The Economist 30th April Edition- Controversy in the UK
Day 527, 13:44
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Published in United Kingdom 
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by
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by Spite313
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**The Economist 30th May Edition**
Leaders ~ Editorial
Well it's been a controversial week all round, with a bunch of stuff going on both on the eUK forums and globally. For anyone not on the forums, you're missing a treat! You can sign up here. So what's gone on? Well a hoard of flame wars, with the government, the military, the House of Lords, two political parties and several individuals getting moderately toasted.
On a global scene we saw the usual take-overs during the congress elections, which we'll be doing our usual post-election coverage of in this issue. This particular week was unique in that the UK participated in one ourselves, a fact which has caused a mix of consternation and anger amongst the forum going public. More on that later. Romania have continued to advance into India, issuing an ultimatum to the Indian government to surrender the Tamil Nadu region of India to Romania or face imminent and total destruction. This once again proves that the Romanians aren't joking when they talk about 'disproportionate responses'.
Another contentious issue this week was the overrunning of the Philippines, which was under the protection of ex-UK citizens. Spanish rebel forces, unsanctioned by their government, engineered the take-over, which was preceded by a number of insulting and racist spam articles which filled the Filipino media.
So a complex week all round. We're going to try and keep each section short, otherwise it would be 5000 words long, which in our opinion is too much. We'll be posting links to discussion in each section. Also, if anyone wishes to comment more fully on a topic, feel free to write a letter to the editor and it will be published in the following edition.
Leaders ~ House of Lords boycott and debate
This week the House of Lords (HoL) debate, which has kicked around in public discussion almost since it was implemented last November, took a big push forward. Rastari proposed his own take on reform to the Commons vote, whilst Goku Jones (Radical Freethinkers Alliance Party President) proposed his own far more radical solution.
Rastari's proposition was to change the number of party presidents who are necessary to approve a candidate, as well as making the requirements for entry more strict. By the time it went to vote however people had begun to favour a more radical solution. The 4/5 majority required by Rastari's measure was originally developed after The Unity Party (TUP) blocked Bob Boblo as a Lord last term. However, since then both Goku Jones and Robalbinio have been elected as Party Presidents, and are more radical than TUP, making the 4/5 majority meaningless.
Goku Jones proposed two simultaneous options, as well as showing some support for a third measure by the sole TUP Lord, Squiddy. His intention was to provide a wide variety of options from which the commons could choose the most favourable. These proposals were initially paired with a joint Radical Freethinkers Alliance (RFA) and Forward Britain! (FB!) boycott of House of Lords votes, causing uproar in the forums. As the situation stands, we are currently waiting to see which of the several options go forward into the House of Commons for debate. You can see the discussion here along with all the other public discussion.
Leaders ~ Interview with SaraDroz
This week we're interviewing UKRP member and Minister of Foreign Affairs SaraDroz. Sara is a big figure in modern British politics, and we are interviewing her today about her views on eRepublik and where she sees the eUK going over the next few months.
Although you're well known, not many people know about your early eLife. What were you up to for the first two months in the game?
I started my eLife in the Navy very shortly after it was created, first briefly in C Platoon and then as Sergeant of 'Easy' Platoon. I did my first government Apprenticeship in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when Intrepid was the Minister. There with Squiddy we I helped set up the Ministry of Foreign Affairs database.
In that time I guess you met a lot of people. Is there anyone in particular who changed the course of your career?
Will Salmon became a good friend, as did the now Commanding Officer of the Royal Navy thehorseltd. The main people who were in charge were Squiddy and Hassan whom I first met then.
As a government minister, you've seen a lot happen over the last couple of months. How would you rate the government's performance overall?
A lot of people blame governments without knowing the facts. The American fine for invading Mexico was actually well dealt with by Jerry, but it was a classified deal reported only in Cabinet. Likewise this Czech business recently, which perhaps could have been better handled. As I say the Government 9 time out of 10 has a good idea of what is happening and will happen. For obvious reasons [security issues] we cannot always broadcast such information publically.
There has been a lot of reforms proposed by various people lately, for the military, the House of Lords and so on. Would you say that the UK has turned a corner and is now heading in a new direction?
Yes I believe it is. There seems to be a renewed readiness to suggest what was once before 'unthinkable' and I for one welcome it! Certainly the military needs a lot of reform and I hope to see this start as soon as possible. Likewise I believe we must now seriously consider other ways of reviewing legislation, past and present, other than the House of Lords (HoL).
It is rumoured that you have been selected by the UK Reform Party as their official candidate, are you willing to put those rumours to rest??
Yes I and happy and proud to announce the UKRP have selected me as their Presidential candidate and I am happy to speak to any and all other parties that would wish to work with us.
When you release your manifesto, what key issues do you think are going to dominate the debate between yourself and Hassan Pesaran?
I have spoken with Hassan and it seems we are actually agreed in the general aim of military reform, though I believe my plans will be cheaper in the long term. I have a lot of other proposals for general Government reform and 'thinning out' as well as the merging of several Ministries. Of course I cannot say if Hassan plans to deal with these issues, nor whether he will address House of Lords reform.
If you win, you will be Britain's first female Prime Minister. Do you think you're an example to other female gamers that women can defeat all comers even in a mostly male world?
I suppose you could see at as somewhat ironic that the UK Reform Party, like the Conservative Party in real life, may have the female Prime Minister. The are many great female players out there and I would of course encourage them. However I see myself as an individual in a game of individuals where all are equal.
Finally, do you have anything you'd like to say to the Economist readers?
I would encourage all to get involved in eUK forums. The more you get involved the more your views can he heard and the stronger eUK becomes. Should I become Prime Minister I shall have Prime Minister's Question Time on the IRC to answer all questions twice weekly so get involved! Lobby your Congressmen if you want something changed, tell us! Moaning without suggesting a better way is pointless - tell us how to make the UK better!
Britain ~ Impeachment debate
Rayf Drayson and Funky44 both simultaneously issued requests for Malta to resign. Rayf's argument was perhaps the most clearly written. He state
“I hereby demand the immediate resignations of all parties in involved in the War Council who approved and carried out these actions i]Czech takeover[/i. That includes, but is not limited to, the Prime Minister (Country President) of the eUK, the Minister of Defence, the COs of any and all military branches (should they have been involved), any other Cabinet officials involved in the decision and the actions, and any of the career officers sitting on the War Council who may have been involved in this decisions and the actions undertaken.”
Rayf's main criticism was that the UK Prime Minister had ordered troops to be deployed without the consultation of the House of Commons. To back this up he quoted legislation which outlined the powers of the war council, which shows that the House of Commons must be consulted on military actions such as a declaration of war. However, the issue became contentious due to the legislation being vague. The current law could be interpreted to mean military action as in a direct war of conquest, as opposed to political action. The debate was extensive, but it seems unlikely that this particular motion will make it to a vote. Despite some key figures arguing for the motion to be brought forward, an amendment has been proposed to close the loophole, and inquest laws are currently going though public discussion. It seems that the most likely result will be a public inquiry following the passing of legislation closing the loophole, and forcing a War Council vote on all military affairs, including takeovers. A second thread was created entitled “Motion of Confidence in Malta_1990”. This received quite a few signatures, as well as a statement by Rayf that he would drop his case depending on the result of the independent inquiry.
“I will sign this if the investigation reveals that malta had the legal authority to issue the deployment orders. If he did not, then I certainly will not sign this. If he did, then I will gladly sign this as a show of support and unity. It all hinges on the investigation and whether his actions were legal or illegal.”
We can hope that this will be resolved before the next issue.
Britain ~ Election Results
The results of the congress election last week were a mixed bunch. As expected the UKRP and TUP maintained the most seats, followed by PCP. The Radical Freethinkers Alliance achieved 4 seats and Forward Britain! just one. Here are the results in full.
Candidate
Party
Votes
Stefan Dorunga
UKRP-
31
Caoimhin MacFie
UKRP
27
Steeeev
PCP
23
Iain Keers
TUP
22
Scipio the Great
PCP----
21
Luke Mitchell
TU P
21
Corinthius
----UKRP
20
John Forseti
T UP
17
Jan Baykara
P CP
17
Wallyboy
---TUP
16
LordJustice
----UKRP
16
Hethor
----TUP
15
Draaglom
--PCP
14
BFSte
----TUP
14
Rasi
UKRP
14
Alexander Etch
RFA
13
Certacito
----UKRP
12
Indiekid
----UKRP
12
Sir Graystar
TUP
12
Stephen Torrington
TUP----
12
Stefan1992
---TUP
12
Goku Jones
RFA
11
Busynurse1510
TUP
10
Anaxima
--UKRP
10
Mailak Kalan
TUP---
10
Craig Rossiter
UKRP
10
Viperb10
--FB/LSD
9
Marcus Grim
RFA---
9
Ryan McCulloch
UKRP--
9
Arthur Wellesley
UKRP--
8
Davelklatzen
--PCP
8
Rastari
----PCP
7
Azra'eil
----FB
7
Count Drakula
TUP--
6
SaraDroz
--UKRP
6
Dan Fallows
PCP
4
=Wildcards=
Restro
---RFA
15
Asahelnettleton
-UKRP
12
Maverick8789
U KRP
12
ThomasR26
P CP
11
UKRP: 14
TUP: 12
PCP: 8
RFA: 4
FB!: 1
LS
As we can see a lot of new faces have been elected this month. At least half a dozen of the members elected are complete unknowns and haven't been involved in the debates at all. We can see this as a continuation of the UKRP come-back. TUP has 12 members signed in on the forums, and on the party mailing lists. The big losers this month were FB! Perhaps the MDU should have thought before they changed their name and party logo a few days before the congress elections. As it is the big 3 parties are dominating the scene, all having over 300 members.
Bagehot ~ The best of the rest
After a busy week the political landscape has been significantly altered, as a result a number of proposals have come up for discussion and vote.
Public Inquiry Bill
A new proposal and procedure that will introduce three impartial judges (one from the Commons, one from the Lords and one from the War Council) to our system to look into any action by out Government in order to determine whether any wrongdoing or impropriety has occurred.
It is, to a certain extent, a radical move and it will be interesting if it passes the Commons and lords, however, I suspect not. One of the greatest concerns in the UK, heightened by this week’s Commons sensitive information leak, is the security of sensitive information. For this Judicial Review procedure to work it would require a considerable amount of cooperation by parties that may not be willing to divulge sensitive information.
The three reviewers are of course bound to not divulge any information that they are made available to which is sensitive. When they report, although a detailed account of the circumstances is required, they may only reveal as much as is necessary to deliver a verdict while maintaining discretion where necessary.
Another argument that has been raised against the proposal is the effective increase in bureaucracy and procedure. That the time spent investigating would be proportionately too long to the length of our administrations and that some sort of “Prime Ministers” questions would be better.
Regardless, the outcome in the HoC, and more particularly in the HoL, will be interesting.
Small Party Rights Bill repeal
As the game only allows the top 5 parties by membership to be able to field congressional (or CP) candidates, our government passed the Small Party Rights Act. It allowed those parties (not in the top 5) that have significant in-game membership to have a voice in our forum HoC (the calculation as to how many they get can be found on the forums in the Government Policy section).
This Bill is now up for a vote in HoC for repeal. The reasons given are that, while the smaller parties are guaranteed membership in the HoC via this act, the larger parties are not similarly protected.
This repeal was called for when this exact scenario was played out in the congressional elections just passed. Whereby MDU (a big 5 party) received fewer congressional candidates than LSD (a non-big 5 party) would have under the act.
With a number of congressmen still needing to vote on the matter, it is still too early to tell whether the repeal will pass.
War Council Amendment
As a result of one of the more controversial topics this week (the UK led TO of the Czech Republic) an amendment to our War Council has been proposed. The current legislation outlining the War Council’s roles says that any act of aggression must be put before the House of Commons before it is initiated. Whether a TO constitutes an act of aggression is where the initial debate hinged but was generally agreed as ambiguous wording.
So as to overcome this ambiguity the amendment is to place the words “which includes take-overs” into the law. However, the debate has now shifted. Should it be the HoC that approves any TO or the War Council. HoC approval represents a serious risk that the information disclosed to HoC is leaked (as the past week has so clearly shown). Gaining access to the House of Commons is relatively easy with no control over who does so. Where as the War Council represents a secure environment where such decisions can be made.
On the other hand, the UK has never up until now openly taken part in any take-over and many feel very strongly about it. While we have an elected legislative body that decides all matters for this country, the decision of whether or not to begin or continue to participate in TOs should be made by such a body.
The proposal is yet to enter the HoC and remains for the time being in public discussion.
Scipio the Great
Europe ~ Czech Republik
This week we saw the takeover of the Czech Republic by British mobile forces. Although the operation was a covert one, it became very apparent after just a short while what had happened, and a number of objections were raised. The main issue was that troops had been deployed without House of Commons approval. Around 80 gold, as well as some currency was taken from the Czech Republic to help fund the armed forces. As has already been discussed, this was objected to due to reasons already mentioned.
Some members of Congress have promised that they will work to repay the Czech's for the gold lost. Others have shown support for the move, including many prominent members of the military. Rastari, one of the most anti-take over members of parliament, published this apology in the Czech media:
“This is not an official apology but a personal one, the Congress were not consulted about the takeover and neither were the cabinet. It was decision taken entirely by the president and the Military commanders, and a wrong one. I am very sorry that this happened and I hope that you can recover and become a strong country again.”
The simple fact is that like so many other low populated countries in eRepublik, the Czech Republic is a target for takeovers and conquest. Most senior players think that the country will be left alone for a while, mainly because there isn't much money left there. But at some point the small central European state will inevitably fall.
World News~ New eRepublik Podcast
Well we've had the eUK podcast team, Roadrunnerspeed and Hassan Pesaran on the block for quite a while now, and Justinious set one up over in the states. So we're familiar with the concept of the podcast, but what does Squiddy and Dish's new show have to offer? The EGN, or eRepublik Global News service does what it says on the tin: It offers a global show covering events worldwide, with presenters including Christi Badea, the eRepublik Community Manager.
The show is hosted on http://www.erepnews.com. Although I haven't had time to listen to the show as yet, I have been assured it is worth taking the time out to do so. The Economist has offered to publish our articles on the website, and we are currently in talks with Squiddy about the exact details. In conclusion- good luck guys, and we wish you the very best for the future.
Asia ~ Philippines over-run
The Philippines are another example of a small vulnerable country. Much abused in the past, the small nation received a new intake of immigrants just over a month ago in the form of ex-UK citizens on a mission to save the dying nation. They arrived after Brazilians, led by Bunaly, stole the nation's 1000 gold allowance allotted to them by the admins. Initially the immigrants weren't trusted by the native citizens, having only recently been raided. However despite this sixteen Brits were elected to congress, and quickly started using their own money to fix the dying economy. After a number of sensible proposals and some community building the Brits became trusted by the locals. Q1 food companies were set up, taxes set and a basic military structure put in place.
However, a week or so before the congress elections a new party appeared, the Secta del Guru Varnish, made up mainly of Spaniards. They had been recruiting ordinary Spanish citizens to help them in a takeover attempt in the Philippines, claiming the game had become boring. Many of the Spanish posted abusive or racist articles, and one of the take-over group was given a temporary ban for this. A few days before the election these leaders were backed up by around a hundred voters from Spain, sending the Filipino community (both British and 'local') into panic. The Philippines turned to the UK for support, contacting Minister of Foreign Affairs SaraDroz, who apparently helped as best she could. However in the end the Philippines were overwhelmed. Since then the Spanish have stolen gold from the treasury, and have attempted to raise the minimum wage and taxes to levels that would effectively kill all business in the country.
This is a foul takeover, one that is deliberately malicious. They didn't take the country to steal gold, but instead to ruin it for other players. We can only hope that there can be a solution found to this crisis.
Many thanks to Filipino resident Divinitywolf for the information.
Business News ~ myCompany launch
MyCompany is the latest tool released by the now legendary CCCP Group. CCCP was born out of the people's initiative which was a PCP program involving using companies to stabilise the economy. The CCCP-group has several widely-used tools that were designed and built by the patron of the group, Kumnaa, one of the greats and admin of the UK forums. On the 29th of April alone the CCCP website had over one thousand unique hits, showing the enormous contribution it has made to the UK and to the whole eRepublik community.
MyCompany is unique in that it offers companies an automatic tool to fetch employee data using admin-approved api's. It takes details such as wellness, skill and number of employees and works out productivity. Employers can manually input wages to work out exactly how much profit their company will make. The api also takes market offers made by the company and includes it in the data.
You can access myCompany here (registration required).
**The Economist**
Top 10 Companies in the UK
1.Q5 Housing
2.Organic Food
3.Liverpool Houses
4.Ape Ammunition
5.Ithaca Weapons
6.Home on the Moon
7.Aurum Arms
8.Aurum Cuisine
9.SV Food Q3 UK
10.Banana Splits UK
**The Economist 30th May Edition**
Leaders ~ Editorial
Well it's been a controversial week all round, with a bunch of stuff going on both on the eUK forums and globally. For anyone not on the forums, you're missing a treat! You can sign up here. So what's gone on? Well a hoard of flame wars, with the government, the military, the House of Lords, two political parties and several individuals getting moderately toasted.
On a global scene we saw the usual take-overs during the congress elections, which we'll be doing our usual post-election coverage of in this issue. This particular week was unique in that the UK participated in one ourselves, a fact which has caused a mix of consternation and anger amongst the forum going public. More on that later. Romania have continued to advance into India, issuing an ultimatum to the Indian government to surrender the Tamil Nadu region of India to Romania or face imminent and total destruction. This once again proves that the Romanians aren't joking when they talk about 'disproportionate responses'.
Another contentious issue this week was the overrunning of the Philippines, which was under the protection of ex-UK citizens. Spanish rebel forces, unsanctioned by their government, engineered the take-over, which was preceded by a number of insulting and racist spam articles which filled the Filipino media.
So a complex week all round. We're going to try and keep each section short, otherwise it would be 5000 words long, which in our opinion is too much. We'll be posting links to discussion in each section. Also, if anyone wishes to comment more fully on a topic, feel free to write a letter to the editor and it will be published in the following edition.
Leaders ~ House of Lords boycott and debate
This week the House of Lords (HoL) debate, which has kicked around in public discussion almost since it was implemented last November, took a big push forward. Rastari proposed his own take on reform to the Commons vote, whilst Goku Jones (Radical Freethinkers Alliance Party President) proposed his own far more radical solution.
Rastari's proposition was to change the number of party presidents who are necessary to approve a candidate, as well as making the requirements for entry more strict. By the time it went to vote however people had begun to favour a more radical solution. The 4/5 majority required by Rastari's measure was originally developed after The Unity Party (TUP) blocked Bob Boblo as a Lord last term. However, since then both Goku Jones and Robalbinio have been elected as Party Presidents, and are more radical than TUP, making the 4/5 majority meaningless.
Goku Jones proposed two simultaneous options, as well as showing some support for a third measure by the sole TUP Lord, Squiddy. His intention was to provide a wide variety of options from which the commons could choose the most favourable. These proposals were initially paired with a joint Radical Freethinkers Alliance (RFA) and Forward Britain! (FB!) boycott of House of Lords votes, causing uproar in the forums. As the situation stands, we are currently waiting to see which of the several options go forward into the House of Commons for debate. You can see the discussion here along with all the other public discussion.
Leaders ~ Interview with SaraDroz
This week we're interviewing UKRP member and Minister of Foreign Affairs SaraDroz. Sara is a big figure in modern British politics, and we are interviewing her today about her views on eRepublik and where she sees the eUK going over the next few months.
Although you're well known, not many people know about your early eLife. What were you up to for the first two months in the game?
I started my eLife in the Navy very shortly after it was created, first briefly in C Platoon and then as Sergeant of 'Easy' Platoon. I did my first government Apprenticeship in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when Intrepid was the Minister. There with Squiddy we I helped set up the Ministry of Foreign Affairs database.
In that time I guess you met a lot of people. Is there anyone in particular who changed the course of your career?
Will Salmon became a good friend, as did the now Commanding Officer of the Royal Navy thehorseltd. The main people who were in charge were Squiddy and Hassan whom I first met then.
As a government minister, you've seen a lot happen over the last couple of months. How would you rate the government's performance overall?
A lot of people blame governments without knowing the facts. The American fine for invading Mexico was actually well dealt with by Jerry, but it was a classified deal reported only in Cabinet. Likewise this Czech business recently, which perhaps could have been better handled. As I say the Government 9 time out of 10 has a good idea of what is happening and will happen. For obvious reasons [security issues] we cannot always broadcast such information publically.
There has been a lot of reforms proposed by various people lately, for the military, the House of Lords and so on. Would you say that the UK has turned a corner and is now heading in a new direction?
Yes I believe it is. There seems to be a renewed readiness to suggest what was once before 'unthinkable' and I for one welcome it! Certainly the military needs a lot of reform and I hope to see this start as soon as possible. Likewise I believe we must now seriously consider other ways of reviewing legislation, past and present, other than the House of Lords (HoL).
It is rumoured that you have been selected by the UK Reform Party as their official candidate, are you willing to put those rumours to rest??
Yes I and happy and proud to announce the UKRP have selected me as their Presidential candidate and I am happy to speak to any and all other parties that would wish to work with us.
When you release your manifesto, what key issues do you think are going to dominate the debate between yourself and Hassan Pesaran?
I have spoken with Hassan and it seems we are actually agreed in the general aim of military reform, though I believe my plans will be cheaper in the long term. I have a lot of other proposals for general Government reform and 'thinning out' as well as the merging of several Ministries. Of course I cannot say if Hassan plans to deal with these issues, nor whether he will address House of Lords reform.
If you win, you will be Britain's first female Prime Minister. Do you think you're an example to other female gamers that women can defeat all comers even in a mostly male world?
I suppose you could see at as somewhat ironic that the UK Reform Party, like the Conservative Party in real life, may have the female Prime Minister. The are many great female players out there and I would of course encourage them. However I see myself as an individual in a game of individuals where all are equal.
Finally, do you have anything you'd like to say to the Economist readers?
I would encourage all to get involved in eUK forums. The more you get involved the more your views can he heard and the stronger eUK becomes. Should I become Prime Minister I shall have Prime Minister's Question Time on the IRC to answer all questions twice weekly so get involved! Lobby your Congressmen if you want something changed, tell us! Moaning without suggesting a better way is pointless - tell us how to make the UK better!
Britain ~ Impeachment debate
Rayf Drayson and Funky44 both simultaneously issued requests for Malta to resign. Rayf's argument was perhaps the most clearly written. He state
😛
“I hereby demand the immediate resignations of all parties in involved in the War Council who approved and carried out these actions i]Czech takeover[/i. That includes, but is not limited to, the Prime Minister (Country President) of the eUK, the Minister of Defence, the COs of any and all military branches (should they have been involved), any other Cabinet officials involved in the decision and the actions, and any of the career officers sitting on the War Council who may have been involved in this decisions and the actions undertaken.”
Rayf's main criticism was that the UK Prime Minister had ordered troops to be deployed without the consultation of the House of Commons. To back this up he quoted legislation which outlined the powers of the war council, which shows that the House of Commons must be consulted on military actions such as a declaration of war. However, the issue became contentious due to the legislation being vague. The current law could be interpreted to mean military action as in a direct war of conquest, as opposed to political action. The debate was extensive, but it seems unlikely that this particular motion will make it to a vote. Despite some key figures arguing for the motion to be brought forward, an amendment has been proposed to close the loophole, and inquest laws are currently going though public discussion. It seems that the most likely result will be a public inquiry following the passing of legislation closing the loophole, and forcing a War Council vote on all military affairs, including takeovers. A second thread was created entitled “Motion of Confidence in Malta_1990”. This received quite a few signatures, as well as a statement by Rayf that he would drop his case depending on the result of the independent inquiry.
“I will sign this if the investigation reveals that malta had the legal authority to issue the deployment orders. If he did not, then I certainly will not sign this. If he did, then I will gladly sign this as a show of support and unity. It all hinges on the investigation and whether his actions were legal or illegal.”
We can hope that this will be resolved before the next issue.
Britain ~ Election Results
The results of the congress election last week were a mixed bunch. As expected the UKRP and TUP maintained the most seats, followed by PCP. The Radical Freethinkers Alliance achieved 4 seats and Forward Britain! just one. Here are the results in full.
Candidate
Party
Votes
Stefan Dorunga
UKRP-
31
Caoimhin MacFie
UKRP
27
Steeeev
PCP
23
Iain Keers
TUP
22
Scipio the Great
PCP----
21
Luke Mitchell
TU P
21
Corinthius
----UKRP
20
John Forseti
T UP
17
Jan Baykara
P CP
17
Wallyboy
---TUP
16
LordJustice
----UKRP
16
Hethor
----TUP
15
Draaglom
--PCP
14
BFSte
----TUP
14
Rasi
UKRP
14
Alexander Etch
RFA
13
Certacito
----UKRP
12
Indiekid
----UKRP
12
Sir Graystar
TUP
12
Stephen Torrington
TUP----
12
Stefan1992
---TUP
12
Goku Jones
RFA
11
Busynurse1510
TUP
10
Anaxima
--UKRP
10
Mailak Kalan
TUP---
10
Craig Rossiter
UKRP
10
Viperb10
--FB/LSD
9
Marcus Grim
RFA---
9
Ryan McCulloch
UKRP--
9
Arthur Wellesley
UKRP--
8
Davelklatzen
--PCP
8
Rastari
----PCP
7
Azra'eil
----FB
7
Count Drakula
TUP--
6
SaraDroz
--UKRP
6
Dan Fallows
PCP
4
=Wildcards=
Restro
---RFA
15
Asahelnettleton
-UKRP
12
Maverick8789
U KRP
12
ThomasR26
P CP
11
UKRP: 14
TUP: 12
PCP: 8
RFA: 4
FB!: 1
LS
😨1
As we can see a lot of new faces have been elected this month. At least half a dozen of the members elected are complete unknowns and haven't been involved in the debates at all. We can see this as a continuation of the UKRP come-back. TUP has 12 members signed in on the forums, and on the party mailing lists. The big losers this month were FB! Perhaps the MDU should have thought before they changed their name and party logo a few days before the congress elections. As it is the big 3 parties are dominating the scene, all having over 300 members.
Bagehot ~ The best of the rest
After a busy week the political landscape has been significantly altered, as a result a number of proposals have come up for discussion and vote.
Public Inquiry Bill
A new proposal and procedure that will introduce three impartial judges (one from the Commons, one from the Lords and one from the War Council) to our system to look into any action by out Government in order to determine whether any wrongdoing or impropriety has occurred.
It is, to a certain extent, a radical move and it will be interesting if it passes the Commons and lords, however, I suspect not. One of the greatest concerns in the UK, heightened by this week’s Commons sensitive information leak, is the security of sensitive information. For this Judicial Review procedure to work it would require a considerable amount of cooperation by parties that may not be willing to divulge sensitive information.
The three reviewers are of course bound to not divulge any information that they are made available to which is sensitive. When they report, although a detailed account of the circumstances is required, they may only reveal as much as is necessary to deliver a verdict while maintaining discretion where necessary.
Another argument that has been raised against the proposal is the effective increase in bureaucracy and procedure. That the time spent investigating would be proportionately too long to the length of our administrations and that some sort of “Prime Ministers” questions would be better.
Regardless, the outcome in the HoC, and more particularly in the HoL, will be interesting.
Small Party Rights Bill repeal
As the game only allows the top 5 parties by membership to be able to field congressional (or CP) candidates, our government passed the Small Party Rights Act. It allowed those parties (not in the top 5) that have significant in-game membership to have a voice in our forum HoC (the calculation as to how many they get can be found on the forums in the Government Policy section).
This Bill is now up for a vote in HoC for repeal. The reasons given are that, while the smaller parties are guaranteed membership in the HoC via this act, the larger parties are not similarly protected.
This repeal was called for when this exact scenario was played out in the congressional elections just passed. Whereby MDU (a big 5 party) received fewer congressional candidates than LSD (a non-big 5 party) would have under the act.
With a number of congressmen still needing to vote on the matter, it is still too early to tell whether the repeal will pass.
War Council Amendment
As a result of one of the more controversial topics this week (the UK led TO of the Czech Republic) an amendment to our War Council has been proposed. The current legislation outlining the War Council’s roles says that any act of aggression must be put before the House of Commons before it is initiated. Whether a TO constitutes an act of aggression is where the initial debate hinged but was generally agreed as ambiguous wording.
So as to overcome this ambiguity the amendment is to place the words “which includes take-overs” into the law. However, the debate has now shifted. Should it be the HoC that approves any TO or the War Council. HoC approval represents a serious risk that the information disclosed to HoC is leaked (as the past week has so clearly shown). Gaining access to the House of Commons is relatively easy with no control over who does so. Where as the War Council represents a secure environment where such decisions can be made.
On the other hand, the UK has never up until now openly taken part in any take-over and many feel very strongly about it. While we have an elected legislative body that decides all matters for this country, the decision of whether or not to begin or continue to participate in TOs should be made by such a body.
The proposal is yet to enter the HoC and remains for the time being in public discussion.
Scipio the Great
Europe ~ Czech Republik
This week we saw the takeover of the Czech Republic by British mobile forces. Although the operation was a covert one, it became very apparent after just a short while what had happened, and a number of objections were raised. The main issue was that troops had been deployed without House of Commons approval. Around 80 gold, as well as some currency was taken from the Czech Republic to help fund the armed forces. As has already been discussed, this was objected to due to reasons already mentioned.
Some members of Congress have promised that they will work to repay the Czech's for the gold lost. Others have shown support for the move, including many prominent members of the military. Rastari, one of the most anti-take over members of parliament, published this apology in the Czech media:
“This is not an official apology but a personal one, the Congress were not consulted about the takeover and neither were the cabinet. It was decision taken entirely by the president and the Military commanders, and a wrong one. I am very sorry that this happened and I hope that you can recover and become a strong country again.”
The simple fact is that like so many other low populated countries in eRepublik, the Czech Republic is a target for takeovers and conquest. Most senior players think that the country will be left alone for a while, mainly because there isn't much money left there. But at some point the small central European state will inevitably fall.
World News~ New eRepublik Podcast
Well we've had the eUK podcast team, Roadrunnerspeed and Hassan Pesaran on the block for quite a while now, and Justinious set one up over in the states. So we're familiar with the concept of the podcast, but what does Squiddy and Dish's new show have to offer? The EGN, or eRepublik Global News service does what it says on the tin: It offers a global show covering events worldwide, with presenters including Christi Badea, the eRepublik Community Manager.
The show is hosted on http://www.erepnews.com. Although I haven't had time to listen to the show as yet, I have been assured it is worth taking the time out to do so. The Economist has offered to publish our articles on the website, and we are currently in talks with Squiddy about the exact details. In conclusion- good luck guys, and we wish you the very best for the future.
Asia ~ Philippines over-run
The Philippines are another example of a small vulnerable country. Much abused in the past, the small nation received a new intake of immigrants just over a month ago in the form of ex-UK citizens on a mission to save the dying nation. They arrived after Brazilians, led by Bunaly, stole the nation's 1000 gold allowance allotted to them by the admins. Initially the immigrants weren't trusted by the native citizens, having only recently been raided. However despite this sixteen Brits were elected to congress, and quickly started using their own money to fix the dying economy. After a number of sensible proposals and some community building the Brits became trusted by the locals. Q1 food companies were set up, taxes set and a basic military structure put in place.
However, a week or so before the congress elections a new party appeared, the Secta del Guru Varnish, made up mainly of Spaniards. They had been recruiting ordinary Spanish citizens to help them in a takeover attempt in the Philippines, claiming the game had become boring. Many of the Spanish posted abusive or racist articles, and one of the take-over group was given a temporary ban for this. A few days before the election these leaders were backed up by around a hundred voters from Spain, sending the Filipino community (both British and 'local') into panic. The Philippines turned to the UK for support, contacting Minister of Foreign Affairs SaraDroz, who apparently helped as best she could. However in the end the Philippines were overwhelmed. Since then the Spanish have stolen gold from the treasury, and have attempted to raise the minimum wage and taxes to levels that would effectively kill all business in the country.
This is a foul takeover, one that is deliberately malicious. They didn't take the country to steal gold, but instead to ruin it for other players. We can only hope that there can be a solution found to this crisis.
Many thanks to Filipino resident Divinitywolf for the information.
Business News ~ myCompany launch
MyCompany is the latest tool released by the now legendary CCCP Group. CCCP was born out of the people's initiative which was a PCP program involving using companies to stabilise the economy. The CCCP-group has several widely-used tools that were designed and built by the patron of the group, Kumnaa, one of the greats and admin of the UK forums. On the 29th of April alone the CCCP website had over one thousand unique hits, showing the enormous contribution it has made to the UK and to the whole eRepublik community.
MyCompany is unique in that it offers companies an automatic tool to fetch employee data using admin-approved api's. It takes details such as wellness, skill and number of employees and works out productivity. Employers can manually input wages to work out exactly how much profit their company will make. The api also takes market offers made by the company and includes it in the data.
You can access myCompany here (registration required).
**The Economist**
Top 10 Companies in the UK
1.Q5 Housing
2.Organic Food
3.Liverpool Houses
4.Ape Ammunition
5.Ithaca Weapons
6.Home on the Moon
7.Aurum Arms
8.Aurum Cuisine
9.SV Food Q3 UK
10.Banana Splits UK
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http://tinyurl.com/dka6wm" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/dka6wm = myCompanies
Erep breaks links with equal signs in them.
Nice article, it's appalling what the Spaniards did to the Philippines
Great as always Iain!
Radical Freethinkers Alliance will be supporting Sara Droz for president this election 🙂
Fantastic. Voted
A good read, and very comprehensive. Nice work!
Brilliant.
I personally would prefer it in two installments, but that's just me.
Yet another amazing article. I'm assuming that took fovever to write, since it took a long time to read all of that.
Great article! Voted and Subd.
Great article a
Q.When is there ever going to be a time when your articles are Sh*t.
A.Never,Mate their all the same
I love the description of me as radical made me laugh lol
But another great article again🙂
Radical= somebody who proposes drastic changes. Therefore you are a radical. It is not necessarily a bad thing. People who campaigned to end slavery were considered radicals in their time.
I didn't say it was bad
just made me laugh in comparison with my real life ethics and current style on the forums
Wow, I was gone to Lithuania for a few days, and this caught me right back up. The Economist is the most unbiased paper in the eUK. It just gives the facts. Thank you!
Nice article. Good to be kept informed and the interview was good as well. For newer members who're just getting an idea of the lay of the land this is a great leap forward in terms of information.
It comes out every week guys, since February. Remember to subscribe 🙂