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Economist 23rd April 2009



Leaders ~ Editorial

Hello and welcome again to the Economist. A short edition this week due to real life constraints on my time I am afraid. Sadly we're going to print before the elections this week, so our usual analysis will have to wait until next week. However we predict moderate UKRP and TUP gains, PCP hold and MDU losses. Apart from that, LSD looks to be running a single candidate under the MDU banner, so a chance of a seat there. The IFTP will be running candidates, who are of course independent and thus will be largely unknown factors until they get into parliament (apart from party leader Goku Jones of course). Interesting battlegrounds include West Midlands and Northern Ireland, and we eagerly await the results. I will of course be standing for re-election in my home land in Yorkshire, and fellow Yorkshire men and women can see my presentation from now onwards.

This week has been a bit crazy, with an attempted PEACE counter-attack in the far East, a flurry of bans after a colossal battle over Sardinia and a number of resistance wars in the near east. All this war has had little results for PEACE, and Romania responded today with a new push Southwards into India. It seems our prediction that they intend to take coastal India and then reinforce the border with the Indonesian mainland are correct. Russia attacked Romania, after an ultimatum given by the Romanian government that Romania would completely destroy Romania if they did so. Romania's exact words were 'Pakistan will be heaven on Earth compared to what we will do to you”.

In British politics the main debates have been over the new NHS system (wellness fast) and its impact on the Ministry of Migration and Support. It has been suggested by some that the Ministry is now defunct as its main purpose (moving people out of London) could easily be covered by wellness fast. However, it is arguable that the Ministry is a good training ground for new players and serves a function in moving more experienced players or those with high health to the regions.

Finally, we'd like to do a couple of housekeeping measures in the paper. We're happy to welcome Ryan McCulloch, who will be writing the Charlemagne column from next week. Charlemagne was a French (or more accurately Frankish) King who founded the first Holy Roman Empire in Europe. It is arguable that the spread of Germanic Christianity throughout Northern Europe led to many of the later developments which defined European culture. It is for this reason the real life Economist names its Europe editorial Charlemagne. This week we're also running the Economist Journalism Awards for the first time, to celebrate reaching 300 subscribers for the first time.



Leaders ~ Peace Counter-Attack

Anyone briefly glancing at the world map will see what looks like utter carnage in Asia. A series of Romanian assaults, resistance wars and an Indonesian counter-offensive has left the whole region divided and in tatters. Much of East Asia is now Chinese, and controlled by Atlantis pawns. Pakistan now exists once again as a state after unsanctioned resistance wars by ex-Romanian President Han Solo.

So what does this all mean? Well the Romanian offensive stalled last week as a series of resistance wars divided the bulk of the Romanian public. Since then the Indonesians have laid down assault after assault on the Romanian lands in Pakistan and India, hoping to retake the initiative. Those attacks all failed, leaving Indonesian pride in tatters and the Romanians slinging comments after them about the quality of their armed forces. The so-called Peace counter-offensive has failed, and today Romanian forces marched into Maharashtra, pushing Indonesian forces underground within half an hour of the battle beginning. It looks a lot like their advance is going to hold, with the wall being at -65k and dropping by roughly 30k an hour.

This could represent a serious imbalance in the game. A lot of the fun relies on the two super-alliances remaining roughly equal, however Hungary is increasingly a rogue element and the two Peace superpowers are failing to co-ordinate. With most of Atlantis' mobile forces in Romania, the force of their attack is multiplied. Indonesia does not have this advantage. So their counter-attack, initially promising, has fallen flat.



Britain ~ Economist Journalism Awards

To celebrate the Economist reaching 300 subscribers we have decided to run a series of awards for the best and brightest in each section of the media. With so many good writers it was difficult to give the awards out, and for every award winner there were ten good entries. The decision was made by the editor, and was not based on politics, merely on the quality, and sometimes the fun level, of the newspapers concerned. Without further ado, here are the awards and the winning newspapers.

Best Interview Newspaper

Interviewing the Nation
ITN gave a burst of good articles throughout March. Although it has been quiet of late it is probably the best in its field operating in the last month. We hope to see more from promising young editor JudgeDJ

Best "Political Commentary" Newspaper

eUK Telegraph
The eUK Telegraph is a good piece of fairly unbiased political journalism. Although there are a lot of papers which time to time write political commentary, we appreciate that CV James has retired from politics to write a political column and appreciate the good work he does in the field.

Most Controversial Newspaper

The Freethinker
Although Goku is now printing more mainstream articles, his early articles were consistantly controversial and consistently good. For this reason we are awarding the Freethinker 'Most Controversial Newspaper' award, something which should be worn with pride. All papers should aspire to provoke debate amongst their readers.

Best Newcomer (less than one month)

The Defamatory Remark
TDR has burst onto the scene with two very highly voted articles. Ryan McCulloch intends to take the newspaper down a weekly route, and we feel he has the ability to go a long way in journalism.

Best Government Newspaper

eUK Home Office News
A lot of people criticised the decision to make the Home Affairs department a separate Ministry. However the newspaper above has completely squashed those criticisms with a series of informative and useful articles. The national newspaper has started hitting the top 5 for the first time in months and all round this is a newspaper all should subscribe to.

Most Entertaining Newspaper

newspaper2
Newspaper2 has a reputation. A reputation for spam, for humour, for bizarre announcements that make no sense and for political satire that has at times made the author laugh out loud.

Best Regional Paper

East Midlands Gazette
This paper is one of the most active and most subscribed regional papers. It has run a long and consistent series of articles over the last few weeks and is written largely by Soultrader, who does it out of the goodness of his heart. Well done.

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So there we go. Our best and brightest young journalists, and we encourage all readers to subscribe to them all.


Bagehot ~ Ministerial Positions Amendment

Debate was sparked in these past few weeks surrounding the issue of ministerial positions. The old law stated that certain cabinet positions could only be filled by members of congress or Lords – namely, Ministers of Defence, Foreign Affairs, Finance and Health. With the uncertainty surrounding congressional elections and that merit and contribution sometimes not being rewarded with a place in the House of Commons, and because of the lack of active Lords, it was felt by some as necessary for the Country President to be able to exclude this requirement when appointing his cabinet to include non-congressional members.

The amendment does not simply do away with the criteria but rather amends it to allow the option should it be necessary. Should it be so, a House of Commons vote is needed to confirm the cabinet choice.

The argument in favour of the amendment is two fold. Firstly, some our best and brightest citizens, although have in the past ran for congress, for various reasons, have abstained from running now. Some feel their duty to this country is better served helping in other ways – namely by assisting in conflicts abroad. Secondly, we have a duty to the country to place the best we can in positions of responsibility and power. However, there is a feeling of reward for a lack of service to the country. Should someone who forgoes the opportunity to help in the bettering of our nation from the ground of the regions up to the top in the cabinet, be rewarded? The law states that they must be congressmen or lords, so should an opportunity be given to someone who either does not stand or was not given a mandate. As good as they may be, laws should not be changed to make way for the privileged few.

It was a problem last month whereby a number of our most able citizens and previous congressmen either chose not to run again or simply left our country to fight or participate in governments abroad that needed assistance. Although that trend has decreased and somewhat reversed lately a lack of choice is still an issue and will likely be in the coming months. This amendment allows the opportunity to place those that are able, regardless of their personal feelings towards our government or history, in primary roles within our cabinet. We should, after all, have first consideration to what is best for the country and place personal feelings about the individuals which we promote in this way aside. But to what extent should be back away from our duty to protect democracy and the strength of the people’s vote? This amendment erodes our core values of choice being in the hands of the citizen population. Not only that, it creates risk of very real abuse. Should the President want his own personal friends in the top ministerial positions he could, using this, do that. The amendment raises the risk of nepotism at the expense of the country.

Although the amendment throws up difficulties for many, it is not a free ride. The candidate must pass a vote of confirmation in the Commons and should the house feel that other, equally capable candidates existed they could reject the President’s proposed choice. It is an amendment that could very easily be revoked by another Commons and Lords vote in the coming months should it no longer be necessary.

As of writing the amendment has not yet passed into law – it is a near vote and could very well be rejected.

Scipio the Great



Europe ~ The battle for the Mediterranean

This week we saw another huge battle in Southern Europe. This time it was the Italians and Spanish who were fighting, over the island of Sardinia in the Western Mediterranean. But why on Earth did they waste their time fighting over what is essentially a pointless rock? The war between the two countries has now topped five million damage, and yet neither country has gained advantage over the other. In the recent conflict large numbers of Spaniards were banned for using illegal gold. The Theocrats, who were fighting on behalf of the Spanish, have also had their organisation banned and their assets frozen. The Spanish had this message to give regarding those soldiers who were banned for fighting the Peace soldiers and Indonesia:

“Este mensaje va en honor a los caídos en combate, muchos se extrañaran de que en un juego haya habido muertes, pues literalmente ya que han sido baneados tres miembros conocidos por la Sociedad Española: Wlodek, Thai y Sato.

“This message is to honour the fallen in battle, many were surprised that they died in a game, but they have literally been banned- three members that are well known to Spanish Society: Wlodek, Thai and Sato.”

This battle was symbolic of the struggle between Peace and Atlantis. The Spanish won, but by tanking three players, not by using the vast majority of their armed forces. The day was won mostly by the organisational abilities of Tuput, who managed gold and weapons for the majority of the day, and liased with the Theocrats to ensure that power was brought to a point in the last half hour of the battle. It is a sad fact- but a fact- that citizens don't win battles any more, but instead gold wins battles. The mightiest soldiers can do tens of thousands of damage with enough gold, which limits the ability of those such as ourselves to contribute.



Business News ~ Monetary Markets

GBP is very strong at the minute- the Economist strongly advises all citizens to buy gold now as it is very cheap. You won't regret it, as gold is a transferable currency and can be reinvested at a later stage into the monetary markets making a profit. By buying up cheap gold you're also helping your country.



**The Economist**


Top 10 Players by Experience

1.Darkplayer 82- Switzerland (currently)
2.Euphonix- Indonesia (currently)
3.Durruti- Argentina (currently)
4.Tuput- Spain (currently)
5.Benn Dover- Romania (currently)
6.Mverslayer- Spain (currently)
7.XUCoOo- Romania (currently)
8.Pruden- Romania (currently)
9.Olorum- Indonesia (currently)
10.Smif- Romania (currently)