Dark Earth Timeline Discussion

[Simon Darkshade]

Some statistical musing from insomnia:

British Budget 1972 (GDP: £241,554,419,575.568)
Defence: £22,223,006,600.952 (9.2%)
Health: £12,077,720,978.757 (5%)
Education, Science and Technology: £12,077,720,978.757 (5%)
Pensions: £9,058,290,734.084 (3.75%)
Welfare: £8,454,404,685.145(3.5%)
Transport, Power and Energy: £4,831,088,391.511 (2%)
Trade, Industry and Labour: £3,019,430,244.695 (1.25%)
Space: £3,019,430,244.695 (1.25%)
Housing, Works and Local Government: £1,811,658,146.817 (0.75%)
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: £1,207,772,097.878 (0.5%)
Home Office: £1,207,772,097.878 (0.5%)
Foreign Office: £1,207,772,097.878 (0.5%)
Colonial Office: £905,829,073.408 (0.375%)
Commonwealth Office: £603,886,048.939 (0.25%)
Foreign Aid: £603,886,048.939 (0.25%)
Other: £603,886,048.939 (0.25%)
Total: 34.325% of GDP

@ British Budget 2023/4 (for comparison)
Social Protection: £24,120,603,015.075
Health: £15,389,447,236.181
Education: £8,228,643,216.08
Debt Interest: £7,286,432,160.804
Defence: £4,271,356,783.92
Transport: £3,894,472,361.809
Industry, Ag and Employment: £3,140,703,517.588
Other: £3,015,075,376.884
Public Order: £2,952,261,306.533
Housing and Environment: £2,386,934,673.367

@ British Budget 1960/61 (for comparison)
Defence: 6.76% (£1590 million)
Education: 4.06% (£956 million)
Debt Interest: 3.99% (£935 million)
Welfare: 3.63% (£852 million)
Health: 3.36% (£790 million)
Transport: 3.03% (£712 million)
Pensions: 2.87% (£675 million)
Fuel and Power: 1.81% (£426 million)
Housing: 1.62% (£379 million)
General Government: 1.24% (£291 million)
Agriculture, Fishing and Food: 1.24% (£291 billion)
Protection: 0.82% (£192 million)

Defence: Spending as a percentage of GDP is projected to fall below 9% in 1973 towards the goal of 8.5% by 1975. The shift from active to reserve strength of 4 divisions is going to free up significant funds in subsequent years, which will flow into increased pay and other benefits, as well as further R&D and Procurement of the increasing cost of more complex 1970s equipment.

Health: As forecast in 1969, some reductions in the overall budget/GDP percentage are now imminent, as the National Health Service is already functioning at high efficiency and is past the point of diminishing returns

Education: A large amount of the increases in the budget are being channeled into Science and Technology in the form of grants, investment and R&D, along with more funding flowing onto the universities. This is one area of expenditure that won't be capped or reduced.

Pensions: The total percentage of the population of pensionable age is ~20%, of which three quarters receive the state pension (21,200,000) at a rate of £427.28, or just under 25% of GDP/capita. Use of one of Britain's sovereign wealth funds to augment pensions using money from North Sea oil and gas is still a medium to long term objective.

Welfare: With unemployment running at ~350,000, the annual Unemployment Benefit of £213.64 totals £74.774 million. National Assistance for 3 million invalids (£427.28), 6 million widows (£427.28) and 5 million poor (£427.28) totals £5981.92 million. Family Allowance is paid at £1/child/week for a total of £1820 million, with the remainder of the Welfare/Social Protection being spent on training, miscellaneous benefits and extraordinary grants.

It is worth noting that benefits and pensions can compound on top of each other, with some women gaining a widow's pension and an ordinary pension, with many now elderly men receiving their general military pension as well as their ordinary pension and the Royal Victory Gift (whereby each surviving veteran of the World Wars receives a daily payment of the King's shilling since 1945). Those who have invested in their own private pensions and savings can also enjoy them; the OAP and National Assistance are not means tested.

Transport, Power and Energy: New capital programmes will see some rises in overall spending, but it is planned that this be covered by growth under current projections. Operations of the National Grid take up a small but significant part of the budget, with an ever increasing amount being invested annually in the very ambitious nuclear power station construction programme.

Trade, Industry and Labour: The majority of spending here goes towards investment, specific loans, R&D support and such indirect payments, rather than direct subsidies towards industries.

Space: The Ministry of Space's budget covers running costs for the scientific research and exploration programme, rocket launches, space station operations and that part of the operating costs of the Royal Space Force near Earth. The steady expenditure on the very long term starship research, development and construction project represents one part of the overall budget

Housing, Works and Local Government: This is to be combined under the latest projected 'super ministry' in 1973, combining with the Ministries of Social Security and Pensions. The large scale public house building projects of the 1940s, 50s and 60s, along with earlier slum clearance drives, are now largely complete; a steady rate of 100,000 public/council houses will be maintained over the next decade on current plans to keep the stock of new desirable homes strong. The Department of Works is engaged in planning of an entire new city in the Midlands

Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: Spending here does take the form of more direct subsidies than many other ministries, as well as the purchase of large supplies for national stockpiles and operation of British Restaurants

Home Office and Foreign Office: As well as funding some of the key intelligence services, the former does provide for funding of what would be known in @ as 'public protection'

Colonial Office: Here, like the Commonwealth Office, a lot of funding is channeled into development aid, investment projects, infrastructure construction and mechanisms for social and political development. There will always be a distinct Colonial Office as long as there are colonies, but it is shifting gears downwards gradually

Foreign Aid: As mentioned for 1969, aid is very much a targeted tool of national and Imperial strategic interests, rather than a softer humanitarian touch. In 1972, this chiefly took the form of 100 million to South Vietnam, 100 million to Egypt, 75 million to Thailand, 75 million to Ethiopia, 50 million to Iceland, 50 million to Persia, with other, smaller payments going to other groups and nations

Other: This area includes funding for the Ministry of Information (£75 million), the BBC (£75 million), General Government (£250 million) and the Civil List (£125 million). The last, combined with the Privy Purse of £125 million, Sovereign's Tribute from the non-human subjects of the Crown and annual gifts from Indian and Oriental rulers makes the British monarchy easily the wealthiest individuals in the world


And a bit on comparative Health spending/budgets:


Health
1965: $18,549.86 million (3.5% of $529,996 million)
1966: $19,445.868 million (3.6% of $540,163 million)
1967: $20,986.526 million (3.8% of $552,277 million)
1968: $21,841.45 million (3.8% of $574,775 million)
1969: $21,067.452 million (3.6% of $585,207 million)

1970: $22,223.494 million (3.71% of $599,016 million)
1971: $22,938.9375 million (3.75% of $611,705 million)
1972: $23,875.4854 million (3.77% of $633,302 million)

Health Spending Per Capita
1965: $341.3 (+4.69%
1966: $355.87 (+4.09%)
1967: $381.86 (+6.8%)
1968: $395.58 (+3.47%)
1969: $379.86 (-4.14%)

1970: $399.47 (+ 4.9%)
1971: $410.31 (+ 2.64%)
1972: $425.78 (+ 3.63%)

Dark Earth Health Spending
1965: $143,673,501,542
1966: $155,857,014,473
1967: $168,216,475,221
1968: $178,343,107,559
1969: $190,541,776,116

1970: $197,941,411,117 (19) £10,417,969,006.159
1971: $207,798,893,391 (19) £10,936,783,862.684
1972: $223,437,838,107 (18.5) £12,077,720,978.757

Dark Earth Health Spending Per Capita
1965: $1102.74
1966: $1175.13 (+6.16%)
1967: $1249.33 (+5.94%)
1968: $1307.8 (+4.47%)
1969: $1381.09 (+5.31%)

1970: $1445.05 (+ 4.42%)
1971: $1496.85 (+ 3.46%)
1972: $1592.92 (+ 6.03%)

And some Import Data for DE 1972 (indicating the percentage of British imports from the countries in question) :

Rubber
Malaya: 80%
Ceylon: 20%

Butter
NZ: 40%
Australia: 25%
Denmark: 20%
Western Europe: 10%
Canada: 5%

Cheese
NZ: 65%
Canada: 25%
Australia: 15%
Western Europe: 5%

Meat
NZ: 25%
Australia: 25%
Canada: 16%
Argentina/Uruguay/Brazil: 13%
South Africa/Rhodesia: 8%
Denmark: 7%
USA: 6%

Sugar
West Indies: 62%
Australia: 20%
Mauritius: 8%
South Africa: 10%

Tea
India: 62%
Ceylon: 31%
Japan: 4%
China: 3%

Wheat
Canada: 46%
Australia: 34%
Argentina/Uruguay: 8%
India: 5%
South Africa: 4%
Rhodesia: 3%

Barley
Canada: 42%
Australia: 33%
USA: 11%
South Africa: 6%
Argentina/Uruguay: 5%
Israel: 2%
Egypt: 1%

Rice
India: 88%
Ceylon: 8%
Malaya: 4%
Indochina: 24%

Coffee
West Indies: 52%
East Africa: 32%
Rhodesia: 13%
Central America: 3%

Oils and Fats
India: 20%
Canada: 20%
Australia: 12%
East Africa: 12%
West Indies: 12%
South Africa: 10%
Rhodesia: 8%
West Africa: 6%

Cocoa
West Indies: 40%
West Africa: 60%

Maize
South Africa: 52%
Argentina/Uruguay: 21%
Canada: 17%
Australia: 10%

Oil Nuts
East Africa 36%
South Africa 32%
Rhodesia 24%

Cotton
India: 35%
Egypt: 28%
USA: 18%
Brazil: 8%
Australia 4%
Chile/Peru: 3%

Timber
Canada: 42%
Newfoundland: 27%
Scandinavia: 18%
Austria-Hungary 5%
USA: 4%

Paper
Canada: 39%
Newfoundland: 29%
Scandinavia: 18%
Western/Central Europe: 12%
Eastern Europe: 2%

Flax
Canada: 54%
Australia: 14%
Western/Central Europe: 12%
South Africa: 10%
Eastern Europe: 8%

Iron
Australia: 29%
Canada: 19%
South Africa: 15%
West Africa: 12%
Scandinavia: 12%
North Africa: 8%
Spain: 4%
Western Europe: 1%

Copper
Rhodesia: 26%
Chile: 24%
Canada: 20%
Peru: 18%
Australia: 5%
India: 3%

Aluminium
Canada: 46%
Scandinavia: 16%
Western/Central Europe: 14%
West Indies: 12%
Australia: 12%

Tin
Malaya: 52%
West Africa: 20%
Chile/Peru: 18%
South Africa/Rhodesia: 10%

Zinc
Australia: 42%
Canada: 30%
Newfoundland: 18%
India: 10%

Lead
Australia: 52%
Canada: 30%
India: 10%
South Africa/Rhodesia: 8%

Petroleum
Canada: 29%
West Indies: 15%
Newfoundland: 9%
Nigeria: 7%
Venezuela: 7%
India: 6%
Persia: 5%
Arabia: 5%
Iraq: 5%
Mexico: 4%
Australia: 4%
Kuwait: 2%

Wool
Australia: 52%
New Zealand: 26%
South Africa: 12%
Argentina/Uruguay: 5%
India: 5%

Hemp
India: 54%
East Africa 27%
Canada: 15%

Oats
Canada 100%

Jute
India 100%

[Simon Darkshade]

The first bit of a 1972 round up of the world:

Economics: The Western World hasn't seen a recession since the fairly mild one of 1962/63, so that is likely to change in 1973 through economic cycles and the economic aftermath of victory in Vietnam. It should be noted that any recession that does occur will be more similar to 1969/70 in the USA than the @ one of 1973-75. First of all, there isn't going to be an oil shock from the Middle East, nor the weight of multiple deficits from Vietnam + the Great Society, nor a Nixon Shock changing the nature of international financial arrangements. Secondly, the inflation picture is far more mild than the @ early 1970s. What is likely is a stock market crash, followed by a reasonably conventional V shaped recession, with a fairly direct recovery in unemployment numbers. I am tossing up whether to have it similar to the 1953 Recession, in that it might be shaped by monetary policy decisions, but there is the simpler option of the long inflated stock market bubble finally bursting, not due to design, but simple inevitability.

Moving on to the consequences, this won't see an end to the Trente Glorieuses/Record Years/Spanish Miracle/Miracolo economico/Post WWII economic expansion, which here has absolutely included Britain and India along with the rest of 'Western' Europe, North America, Japan and Australasia. There will be brief impacts, but not necessarily deep ones.

Politics: After the 1972 round of elections (the USA, Canada, Britain, Australia and Germany, among others), 1973 sees new governments settle in. The Reagan Administration in America will be a bit different to that of 1980 in some ways. In terms of international relations, the overall climate between the superpowers is fairly measured, reflecting a period of postwar detente and recovery...at least until the next trigger event

USA:
Really poised on the brink of further acceleration which will extend its lead in most meaningful indices of power and success. Not facing a malaise, nor turning inwards after an effective defeat, but still possessed of the self confidence and assurance of ~1955 in @. The 1970s will be an American decade in many different ways.

Britain:
Politically, Labour are well set for this third term, whilst the Conservatives are within striking distance for the next election. For the latter, finding a path to distinct policy difference with the Government is perhaps the most likely path for a return to power, which will involve finding some grounds where that fight can occur. Meanwhile, the Liberals are mustering their own power/votes/machine for a run at their first government since 1948. Stanley Barton is 55 and in robust health and the height of his powers, and during this term will mark 20 years as Party Leader; he has certainly molded and shaped it very differently compared to @ Labour. The 1960s military rearmament plan only has a few years left to run before it reaches its expected goals, which will have wide reaching consequences for the British Armed Forces (and those of the CW), their capabilities and their intended roles. The position of the British Empire as a superpower is an interesting one for a different 2nd stage of the Cold War.

Socially, Britain is a unified and very homogenous country without the basis for any significant social strife, be that from a generation gap, reactions to immigration or issues in Ireland. It has an Empire, but is less imperialist in the general outlook of the people compared to the 1870s. Women's rights are advancing in steady pushes, rather than more visible and loud advances, whilst the 'youth' isn't a particular social group or power base to be courted; as a generalisation, people 'grow up a bit quicker' through responsibilities, circumstances and unavoidable duties. There is a strong feeling that the country is 'on the up' and headed ever higher towards better days, brighter futures and more national strength. Should there be a short, glorious war in the 1970s as there was in 1956, it is likely that there will be another strong resurgence of nationalism and jingoism.

A different 1970s in economic and industrial terms effectively breaks completely from many @ connections and pathways, with flow-on effects upon politics. The traditional heavy industries are going on fairly strong, even as they do face competition from Japan and the USA; the combination of the domestic British, broader Imperial and Martian market does help a lot. No single industry in the 'old' group (coal, steel, rail, arms, shipbuilding, textiles) is going to wither and collapse, even as some may well grow smaller in the number of employed workers over coming decades with the role of technology. In the automotive and aerospace industries, Britain holds its own, against increasing challenges, and in electronics, it has definitely taken advantage of its early start, solid foundations and additional information.

USSR:

They are not stagnating, nor stuck in a Brezhnev era rut. The best parallel is the Khrushchev era Soviets, with a lot of additional cybernetics and certain other reforms, whilst a very, very firm grip is held on power by General Secretary Sergeyev and his chums. A very hard line is pushed on corruption and, in concert with the oil and mineral wealth of Siberia, there is little scope for the Soviet Union not to survive into the 21st century, outside of World War 3.

[Timbo W]

Aha, UK electronics 'additional information' from our Australian friend perhaps?

[Simon Darkshade]

A comment, precious! A direct comment!

Yes, yes, precious. The third one across three sites since the very beginning of the year. We must be careful not to frighten him away. Gollum!

Sorry, it has been a while.

The Lapcat intelligence boon, as described in Part 2 of A New Jerusalem, extends across a number of areas, with one of them being consumer electronics.

The most recent reference in this regard was to the scientific pocket calculator, which entered the @ market in early 1972 from Hewlett-Packard; here, it was beaten to the jump by the Sinclair version in 1970, with the British keeping an edge of ~ 3 years on the American and Japanese competition.

Some further developments:

October 21 1971
'The Nintendo Playing Card Co., Ltd. declares bankruptcy, having never recovered from its loss of a deal for the distribution of Disney themed cards. Their burgeoning electronic equipment sideline was purchased by the Far Eastern wing of Ferranti EKCO during the subsequent sale of assets.'

June 2 1970
'Release of the ICM (Imperial Computing Machines) Mercury, what is later regarded as the first ‘personal computing machine’.'

(Broad equivalent of the Commodore PET of 1977, with mouse and floppy disc drive)

July 26 1970
'The National Technological Exposition at the Crystal Palace sees a number of new electronic devices unveiled to the public for the first time, including the British Electronic Industries portable radio/cassette player, the Albion video cassette recording machine, English Electric Watchman portable television and the IEC mobile cellular telephone.'

(BEI portable player = 1979 Sony Walkman; Albion VCR = Equivalent of a late 1970s VCR; Watchman = 1982 Sony Watchman; IEC phone = very first models of Motorola DynaTAC. All of these are being unveiled in prototype form, meaning it will be roughly 3 years before they hit the market)

In general, Britain has a noticeable edge in computers and general consumer electronics; the latter is a brand new market that isn't really a noteworthy one yet.

As an afterword, I note than A New Jerusalem was posted in its entirety on the 2021/2022 board and thus hasn't been added here, as there was something of the folorn wait to see if that version with the many excellent comments could be salvaged. As such, I will put it up at a rate of one part per day.

[Simon Darkshade]

France:
France under d'Ambreville is going to be very different from the @ 1970s period. Firstly, the continuation of the economic good times will have a discernable impact upon the national mood, social currents, popular culture, the international role of France and 'grande projects'. French exceptionalism, whilst challenged by les Anglo-Saxons, continues to be strong enough and have a real sense of being the leading place on the continent of Europe. The big ticket items, such as rockets, spaceships, nuclear aircraft carriers, strategic bombers, super trains, oceanic superliners, skyships and more, are all loudly trumpeted and talked up as signs of France being at the top table.

There will be a bit more anti-Americanism on a cultural and intellectual level, whilst in strategic terms remaining within the Western alliance and trying to jockey (unsuccessfully) for a clear second place over Britain. Globally, France will still try to keep a finger in many pies, providing aid to South Vietnam, Cambodia and South Laos in a stubborn effort to maintain ties and influence; throwing her weight around in Lebanon and the general Middle East; and acting in her overarching role in Africa, where the struggle for dominance with Britain continues unabated in French minds.

A certain tide of thought holds that France should champion the 'third way' between communism and capitalism, but this in turn is torn in several directions by the stronger competing currents of the triangle of French internal politics. In one corner are the traditionalists, the aristocracy, the King, the Church, ultranationalists and those who look back fondly on the Ancien Regime; a subsection of them are the Gaullists, who are now drifting a bit after the retirement of their leading light. In another are the liberals, constitutional monarchists, descendants of the Orleanists and the 'sensible centrists' of parliament. From the final comes the radicals, the socialists, progressives and, in the more extreme section, republicans. The last grouping included the more revolutionary and communist elements, but the 1950s and 1960s were not kind to their fortunes, followed by the 1968 Revolution/Coup/Event that Defies Easy Labels which saw the more extreme elements and leadership tried and punished appropriately, with some sent to the guillotine, others to Devil's Island, and still others sent to Devil's Island and then guillotined.

Socially, there seems to be ever increasing affluence, with everyday consumer goods becoming cheaper, cars very widespread and the culture of summer holidays ubiquitous. There has been some immigration from North Africa, but less than the @ amount of 1 million Maghrebis in the 1960s and 70s; perhaps 250,000, plus 150,000 Sephardic Jews from the same area, on top of the early 1950s level of ~180,000 Algerians. The European (variously known as the colons or pieds noirs, including Italian and Spanish migrants and descendants) population of Algeria is now pushing beyond 40%, depending on the census data.

Germany:
In 1960, Germany was thriving economically, but not quite admitted back to the European family of nations in a wholehearted sense; to use a metaphor, they were allowed to come to Christmas dinner, but had to sit in the kitchen, purely due to an unforeseen lack of chairs. In 1973, this state of affairs is history and, for all intents and purposes politically and diplomatically, Germany's relations with the rest of Free Europe are normalised. Berlin's economic, industrial and military strength puts it at the very top of the pecking order, but France muscles to the fore due to their nuclear weapons and the residual remnants of Past Events.

The Wirtschaftswunder is going along strongly and, after the blip of 1973, will continue, with further growth, improvement in already very high standards of living and European-leading development of infrastructure, modern industry and technical education. The Gastarbeiter programme extended to Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Yugoslavia, with extension to Ottoman Turkey precluded by the ongoing tensions of the Byzantine Greek-Ottoman Turkish border and Angora's relative rupture with the West; this has resulted in a much, much smaller Turkish minority of ~50,000 compared to 6700 in 1961 and 605,000 in @ 1973, with various effects such as doner kebab being effectively unheard of. In any event, the general rate of growth of the German population makes it unlikely that any family reunification policies would be adopted with regard to the various Gastarbeiter as in @ 1974, whereas it was required in the late 1950s/early 1960s as there wasn't quite the same post WW2 influx of Germans from Eastern Europe with the continuing existence of Austria-Hungary.

General German armament and defence policy takes up a large share of GDP than @, with flow on effects on culture, but there less of a sense of difference 'on the ground' in DE Germany, as this situation simply seems like a reversion to standard operating procedure. East Germany/East Prussia remains a confusing and secretive state well behind the Iron Curtain/Iron Wall, so there is less of a direct sense of a divided people. There has certainly been some sense of Ostpolitik going on, but focused more on Poland and the search for some degree of rapprochement and modus vivendi there.

German relations with France remain at a relative impasse, stymieing any thoughts of a rapprochement and embrace in that direction. Instead, there has been increasing success over the course of the 1960s of a warming up of ties with Austria-Hungary. Those relations, whilst strong pre Great War, had been rather cooled by the defeat in the same conflict, the subsequent decline and loss of territory, chaos of Communist revolutions and civil wars, then the coups and Nazi-Kronist alliance of the late 1930s and WW2. For a lot of Austro-Hungarians, including Kaiser Otto, getting in too cosy with Germany is seen as Not a Good Idea; this is not entirely a fair or rational appraisal of the circumstances of 1900-1945, but politicians and nations are under no compulsion to be rational. Perhaps a better way of looking at it is an on-again, off-again couple with a propensity for wild living, big arguments, great passion and not really being the best influence on each other; that does conjure up images of Germany and Austria-Hungary as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in dirndl and lederhosen, which I do hope haunts your dreams, gentle reader. Overall, though, economic, industrial, military and political ties (in that order) have gone from strength to strength in the 1960s.

Germany's component states of Bavaria, Prussia, Saxony, Wurttemberg, Hanover; Baden, Rhineland, Westphalia, Hesse, Mecklenberg, Holstein and Thuringia are respectively kingdoms and grand duchies, with their own regional parliaments and constitutional monarchs. Thuringia is ruled by the former Grand Dukes of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, whilst the House of Oldenburg 'got' Westphalia and the German House of Nassau was 'promoted' to rulership of the Grand Duchy of the Rhineland in one of Churchill's creative moments. This has allowed an emphasis on the 'old Germany' of pre 1871 in how it is presented in British media, a rose-coloured era still regarded fondly in the vestigal memories of some in Britain. In turn, there are strong regional distinctions between North, South, West and East German culture, language and society. Fundamentally, the constitution provides less centralised power for the Kaiser and the Chancellor, with each serving as a circuit breaker upon the other in the executive branch, broadly modelled on the British situation, with the Reichstag/legislative and Reichsgericht/judiciary providing for a further separation of powers.

Italy
Very well placed, but perhaps not entirely in a nice way. Like France, longer term rumblings from the Left have lead to a right wing government and a February 1971 crackdown. The general situation for the Far Left in Italy has been less successful since WW2, with Soviet influence that bit further away, the monarchy being maintained and some of the rough work behind the scenes done by, ahem, Christians in Action and the Society Of Entomologists, in the 1950s having a deleterious effect on their overall success and survival. The likes of @ Gladio linked groups dabbled a bit more directly with Ordine Nuovo and other Neo Fascist elements and rather than matters erupting into a Hot Autumn of 1968, they percolated at a more disturbing temperature for a longer time.

It is unlikely that the 1970s will be Years of Lead in the same way as @, or that Italian politics will have the same reputation for instability. Their continued economic growth will soon start to have some interesting effects on their relative power as a nation state, not just in military terms, but in how they see themselves internationally, where they want to go and what vision they have of their 'sphere of influence'. One of the big efforts will be the ongoing development of Southern Italy and Sicily.

One factor that isn't present is the Sicilian Mafia and various other Italian organised crime gangs. During the reign of Mussolini, there were some choices to be made and they chose...poorly...Whilst old Benito didn't quite line the Appian Way with crosses to send a message, his treatment of them was similarly ruthless.

(As an authorial note, Italy is largely ignored in most AH writings and, when it is mentioned, tends to go down a relatively benign path. Italian fascism, as horrific, violent, sinister and fearful as it was in its day, has been consigned in much of popular culture/popular memory to the role of the bumbling jokey side-villain to the Nazis on centre stage. I want to do something different, without diving into the cliches of 'Fascism resurgent in Italy' or its ilk. Rather, the goal is to build a microcosm within the broader world of 'Italy' as a political entity/state being *perceived* with that edge of uneasiness, fear and threat. Rather than the cliched portrayal of the Second World War performance extending over their military capacity, I might seek to evoke something different, harder and more jarring. Neo-Roman, perhaps.

The big kicker is that, despite the 'dark' or threatening image/opinion they may evoke, the Italian government et al won't actually turn out to be 'bad', fascist or possessed of malign intent; everyone will think the worst of them, despite themselves. There is just something about the potential of a 'Scary Italy' that provides for interesting world building material. I've tried to work broadly here without giving away too many details, so keep that in mind)

[Simon Darkshade]

Events coming up in 1973:

- A Middle Eastern Crisis
- The world plunges into recession
- A new/old nation emerges
- An incredible mineral deposit found in South Park, Colorado
- Earthquakes, giant crocodiles, volcanos, dogs and cats living together and mass hysteria
- A shock development regarding sport
- Wine from newer countries come forth and light beer is strangled at birth
- A Stockholm Syndrome
- Royal weddings and 99th birthdays
- The ongoing renaissance of the railway
- Debut of the cheery, happy, uplifting British children’s WW3 series Threads

[Simon Darkshade]

On Electrickity and Power Generation:

A recent discussion got me crunching sums on power generation and what may need to be a rethink of some Dark Earth material.

From The Imperial Almanac of Great Britain:

"In 1959, 48% of the UK's electricity was produced by coal, 21% by oil and gas, 16% by nuclear power and 14% by hydroelectricity and 1% by windpower. Over 256 TW of electricity were produced in 1958...Hydroelectricity provides significant power in Scotland, Wales and Lyonesse, with the Severn Barrage in South West England producing 6850 MW of power. The Welsh Mountains scheme provides electricity for most of Wales and the Midlands through its underground power stations and subterranean rivers and lakes."

"The first civilian nuclear power station was opened in Britain in 1950, with twelve reactors built over the next decade and a further fifteen under construction or projected as of 1960."

Issue 1: I've envisaged that the Welsh Mountains Scheme would total around 3000 MWe and Scotland would add a further 2000 MWe of hydroelectrical power. On top of the Severn (I know it is tidal power in a certain fashion, but am grouping it broadly), that gives a total of 103,806,000 MW annually, or 103.86 TWh. That is 40%, not 14%

Issue 2: 12 power stations (not reactors as it written there, but I recall my intent) translates as Windscale/Calder Hall, Chapelcross, Berkeley, Bradwell, Hartlepool, Hunterston, Hinkley Point, Trawsfynyd, Dungeness, Sizewell, Oldbury and Wylfa. The first group of six will be 4 x 250 MW and the second six were 4 x 500 MW. Annual output of that is 157,680,000 MW, or 157.68 TW, or 61% vs 16%

Issue 3: The 15 under construction or projected would be Heysham, Torness, Dounreay, Malin (Northern Ireland), Arklow (Southern Ireland), Kilmelford (Scotland), Ullapool (Scotland), Moidart (Scotland), Inverbervie (Scotland), Amble (Northumberland), Hinderwell (North Yorkshire), Skipsea (West Yorkshire), Theddlethorpe (Lincolnshire), Weybourne (Norfolk) and Isle of Grain (Kent).

Possible Solution: I'm going to need increase/retcon the total amount of electricity produced to keep some semblance of the overall ratios for 1960. The impact of what happens when the next 15 atomic power plants are complete, given that they will each generate ~2000-2500 MW will need some thought.

"Electricity Production: Nuclear 30%, Coal 29%, Oil and Gas 25%, Hydroelectricity 14%, Solar 1%, Other 1%" (from 1969/70 Assorted British Statistical Data)

Those numbers seem to be right out of kilter with the impact of additional nuclear power plants.

"The question of oil and its politics had been a consistent driver for British policy since before the Great War, but Stanley Barton had become Prime Minister on the eve of what could be most significant change. 42% of her national power requirements were provided by coal plants and a further 27% by oil, but this was shifting in favour of nuclear. It accounted for just 10% now, but this was projected as doubling in the next five years alone. The prospects of the next energy revolution through fusion was further off into the future, but the day was coming when oil and coal would no longer be significant sources of electrical power generation in the British Isles. This would bring with it some measure of relief with regard to the oil picture, but the matter of coal would be a more complex one - the overwhelming majority of Britain’s 1.2 million coal miners were Labour voters and his people, after all." (A New Jerusalem Part 15)

This will just need a light edit to fiddle with the numbers, with the 10% seeming like a typo.

Overall, the 27 "Generation 1 and 2" nuclear power stations completed, under construction or projected as of 1964 will be joined by approval for a further 9 Gen 2 plants by 1964 and 4 more between 1964 and 1967. All will be completed by 1972.

In 1955, there was this event: "The Ministry of Power, the Royal Atomic Energy Commission and British Energy publish a study outlining the development of the British electrical power industry over the next 20 years, including a plan for the construction of 52 nuclear power stations across Britain and Ireland."

The last 12 plants won't be fission powered, but will shift to fusion power. This will take longer than 1975, but the consequences will be profound.

Darkmoor, the first British fusion plant, has four 2500 MW reactors operating as of 1973. A single fusion power station will produce 87.6 TW of electricity annually, or more than the entire @ UK in 1958.

Long story short, I'm going to have to go back and fiddle with some numbers. Oil and gas power will be way down, coal on the way out sooner for power generation and hydro will produce a tad more.

Change 1:

Total Electricity Produced increased from 256 TW to 486 TW, or a total capacity of ~ 55,479 MW. That is a fair jump, compared to ~120 TW in 1960 in @, but reflects the greater size, development and population of the country; the more sophisticated industry, particularly the power-hungry aluminium refining; nuclear production facilities; and further modernisation of some infrastructure not yet electrified in @ 1958-1960.

Change 2:

Previous Power Generation Percentages for 1958/59:

48% coal = 14027 MW
21% oil/gas = 6137 MW
16% nuclear power = 4675 MW
14% hydroelectricity = 4091 MW
1% wind = 92 MW

Nominal and Actual Capacities (Back of Envelope Guestimations of Percentages) :
10 nuclear plants (6 x 1000MW and 4 x 2000MW) = 14000 MW x 75% = 10500 MW (18.92%)
Hydroelectric capacity = 12500 MW x 90% = 11250 MW (20.27%)

That would then allow for a corrected 1958/59 'Electricity Split' of:

40% Coal (22191.6 MW) from 562 coal power stations (219 England + 25 Scotland, 12 Wales, 12 Ireland, 8 Lyonesse less than 100 MW; 243 over 100 MW in England + 17 Scotland, 12 Wales, 9 Ireland, 5 Lyonesse)
20.25% Oil/Gas (11234.5 MW) from 15 oil fired power stations
20.25% Hydroelectricity (11234.5 MW)
19% Nuclear (10541 MW)
0.25% Wind (138.7 MW)
0.25% Other (138.7 MW)

Given that oil/gas and nuclear are both relatively new forms at that point, it would work within a realistic paradigm of almost entire reliance on coal power pre WW2.

Change 3: By 1964, the overall percentages will be

Coal 32%
Nuclear 25%
Oil and Gas 24%
Hydroelectricity: 18%
Other: 1%

That is a fairly small correction to make to ANJ

Change 4:

Electricity Production 1969/70 would be

Nuclear 37%
Coal 27%
Oil and Gas 18%
Hydroelectricity 16%
Solar 1%
Wind 1%

A line in ANJ would change from 'doubling in the next five years alone' to 'increasing by half in the next five years alone'

By 1973, the percentages will be

Nuclear 52%
Coal 19%
Hydroelectricity 15%
Oil and Gas 12%
Wind 1%
Solar 1%

The nuclear percentage will continue to rise rapidly with more fusion plants coming online and the hundreds of older, small coal plants coming to the end of their economic lives.

[Simon Darkshade]

January 1973
January 1: Signing of the Treaty of Brussels between the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, committing them to a path of continued steps towards a full union by 1984.
January 2: Merger of the Imperial Oil Company and the Eagle Petroleum Company, with the Canadian and British entity now one of the largest oil concerns in the Empire and the wider world.
January 3: The War Office authorises the procurement and storage of new production Chieftain main battle tanks for Army Reserve and Home Guard units and for War Emergency Reserve Stocks, utilising refurbished production lines at BMC’s Royal Mechanizations and Aero tank plant in Birmingham. The day also sees the initiation of a new programme of rotational regular service for Territorial Army and Army Reserve divisions, with the 49th (Wessex) Division and the 25th Infantry Division beginning their 12 month stints after half a year of preliminary training.
January 4: A total solar eclipse darkens most of Europe, Africa and the Middle East for nearly 8 minutes, with the phenomenon observed by specially converted Concords and a special scientific cruise by the ocean liners RMS Canberra and SS Andrea Doria. More nefarious activities also occur during the eclipse, with suspected vampiric attacks spiking in the Balkans.
January 5: NASA and the USSF conducts a test launch of the Super Nova C-10N nuclear space rocket from Johnston Island, marking the first live test of the hulking behemoth, designed to transport a payload of 1000t to high Earth orbit.
January 6: The Rhodesian cabinet approves a new initiative for the provision of defence aid to Portuguese Africa as a means of securing the country’s flanks against potentially hostile entities.
January 7: Brazilian secret police begin a new series of raids against anti-government activist groups, with there being little appetite for the abatement of the ongoing campaign against radical leftist organisations after the assassination of the Emperor.
January 8: A joint Commonwealth task force consisting of South Pacific, New Avalonian and West Indian contingents and the British 38th Infantry Brigade replaces the last remaining elements of the initial intervention force in Uganda. While most disorder and resistance to the intervention and occupation has died down, certain diehard elements continue to be deemed as posing a threat requiring Commonwealth troops.
January 9: Ground is broken on what will be the 100th nuclear power plant to be built in the United States, in Castle Rock, Maine. Atomic power currently supplies 18% of American energy, ahead of hydroelectricity at 9% and behind coal with 27%, oil with 24% and gas with 22%, with the forthcoming Fusion Revolution of the 1970s and 1980s promising to completely transform the national energy equation.
January 10: Argentina and Britain sign a new defence sales agreement, including the purchase of over 100 de Havilland Tornadoes; Buenos Aires remains interested in the purchase of modern long range strike aircraft, with discussions underway with French, American and Italian firms in addition to their traditional British suppliers.
January 11: Vickers unveils its new prototype supersonic jumbo jet to the public at Brooklands, with the new VC25 Victoria, capable of carrying over 500 passengers over transcontinental ranges at speeds over 2500mph, being described as not only the successor to the VC7 and VC8, but as a ‘New Comet’ in terms of its potential to revolutionise global aviation.
January 12: An Anglo-American scientific expedition publishes a paper on its findings regarding the behaviour of lemmings, definitively refuting the erroneous belief in their mass suicidal tendencies based on their observations from the past two years on field research in Norway. The expedition, funded by the millionaire Orlov meerkat family, produced footage of some lemmings acting to block their fellows from danger and others seeming to build crude bridging structures.
January 13: The 'New City' of Middleton is formally established in Northern Buckinghamshire, joining the previous New Towns of Bletchley and Wolverton in a new entity, notable for its use of traditional architecture and legacy of the Garden City movement; a new Anglican cathedral and university are planned to be built. Middleton is the first of five New Cities scheduled to be established in Britain over the next decade, along with Telford, Boston, Richmond and Nelson to follow.
January 14: Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meyerson’s El Al jet is shot at by Arab terrorists whilst coming into land at Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport in Rome. All three of the Soviet shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles are automatically engaged by the jet’s self defence systems, with one explosion causing minor damage to a wingtip, whilst the two terrorist vehicles on the ground are swiftly engaged and neutralised by Mossad agents lead by Major David Kabakov, with several wounded terrorists being taken alive. Israel places its armed forces on high alert in response to the outrage, whilst HMS Invincible is ordered to steam towards Haifa from its position off Crete as a precautionary measure.
January 15: Execution of a pair of drug smugglers is broadcast on Filipino television in the latest manifestation of the governing regime’s increasingly strident populist approach, itself seen by some foreign observers as coming from unease over the Marcos assassination and its own longevity.
January 16: The French Parliament passes legislation against the increasing intrusion of the English language into French everyday life; the British Embassy declines to comment, as they did not wish to spoil le weekend.
January 17: Royal Israeli Air Force F-111s bomb and launch missiles against two terrorist training camps in the remote north of Syria purportedly linked with the shadowy Arab group responsible for the attempt on the Prime Minister's life. The daring raid sees them fly through Arabian, Jordanian and Syrian airspace at extremely low level at night, utilising new cloaking devices. The violation of Arab airspace sparks outrage and protests in the streets of Damascus.
January 18: The Icelandic volcano Eidfell begins violently erupting in the early hours of the morning, forcing the urgent evacuation of the population of the island of Heimay by the fortuitously present fishing fleet. The lava flow is diverted just in time from enveloping the town harbour through the intervention of the Archmage of Iceland, who called up the sea waters to solidify it. The eruption continues over the next six months, with the ash cloud causing disruption to air travel across the British Isles and Western Europe.
January 19: A second wave of Israeli retaliatory strikes occurs against suspected terrorist targets, this time in the Lebanon, with air strikes being joined by long range naval bombardment from RIN cruisers in eliminating two suspected camps north of Baalbek. The action is met by condemnation from the Arab states, with an emergency meeting of the Arab Union called in Baghdad. Immediate prospects for further escalation by either Israel or the Arabs seems unlikely for the moment, with the arrival of a Royal Navy carrier group and reinforcement of forward deployed combat air wings of RAF Middle East being very heavily telegraphed; behind the scenes, friendly diplomatic pressure is exerted upon the Israeli government by London, Paris and Washington to curtail its retaliation for the time being in the interests of regional peace and stability.
January 20: Ronald Reagan is sworn into office as President of the United States by Chief Justice of the United States Richard Nixon in front of four former Presidents, hundreds of other dignitaries and a crowd of hundreds of thousands at the Capitol in Washington D.C. The 61 year old President’s inaugural address focuses on the need to renew American economic growth and strength in the aftermath of war, the policy of living within the nation’s means, eliminating debt and cutting taxes and that the United States would once again marshal its energies and forces in the defence of freedom throughout the world.
January 21: Yugoslavia places an order for production and acquisition of at least 700 improved special variants of the Valiant main battle tank from Vickers as replacements for their current fleet of Centurions.
January 22: After a decade of consistent growth, the London Stock Exchange FT 50 suffers a 6% loss in a single day in a long awaited market crash, followed by ripple effects and similar crashes of the Dow Jones in New York, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong and in Toronto, Tokyo, Singapore, Bombay and other markets. The potential of a collapse on the scale of 1929 is averted, for the moment, by the intervention of Henry Morgan, John Rockefeller, Lord Rothschild and Chairman of the East India Company, Sir William Ratcliffe, to temporarily stabilise the volatile market, but the events of the day are just the beginning of a significant market movement. Fears of recession spread across the Free World.
January 23: Broadcast of the first episode of Threads on the BBC, a British children’s television series set in a future World War Three that shows the charming adventures of a group of evacuated children in Loxley and Sheffield, amid the adult worries and tribulations of wartime. Critics hail it as managing to show that even a world war can serve as the means to convey a cheery, happy and uplifting message.
January 24: Prospectors in Park County, Colorado discover an extremely large and unique multi-mineral deposit in the mountains near the tow of South Park. Initial tests indicate the presence of one grouping of gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper and uranium intersecting with deposits of coal, titanium, diamonds and rare earth minerals. The US Bureau of Mines dispatches an investigation team to explore the quite strange phenomenon.
January 25: George Foreman knocks out Joe Frazier in the second round of their highly touted clash in Kingston, West Indies, setting up a world heavyweight title fight with British champion 'Little John' Smith.
January 26: A Strategic Air Command B-70 Valkyrie crashes whilst on aerial deterrent patrol over Algeria as part of Operation Chrome Dome, with French troops moving to secure the crash site and aid US personnel in the recovery of the nuclear weapons onboard.
January 27: The Turkish consul-general and his deputy are assassinated in Los Angeles by an aged survivor of the Armenian genocide. The 77 year old assassin is taken into custody by LAPD detectives, charged with murder and sentenced to death after a a trial that is criticised by some Armenian exile groups as being unduly influenced by the issue of U.S.- Ottoman relations.
January 28: Tokyo Police discover two drained and partially burnt corpses in an apartment, with the circumstances of the deaths being similar to an unsolved series of deaths in the late 1960s and the remnants of a haiku written in human blood on the inside of the door causing immediate alarm.
January 29: A special meeting of the British cabinet resolves, after unusually lengthy and frank debate, that no extraordinary measures need be taken in response to the stock market crash and the expected economic downturn, for the time being. Prime Minister Barton succeeds in forcing through his argument in maintaining the national economic plan and not giving in to any thought of rash measures, special addresses to the nation and other attempts at intervention; certain contingency programmes for the relief of unemployment through defence industrial spending are to be activated as necessary.
January 30: Mississippi Senator John Stennis is shot and killed outside his Washington D.C. home in an armed robbery, with the two assailants escaping with his watch, wallet and 25 cents. MPD and the FBI begin an immediate investigation, arresting two suspects within 24 hours.
January 31: Syria officially closes its border with Israel in response to what it terms as RIAF violations of its territorial sovereignty, with the ministers of the Arab Union unanimously voting to condemn the Israeli action in strident terms, calling for compensation for the territorial violation, characterising the action as a violation of international law and reserving the right for further economic sanctions as it sees appropriate. There is significant internal difference between the major Arab states of Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Iraq regarding the succour offered to various militant organisations beyond direct national control, with the current Arab paramount Sultan Faisal of Iraq declaring that. in this matter, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

[jemhouston]

Good post. Nixon on SCOTUS. It should keep him out of trouble.

[Simon Darkshade]

Thank you, Jem. It has worked to do that so far, having been Chief Justice since ‘68 and on the court since 1960; prior to that, he was a reasonably well known Congressman and then Senator on the up. I don’t forecast any great degree of trouble regarding Nixon any time soon, as the law provides him with a way to show his intellect and qualities without exacerbating some of his @ flaws.

There are one or two other things going on.

[jemhouston]

How much is the Arab League's protest for public consumption or actual unhappiness with Israeli's actions?

[Bernard Woolley]

Well, Threads is certainly different!

[Simon Darkshade]

How much is the Arab League's protest for public consumption or actual unhappiness with Israeli's actions?

It isn't the Arab League (which still exists with broader membership), but the Arab Union. In June 1963, we saw its establishment with:

"Declaration of the establishment of the Arab Union of Arabia, Iraq, Syria and Jordan as a confederal state with a common currency, ministries and defence force, with the Sultan of Arabia heading the council of kings. Lebanon and Yemen are given observer rights with capacity to join at a later date."

So, it is a political union of four sovereign Arab states that is something stronger and more tangible than the @ UAR of Syria and Egypt or the Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan. It has a council of kings with a rotational 'paramount king' serving as chairman/primus inter pares (Arabia 1963-1968, Iraq 1969- ), all of whom are related to each other as cousins.

Thus, what they have to say has a fair bit more clout and significance. However, and you are quite right in picking up on the 'vibe' of what is being said, there is a fair bit of simmering difference regarding the extent to which the publicly declared outrage is truly felt. There are differences between the interests of, for example, Syria and Jordan, or Syria and Arabia, which a confederation doesn't magically erase.

Beyond that, there is unhappiness at the violation of sovereignty and the associated message that their sovereign status is somehow second-class compared with other states, which strikes at their own internal inferiority complex/wish to be treated on par with the First World, but it is tempered by knowing that they can't go too far in expressing that unhappiness. This is a Middle East where there have been numerous British and Anglo-American interventions since 1956 to support Western allied governments - Lebanon and Jordan in 1958, Iraq, Libya and Persia being the most notable, not to mention the British crackdown in Aden - and where there still are substantive British and Imperial forces based around the area. As such, were they to go down that path, their fate would likely be to either be overthrown by the British or overthrown by restive officers infected by pro-Soviet dreams of pan-Arab socialism; there isn't anything in that for them.

As a result, they have to try and thread the eye of the needle by vociferous legal and economic responses, without going too far and unleashing forces that would be inimicable to their own survival and prosperity.

..............................................

This does raise the utility of reposting 1946-1969 here to provide past events for easy reference, but also a great opportunity - one of revision. The early timeline entries were rather short, sharp and shiny, which worked for some, but for others did not provide enough detail, at least until 1966 when I moved to a more expansive amount of detail.

This is as good a time as any to go back over the 1946-1949, the 1950s and 1960-65 and expand them, posting them up one year at a time (with stats) to create a definitive version. They also feature some of the 'Where are They Now' bits that will be of some interest, hopefully.

As ever, though, it would take time, and only be worth it if there was an uptake of more than 1-2 readers/commenters.

[Simon Darkshade]

Well, Threads is certainly different!

Very different indeed; I thought that might just get a reaction like that from you.

It isn't just a joke or contrarian development, but what flows from a different Britain and a different view of the prospect of World War 3.

In the former respect, it is both more powerful and more wealthy, with an Imperial mindset quite markedly different from any we would be familiar in a post WW2 popular culture sense, but it is also a little bit more 'old-fashioned' in how this manifests in literature, on television and on the radio. Stylistically, this leans towards programmes written a bit closer to John Wyndham, Alan Garner and Robert Westall than Gritty Realism (TM). It should be noted that it is made with the cooperation and assistance of the Ministry of Information.

In the latter, World War 3 isn't seen as a quick End of the World scenario, but a more protracted and mixed conflict involving nuclear and conventional weapons. For most of the 1960s, warning time was more in the realm of 20 minutes at the least, with the strategic picture very advantageous towards Britain and the West, until the arrival of newer marks of Soviet missiles that cut things down to a theoretical ~10 minutes. Another factor at play is a very strong and vigorous missile defence/ABM programme which provides a decent measure of protection and, insofar as the public is told/concerned, a very significant one. Finally, Civil Defence hasn't been abandoned as comparatively useless, with provision of shelters and post attack planning being much heavier.

DE Threads has a number of atomic hits within England, but they come in the form of leakers, near misses and so forth, primarily aimed at military bases and targets, but no 80 megatons in the first wave killing 2.5-9 million a la @ Threads or 205 Mt from 131 weapons from Square Leg. The overall effect, insofar as the television programme is concerned, is something like a worse 1940 from @ combined with the early CW notions of a broken backed war, with the 'feel' of the piece also being strongly influenced by it being made for children. @ Threads took the more pessimistic view, quite in keeping with the social mood/popular culture/general view of WW3 of the time, whereas DE Threads does take a more rosy or optimistic tone, reminiscent in some ways of Sound An Alarm from 1971.

Even the title, which in @ evoked the idea that society was held together by mere threads and when they are cut, utter collapse ensues, has a different level of meaning. In this case, it is referring to the 'threads which bind', or the links between people, generations, places and societies that go deeper than mere ephemeral threads; the setting in Loxley does bring in deeper links to past history, Robin Hood, timeslipping and more, which is in keeping with some other British children's programmes of the 1970s.

So there is more to it than just the joke of 'Threads = a cheery, uplifting programme for children'. Indeed, there is almost a bit of underhanded horror embedded in the idea on a meta level, with children's television including a subtle propaganda series about a Third World War, almost a bit like if the Muppets/Sesame Street did a 'Duck and Cover' lesson; now there's another idea...

[Simon Darkshade]

February
February 1: Commissioning of the USN’s newest nuclear supercarrier USS Shiloh at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation’s Fore River Shipyard, freeing up one of capital ship sized slips across the country for President Reagan’s planned defence expansion; Bunker Hill is under construction at the American Shipbuilding Corporation yard in Camden, NJ until mid 1974 and Valley Forge at New York Shipbuilding on Staten Island, NY is due to be commissioned in the second half of 1975. The battleships Maryland and New Mexico are approaching completion at the Long Beach Navy Shipyard, CA and the Philadelphia Navy Shipyard, PA, respectively, with 1972's commissioning of South Carolina and Arkansas at San Francisco Navy Shipyard, CA and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, NY. It is thought that these, combined with the completion of USS Ticonderoga at Newport News Shipbuilding late last year, will provide scope for the acceleration of the next projected South Dakota class and the next batch of Ticonderogas.
February 2: Completion of the second stage of expansion of VFL Park in South East Melbourne, with the stadium now capable of holding crowds of well over 200,000 and extended double tracked railway and two integrated tram lines providing for swifter public transport.
February 3: King Louis is ceremoniously served a plate of the famed centuries-old Perpignan Perpetual Stew whilst on progress in Rousillon, with His Majesty graciously pronouncing the dish as ‘full of French character’.
February 4: Norwegian archaeologists claim to have uncovered the lost Barrow of the legendary Viking chieftain Hägar II Hägarsson, better known to history as ‘the Horrible’.
February 5: A Londonderry businessman becomes the first aerial motorist in Ireland to be pulled over in mid flight and issued with an on the spot fine for flying too slowly in the Fast skylane in his Ekin Airbuggy.
February 6: Seismographs in Tibet and India indicate that a very large earthquake has taken place in Western Szechuan, the latest misfortune to hit the province. Imperial troops and aircraft move to respond from Chungking.
February 7: A USAF high altitude D-21 reconnaissance drone that accidentally strayed into North Laotian airspace is shot down by an unknown new high performance Soviet interceptor, with the live footage from the drone’s cameras causing considerable consternation at USFV headquarters in Saigon.
February 8: Two Paraguayan Army patrols are ambushed and destroyed by guerrillas in the Gran Chaco, the latest example of the deteriorating security situation in the region, which is the heartland of Guevarist inspired communist revolutionary groups in Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina.
February 9: Soviet serial killer Anatoly Utkin is captured by local militsiya in Ulyanovsk; the official Soviet policy that there are no serial killers in the USSR continues to be maintained, with such behaviour officially confined to the degenerate capitalist West. He is swiftly tried in camera and sentenced to be taken to Belesets-13 for the experimental vivisektsiya programme.
February 10: President Reagan declines to take precipitous actions in response to the stock market crash, deciding to give it time to play out before putting in place a margin reduction and initial tax cut. The consensus of opinion in Washington leans towards this being the start of an inevitable market correction after the boom of the previous decade and that hasty interventionist measures may result in a rise in inflation that would compound the 'recession we had to have'.
February 11: Voters in Liechtenstein reject a proposal for the extension of suffrage to women.
February 12: Noted Austrian-American actor, bodybuilder and strongman Arnold Schwarzenegger, fresh from his recent role as Hamlet in New York City, joins the US Army Reserve’s 149th Commando Regiment, having previously served as a conscript in the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Army from 1965-67.
February 13: The Royal Historical Society releases its annual report, 'The Top 5 Greatest Cities in the World', rating the world's cities upon their population, culture and happiness, amenity, attractions and wonders, which sees London come top, ahead of New York City, Paris, Rome and Constantinople, with the Byzantine Greek capital bumping out Tokyo in the aftermath of the successful 1972 Olympic Games.
February 14: GDR Chairman Ernst Thalmann appears to verbally stumble backwards over several different lines in his speech at the launching of the Volksmarine's newest guided missile super cruiser, Karl Liebknecht.
February 15: The USN declares an end to Operation Clean Sweep, the clearance of mines from North and South Vietnamese waters that had steadily proceeded over the last three years. The force of minesweepers, helicopters, rotodynes and hovercraft is seen as reinforcing that the task of minesweeping requires both surface vessels and aircraft.
February 16: Police in Cleveland, Ohio, responding to an urgent call about a missing tiger, discover that the fearsome beast is apparently a stuffed animal, which is returned to the owner, a young tow-headed type of no small rambunctiousness; one officer swears that he saw the creature transform, but is subsequently thought to be overwrought and is transferred from the Big Cat Squad to the unit investigating the Federation of Inter-State Truckers.
February 17: The Museum ship USS Constitution vanishes from her berth at the Boston Naval Yard, sparking alarm and immediate investigation by the USN and FBI. Dark magic is immediately suspected.
February 18: Economic uncertainty and a general slowdown continues across the United States, Britain and the broader Western world, with unemployment continuing to rise. In Britain, the amount of young men called up into National Service in the Armed Forces and Empire Labour Service per month is increased to reduce immediate pressure on the labour market, whilst contracts for additional production orders are signed with a number of significant defence suppliers, refurbishment of several Royal Ordnance facilities is commenced and construction plans for several new Royal Highways with special secondary purposes approved by the Ministry of Works.
February 19: Israeli naval commandos launch a predawn raid a suspected terrorist camp in the north of the Lebanon, eliminating several dozen enemy personnel before withdrawing by Zodiac to a waiting RIN destroyer. The action leads to a formal protest by the Lebanese government and a closure of the border.
February 20: The Red Army begins its largest winter exercise for five years, somewhat uncharacteristically late in the season, with over 400,000 personnel taking part in extensive war games in Archangelsk Oblast and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
February 21: Colorado journalists investigating reports of a new costumed vigilante in Denver and surrounding towns uncover no sign of the strange 'Mysterion', save for fleeting glimpses of a small figure in distant shadows.
February 22: Construction begins on a new historical theme park in Delos, Texas, featuring attractions based on the Wild West, Medieval England, Ancient Rome, the Golden Age of Piracy and The World of 2001, which are to be cleverly simulated using applied sophisticated illusion magics and costumed robotic androids, all controlled by an intelligent reactive supercomputing engine.
February 23: Lockheed-Martin begin testing of an experimental low observable radar avoidant ‘stealth’ aircraft at Turner AFB, Groom Lake, Nevada. The revolutionary craft has a triangular shape and utilises active camouflage through innovative materials and new, complex arcane enchantments.
February 24: Every olive tree in Spain, save for the venerable Farga d'Arió in Ulldecona, dies during the night. A strange storm around the witching hour seems to have sparked the die-off, with the wiping out of the valuable Spanish olive industry devastating the agricultural sector and leaving the nation in shock. The Spanish Inquisition begins an emergency investigation, whilst some Spanish grandees point the finger at Italy, whose trees were unaffected by the 'Second Noche Triste'.
February 25: The Miller Brewing Company cancels development of a 'light beer' after extensive research and testing shows demonstrates the lack of a market niche for a beer below the long accepted 5% abv mark, with some respondents in the 'beer heartland' of the Midwest labelling the lighter drink as an abomination dreamed up by the Anti-Saloon League.
February 26: British Rail begins experimental service of the Tracked Hovertrain on several South Coast secondary lines; whilst the technology is now mature, it does have to compete against the rival magical levitation/maglev systems used successfully on the major intercity lines and new generation conventional trains, with the result that export of a monorail version is seen as the most promising course of action.
February 27: Australian crocodile hunters report a new spate of sightings of very large and apparently intelligent saltwater crocodiles in the wilds of New Guinea, with some reports of the beasts seemingly speaking in order to entice their human prey.
February 28: The American Medical Association presents a report to the Surgeon-General calling for radical changes to the rules and equipment of football in order to prevent a danger to public health and safety, with the conclusion canvassing an outright ban or restriction upon the sport as an absolute last option should these reforms not be possible.

[jemhouston]

I'm happy they're pulling over people for going too slow. Just because you're driving five miles an hour over the speed limit doesn't mean you can hog the left lane. Some of us want to really break the speed limit.

[Simon Darkshade]

I would note that it is in a skylane and personal aircraft; and that being in Ireland, they drive on the proper side, with the fast lane thus being the right lane.

[Paul Nuttall]

February

February 16: Police in Cleveland, Ohio, responding to an urgent call about a missing tiger, discover that the fearsome beast is apparently a stuffed animal, which is returned to the owner, a young tow-headed type of no small rambunctiousness; one officer swears that he saw the creature transform, but is subsequently thought to be overwrought and is transferred from the Big Cat Squad to the unit investigating the Federation of Inter-State Truckers.

This 'young tow-headed type of no small rambunctiousness'....he doesn't have a line is snowmen making and occasionally jetting off to space does he?

[Simon Darkshade]

He does indeed. A bit of a precocious type is young Calvin.

[Simon Darkshade]

January 1973 Notes

- The Treaty of Brussels is going to be followed by more incremental steps in the 1970s. In a dangerous world and disunited Europe, the Low Countries look to their own combination to deliver the economic, industrial, military and political weight to put them on the top rung
- The merged Imperial Eagle oil company is one of the largest in the world, just behind British Petroleum and Shell in the Empire
- Restarting a Chieftain production line for Reserve use and WERS (using the old Nuffield Mechanizations plant built in @ for the Crusader) is another sign of a different approach. The rotation of TA and Reserve divisions through active service is designed to increase their readiness and mobilised utility
- January 4’s eclipse features the surviving Andrea Doria, saved by a rather super man in 1956
- The C-10N is ‘the most badass nuclear rocket ever to grace God’s green Earth’
- Even as Portugal starts to waver a little, the Rhodesians and South Africans move to offer aid, as it is in their interests to shore up their flanks
- The Ugandan troop rotation showcases how the Commonwealth acts as a force multiplier
- Nuclear power is well ahead in the USA as well; Castle Rock may be a bit too spooky a place for a nuclear power plant, though…
- Argentina continues to arm
- The Vickers VC25 Victoria is one heck of a plane
- A Lemmings AND a Compare the Meerkat reference
- Middleton is Milton Keynes with a different, more traditional look. The other New Cities ‘fill up a few holes’
- Here, Mossad does not stop the missile launch before it happens, starting a snowballing event. Major David Kabakov is Robert Shake’s character from Black Sunday
- The French chip/frite on the shoulder regarding the use of English is nothing new
- RIAF F-111s makes a strike of a longer range than @‘s Operation Opera quite doable
- Icelandic volcanoes disrupting travel
- Reagan enters power earlier in a different USA
- Yugoslavia starts to replace its tank park
- As anticipated, a stock market crash and subsequent recession is slightly ameliorated a la 1907
- Threads even has a cheery theme song over its end credits
- Come on up to South Park and see our great big mine
- B-70s as part of Chrome Dome
- Strange slayings in Tokyo
- No one is panicking at the crash just yet
- Sen. John Stennis doesn’t survive his incident here
- The Arabs elect to take a circumspect approach