Join the new world

Hello all!

I would like to begin with some brief updates: Huey George won the vote for interim speaker following the stepping down of Rob the Bruce with an overwhelming majority, new message groups have been set up and Huey is working with runner up Lanthanide to get Congress caught up on discussions before the term ends in four days. I have an ideal for Congress below, as I feel some rough guides should be established to help set a standard to let people know what is expected of Congress.

In the meantime I am happy to announce the winner of this month’s Royal Family Prize.



This months nominees were Mick Cain, Horice G Fossil, and last months winner, Alan Warwickshire. After a weeks voting period, the results are as follows:

Alan Warwickshire: 8
Horice: 15
Mick Cain: 27

Meaning that Mick Cain is the winner of a title of his choosing, a seat in the Royal Family (I guess you’d call it a throne) as well as £1,000.

Well done Mick and all nominees for your work towards bettering the eUK. Thank you to everyone who took part in nominating and voting for our winner. If you are wondering how you can get some cash out of me too there are various ways of doing so: the Young Achievers award gifts young players based on activity, the Royal Writers rewards newer players who get involved with the Media Module, and the Fun-Fund offers any member of the public the opportunity to get a grant to help set up games. Details are in the footer of this article.



Next I would like to discuss a brief Congress issue, which I touched upon a few weeks ago and which I would now like to discuss with the public and Congress. It isn’t a proposal per se, more a set of guidelines or expectations which we can impose on Congress as heavily or lightly as people see fit. At the very least, these are my expectations for what Congress should be doing. In an ideal world a set of guidelines such as these could be used to hold Congress to account and to show which Congressmen are below standard, allowing us to push PP’s not to run them, and allowing the public to make more of an informed vote on the 25th.

In the past, and I believe it is Huey’s intention as speaker to try and do this; speaker’s have published accounts of which Congressmen had low activity. This is an extension of that thinking in determining what Congress should actually doing before judging whether they are active at it or not. The idea of their role is bound to differ from person to person and so I welcome thoughts on this issue.

My suggestions for Congress Guidelines would be something like the following:

- The Role of Congress is to hold the Executive to account:
- Congress should request non-sensitive information for scrutiny from the executive.
- Congress should be constantly monitoring the performance of Government ministries.

- To fulfill this role Congress should be conscious of their role in issuing money, altering taxes, impeachments, and war proposals.
- Congress should be actively engaged in, if not the sole arbitrators of, discussions on these areas as per game mechanics.
- Non-sensitive discussions should be visible to the public as a means of gaging activity and competence.

- Congressmen and women are expected to remain active and engaged over the course of the month.
- Congress members are reminded that they have been voted in by the public and run for the position in order to represent them in making such decisions as outlined above.
- To keep on top of activity and competence the speaker or the Congressional body is encouraged to publish activity reports and misdemeanours.

They aren’t too lengthy, but I do feel they serve a purpose. The public deserve an active Congress to bridge the gap between the public and the executive. Setting some expectations or outlining their responsibilities allows the public a way of determining which Congressmen are fulfilling that role and which aren’t. Having the speaker scrutinise poor Congressmen and reporting on them allows the public some regulatory influence on who is elected, albeit via their PP.

As mentioned I welcome discussion on what Congress should be doing and how we can measure their quality, as I am sure some people’s opinions will differ from my own. What I would like to see, eventually, is some sort of ratifying of some guidelines detailing what is expected of Congressmen as a means of tackling the mentality that Congressmen are elected to do nothing.

As a sidenote, I think it could be a good idea to have each newly elected Congressmen agree to these terms formally, but also for PP's to draw up their own expectations when people run for Congress so they know what they are getting into.



Thanks for Reading.
Mr Woldy.

---

To apply for the ‘Woldy’s Young Achievers’ Scheme, be below level 25 an😛
Request a welcome ingame (via PM): 15 Q7 Guns + 20 Q5 Foods.
Post on the forum thread: 10 Q7 Guns + 20 Q5 Foods.
Get elected a Congressmen or PP: 10 Q7 Guns + 10 Q5 Foods.


As part of the Royal Writers, every player under level 25 who releases an article with at least a paragraph of decent content, whether it be political, humorous, or informative, will receive 150 GBP. Any writer under level 30 who gets an article into the top 5, will receive 300 GBP. Message me for your prize.


The Royal Fun Fund is a program which aims to encourage fun and games in the eUK by bankrolling prizes for contests, quizzes and other fun stuff. If you have an idea for an entertainment program, message me to apply for prize money funding!

---