it is a political masterstroke. By completely removing government from healthcare and replacing it with the Church, in a sort of 'quasi-privatisation', it has neutered the ability of future governments to enact progressive reform without picking a fight with a Church now emboldened in a way it has not been for millennia.
Edmund
 
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Re: Luthori

Postby Edmund » Wed Dec 01, 2021 3:21 pm

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                    The Empress is dead — long live Eowin VII

                    March 5036

FORT WILLIAM, ORANGE — The Empress is dead, and a nation mourns. Brought to the throne by the tragic murder of her parents by terrorists, her 62-year reign has seen her through nine different prime ministers from Paglesham to Langley. She left no children, but a legacy of an empire considerably calmer and more secure than could possibly have been hoped for at the beginning of her rule. Her condition was understandably kept private for many years, the Empress not wishing to alarm her subjects as she suffered through cancer; despite this, she endeavoured to maintain public engagements until her health deteriorated recently. She died peacefully in her sleep.

Prince Eowin, named for the late emperor and empress's father and for years the heir presumptive following the death of his father the empress's cousin Prince Seymund, succeeds to the throne. Long live the Emperor.
Edmund
 
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Re: Luthori

Postby Edmund » Wed Feb 02, 2022 7:12 pm

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                    Agriculture minister: Rutania an 'irrelevant backwater'

                    August 5068

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FORT WILLIAM, ORANGE — Secretary of State for Food and Agriculture Ernest Caldecot has come under fire for "shocking and hateful" comments recorded at a gentlemen's club during discussion of Rutania's decision last month to begin the construction of a fence along the Rutano-Luthorian border. Mocking Luthori's neighbour as an "irrelevant backwater", he described Rutania's near-universal adoption of the Luthorian language as a sign of its "national servility". "The only thing they've got going for them is that they're not as bad as Beluzia," said the minister.

Disparaging the Rutanian government's professed concern for the supposed danger posed to Rutania's domestic security by instability in Luthorian politics, Mr Caldecot said that Luthori's domestic security was threatened more by "the tens of thousands of fiery, lecherous Caldorian women" working in Luthori: rural Rutanians, nearly all of whom already speak Luthorian as a second language and in search of employment, have often been drawn to Luthorian cities.

When contacted for comment Mr Caldecot doubled down on his remarks, and blaming them for the leak of a "clearly private conversation, for which no apology needs or should be made" said that he would be advising his club to "sack its Rutanian staff."
Last edited by Edmund on Thu Feb 03, 2022 1:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Edmund
 
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Re: Luthori

Postby Edmund » Thu Feb 03, 2022 1:08 am

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                    Army orders 800 new tanks

                    October 5068

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FORT WILLIAM, ORANGE — The Imperial Luthorian Army has ordered 800 new Challenger 2 tanks, significantly expanding its already sizeable armoured fleet. The Lorcaster Motor Company, owned by the Rutherford family, close allies of the Conservative government, has been awarded the contract to deliver the tanks; the government denied any suggestions of improprierty, stating that the contractor had been chosen through a normal bidding process and chosen impartially. Opposition backbenchers nevertheless decried the choice as cronyism, and some the move itself as "unnecessary military spending."

Defence secretary Hereward Diriday said that the order was necessary to meet Luthori's military requirements, following years of defence cuts under the preceding Liberal government's programme of austerity. "This government, unlike the last Liberal government, will properly fund our armed forces and ensure that Luthori is as secure as it can be." At a unit cost of £1.6 million each (OOC: $8.3 million), the order will come to a total of £1.3 billion.
Edmund
 
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Re: Luthori

Postby Edmund » Thu Feb 03, 2022 1:40 pm

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                    Imperial Security Service reforms overturned

                    January 5069

FORT WILLIAM, ORANGE — Prime Minister Richard Billinghay has announced that the Imperial Security Service (ISS) will be restored to its pre-5059 form, as provided for by the Security Service Act 4976. A government spokesman said that, since the Thomas government had unilaterally proceeded with the reforms without an act of the Diet, the prime minister was not bound to go through the Diet to overturn the Thomas reforms. "It is not undemocratic to overturn a decision made undemocratically."

The government of the day's newfound power, which allowed the Thomas government to use the service for its own ends in pursuing their political opponents, will be eliminated entirely, and authority and oversight returned directly to the Crown. Foreign intelligence operations, which came under its purview as part of the Thomas reforms, will be tasked to the separate Imperial Foreign Intelligence Service.
Edmund
 
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Re: Luthori

Postby Edmund » Sat Feb 05, 2022 11:35 am

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                    Government announces imperial commission into factory conditions

                    January 5070

FORT WILLIAM, ORANGE — The government has announced that an imperial commission will be held into conditions in the factories of Shipleyriding and Middenriding. The two seaboard regions have over the past century emerged as the world's leading centres of manufacturing, giving Luthori its sometime title of "workshop of the world" even as more high-tech manufacturing continues to elude the country, but this has taken place in an environment of economic deregulation and pro-business policies both on the national and regional levels which have sometimes been criticised by social reform groups for leading to poor working conditions in the areas.

Attempts at change under the Harper government (5054—5058) were stymied by an inability to get alleviative legislation through the Diet, and what was passed, such as a requirement for two-thirds of company boards to be made up of employees, was easily evaded. The great manufacturers and industrialists, with their influential support for the Liberal Party, successfully lobbied to prevent preceding and subsequent governments from taking action. The Conservatives, however, with their base in the countryside and landed gentry, have few such political concerns to cause them hesitancy.

George Rutherford, patriarch of the Rutherford family of industrialists and hitherto a loyal supporter of the Conservatives, said that he was "disappointed" by the government's move. "While it may seem innocent enough, and my family has been devoted at every turn to ensuring working conditions at our factories are of the highest caliber, it worries me that this will be nothing less than the starting shot for socialism."
Last edited by Edmund on Sun Feb 06, 2022 11:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
Edmund
 
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Re: Luthori

Postby Edmund » Sat Feb 05, 2022 7:25 pm

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                    Agriculture secretary Ernest Caldecot sacked

                    February 5070

FORT WILLIAM, ORANGE — Agriculture secretary Ernest Caldecot has been sacked from the cabinet after tapes were released of the minister describing Liberal voters as "good-for-nothing scum", and, following his controversial remarks regarding Rutania and Rutanians, again making disparaging remarks about Luthori's neighbours.

It is believed that the prime minister initially tried to keep Mr Caldecot in the cabinet, then fully appreciating the situation intended to ask for his resignation, but that his more moderate-minded de facto deputy, Chancellor of the Exchequer Albert Morden, pushed him to take more decisive action; another version of events has that Mr Billinghay demanded that Mr Caldecot make a public apology, was rebuffed, and in response sacked him. Name Surname, a member of the agrarian Conservative Homeland Party until it joined with the Conservatives last December, has been appointed to Mr Caldecot's now-former post.

Mr Caldecot, with his close ties to the hardline 'faith, flag, and family' faction of the Conservative Party, will no doubt prove to be a formidable foe to Mr Billinghay from the backbenches.
Edmund
 
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Location: Luthori

Re: Luthori

Postby Edmund » Sat Feb 05, 2022 8:22 pm

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                    Charlie Thurland says AU "a tool of Dorvik"

                    March 5070

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FORT WILLIAM, ORANGE — Foreign secretary Charlie Thurland has fiercely criticised the newly-revived Artanian Union (AU), describing it as "a tool of Dorvish interventionism." "Dorvik labours under the notion that Artania somehow belongs to them, and a natural consequence of this is their belief that we should all be governed from Schrudehofen by an 'Artanian Parliament'. That will never be the position of the Luthorian government, and nor will it meet with support from Luthori." The remarks were made in response to questions from journalists as to whether Luthori would join the AU.

"The Luthorian government sees Dorvik quite clearly for the threat that it poses not just to peace in Artania, but throughout the world. It would be wholly irresponsible to give any support to its endeavours, let alone one so imperialistic as Dorvik's revival of the Artanian Union under its leadership as little more than a smokescreen for its own interests, and we will be urging fellow governments in Artania to take the same position."
Edmund
 
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Re: Luthori

Postby Edmund » Sun Feb 06, 2022 10:51 pm

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                    Hopes for AU membership renewed

                    July 5070 [post-dated]

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FORT WILLIAM, ORANGE — In what proponents of an Artanian Union see as a renewal of hopes that Luthori could join the union's proposed revival, foreign secretary Charlie Thurland said that the government was "considering carefully" whether or not Luthori would participate in the organisation, a stance markedly different from the position he took earlier this year.

"While we do continue to have concerns about possible imbalance, we have engaged with the Rutanian government and appreciate greatly the good faith they have displayed in talks. We are of course open to further discussion with Mrs MacCallum regarding Luthori's potential place in an Artanian Union of continent-wide, mutually beneficial co-operation." Other than discussions with Rutania, it is believed that Malivia has also approached Luthori regarding the matter.
Edmund
 
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