#up election 2022 date announcement

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Is there any chance we could have a round up of the Circus? I am so lost on how the dominoes fell over the last 40 days

Okay this is not comprehensive, because (a) my husband the politics nerd is currently on his way to a gig in west Wales somewhere and so cannot chime in and also (b) all our political journalist friends are understandably quite busy right now doing political journaling, but I seem to have an influx of new followers who are also very confused and don't understand what's going on, so I shall try.

Alright so what we're seeing here is the Second Clownfall of 2022, the hotly anticipated sequel to the Adventures of Big Dog the Clown. However it revolves around the character of Liz Truss, and will use some terminology, so

Previous Reading

Important Terminology - Required Reading

What is a Whip?

How do Whips work?

Shadow Cabinet

Front Benchers, Back Benchers and the Cabinet

What do we need to call an early General Election?

The Adventures of Big Dog the Clown - Suggested Reading

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Elanor's Guide to Liz Truss - Suggested Reading

Character-based prequel

...okay I think that's everything. On with the show!

The Premiership of Liz Truss (2022-2022)

Week One

We begin our tale on September 5th, 2022. Coincidentally, that was also the date that I personally started my new job. Let's see which of us does better!

The Daily Mail is delighted, and runs a headline proclaiming "Cometh the hour, cometh the woman". Tory rag in a frock coat the Financial Times runs an op-ed:

So the results ARE IN! She will definitely fuck us up! But that's a good thing for vague reasons! Blitz spirit everyone. Tally ho, pip pip, shoot a servant and have sex with a wall, hey what. Good old Blighty.

(That's my best impression of Tories I'm good at their accents I hope you like it)

Truss does an interview with Laura Kuenssberg, and fellow guest and comedian Joe Lycett wildly and effusively applauds her every word. Even Liz realises no one would sincerely applaud her. Bafflingly, the entire right wing press and every member of the Tory party freak out about this, because they don't understand the function of a satirist and don't know how to defend against it. It is extremely funny. Joe Lycett announces he's a right-wing comedian now, and begins a new extended career bit effusively and sarcastically praising right wing politicians. They all cry extensively and call him mean.

SO, it's been a long hard leadership campaign! But she made it. For years, Tories have been blighted by the curse of the PM/Chancellor relationship, backstabbing and cheating and lying about each other to try and get power. But not our Liz, oh no; her Chancellor is Maths Mate and BFF Kwasi Kwarteng, an insipid and poisonous gnome known for three (3) things:

He once wrote a stupid book with Liz Truss about his stupid opinions on how he thinks economics work and everyone laughed at him and stuffed him in a locker

On the night of the Brexit vote he was overheard by a journalist gleefully saying “Who cares if sterling crashes? It will come back up again“ which are of course the words of a man who knows all about economics and how they work

This fucking bullshit back in July:

But hey IT'S OKAY! Everything is fine! Because Liz and Kwasi are BFFs who certainly never had an affair and are marching in lockstep and have each other's backs and both love maths more than their own children if they had any! Maths Friends!

Multiple resignations immediately follow.

Among them is Ben Elliot, the Tory Party chair, which is a pretty big deal from a man who just lived through the Johnson years; also, shockingly, Priti Patel, the deportation-happy Home Secretary, decides that even as an animatronic goblin she cannot support this nonsense.

It's not a resignation per se, but at ten to seven in the evening it's announced that Andrew Bridgen, the Troy MP for Leicestershire North West, has been evicted from his home and ordered to pay £800,000 in legal costs, and a possible £244,000 in rent arrears. Also described as "dishonest" by a judge.

This is not directly relevant to Liz Truss but look, it was a staggeringly weird day and this was basically the topper.

Anyway.

Liz goes to the Palace and is duly sworn in by the Queen, who promptly keels over and dies the very next day. Parliament is instantly shut down for mandatory mourning. As omens go, this one was not subtle.

This triggers the circulation of some very awkward footage of Young Truss talking about how she thinks the Monarchy should be abolished for being a gross relic of horrifying social stratification. However you must understand that it's not awkward because anyone thinks she murdered the Queen. It's because Liz Truss's attempts at public speaking are like sitting through a children's Christmas play when you're the only person in the audience and they can all see your face so you have to look encouraging for four hours when inside you are shrivelling into something approximating an apricot pit travelling to the core of Jupiter.

Take a look at her acceptance speech and wither.

Anyway we're now several MPs and a queen down so she's got to get on replacing those so she can focus on her real love: the much-anticipated mini-budget that she is preparing with Kwasi to save the UK from the harrowing quagmire of crippling poverty that Big Dog managed to drive us into (all while pretending it wasn't Big Dog who did it.)

Fortunately, she does not need to replace the queen! Monarchies take care of themselves, which many people would argue is very much the problem, of course. They had a proper reunion with Meghan From Suits and Meghan From Suits' husband, both of whom were banned from visiting Balmoral, and also the Nonce flew in, who was allowed to visit Balmoral. Such heartwarming scenes.

But the Cabinet, that's another matter. That's something Liz DOES have to do, and it's important she gets it right, Tumblrs, because you see, every time a Cabinet minister is replaced it's expensive and a hassle and it weakens a government by making them look all crumbly, like a packet of biscuits that's been rammed against a wall and now someone is opening it and everyone is bracing for Crumbs.

So, step forward to the Cabinet soulless ghoul Suella Braverman, the new Home Secretary. She immediately distinguishes herself by trying to legalise torture.

And then, naturally,

YEAH THAT'S RIGHT IT'S TICK TOCK TERF O'CLOCK also FUCK the sovereignty of the Scottish Parliament amirite ladies lol Girl Power uwu

Not that she can actually do anything at this point, of course. As I say: Enforced Mourning is in process, which means Parliament is shut down for ten days. No work, no speeches, no appearances, no announcements, just taxpayer's money going on legal fees to see if she can interfere with another nation's elected government in order to strip away the human rights of queer people.

However, while we all weep over the corpse of Queen Lizzie Two and beat our breasts in grief, the already-beleaguered pound is slowly bleeding out through this inaction. And this, to the Maths Mates, is unacceptable.

Two things get quietly slid into the news cycle.

Thing the First:

BIG YIKES LADS

Thing the Second:

Fracking ban in England lifted in bid to boost UK gas supply - BBC News

For those who don't know, fracking is an energy extraction process. Water, gas and dust are pumped at high pressure into shale bedrock to crack it open, releasing pockets of natural gas that can then be harvested for fuel. It's environmentally disastrous for multiple reasons, both direct (earthquakes, groundwater pollution, social impacts) and indirect (IT'S STILL A FOSSIL FUEL YOU STUPID CUNTS ARE YOUR SKULLS FUCKING EMPTY). The Welsh and Scottish governments have both banned it outright, a straight-up "Foot down no, petal". England, though, is the Tory paradise, so the ban was less complete.

However, this is still a Huge Deal - the 2019 Tory manifesto was very clear that fracking would only be unbanned IF "the science shows categorically that it can be done safely". In fact, most Tories don't like it either. Their constituents REALLY don't. Also in March Kwasi Kwarteng literally went on record and said it wouldn't lower European gas prices anyway; but not anymore! Now he thinks it's a zippy idea. Just spiffing. Top hole, pip pip (I'm so good at their accents :))

Scientists who have been studying the environmental impacts of fracking produce their report -

And it is quietly buried, so as not to offend the corpse of Lizzie Two.

Here ends the first four days of the Reign of Liz Truss.

Second Week

Anyway, royalists have gone insane and started a REALLY BIG queue to see a box that supposedly contains the rotting cadaver of the old queen. Multiple people have to be hospitalised because they join the Queue and don't take food, water, warm clothes, or essential daily medications with them, even though the Queue is literally days long. Some die. Many take the ashes of their own loved ones so they can wave them at the box for the thirty seconds they get to be in front of it, like a sort of play date for ashes.

Prince Charles, now King Prince Charles, starts swanning about as King, demanding everyone be sad for him and clap him to cheer him up. Someone holds up a sign saying 'Not my King' and gets arrested. This triggers a whole wave of protests and arrests as free speech slides out the window, until the Met Police chief has to step in and explain to the police like they're five-year-olds that they can't do that, actually, and need to cut that shit out.

But we can't wholly blame the police, because the main pressure to clamp down on protestors actually came from...

The government.

Meanwhile the country goes bat shit fucking insane. In order not to offend the fragile sensibilities of royalists, now so brittle they need to be treated with the same delicate touch normally reserved for unstable nitroglycerin, the UK sees supermarkets lowering the volume of self-serve checkout desks, people's funerals cancelled, vital operations and other medical interventions postponed, Centre Parcs cancelling holidays, FOOD BANKS CLOSING, Nintendo Direct cancelling its live stream in Britain (but not cancelling the release of the recording onto You Tube an hour later because as we all know Queen Elizabeth II was a MASSIVE livestream fan and would have been DEVASTATED to miss it but she was very 'meh' about YouTube), cycle racks being closed, and this unhinged shrieking harridan:

Very normal, lads. Very normal.

Oh and also they cancelled Owain Glyndwr Day so as a Welsh person I am now legally allowed to forcibly ram a daffodil into the urethras of the landed English gentry.

However, the protests grow as the suppression wanes. By the time King Prince Charles comes to Wales, he is met with silent protests, this guy who learned a sentence in Welsh specially for the occasion, and a petition to abolish the Prince of Wales title.

Except government is still shut down, so the petitions are all suspended.

But not to worry! That gives the Maths Mates more time to work on their special mini-budget.

Week Three

More of the same at first, really, but she finally addresses the nation to announce that the Queen was the "rock" on which "modern Britain was built".

Also someone finally spots that the necklace she always wears is a day collar, so that was fun.

BUT THEN

The moment we have all been waiting for, with baited breath.

On the 23rd September, 2022, the mini-budget finally arrives. The golden egg of Kwasi and Liz, their beloved, beautiful child, the crowning glory, the culmination of their economic beliefs and values. They are so proud of it, so sure of it, that they do not even submit it for the approval of the Office for Budget Responsibility. Why should they? This is the moment Kwarteng can finally show the world that he was right; that this is the way to do economics after all; that he alone in his brilliance and genius has reinvented the field and will lead the country to a new era of riches and prosperity.

And the pound does this:

Yikes.

Truss goes into hiding for a day and a half, during which time her aids claim all her relatives have died so she won't have to speak to the press, which is obviously a simply fantastic quality in a Prime Minister. Finally, she resurfaces by doing a series of radio interviews for regional stations around the UK, hoping they'll be easier on her, starting with Radio Leeds. The good journalists of Yorkshire eviscerate her and strew her corpse through Adel Woods. It's downhill from there.

Week Four

One poll puts Labour 33 points ahead of the Tories.

It can be a little difficult to translate polls, because the electoral system is complex, so I asked my journalist friends. They cheerfully informed me that, if translated into a General Election, the Tories would have just 3 seats left.

Except! Of course, naturally, that is me reporting naught but the most extreme result, Tumblrs, dancing upon the bones of my enemies as I chant the rites to make the Tory party die faster. If I were to be fair about this - and I am, of course, a journalist of Integrity and Morals - I would actually give the average poll result. And I am wise and fair to all, ancient rites aside, so I shall.

The average poll result is still 19 points ahead.

Tony Blair's landslide Labour victory in 1999 was 12 points.

Rounding off the day, Labour declare that they are backing a change to a proportional representation voting system in place of the UK’s archaic first past the post system. Funny that.

Anyway, that mini-budget is going poorly. Realising unlimited borrowing rather than tax cuts for the rich is maybe Bad Actually, the Maths Mates decide to get the money for their bail-outs some other way. Can you guess, Tumblrs? Can you guess where they decide to get the money from?

Naturally.

Week Five

In a fascinating little twist, the papers claim Liz banned King Prince Charles from going to the Climate Summit in Egypt. This is interesting for about a billion reasons, not least of which is that the papers seem very angry about this and yet also that it's an unsubstantiated rumour - the phrase "it's understood that _" gets a hell of a workout.

She then does not go herself. Makes sense. They'll probably be mean to her about the fracking.

She then loses the support of the Daily Mail, a paper that five weeks before were ecstatic about her rise to power :( so sad. But why? What made them change their minds?

Well. What else from Truss, but a massive and catastrophic u-turn on the economy?

And she does! The absolute nutter!

Plans to cut the 45p tax rate for those earning upwards of £150,000 were abandoned, as were:

abolishing the planned rise in corporation tax

cutting the basic rate of income tax

the two-year energy bill support plan

scrapping the planned dividend tax hike

VAT-free shopping for international tourists

freezing alcohol duty

easing of IR25 rules for the self-employed

ALL GONE! All gone. The mini-budget is not working so lol jk we'll think of something else, that's how government works, right? The pound promptly implodes further. Of all people, Nadine Dorries is the one to criticise

WE ARE IN A TOPSY TURVEY UPSIDE DOWN WORLD

The Daily Mail still finds a way to say it's all Michael Gove's fault, though.

Anyway, the 5th October dawns bright and beautiful and YouGov polls rural voters:

THIS IS HUUUUUUUUUGE, because farmers just will not fucking stop voting Tory, AND YET. Wowsers. Not just popularity. Voting intention. She might as well have personally infected every farm in the South Downs with foot and mouth disease.

Truss realises her popularity is plummeting and she needs a new audience. She tries to appear down with the kids and declares that she's the only PM to have gone to a comprehensive school.

This is not true. Gordon Brown and Theresa May both did. However, it's certainly true that all three of them became PM by ousting a sitting PM, so there's that I guess.

Week Six

At this point I can start putting in PRECISE DATEs just call ME Robert Peston.

13th October

News reporters start speculating that she'll be done by the end of the month as the first rumoured letter of no confidence reaches us. People realise that her competition for shortest serving PM was a guy who died in office of TB at about the four month mark RIP king sorry about your lungs.

(A reminder - normally, if MPs want to oust a party leader, they must send in 54 letters of no confidence. This makes the 1922 Committee - a bunch of back benchers who preside over this shit - hold a vote of no confidence. A leader who loses gives way - this is very rare. A leader who wins is then immune to another such vote for 12 months, but they almost always crumble within a month or two anyway - this is much more common.)

This is extremely funny, because a newly-elected leader of the party has a 12 month immunity to votes of no confidence, same as people who've won such a vote. Likes charge reblogs cast apparently. MPs are getting desperate.

Pressure mounts. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announces that he is "Not going anywhere."

14th October

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is sacked and blamed for the entire economic mess.

Incredibly, Liz does this without first planning a replacement, so it's several hours before Jeremy Cunt suddenly reappears like the spectre at the fucking feast.

Meanwhile here's Ed Milliband on Twitter

Seven and a half years he waited to retweet that. Seven and a half long years, look, to have the last laugh.

In the end, he still went too soon.

15th October

Deputy PM and also Health Minister Therese Coffey (side note - have they always doubled up in roles like that? Or are there just not enough of them anymore?) announces that she loves antibiotic resistance and dead kids and also breaking laws:

16th October

The Sunday Times calls for Extremely Corrupt Former Grand Vizier Rishi Sunak to take over, and then a General Election so that Labour can take the reins.

The SUNDAY TIMES

Calling for LABOUR

The Sunday Mail tries to stir up support for Ben Wallace taking over, because no one has heard of Ben Wallace so he needs the boost, but then accidentally publish their front page with a different man

In another YouGov poll for the Times, not a single political group, age group, area of the country, gender, or other demographic said that Liz Truss was the right choice for PM

This is the new predicted election graph:

Yikes

17th October

The projected election results are a Labour victory so complete the opposition would be the SNP. Legend suggests Nicola Sturgeon's cackle on finding out was so powerful she accidentally resurrected a witchfinder.

18th October

Meanwhile in the Senedd, Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies, a sort of humanoid boil dressed in ham, tries to accuse placid and gentle First Minister for Wales Mark Drakeford's Labour of being responsible for long ambulance waiting times.

T'was a mistake.

19th October

Oh boy.

Well, first of all, Suella Braverman sends an official email from her private email address, and then promptly leaves the Cabinet at cannonball speeds as though she's seen a brown child about to be given citizenship. Was she quietly fired by Jeremy Cunt? Did she do it deliberately to resign? On her way out, she blames the true source of our problems - the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating Wokerati.

Nigella Lawson spends the day tweeting tofu recipes.

Meanwhile, Graham Brady, the Chair of the 1922 Committee, comes to Liz Truss to inform her that he has in fact now received 54 letters of no confidence. Normally, of course, that would be considered enough to trigger a vote in her leadership; but not now.

However, these are unprecedented times. So he changes the threshold - if half of the Tories send him letters, her immunity will be revoked.

But the thing is, Tumblrs, the thing is...

It is all about to kick off in the most spectacular and catastrophic fireworks since Guy Fawkes had a dream.

Because Ed Milliband, once accused of leading the country to chaos and now riding high on the joy of his well-timed Twitter jab of Some Days Ago, wakes this morning and chooses violence.

He has spotted, of course, that no one likes fracking; even the Tories are against it.

He has also spotted that Liz Truss is very stupid.

So he goes into the House of Commons, and he digs a big pit and covers it over with twigs and leaves so it can't be seen, and he bakes a big cake and he places it in the middle of the twigs, and he sets up a net to fall as well and a big stick of ACME dynamite, and he hammers in little signs everywhere saying CAUTION - TRAP, by which I am of course being metaphorical because what he actually does is table a motion to extend the moratorium on fracking. The signs aren't necessary, really. This trap is easy to avoid.

All Liz Truss has to do, you see, is not use a three-line whip on this vote.

The three-line whip, as you'll all recall, is the highest level of coercion. MPs cannot defy a three-line whip. MPs cannot even abstain on a three-line whip. MPs have two choices on a three-line whip: to vote as they're told, or to be removed from the party. You obey or resign. That's all.

For this reason, it's sometimes called a 'confidence vote', as it is effectively a stand-in for one. The vote is not about the issue at hand - this is now a vote of confidence in your leader.

(He's also laid lesser traps. Years back when fracking was first being heavily discussed, Ed was Labour leader and one of the main figures in those discussions. During today, before it all Kicks The Fuck Off, a Tory stands and challenges him on previous statements about fracking, trying to accuse him of hypocrisy.

He was fucking ready for it.)

Graham Brady pops his head back around the door. He's changed his mind - a third of the party is all that's needed now to trigger a vote of no confidence in Liz Truss. And legend says he's only 17 off.

This is presumably the reason for what comes next.

Liz panics. Liz sees she's desperately unpopular. Liz sees that she has to do something to shore up support; and she sees that her important fracking rule, which her party hates her for, is now being challenged by a former Labour leader, and if he wins (which he will) she'll lose all credibility and maybe they'll take her nice office away and tell her she was a Bad Girl.

And so, with the inevitability of gravity on the now-leaden pound sterling, she makes it a three-line whip, and a confidence vote in her government.

INSTANT CHAOS.

There is uproar! There is rage! There is blinding fury! Tory MPs are standing up in the Commons and snarling and pissing and moaning! No one likes fracking except Jacob Rees Mogg! For TWO HOURS they shriek and scream and gnash their teeth, yelling at Liz Truss, demanding to know why this is happening.

(Legend has it chaos-deity Ed Milliband simply leaned back, put his feet up on the chair in front, and made Christian Wakeford hand-feed him grapes and fan him with a palm leaf, but this is unsubstantiated.)

And then, at 6.55, FIVE MINUTES before voting is ready to begin, the Tory Minister for Climate Graham Stewart stands up and declares that everyone should vote how they want because it's not a confidence vote.

Did I say there was chaos before?

Lol. Lmao, even. Rofl, in fact.

Now Tories leap to their feet and basically all scream one long, unending breath of WHAT-DO-YOU-MEAN-IT'S-NOT-A-CONFIDENCE-VOTE-WHAT-THE-FUCK-IS-HAPPENING-IS-IT-OR-IS-IT-NOT-A-CONFIDENCE-VOTE and so Stewart gets up again and says, right to everyone's faces, "It's not for me to say whether it's a confidence vote or not," which is an even faster and more spectacular u-turn than Truss herself could pull off given that he literally just said it wasn't and did so while being a minister.

And then the voting starts. MPs are now milling about like chickens who've sighted the hawk, clamouring to know if they're going to lose their jobs unless they vote for Satan. The Whips - specifically Chief Whip Wendy Morton and Deputy Chief Whip Craig Whittaker - descend upon them like fucking wargs on the hunt. They don't just spit vitriol and blackmail into MPs ears. They fucking bodily drag people into the right voting lobby. MPs are legitimately screaming. Grown men are crying literal tears. Labour's Chris Bryant reports holding multiple Tory MPs as they sob into his shoulder. Multiple MPs report similar scenes.

And Tories still don't know if this is even a damn confidence vote, or if they should just knock the Chief Whip's teeth out.

And then the Whips, filled with bloodlust and frenzy, suddenly realise that NO ONE IS LISTENING TO US, YOU'RE ALL SUPPOSED TO LISTEN TO US SO WE FEEL POWERFUL -

Cue sudden meeting in a locked room with Liz Truss. For over HALF AN HOUR.

So is it a confidence vote? No one is sure. Deputy PM Therese Coffey thinks so, so in the absence of the Whips she decides physical assault is her job now and is seen by David Linden MP (SNP) physically carrying someone into the voting lobby. Jacob Rees Mogg thinks not and starts yelling "It's not a confidence vote!", to which his colleagues reply, "Fuck off." Meanwhile the Whips have possibly resigned, no one is sure. It is still uncertain if this was a confidence vote.

And Ed Milliband basks in the chaos, playing the fiddle while it all burns around him.

Finally, voting concludes. The Whips reappear to lurk.

The votes are in - the government wins, and fracking will go ahead. But.

32 MPs abstained.

And one of those is Liz Truss.

Which is WILD??!? What possible benefit could she get from that??? No one knows. Everything is uproar again. Guess who else abstained? Well, riveted reader, here's a list with important names highlighted:

Nigel Adams, Gareth Bacon, Siobhan Baillie, Greg Clark, Sir Geoffrey Cox, Tracey Crouch, David Davis, Dame Caroline Dinenage, Nadine Dorries, Philip Dunne, Mark Fletcher, Vicky Ford, Paul Holmes, Alister Jack, Boris Johnson, Gillian Keegan, Kwasi Kwarteng, Robert Largan, Pauline Latham, Mark Logan, Theresa May, Priti Patel, Mark Pawsey, Angela Richardson, Andrew Rosindell, Bob Seely, Alok Sharma, Chris Skidmore, Henry Smith, Ben Wallace, Sir John Whittingdale, and William Wragg.

Kwasi still smarting about that p45, I see.

In any case it then turns out that Liz DID vote, but incompetently, because her voting card didn't read properly, which is actually fair given that she was being screamed at by angry Whips waving Graham Stewart's severed dick and balls around while they demanded power and authority. While she's clearing that up, the press are understandably waiting open-mouthed for comment, but don't worry Liz! Your old pal Jacob Rees Mogg is here to fill in for you!

And thus it is that JRM willingly chooses to go on the live news and calmly confirm to the nation that no one knows if it was a confidence vote or not.

Chaos. Chaos again. Unbridled chaos. The Whips are furious. Everyone is furious. The rebels are now in limbo, unsure if they're now out of a job. Tories are weeping, trying to work out if Rees Mogg WANTS to sink the party. Back bencher Charles Walker MP delivers a frank interview to the press absolutely SHIVERING with rage, like the drummer in a Fleetwood Mac concert. Ex-Lib Dem leader Tim Farron, a bland man known only for the time he himself willingly chose to go on the news and calmly explain that he's a homophobe without provocation, tweets that Liz Truss is a Lib Dem sleeper agent they sent in to destroy the Tories, sparking what is likely to be a whole slew of conspiracy theories by next week. No one knows what is going on. They all decide to sleep on it.

The good folks at Wikipedia ultimately decide to make three separate pages for the UK 2022 government crisis, and to label them with the month "to leave room for another by the end of the year."

Ed Milliband skips all the way home, and treats himself to a bacon sandwich.

20th October

Okay, Liz thinks, the morning after. Okay. Last night was bad. But today will be better.

So first... the vote.

Because there's bad news for Tories who like money and good news for people who like liveable planets - there are problems with the vote. For one, the vote counts are being called into question. Are the results reliable?

For another, the Speaker of the House of Commons calls for an investigation into the reports of, um, assault. So will the result stand?

It's so unclear! And so is that ongoing issue of whether or not the damn thing was a confidence vote. Angry whips say YES, JRM says NO, Downing Street refuses to pick up the phone to the BBC, but does send ITV's Robert Peston a text at 1am to say it was definitely a confidence vote and, unrelatedly, the Whips aren't resigning :)

I think we have found the price paid to keep the Whips.

Meanwhile. Let's see what this has done for Liz's leadership stability!

13 letters of no confidence are confirmed submitted by Sky, 5 of which came in overnight. The 1922 Committee reconvenes the coven to discuss matters. Simultaneously, the One Nation Conservatives reconvene their coven to discuss the same. Presumably there is much "Girl what are YOU doing at the Devil's Sacrament?"-ing and "Same cloak, how embarrassing"-ing. MPs are CLAMOURING for her head. It is VICIOUS. It's like cartoon piranhas in a supervillain's lair; which is highly appropriate, because that's exactly what Tory MPs are.

Graham Brady, head jester of the 1922 Committee, demands to see Liz Truss.

He walks into a room with her, and the doors are closed. Half an hour later, he walks back out of the room.

Ten minutes later, she calls a press conference.

45 days after being appointed, Liz Truss breaks the record, and becomes the shortest-serving British Prime Minister.

[waynewifey]

dear mr. wayne — b.w

part one: dear mr. wayne

part two: aftermath

part three: aporia

epilogue

summary: it’s not easy being a politician’s wife. it’s even harder to love a vigilante. months of negligence make you an easy target to his enemies.

pairing: bruce wayne/battinson x reader

genre: angst romance & dark action

warnings: swearing; smoking; kidnapping; violence; a bit of gore; “you” is she/her; bruce is the worst husband ever btw

word count: 2.8k

A/N: i wrote this back in january 2022 when the batman movie had just premiered, so kinda off the hype here. i hope you enjoy it anyway. already working on part 2, let me know if you guys would like it! also, this has taken a path way darker than i had in mind so i’m sorry if it’s too much. comments are appreciated!

gotham city, USA.

it's late.

you have no clock nearby, but you feel it in your bones. in your muscles too. it's too late and bruce should be home already. laying in the sofa, only half conscious, you regret telling alfred to go to bed. at least you wouldn't be alone. of course, being married to the batman you knew he would patrol at night often. you were okay with it. but lately bruce had been too focused on his other, and recent, goal: running for mayor. at first it seemed out of character, he was never good with the public or the press. but he stared at thomas wayne's painting in the hall in such painful façade, it made sense all off sudden. you were supportive of it. you showed up to every event just to stay by his side, to show the people the lovable man he was. the man you loved. the man who couldn't even be home for dinner.

the penthouse's elevator dings, opening its doors at the end of the hallway you see perfectly from your seat. your head doesn't lift instantly, like in the first week. instead, a long sigh escapes from your lips as bruce reaches the living room.

"hello, darling." he says, still in motion as he walks the stairway up to the room you shared. not a single kiss, or a hug. you follow him, because what else is there to do? you need to go to bed anyway. by the time you get there, slowly, his suit is already on the floor and he's taking a shower.

"how was the meeting?" you ask, knowing he usually did his Wayne Enterprising meetings — which consisted of hanging out long hours in bars with business men — at night. recently, he started a complicated relationship with a real estate company he wanted to invest in.

"the usual." he stopped fully answering these questions three weeks ago, making the only time you ever talked even shorter. the city has gotten more violent than ever since his batman duties were put on standby.

"any closer to sealing the deal?" you sit on the bed, watching the open bathroom door.

"probably." it's not like he's being rude. well, maybe a little bit. he just doesn't want to talk any more, it's clear on his tone. but it's 2am and you brain isn't working too well.

"when is this gonna end, bruce?" you finally say, as he puts his boxers on. "when are we ever having dinner again? or going on a date? when are you gonna stop treating me like i'm some sort of home decor?" you almost vomit out the words that have been stuck on your throat for days. surprisingly, the heartache doesn't softens. instead, it gets worse. it's like admitting your abandonment.

six months ago, you started trying to get pregnant. it hadn't always been a dream of yours, but the idea of having an heir to all you've spent your life building is charming. you realised you were in the right time to do so, you had just turned 28, bruce was 32, and both had stable careers. a month later, bruce announced his candidacy. and so soon you gave up. you told yourself once he won the election everything would be fine. you would try again. but, realistically, being a mayor was already a lot of work on itself. he wouldn't want a pregnant wife or a child to take care of. after the four years, who knows? he might as well have a new life project. and your family would always stand on the side.

"i don't know what you're talking about..." he doesn't look into your eyes. hell, he barely looks at you. that feeling, the negligence, is enough to trigger the tears. you take a deep breath, making an effort to look composed.

"don't you, though?" your voice is shaken. look at me. look at me. look at me. look at me. he doesn't. "bruce." you call, finally getting his attention. however, the boredom on his face knocks you off your feet, legs trembling in pain and anger. "i just want you to make an effort on us..."

"really? cause that's all i ever done." he's leaning on the doorframe, arms crossed in a way you would find attractive in other circumstances. but now he's yelling and you fight back the urge to shrink into the mattress. "do you think i wanna have a kid on this fucked up town? i'm tryna fix this. fix everything!" his faces turns red-ish. something inside of you makes you want to leave the room. you've always been an avoider, that is one of the reasons you hadn't really had couple fights. so, basically, this is very new. "i've got the weight of the fucking world on my back."

"let's leave then" you manage to say, replacing the you chose this. it was true, however, that he was the one to put himself in this position. bruce wayne could've gotten his entire life without working if he wanted to. but he always needed to save everyone, to suffer for other's happiness. he was a giver. sometimes you wondered if he needed to be saved instead.

"you know i can't do that." he mumbles, in a defeated tone. a sigh escapes from his lips, suddenly the tiredness takes over his face. it's almost enough to make you let it go, to internalise your distress again. he really can't, you know that. he feels that the city is his liability, because it was the only thing he had since he became an orphan. but he had you, too. he just didn't acknowledge that.

"and i can't stay like this." it sounds like an whisper, but it's a plead. choose me. please. he seems to read it in your eyes, face contorting in agony when he realises what you're asking for. me or gotham? it's stupid to think he would ever choose you. but you hoped, so desperately, because you would choose him. always.

"let's not do this tonight, okay? i have to be in the office by the morning." tears instantly fall as he turns off the lights and lays on the bed, turning his back to where you slept. for a moment, you're static. his words were final. were you ever in control of something in your life? why were all of these decisions being made for you? mechanically, you stand on both feet and walk to the door. you don't even notice your movement until you're on the elevator. your husband didn't intervene either. this neighbourhood is one of the safest in town, which honestly isn't much but you had to get out. anyway, nowhere is totally safe at 3am.

you walk two blocks, clinging to the fluffy sweater you wore. the depressing air of gotham slows your pace, to a point you start wondering if it was really necessary to be aware. you could feel the city devouring you, starting with your hope. the blue 24h sign lights up the street, in a way that isn't welcoming, but you know the place well enough to not be scared to get in. a bell sounds over the door and wakes up the male behind the counter. he's got long black hair and seems to haven't seen a good night of sleep in weeks. same,you think.

"hi. can i get the blue one?" you point at the camel's behind the man. he nods, quickly putting a pack on the wooden board. the prices pops up on the cashier's display. you pay and go outside. smoking was an bad habit from your college days, when pressure got too excruciating. every now and then you would treat yourself to some cigarettes, for the confidence it gave you. the sense of control to be the one, for once, ruining yourself. the smoke burns your throat on the first inhale and you hold back a cough. you're too entertained by the cigar to notice the black van approaching. it stops right in front of you, and everything happens too quickly for your brain to process. it's all dark.

he's in a meeting, the boring kind.

the kind that has him seated in silence while a representative talks to his employees, who never get to listen to their actual boss. there's a chart being shown on a large tv on the other side of the room. he's not listening, though. he's writing down ideas for a thanksgiving speech. a head pops into the conference room.

"mr. wayne." it's one of the new assistants, hired especially for the election season. he didn't care to memorise her name, because temps usually don't last long. if she hadn't called him, he might've not even looked up. but the room is silent, expecting eyes on him. the girl at the door looks terrified. "you're urgently required outside, please."

he sighs as he gets up from his leather chair. the second the door closed behind him, chatter is heard again. in the corridor, the woman conducts him to his office and they get in. there's a bit of a commotion, four men lounge around his table, all their faces tense.

"mr. wayne, i'm afraid we don't have good news." the head of the marketing team speaks, a man called robert vance. he's probably said the same phrase to bruce about seven times this month, so that doesn't do much. the assistant approaches with an ipad, unpausing a video. "we received this from an anonymous email about forty minutes ago. we weren't able to get the ip address just yet."

the video starts with a black screen, zooming out to show a woman with a bag over her head. she has her hands on her back and is kneeling on the ground. bruce's heart skips a beat noticing the hair falling down her shoulders.

"bruce wayne..." an eerie voice whispers from behind the camera, breathing heavily. "i've robbed an egg from your basket, and you haven't even noticed!" there's a disturbing chuckle and the video shakes a bit. bruce doesn't move, eyes stuck on the screen. no one in the room has done anything other than breathing. someone gulps. "it's been long hours, but we're having fun, aren't we, darling?" a gloved hand reaches for the bag, pulling it out. her face - your face - is dripping blood. you're biting on a fabric, still in your home clothes. bruce's jaw clenches. you're crying, face beaten, in this degrading situation. your eyes pierce the screen right into his. suddenly, a gun is tapped on your forehead and you close your eyes into a sob. your lips mouth please. "i'm running out of patience here, you're running out of time. let's do business, shall we?" he laughs, knocking the pistol on the side of your head, making you fall laying on the floor, unconscious. the spot bleeds. "here's my proposal: you come clean about your father's deal with carmine falcone and maybe i don't shoot little mrs. wayne... or i do both. it's your choice, really. the clock is ticking. tick tock, wayne."

the video stops, the sight of a gun pointed at your unresponsive body burns into his mind. bruce is panting, the adrenaline rushes into his brain. there's a million of plans being built, but none of them seem viable.

"don't let media get this." he managed to say. one of the men in suits says it's too late. the tv flicks on showing a news report on the video. he kicks the side of his table, the contents being thrown across the room. "FUCK! you bastards wait forty fucking minutes to show me this?" he screams, no one can look him in the eyes. a hand runs through his black hair. "meanwhile my wife is out there with a gun on her head! and what have you done? i swear to god, if i don't find her alive and well i'm killing everyone in this goddamned room with my bare hands."

he storms out of there, reaching to his phone to call alfred and noticing the multiple missed calls. fucking silent mode. the sun is setting.

"i got the address." the butler says, instead of hello. a 'ding' sounds in his ear.

there has been pain for so long. you try to remember before the pain. but all is pain. he has to make it stop.

the floor is cold cement and you feel so small in this huge warehouse. the man in the mask knows you can't run. not only you're tied up, but the will had left you long before getting dragged into that van. he sees it in your eyes. so he strolls around, always in that ridiculous dark green overall. then he beats you up for fun. no cameras. just you and the devil himself. you find yourself praying, after all these years. you don't pray to get out, no. you pray so that it ends soon. you pray that the stab wound in your abdomen will get you an infection. you pray that when you close your eyes, you never have to open them again. but the divine has left you in the cold cement.

there's an explosion. your eyes open. there's smoke and dust taking over one of the walls. you're seeing everything horizontally, cheek on the floor. the man in green is just as scared as you were.

bruce wayne busted that fucking wall down. he expected a full team of psychopaths and maybe some more security. there was just one coward in the warehouse. the thing stares at him coming out of the smoke, fingers fidgeting. the batman steps forward. the freak steps back. then turns around, runs to a half broken wardrobe and grabs a gun from it. bruce walks slowly. there's a struggle loading the gun. he takes the opportunity to run and throw the thing on the floor. he bangs his head on it. the vermin screams. he takes one punch. two. tries to reach for the fallen gun. bruce steps on his hand and the loud crack echoes in the room. he screams again. three punches. the mask is taken off. his nose is bleeding. more punches. he holds the neck. the head is turning purple. oh how he wants to kill this little shit. bruce wayne will kill him. it will just take a few more seconds...

"baby, no" at first he thinks he's imagining it. it's so soft, so weak. but he looks up and there she is. his hands loose. right on the corner, chains on her legs. her face is ruined from blood and dirt. her wrists bleed too. the motherfucker chained her. hell is too good for this thing.

bang. on his shoulder. he looks down and the blood is dripping on the freak's face. he’s pushed to the side, holding the wound. tiny white dots obstruct his vision. he grunts through the pain. the man gets up and runs towards you. bruce can’t move. he arches his back, trying to roll and lay on his chest. it feels like he can’t move his arm anymore, like his bones had detached. when he finally does so, the man is escaping through a window. his hand searches for the adrenaline-boost in his belt, grabs it and quickly injects on his leg. it takes a second to get his blood rushing again. he crawls up and jumps through the window, which leads him to a metal balcony.

you’re almost standing, but he holds your chains and a gun to your face. the shooting sound had scared you awake. you can’t believe how close to bruce you finally are, but the conditions couldn’t be worse. you can hear water running below your feet, you don’t need daylight to show you the violent river you’re standing above. this is not good.

bruce has his hands up in the air and is holding himself back to not do anything stupid. the man’s face is contorting into the creepiest smile. no.

everything happens so slowly, yet he’s not quick enough to grab you in time. you’re falling in the air and he jumped after you. for a moment, the world is air. you can’t hold out your hand. your hair is flying in your face, he does not want to die without seeing you one last time. his cape holds him back and the distance between you only increases. you’re gone. the impact comes.

part two

[aroceu]

what's been happening at the otw?

so it seems that on twitter and possibly tumblr, people have been hearing things about the otw board/election stuff without really knowing what's going on. a lot of the different issues get conflated and confused with each other, and things that aren't related get connected while things that are related don't. i'm making this post to make things clear, since i've been following some of it (primarily the otw board stuff) from the outside so that people know exactly what is going on, and to reduce the spread of misinformation.

a lot of this information comes from this dreamwidth journal, which has been documenting many testimonies and receipts, for full context.

an earlier timeline of the csem and insensitive treatment of policy and abuse committee volunteers is documented at @221loislane, on this post.

the election season

every year — for anyone out of touch with how the organization of transformative works (otw) politics go, yes this occurs every year as seats can be held for 3 years maximum but resignations happen, leading to staggering — the org has an election season for the main board of directors. they oversee all of the otw's fan projects, including ao3 and fanlore. there are 7 seats, one of whom is the president (kari dayton).

if a chair resigns, then their seat may remain empty to the end of the term or to the next election season, depending on when they resign. if they resign early, a runner-up from the previous election may take their seat.

elections generally take place every summer, but the actual changing of hands occurs in in the fall. board directors are known by their real life name; this has always been the policy. prior to this year, when candidacies were announced, it was with their full name. however, due to the csem attack emails that were targeting volunteers last may, it seems that they added a layer of protection for the candidates this year, and initially announced them with their first name and last initial.

this election season, there were originally 4 chairs that were going to be vacant and needed to be filled. there were also originally 7 candidates, some of whom applied for candidacy last minute. one of the candidates withdrew early (mid june), so this came down to 6.

in order to vote in an election, you must donate a minimum $10usd prior to a certain date in june (this year being june 30) and tick the box that says you want to become a member.

the republican candidate

on july 24, people started spreading the fact that one of the otw board candidates, audrey richards, is a republican. this is true: she ran for a republican seat for the us house of reps in 2022 (and prior to that, as an independent in 2020.) this can be seen on her ballotpedia. we know that she is the same audrey richards, because her ballotpedia page also connects her with the otw.

let me be clear: this is still in line with org policy, in terms of her real name getting released. their full names were going to be released to the public at some point, and as far as i know the org did not state that they would hide their full names until after the election.

many people, especially americans on the ao3 (full disclosure: i am one of the americans on ao3) were very wary about this, because the republican party has been endorsing increasingly dangerous laws and policies along the lines of fascism and transphobia. audrey running as a republican does not necessarily mean that she agrees with these values; however, because she, as a white woman, felt comfortable enough to align herself with a party that does, many lgbt people and people of color had every right to have reservations about her. her statements about ukraine (disagreeing with biden sending arms) and her involvement with "children and screens" was also brought under scrutiny: see this post by discluded. (i am not endorsing discluded's post; it simply cites some concerns with audrey)

due to claims of harassment (i am also not saying whether or not they occurred), she resigned from candidacy and from the org as a whole on july 25, declaring "congrats on the witch hunt." (x)

the otw then released a statement dissuading people from harassing board candidates. this was not taken well, as they were completely silent last year regarding unsubstantiated rumors about tiffany g, a previous election candidate who's chinese, with views that many were not comfortable with, to the point of saying that she might be a spy for the chinese government. this was spread by chinese- and english-speaking users alike. the otw was silent about this. however, this year, many volunteers internally have said that the otw's silence towards harassment is damning, and in any case, even in audrey's, they should speak up against it, resulting in their public statement.

reprimanding a volunteer of color

also on july 24, coincidentally enough, a volunteer of color made a post about receiving a letter about constructive corrective action procedure (ccap) from the tag wrangling team, due to making volunteers uncomfortable by speaking up about racism in the org.

the tl;dr of why they received the letter boiled down to:

talking about the org's racism in a ~certain way~ in public channels where volunteers could not leave made some vols uncomfortable

sharing internal chatlogs and correspondences to the public. EXCEPT THE THINGS SHE SHARED WERE HER OWN MESSAGES. and before july 25, the only OTHER thing she had shared to the public was the otw's direction on how volunteers should approach getting csem, from the spam attack last year, on a comment in a news post - which is an email that ALL VOLUNTEERS GOT. because none of that was public! no one knew what the org's approach to the spam attack in order to protect the volunteers was! she disclosed it so randoms who are not volunteers would know!

"outing" a volunteer, except she DIDN'T, because the volunteer had outed THEMSELVES in the chat program previously and repeatedly, then changed their icon at some point to indicate they didn't want to link the identities anymore. but there had never been a formal announcement or request not to link the identities, and who was supposed to take an icon change as an indicator of that, so IN THE CHAT PROGRAM (not in public!) kutti made a reference to something that person (under their real name) said in public (under their fannish handle/icon) and got reprimanded for it

emyn a has since made a post about how kutti's general behavior in the chat has made him uncomfortable and was one of the reasons why he withdrew his candidacy, and that he supported the fact that she received the ccap. he stated that alex tischer's abrasiveness (see below) was probably because of where alex is from, in europe. he also said that kutti outed a withdrawn candidate (probably audrey) in the chat program, which was not public information prior to his post. the rest of his claims are presently not substantiated, and most of what i have read about his accusations boil down to tone policing.

EDIT: kutti clarified that emyn got her mixed up with another volunteer of color in one of these claims. she says that she has never talked about audrey either internally nor externally, and does not know what other handles she would link audrey to. she also specified that emyn's accusation of her using "provocative descriptors, such as 'disgusting'" was in context of her criticizing the org's handling of azarias — a volunteer who handled many csem tickets last year, then got their account suspended without warning, and then got implicated for distribution in an org-wide letter, which, yeah, is pretty fucking disgusting!

the alex problem

i mentioned the ccap above because kutti references it in her post about alex tischer here, and when i linked to it on twitter people were confused as to what ccap meant and why it was significant. and i don't think kutti's treatment should go ignored either, because i think it signifies a larger problem that the org has.

and one of these very glaring problems is alex tischer. alex tischer was on the board this year, being their last year of their current term. they were on the board previously too, from 2015-2018. tischer has been called a "missing stair" by multiple volunteers, and a huge problem in the org's function.

more specifically, and as confirmed by a former volunteer i talked to on an ao3 post (wherein they corrected me for conflating two incidents), some incidents that occurred with tischer were:

in 2020, when mainland chinese vols were encouraged to do more recruitment for volunteers on weibo (a mainland china site), the otw had added two new language tags on ao3: tai-gi (taiwanese) and cantonese. the vols were also encouraged to endorse this — not specifically by alex — on weibo. china and taiwan have VERY high geopolitical tensions, and the vols endorsing the addition of the taiwanese language on a mainland chinese site could potentially put them in danger. when they expressed this, alex had told them to "not appease a shitty government," or something along those lines — indicating alex did not care for their safety in a heavily censored country, over sticking it to the man or whatever. (alex is white/german and lives in the uk.)

in 2023, separate from this issue, the otw had decided to shut down the transformative works weibo page without consulting the chinese volunteers. the chinese vols were very pissed and protested, first in english. and then, when their concerns weren't being heard, they started in protesting in chinese. this prompted alex to reply to them, in german, "We can throw all sorts of things at each other, but if we don't agree on a lingua franca, we won't achieve much" (Wir können uns gegenseitig alle möglichen Dinge an den Kopf werfen aber wenn wir uns nicht auf eine Lingua Franca einigen erreichen wir nicht viel.) which, in my opinion, is pretty fucking irrelevant to chinese volunteers not getting their voices heard for something that they had every right to get their voice heard on, and basically told them to "speak english" when they had been speaking english previously and getting ignored!!!

a discussion from the otw slack in 2020 was leaked, wherein a black volunteer asked a question and expressed interest in knowing the diversity of the board of directors. not the diversity of all volunteers. they immediately got dogpiled on by multiple volunteers, alex included, saying that asking for such a thing could endanger the safety of volunteers (which is pretty fucking ironic considering alex's treatment of the chinese vols), the black volunteer should've backread a day's worth of chatlogs, saying that asking about diversity was chilling, etc. i cannot summarize in full how furious this chatlog makes me, so if you are capable i do recommend you to read it to see how utterly defensive everyone got at a simple question about diversity.

these things are relevant because on july 25, kutti made a post about alex — because other volunteers had been asking in the otw slack about kutti's situation, and a volunteer compared how kutti was treated, for speaking up about racism, to how alex was treated, who was consistently xenophobic and as far as anyone knew, did not receive a reprimand for it. alex then doubled down on their previous comments.

this prompted kutti's post, both to publicize this incident and to call for alex's immediate suspension.

board directors resign

there were, at the time, five chairs on board, due to the fact that two had resigned previously (heather in may 2023, jess in nov 2022; neither were replaced). after this incident, volunteers were furious and backed kutti up and also called for alex to resign, or for the other chairs to kick alex out.

two chairs in particular, antonius and natalia, were already on hiatus. they were also pressured to kick alex out, due to the fact that they were only standing chairs, not active, so volunteers wanted them to either come off hiatus and start the process to get alex out, or if they could not do their chair duties, resign. i believe the board needs a 2/3rds vote to kick someone off as a chair, which is why they were brought into the conversation — 2/5 chairs would not be enough.

on july 26, natalia did reprimand alex's behavior in the chat according to some sources. an anonymous source said that both natalia and antonius had started their resignation process prior to the alex-kutti incident; they made this public and official after/during this conversation.

on july 27, alex also said that they had resigned "yesterday." it is unclear if they only resigned from the board, or the org as a whole, considering they were still the webs chair, a tag wrangler, and on the translation and support committees.

all three board resignations were made public in an official announcement on july 27; natalia and antonius's were made first, with alex's as an add-on shortly afterward. however, as alex and antonius's spots were already outgoing, this has only opened up ONE slot for the election: a fifth one. and there are five candidates.

what happens next?

with five vacant seats and five candidates, this means that the election is uncontested. however, two of the five candidates will serve partial terms (the ones who get less votes; 2 years each), while three of the five candidates will serve full terms (3 years each.) if you've donated at least $10 to the otw in the past year, you're eligible to vote. a comprehensive schedule can be found here.

all candidate platforms/q&as can be found here in individual posts, and here as a spreadsheet.

by the way, this is not the first time most of, if not a full board has resigned almost all at once. this occurred previously in 2015, due to some of the following incidents (these may not be all of the reasons for the mass resignation, but definitely for many of them):

insanely incompetent financial handling wherein they had donations up to six figures held in paypal accounts

the removal of sanders, a candidate during that election season, because she had resigned from her role as treasurer recently, thus supposedly making her ineligible to run (candidates must have served as a volunteer in any position for 2 years), even though she was still on the dev committee. she did not resign from the candidacy herself. the election committee had objected to this but was overridden by the board. sanders is black.

a board chair had gone under a sockpuppet account during multiple candidate chats asking questions "as a concerned member," even though she was board chair, indicating a conflict of interest.

during the open board meeting in november (after the election), without warning the board decided to appoint andrea, the candidate who got the least number of votes that election year, to a spot that was vacated a whole year before. it was hard for me to find context around this situation but from what i've gathered, andrea was already friends with the present board and the newly appointed board had not yet settled in. when this was met with appropriate backlash and accusations of power grabbing, this is when the entire board at the time — minus the new elects — resigned.

i bring this up to show that the otw has never been a perfect organization — rather, it has always had its problems. i did not pay much attention to these incidents previously, but considering how the current election season has become more and more prominent on my social media, i feel that it's important for me to be in the know now, and to spread this information to others.

i am not a volunteer (although i used to be a tag wrangler for a brief time.) i am not speaking on behalf of anyone mentioned or linked in this post except for myself. i strongly believe in making an organization's policies public and for as much information to be accessible as possible, for a site that i'm an active member on and love to use. i believe in ensuring the safety, comfort, and consideration of volunteers of color. i am making this post because i believe the otw deserves to be transparent like any other organization. please feel free to share and discuss as you see fit; and if any of this information is incorrect, please let me know asap!

edit: follow-up incidents

this post by @fandomantiracism writes a detailed timeline of the mishandling of chinese volunteers (including the below incidents), and explains exactly why the environment in which otw volunteers in china must be handled with a modicum of more care than they do currently. please read it to fully understand the cvols' situation! (disclaimer: i am not affiliated with this blog.)

during the candidate chats, a chinese candidate got an extremely inappropriate question from a present chair/former or present board member, breaching on org privacy (even though kutti got a ccap for less), a clear attempt to attack the candidate by making them appear unsafe and immature, and with a lie that put their ACTUAL SAFETY at risk. see this post, and this thread on twitter

an aforementioned former volunteer detailed another incident where the treatment of chinese volunteers was severely mishandled; see here

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Good morning RTA, I understand that during this time, the institution make decisions about what they are going to do for this coming year…. I dont know if was about this time that they decided to give to archie and lilibeth the prince and princess title.(I'm not sure about the dates). So, my question about this last trip to Colombia is ¿H&M changed the the dates because something is going on and they are going to loose something during the month of October or November? my question goes because the VP announce Harry and Meghan where going to Colombia on November, not August. And I don't know if the change was because something else is happening, or a decision is going to take place during that time… The where so lucky to be in the Petronio Festival, I'm sure they didn't know about that festival in Cali (which is going to be perfect to use their PR as they please)

is a long ask, sorry for my english

So first (and most important), don’t ever apologize for your English! Your English is wonderful! Everyone who speaks/learns English as a second language speaks English wonderfully! It is most impressive that anyone has any grasp of English as a second language because of how f**ked up English spelling and grammar can be. I might offer corrections from time to time (like the whole Colombia/Columbia mixup) but that’s only because I want to do my little part to help anyone learn who wants to learn. You are doing great, anon.

I dont know if was about this time that they decided to give to archie and lilibeth the prince and princess title.(I'm not sure about the dates).

To put it simply, Archie and Lili have prince/princess titles by their birthright as grandchildren of a future monarch, but they didn’t get the titles or became eligible to use them until their grandfather actually became the reigning monarch. So Archie and Lili became prince and princess automatically on September 8, 2022 when Queen Elizabeth died and Charles became King. They just weren’t acknowledged by the BRF as Prince/Princess until March 2023, after Meghan told People Magazine that the kids had Royal titles.

(There’s a rumor that it took so long to confirm the kids had the titles because the Sussexes wanted the BF to announce it but they refused to so the Sussexes did it themselves in a story they gave to People Magazine about Lili finally being christened, which forced the BRF to acknowledge the titles.)

So, my question about this last trip to Colombia is ¿H&M changed the the dates because something is going on and they are going to loose something during the month of October or November? my question goes because the VP announce Harry and Meghan where going to Colombia on November, not August.

If you go back and look at the VP’s announcement, she doesn’t actually say that they will be visiting in November. What she actually says is that the Sussexes’ visit would be sometime before this conference being held. We assumed that meant they would travel in November, even though the Sussexes themselves said they would be traveling “later this summer,” which was understood to mean either August or September (summer in the northern hemisphere where they/most of their audience live).

Was that intentional? Did something change? I don’t really know.

But there is a new rumor that Meghan already has plans for something happening at the end of October and didn’t want to travel so closely in November to overshadow whatever this October thing is. Some of the gossip is saying that she might finally launch ARO then or she might have a magazine photoshoot to take Archie and Lili trick-or-treating, but there’s also gossip that she plans to be available to campaign in the presidential election as that is the last week/weekend before the election.

And I don't know if the change was because something else is happening, or a decision is going to take place during that time…

It’s just gossip for now, but there are several tarot readers and astrologists seeing a big decision involving an ending that takes place in October/November for the Sussexes, according to their charts and cards. Speculation (based on interpretation of their tarot cards) is divorce or the BRF taking titles or more excluded/exiled.

Again, it’s just gossip based on tarot and astrology, which is always subjective as everyone reads and interprets differently.

But the interesting thing about this is that since we know Diana was big into tarot readers and saw several/had her own. Because of that, and because we know the Sussexes likes to model themselves on Diana, it would not be unreasonable to think that they have their own tarot readers/astrologists to guide them and if they do have their own tarot readers or astrologists, it’s very possible they also see something happening to them in October/November and they rescheduled the Colombia visit for earlier to avoid whatever they think might be happening.

The where so lucky to be in the Petronio Festival, I'm sure they didn't know about that festival in Cali (which is going to be perfect to use their PR as they please)

I don’t think anyone in the US not of Colombia descent or from a Colombian community even knows what the Petronio Festival is. The only festivals that most Americans know (generally speaking) is Edinburgh Fringe, Glastonbury, Coachella, and Bonnaroo. Chronically online folks also probably know about the Fyre Festival. But Petronio? No idea and not anywhere close to our radar.

Which is unfortunate, because it sounds fantastic. Harry and Meghan could have done great work raising awareness of the festival and engaging more with participants but instead they just…randomly appeared with a children’s choir and Meghan wore a ball gown?

But yes, I agree with you on your last point - we’re going to see them promote the heck out of going to the festival and they may even try to leverage it for other travel. After all, they’re festival-going “royals” who love meeting and mixing with the local people, instead of the uppity hoity toity real royals who segregate themselves from the locals by chain-link fences.

[queenwille]

is it finally time to reveal that one of the main reasons hamas took the chance on october 7th was a political crisis in israel?

i’ll try to make it short for my ADHD sibs in the crowd:

israel had a really tough political crisis between 2019 to 2022, where no elected leader was able to gather a government (men) under the israeli democratic requirements, so it led to 5 elections in 4 years 🫨

when finally netanyahu managed to build a coalition by selling his dignity and the israeli soul to religious extremists (as he always does since he only cares about being on top, no matter what) the very large secular and left public in israel were having non of that.

forward a few months, the extremist criminal members of the coalition tried to pass an absence law that takes the grand jury’s power to overrule the government if needed, which fired up protests and manifests literally EVERYWHERE. public facilities closed down as an act of rebellion, roads were blocked and much more. Galant, the minister of defense, said publicly that the gov really needs to freeze the passing of that law due to valid concerns about the country and its citizens’ safety. due to that comment, netanyahu publicly announced that he’d be firing galant for going against the government’s current agenda. oh boy, the night that happened, all hell broke loose. people literally shot the country down until the late late hours of the night. the lack of freedom of speech was a serious deal breaker (reminder: they have been protesting HARD for W E E K S). many were on reserved duty (it’s when they complete their mandatory service, but come every once in a while for a few days of duty like training or backup and in case of a war, they need to report back to duty when they’re up to date and well trained) said they wouldn’t come to their scheduled duty days under a government that is extremist, not equal (ultra orthodox don’t have to serve as the rest) and doesn’t allow freedom of speech. it was a whole thing, netanyahu changed his tune real fast. you need to understand that for israelis to rebel against their duty is extreme af. military service in israel is mandatory and a valuable part of the soldiers’ culture and identity, it’s not a just job they chose like in many countries.

BACK TO THE AGENDA. hamas documents and recordings revel that they were very much aware of the ongoing civil (and military) crisis and mentioned it as a perfect opportunity to hurt israel.

many of you think that when we identify with the word zionist, it means we agree with everything. the main thing y’all cancel when you call israelis white colonialists, it’s first the rich and diverse population it has. are all christians alike? do all muslims think the same? why is it that when it comes to the jewish people, everyone is so quick to assume we’re all clones? judaism itself has a few ethnicities which is very much a topic on the israeli agenda since like forever. and then you have, as any other religion, religious people and then secular and then people who are in between. that’s all before you mention the 2.5m non jews living in israel.

TL;DR no, not only not all israelis support netanyahu, but you’d actually be surprised how many oppose to his egocentric regime. take the time and ask, don’t just take the easy way out of goysplaining.

[kp777]

By Miles Parks

NPR

June 7, 2023

Why are Republicans abandoning one of the best tools the government has to catch voter fraud? That simple question is the focus of a new NPR investigation, published Sunday.

The tool is the Electronic Registration Information Center, better known as ERIC. It was created almost a decade ago as a way for states to share government data, in an effort to keep their voter rolls up to date. It allows election officials better insight into when their voters move and die and the rare times when they vote twice in different states, which is illegal.

"The little secret is that maybe more than 10 years ago, if somebody voted in Ohio, in Florida, in Arizona and Texas, you would have never known," Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, said in an interview with NPR in February. "With ERIC, we can compare our voter rolls to those states."

Eight Republican states have now pulled out of ERIC, including many with voting officials who are on the record as praising the partnership as recently as a few months ago. Ohio pulled out a month after LaRose spoke to NPR.

J. Christian Adams, a conservative elections attorney, has long been a critic of how ERIC operates. But he told NPR: "It's this crazy zeal to get out of ERIC ... that is going to cause voter fraud to flourish."

So what happened? Here are five takeaways from NPR's investigation:

1. A far-right website kicked things off

The story starts in January 2022, when a far-right website called the Gateway Pundit, which has pushed conspiracy theories in the past, began writing about ERIC. Up until then, the partnership was considered a quiet bipartisan success story, with member states that spanned the political spectrum.

NPR's investigations team analyzed hundreds of thousands of social media posts on a handful of social media sites frequented by election deniers. We found the Gateway Pundit's coverage started the far right's fixation on the program:

See Chart.

Roughly a week after the first Gateway Pundit article, Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin, a Republican, announced his state would become the first to pull out of ERIC, citing "concerns raised by citizens, government watchdog organizations and media reports."

2. Local "election integrity" groups are a political force

NPR found that while Ardoin did not make a big public show out of pulling out of ERIC, he did bring the announcement to maybe the only constituents at that time who would even care: a local group of conservative activists gathered in Houma, La.

The crowd, assembled for an "election integrity town hall," applauded for 15 seconds when Ardoin announced he was pulling the state out of ERIC. The event was publicized less than 24 hours before Ardoin's office released its statement on ERIC.

NPR's investigation also found these sorts of community election integrity groups to be critical in the effort to discredit ERIC across the country.

A group called Protect Your Vote Florida published a page on its website called "How to Influence Florida Legislators to Suspend Contract with ERIC!"

"The STRATEGY is to run a campaign directed at key Florida legislators," the group wrote in the post, which included a list of the state's lawmakers and contact information. "Hand delivered letters, emails, phone calls, and social media activity will all be utilized to maximize impact."

Emails acquired by NPR through public records requests showed election officials began to field questions from voters and state lawmakers shortly after these calls went out.

3. A Trump ally has coordinated an election denial machine

Cleta Mitchell is known by many for working with former President Donald Trump to try to overturn the 2020 election. The attorney was on the infamous call where Trump asked Georgia election officials to "find votes."

In the time since, she's been building an election denial infrastructure.

Her podcast, "Who's Counting," has become a central hub for stolen election narratives, and she's also started a coalition of grassroots groups across the country called the Election Integrity Network.

NPR's investigation found Mitchell to be a ringleader of sorts for the effort to dismantle ERIC.

She even hosted a secret ERIC summit with red state lawmakers last summer, according to documents shared with NPR by a nonprofit watchdog group called Documented.

Secretaries of state from the first five states to withdraw from ERIC attended the event, according to one attendee.

See chart.

4. Republican primaries are a driving force behind the ERIC exodus

In Louisiana, when Ardoin made the decision to leave ERIC, he was gearing up to run for reelection in a state Trump won by almost 20 percentage points. He was facing numerous challenges on his right. And ERIC was becoming a priority for Republican voters.

"We started hearing it on the campaign trail," added Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen in an interview with NPR.

Allen ran for his office last year, and shortly after the Gateway Pundit published its first article, he made a campaign promise to pull out of ERIC if he won. This January, he followed through, and Alabama became the second state to withdraw.

Secretaries of state in Missouri, West Virginia and Ohio — all states that have pulled out — have announced campaigns for higher office next year, or are expected to run.

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. DeSantis appointed Cord Byrd as his secretary of state last year, and the state's stance on ERIC shifted almost immediately.

NPR's investigation found that before he was secretary, Byrd regularly joined election integrity calls hosted by Mitchell.

5. ERIC withdrawals will make for "dirtier voter rolls" and an emboldened far right

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, put it simply in an interview with NPR: The states that have left ERIC "indirectly said, 'We're going to have dirtier voter rolls.' "

Brianna Lennon, a Democrat who oversees voting in Boone County, Mo., told NPR that will surely be the case in her county.

Before Missouri joined ERIC, the elections office relied on returned mail to find out if a voter moved to another state.

"That's what we'll have to go back to using," she said.

Election experts say less accurate voter rolls have a direct impact on voters, from longer lines at precincts to mail ballots and information getting sent to the wrong places.

Lennon told NPR she's worried about what the ERIC saga means for the 2024 election cycle. She had gotten a sense recently that community election integrity groups were gaining more traction in her state, but she says the secretary of state's decision was the first major policy decision she's seen that lined up so directly with their goals.

"I'm sure there are going to be ripples that come from this particular move and I'm not exactly sure what the end will be," she said. "I don't think this is an isolated thing."

Read or listen to the full investigation here.

[ilhoonftw]

Fjfjfjfjfjfjf what!?!?

let me explain the gyuri boyfriend lore

they started dating in 2019, broke up in 2021

he is the grandson of guy who was once in charge of major construction business so the whole family is rich

they were known for being a noona - dongsaeng couple bc of 7 years age gap.... officially. but then after his car accident he was exposed for ageing himself up 5 years because 'young people aren't treated seriously in business' so in reality they have 12 years age gap 🫣

you'll be the judge. him at 21:

the news about his age came out loong after they broke up, when he announced he's gonna take part in elections and... gyuri subposted him on ig story

On January 12th 2022, KARA Park Gyu-ri posted six letters with an ambiguous meaning on her Instagram story. What she wrote was “loss of humanity”. Some people speculate that she might have written this after knowing about the recent issue related to her ex-boyfriend Song Ja-ho. However, this is just speculation, and there is a possibility that it was written as she wanted to express an opinion on social issues or her personal matter.

june 2021 ... dui

According to media outlets, Gyuri’s boyfriend Song Ja Ho, also known as the eldest grandson of Dongwon Construction founder Song Seung Hun, was caught drunk driving in Cheongdamdong. He reportedly fled the scene after hitting another vehicle in the parking lot. At the time, his blood-alcohol level was high enough for the cancellation of his license. Song is also accused of confinement as he allegedly confined a woman in the car even when she requested to be dropped off.

september 2021 official breakup confirmation (to be fair a lot of korean celeb couples not rarely release breakup announcements late, to the point you have actors talk about their ex on variety shows like they are still dating bc officially they are... all while their new partener co-star promoting the same drama on the same show is watching 🫣 jiyeon's ex did that. there's a whole i think happy together episode that's super awkward to watch... later he married the co-star but they are now divorced and co-parenting)

official reason was 'oh we are both having busy schedules, it's hard to meet'

they both deleted all photos of each other etc from ig right away. and they were a very public couple, they did charity stuff together and were pretty known

before i start the fraud part, gyuri did post on ig that she was unaware of what he was up to 🧐

If I did something wrong, my biggest mistake was not ending things earlier. As I stated in my official position, I am not involved, so I hope everyone writes based on the facts that have been revealed. — Park Gyuri

so basically 2 weeks ago he was released on bail after 7 months of detention

The Seoul Southern District Court’s Criminal Agreement 12th Division granted Song’s bail application on February 5, setting the stage for a trial that involves nearly 14,000 victims and a scam amounting to approximately ₩33.9 billion KRW (about $25.5 million USD).

Song Ja Ho, who ran a shared economy art company, was arrested last July. The charges against him were severe, involving violations of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Song was accused of recruiting investors to put money into artworks that he had not secured and then manipulating the market price of a virtual asset known as PicaCoin. Alongside brothers Lee Hee Jin and Lee Hee Moon, Song is suspected of a massive embezzlement scheme that has left thousands defrauded.

The court has set stringent conditions for Song’s bail, including a 200 million won bail bond, a prohibition on leaving the country, the requirement to wear an electronic device for real-time location tracking, and restrictions on his residence. These measures reflect the court’s attempt to mitigate the risk of flight, given the gravity of the accusations. This case is particularly notable because of Song’s high-profile connections and ambitions. Prior to his arrest, Song declared his candidacy for the Seoul Seocho Gu National Assembly by-election, signaling his interest in entering the political arena.

[thisweekinfandomhistory]

Oil of Olay?! This week, V and Emily take a short trip through fandom history to 2022, when the most controversial OTW elections to date* announced its candidate roster. The controversy turned out less to be about the OTW than about the 227 Incident that got AO3 banned in China -- and holy moly, was it an incident. Your cohosts do not speak Mandarin, so apologies for ALL of the pronunciations in this episode. Have you ever had RPF drama in one of your fandoms? Have you ever bought a product because of the celeb who repped it? * This episode was recorded two months ago, before the whistleblowing of the OTW's abuses of its volunteers, lack of TOS/COC framework, and absolute skirting of legality with regard to CSAM. The opinions expressed in this episode with regard to the OTW do not necessarily hold true today, the date of release. *

This Week In Fandom History is a fandom-centric podcast that tells you… what happened this week in fandom history!

[nancydrewwouldnever]

Can you please make one of your master post break down from Pumpkingate up until the Disney trip. So much has happened in the past month and I’m just trying to keep up with all of it and trying to separate fact from fiction. It would be nice to see all the facts in order of how it came out.

Oh god, I can try, but I haven't really been writing down dates for this as much as I did for other things. (Because I find Alba completely boring. Like, at least Jenny inspired hatred in me.)

Here's a rough pass. Please comment with things I missed:

Oct. 3, 2022 - Carly follows Alba

Oct. 4, 2022 - Alba suspends her IG account

Oct. 6, 2022 - Jinx ad drops on YouTube

Oct. 12, 2022 - Chris photographed on set of Red One in ATL; works on same set all week

Oct. 13, 2022 - Alba reinstates her IG account; Elsa posts the "pumpkins" up as pfp on her social media [is this also the day the WN trailer dropped?]

Oct. 19, 2022 - Chris IG selfie post from Red One set, ATL

Oct. 23, 2022 - Chris records ASP chat with Tim Storey, ATL

Week before Halloween - The People SMA photoshoot and interview in ATL (we know from Jenn Streicher SM post of trip to ATL)

Oct. 29, 2022 - Tara Halloween party in MA, no Chris (or was there?)

Oct. 31, 2022 - PUMPKINGATE

Nov. 1, 2022 - Guillermo IG stories from studio lot and freeway, ATL

Nov. 3, 2022 - Chris spotted filming on location with The Rock, ATL

Nov. 4, 2022 - On location filming with The Rock, ATL; probably also day "sash skit" for Colbert filmed

Nov. 7, 2022 - IG story post of election resources from ASP, ATL house; Colbert announces SMA

Nov. 8, 2022 - SMA news breaks wide; Chris makes IG post about SMA title (Alba likes); Alba posts IG story from 'Wicked,' NYC

Nov. 9, 2022 - Likes and emoji comments on Alba Mrs Harris portuguese post; Late night IG story from stage of 'Book of Mormon,' NYC

Nov. 10, 2022 - People.com article about dating Alba; NYC PAP WALK

Nov. 11, 2022 - Alba posts IG story of her mom's age, seemingly in response to fandom discussion

Nov. 14, 2022 - ASP chat preview for Iran chat; Chris reposts the People 'PDA' question to IG stories (trolling asshole)

Nov. 18, 2022 - Chris IG stories about tattoo fan art and stars

Nov. 18-20, 2022 - Pics across IG accounts show Alba taking part in yoga teacher certificate classes, teaches class on Nov. 20th

Nov. 21, 2022 - Alba follows two Yonder Yoga ATL teachers on IG, thus letting the fandom know she did the 200-hour certificate program (program ran Sept. 17 - Nov. 20); Alba posts IG story of her yoga teacher certificate

Nov. 22, 24, 25 - Sightings of Chris with fam at WDW Orlando; morning of 25th, video captured with him and Alba at WDW

So, that's what I can remember. I know I'm missing some date when she made an IG post about WN and he liked it.

[theinconvenientlifestyle]

“You voted for all these things, and it is now this government – this people's government – it is now our solemn duty to deliver on each and every one of those commitments.”

Those were the words of Boris Johnson the morning after the Conservative Party’s landslide election win in December 2019. Standing at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in central London, Johnson promised a range of policies on everything from schools to net zero, and vowed to “rise to the challenge and to the level of expectations”.

Johnson’s biggest election pledge was to leave the EU. But alongside ‘Get Brexit Done’, he also promised to Get 40 New Hospitals Done, and made a host of other commitments to improve healthcare, reduce inequality and improve the UK’s infrastructure.

As we approach a 2024 general election in the UK, it is Rishi Sunak, not Boris Johnson, who will be held accountable for any broken promises.

Will the Tories have lived up to their manifesto commitments? We look at some key promises that remain unfulfilled.

Build and fund 40 new hospitals over the next 10 years

The government is likely to fail on this manifesto pledge – even after cutting back its target from 40 to 32 hospitals. A report from the Public Accounts Committee in November found “extreme concerns” over the “lack of progress” and said it was “highly likely” that the pledge won’t be met.

A report from the National Audit Office (NAO) also found that project delays and an aim to complete hospitals at the lowest possible cost were hindering the process. The NAO found that, of the 32 projects announced in 2020, only 11 qualified as “whole new hospitals”. Other definitions of “new hospital” used by the Department for Health and Social Care included “major new buildings at existing sites” and “major refurbishments of existing buildings”.

Target of 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s

The Tories’ 2019 manifesto pledged that the party would “continue” its work towards building 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s. In practice, this likely referred to England only, as housing is devolved in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In the years 2021-22 and 2022-23, England gained just under 235,000 new homes a year. That figure (called “net additional dwellings”) includes actual new builds (the majority of the total), converting offices and other commercial buildings into homes, and splitting existing houses into multiple flats.

In May 2022, former housing minister Robert Jenrick said: “The government will miss [its] 300,000-homes-a-year manifesto pledge by a country mile.” And last year, the cross-party Levelling Up, Housing and Communities committee said it was “difficult” to see how the government would hit the target of 300,000 after scrapping mandatory housebuilding targets for local councils.

The original pledge was a curious one as the government itself is not primarily responsible for building: that duty largely falls to private developers, local authorities and housing associations. Instead, central government can incentivise new homes being built, and punish councils for failing to greenlight enough applications.

The Tory Party is fighting a war on two fronts when it comes to housebuilding that dates back at least as far as the early 1990s. The wealthier Tory constituencies that form the bedrock of the party’s electoral support are typically resistant to development and want neighbours and councils to have more power to say no to new homes, but the party has taken up to a fifth of its funding from property businesses who want regulation as lax as possible.

What’s more, the difference between homes that are designated for social rent (which directly help bring down housing wait lists) and those that are intended for private sale (which largely don’t) is enormous. Political parties of all colours usually steer clear of talking about social housebuilding, which allows them instead to trumpet the much larger figures of overall housing supply without addressing issues such as landlordism, empty homes, gentrification and homelessness.

In reality, just 9,561 additional social homes were built in England last year. In 2021/22, so many social homes were demolished or sold that England saw a net loss of 14,000 – despite waiting lists topping a million.

Reduce health inequality

Multiple reports have found health inequality is rising in the UK, in part due to the pandemic, and in part due to the chronic underfunding of the NHS.

A 2022 study by the Institute for Public Policy Research found people in the UK were getting “sicker and poorer” and that there was a huge and increasing regional divide in health and wealth.

And a 2020 review by the Institute of Health Equity found that ten years on from a landmark study in health in the UK, “health inequalities have widened overall, and the amount of time people spend in poor health has increased since 2010”. It also found that life expectancies were worse in deprived areas with mortality rates rising for men and women aged 45 to 49.

End rough sleeping

The Tories promised to end the “blight of rough sleeping” by the next election with Johnson claiming he would “work tirelessly” to do so.

They haven’t. Rough sleeping has been rising again since 2021 and is on track to reach 2017 levels. Many of the key policies hoping to tackle this type of homelessness are still in pilot stages.

Ban no-fault evictions

Although the Renters Reform Bill is currently going through Parliament, even if it did become legislation before the next general election, it is unclear when these ‘no-fault’ section 21 evictions will be banned. This is the most common form of eviction.

A report from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) said the ban on section 21 evictions would not be introduced until reforms to the court system have taken place – which could take years.

Reach net zero by 2050

A 2023 progress report from the Climate Change Committee raised concerns about the target, saying there is a “hesitation to commit fully to the key pledges”.

Green Alliance analysis last year found that “the UK remains off track to meet its net zero climate commitment by 2050”.

Sunak has U-tuned on multiple green policies, such as the delay in banning petrol vehicles. He instead unveiled a ‘Plan for Drivers’, saying: “The clamp down on drivers is an attack on the day to day lives of most people across the UK who rely on cars to get to work or see their families.” The plan repeated a conspiracy theory about so-called 15-minute neighbourhoods that the government itself had previously debunked.

[usafphantom2]

China releases new images of its next-generation aircraft carrier

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 04/01/2024 - 11:00 in Military

Chinese state media released new images of China's most advanced aircraft carrier to date, including next-generation launchpads that can catapult a wider range of aircraft from its deck.

First displayed to the public in June 2022, the Fujian was entirely designed and built in-house.

However, to carry out its first tests at sea, the aircraft carrier is larger and technologically more advanced than the Shandong, commissioned in 2019, and the Liaoning, which China bought second hand from Ukraine in 1998 and remodeled internally.

On state television on Tuesday night, the Fujian was seen being towed by a smaller vessel with all three rails of its electromagnetic catapult system visible on its deck.

“In the new year, we will take advantage of every minute, work with determination and strive to be ready for combat as soon as possible,” state television said, citing a Fujian official.

Fujian has been conducting tests, including mooring tests, before the tests at sea, which some observers expected to take place until 2023. The aircraft carrier began the launch tests of its electromagnetic catapult system in November, according to the state-controlled Chinese newspaper, Global Times.

In addition to the Ford Class aircraft carriers, a new class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers that is being developed for the U.S. Navy, the Fujian will be the only aircraft carrier in the world equipped with the latest Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS). The new images also show a model of the Shenyang J-15 fighter on the back of the flight deck.

The Chinese version of EMALS can launch more types of aircraft than Shandong or Liaoning, and will also be more reliable and energy efficient, a milestone in the modernization of the Chinese armed forces.

President Xi Jinping repeatedly called for greater combat readiness and technological advances before the 100º anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army (ELP) in 2027. Some senior U.S. military officials previously said that China would launch a military takeover of Taiwan during that year.

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In the run-up to the presidential and parliamentary elections of January 13, Taiwan reported that China continued its daily military activities in the Taiwan Strait and around the democratically governed island.

Chinese fighters also occasionally crossed the midline of the strait, which previously served as an unofficial barrier, but which Beijing says it does not recognize.

Source: Reuters

Tags: Military AviationChinaFujianPLAN - People's Liberation Army Navy / People's Liberation Army Navyaircraft carrier

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Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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[warningsine]

More than three years after Chilean lawmakers took on the task, the country is still working on a new constitution. The initial push ended in failure last September, when voters overwhelmingly rejected a draft that many saw as too radical. While the latest rewrite attempt includes safeguards aimed at avoiding past blunders, it still faces no shortage of challenges.

1. Why is Chile writing a new constitution?

The current one dates to the military dictatorship that ruled from 1973 to 1990. Though it’s been amended several times since Chile returned to democracy, many view the document as illegitimate because of its origins during the reign of General Augusto Pinochet, a violent dictator whose rule featured arbitrary arrests and political executions. Critics have also argued that elements of the constitution have entrenched inequality. When mass street protests began on Oct. 18, 2019, triggered by an increase in Santiago subway fares, demonstrators expanded their grievances to include problems with the pension, health care and education systems. In an effort to diffuse tensions, then-President Sebastian Pinera agreed to hold a 2020 referendum on whether to rewrite Chile’s charter and, if so, how. Almost 80% of voters said yes, and a large majority favored doing so by appointing a Constitutional Convention. 

2. What happened in the first attempt?

Electing members of the Constitutional Convention in May 2021, voters delivered a massive surprise by spurning traditional political parties in favor of left-leaning independents. Rightist members failed even to secure the one-third of seats necessary to block articles. The body rushed to finish the draft after a year of work, writing and then re-writing clauses and going as far as holding weekend and late-night sessions. In doing so, it incorporated proposals that some viewed as radical change, such as the eliminating the senate — the upper house of Chile’s bicameral legislature — and creating a parallel justice system for indigenous communities. On Sept. 4, 2022, voters overwhelmingly rejected that document, 62% to 38%. It was a huge blow to leftist President Gabriel Boric, who had publicly supported the new charter.

3. What’s different this time around?

Lawmakers went back to the drawing board. In December, following weeks of intense negotiations, they announced an agreement on a new process that divides power and responsibilities across different groups. A Commission of Experts elected by Congress has been outlining new articles since March. On Sunday, voters will elect a Constitutional Council, which will have the ability to accept, reject or modify the proposals from the experts. An Admissibility Technical Committee will oversee the work and ensure that articles do not violate a set of constitutional pillars on Chile’s territorial integrity, the right to property, branches of government and autonomous institutions including the central bank, among other entities. The idea of the structure is to ensure that the end product reflects the will of voters and the guidance of distinguished specialists, all while limiting odds of extreme change.

4. What’s been the reaction from voters and investors?

Rising voter apathy after months of political twists and turns poses a challenge to the latest rewrite effort. Only 31% of people are interested in the new campaign, according to a Criteria public opinion survey published in April, down from 60% two years prior. “There’s high risk of disengagement,” said Criteria founder Cristian Valdivieso. In a Pulso Ciudadano poll published April 30, roughly 61% of respondents said they don’t trust the process, up from 55% in January. Public attention has been more attuned to problems such as crime and inflation, with relatively little buzz on the new constitution on social networks and in the streets. Most investors are brushing off those woes, as they now see the threat of radical changes to the nation’s pro-business rules as next to nil. Since the September referendum, the peso has gained roughly 10% as uncertainty has cleared. The design of the latest charter rewrite prevents unorthodox and radical initiatives from going through, analysts at JPMorgan wrote in a May 1 research note, adding that they are overweight on local stocks. In a Bloomberg survey published on May 2, only 14% of investors cited the constitutional process as a top local political concern, versus 64% who cited debate over pension fund withdrawals.

5. Where do things stand now?

In Sunday’s election, Chileans will select the 50 members of the Constitutional Council. The election is obligatory, meaning that all registered voters will have to submit ballots or else risk paying a fine. They will choose contenders from a total of five different lists — one from the left, one from the center-left, one from the center-right, one from the right and one featuring candidates from a populist party. All eyes will be on whether any political block gets close to 30 of the 50 seats. “The elections will likely result in a fragmented body that tilts right but in which none of the competing lists has the three-fifths majority needed to pass norms on their own,” Eurasia Group analysts including Maria Luisa Puig wrote in a May 1 note. The vote will be held at a time when Boric’s approval ratings are low, likely undermining the performance of his leftist coalition, according to the note.

6. What happens after Sunday’s vote?

The Constitutional Council will start work in June and will have four months to complete its tasks. After the council produces a text, the Commission of Experts will write a report that may include observations aimed at improving the document. Those recommendations will consequently be put to votes in the Constitutional Council; if there’s disagreement, they could be put to a committee consisting of representatives of commission and the council. Ultimately, Chile will hold a referendum on the final draft on Dec. 17. If approved by a simple majority, the new charter would become law, coming into effect upon publication in the Official Gazette. 

The Reference Shelf

Legislation that lays out the rules for the latest attempt at a constitutional rewrite.

Recent Pulso Ciudadano poll with questions on the new constitutional rewrite.

Bloomberg News coverage of the September referendum on the prior attempt to write a new charter.

[consultingsister-a5]

In 2013, after the funeral of her daughter, Cecelia moves to New York City. 

For one year, Cecelia Holmes becomes almost impossible to reach. However, for the sake of her daughter, she gives up drinking; she starts therapy; she even begins writing the novel she always planned to.

In 2015, she accepts a job at American Vogue as a freelance fashion editor, and slowly but surely makes her way back into society. She dates a politician with his sight set on the presidency, followed by a New York University psychology professor who had very recently left her husband of forty years and come out as gay (the two still keep in touch, but they eventually broke up due to the professors wish to mess around with her newfound freedom).

Much like many Brits before her, she begins a new life in America.

However, in 2017, her father invites her out for dinner in the city. It’s not entirely unusual. Out of all his children, Morland Holmes is closest with his daughter. Cee knows though, from the outset, that it was a business meeting. The popular 5-star restaurant being completely empty on a Friday night was enough.

Morland states his intentions clearly; his sons have no desire to join the family business. That leaves him with two options; hand the business to someone outside of the family, or begin to prepare Cecelia for the role of CEO of Holmes International Consultants.

He does however also make clear that if he believed Celia was incapable of the work, he would not be making this offer. Out of his three children, her resilience, persistence, and ambition has impressed him the most.

Although not strictly evil, the organisation Morland runs prides itself on being able to solve any problem for any client. These clients include governments, businessmen, and criminals. Through methods such as bribes, blackmail, and well places contacts, Holmes International Consultants retains its God-like power.

Despite her own reservations, and Sherlock’s please to decline the job, Celia accepts her father’s offer and leaves Vogue in early 2018.

Her first job is to create contacts within the Chinese government and spends the majority of 2019 and 2020 in Hong Kong. She then returns to London, mission accomplished and shadows her father until 2021 when she is announced as the new CEO of Holmes International Consultants.

In 2022, Celia begins her greatest endeavor. Using some of the greatest minds in the world, Celia begins to design a computer system that is used for the social engineering of whole populations. The machine will nalyze the patterns of history, as well government and online information, and chart a course for the future. In the beginning, it’s simply used to predict things like stock market changes, terrorist threats, worldwide recessions, and election results. The system is soon so powerful that Cee is able to threaten the president of Brazil to bring down his government and to talk with the president’s replacements within 6 weeks. Every company in the near future will need the computer’s assistance for their business.

Cee names the machine “Eurus” after her father’s sister, who died young but had an unexplained ability to know when it was about to rain.

In 2023, Celia wants to take Eurus further. Currently, the system works on the basis of information > output. Cee wants to be able to feed desired outcomes into the computer and for it to output the step-by-step process on how to achieve it. It’s an ambitious goal and begins to overstep the line as to where a stable world begins and personal freedom ends.

[kudosmyhero]

Transformers: Robots in Disguise (Phase 02) #1: The Autonomy Lesson

Read Date: September 19, 2022 Cover Date: January 2012 ● Writer: John Barber ● Penciller: Andrew Griffith ● Inker: (Andrew Griffith, also?) ● Colorist: Josh Perez ● Letterer: Shawn Lee ● Editor: Carlos Guzman ●

Synopsis: As a ship carrying the newest group of NAILs to return to Cybertron comes in for a landing over the primordial planet, the substance of the world itself comes to life, reacting primitively to the presence of the "intruders" and lashing out at their craft. Although damaged, they are able to set down, and are greeted by Bumblebee and Metalhawk, though the conversation that follows is a terse one, as Metalhawk takes every opportunity to blame the Autobots for the current situation and foster distrust for them in the new arrivals.

Elsewhere, Tappet is caught in the act of graffitiing a building by Needlenose and Horri-Bull, who are acting as enforcers of the peace following the implantation of inhibitor/deterrence chips in the Decepticons that prevent them transforming or using their special powers. Unfortunately, the pair elect to enforce the peace upside Tappet's head, but are caught before the situation escalates by Prowl, Blurr, and Sideswipe. While Blurr takes Tappet into custody, Prowl and Sideswipe return Horri-Bull and Needlenose to the Decepticons' "home", where self-appointed leader Ratbat makes demands for equal treatment that fall on deaf ears. After the Autobots depart, however, Ratbat turns on the two troublemaking Decepticons for their willingness to serve the Autobots' government, and announces that he has a plan…

While Ironhide and Wheeljack are attempting to map the full extent of the changes to Cybertron, Bumblebee and Prowl clash over the Decepticon problem, and over Prowl's opposition to holding a memorial for the believed-dead crew of the Lost Light, since most of the planet's population are hostile or indifferent towards the idea. Leaving Bumblebee to deal with matters of state, Prowl receives a visit from a mysterious co-conspirator, who is aiding him in carrying out the unpleasant tasks necessary to keep the peace.

Metalhawk arrives and arranges for Tappet's release, following which he and Bumblebee talk about the memorial. Rather than actually give an answer, Metalhawk volunteers the fact that rumours are starting to spread that Bumblebee had the Lost Light blown up, which drives the little yellow 'bot into a fury. Before he can really lay into Metalhawk, though, they are distracted by a scuffle nearby: Horri-Bull and Needlenose are at it again, beating up Zetca. Bumblebee threatens to detonate Horri-Bull's I/D chip if he doesn't back off, but Horri-Bull calls his bluff, preparing to kill Zetca… and Bumblebee doesn't blink, triggering the explosive and blowing Horri-Bull's head off. And watching nearby is Skywarp, who reports Horri-Bull's death, and despite supposedly having an I/D chip, teleports away…

(https://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Autonomy_Lesson_(issue))

Fan Art: jazz and prowl by m343m

Accompanying Podcast: ● Married with Comics: Rod Pod - episode 01

[mariacallous]

ZAPORIZHZHIA – On Sept. 30, residents of Zaporizhzhia woke up to the horrendous news of a bloody Russian strike on a convoy of civilian cars in their city overnight.

The attack with S-300 missiles killed 31 civilians and wounded 88 more.

Though the deadliest to date, it wasn’t the first strike on Zaporizhzhia since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But something about that day was strikingly different. Just a mere hours after the attack, Russia announced the annexation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, declaring it to be Russian territory along with three other partially occupied Ukrainian regions. The announcement came following sham referendums held between Sept. 23-27. 

Around 75% of the southern Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia Oblast is now occupied by Russia, but unlike in Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson oblasts, the regional capital of Zaporizhzhia remains under Ukrainian control. 

In the week following Russia’s illegal annexation, deadly strikes on Zaporizhzhia, an industrial hub with a prewar population of 710,000, continued.

On Oct. 6, 14 people were killed and 12 more, including two children, were injured as a residential building on the city’s central avenue was hit by a Russian missile. 

“It’s an act of pure emotion, of anger,” said local children’s hospital worker Tetiana Huliaieva, 52. “What they fail to understand is that we have already broken up with Russia forever.”

History of resistance

For centuries, the name Zaporizhzhia has been synonymous with resistance in the face of imperial expansion.

The area was the home of the Zaporizhzhian Cossacks, a fierce warrior nation of Ukrainians that inhabited the borderlands of the steppe in the 15-18th centuries. At various times, they fought against Crimean Tatars, Ottoman Turks, Poles, and the Russian Empire, which finally annexed the area in 1775. 

Their defiance was immortalized in one of the most famous works of Ukrainian-born painter Illia Repin, which shows Zaprozizhzhian Cossacks laughing as they draft a reply to an ultimatum from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire ordering them to surrender. Since 2014 when Russia initially invaded Ukraine, the scene has been recreated by the Ukrainian military in the context of its resistance against Russian aggression.

In 2022, history repeated itself: As Russia is attempting to force Zaporizhzhia into surrendering, local residents have a response similar to that of their Cossack ancestors.

Vote at gunpoint

As soon as “voting” in the sham referendums began in the occupied regions of Ukraine on Sept. 23, videos began to emerge of the coercive and fraudulent process, which showed no resemblance to a free and fair vote.

With the front line less than 40 kilometers away, many residents of Zaporizhzhia have relatives and friends in the occupied territories. Phone and internet connection, though sporadic, has shone a light on how exactly the “vote” was conducted.

Huliaieva’s mother, an ardent supporter of Ukraine, lives in occupied Vasylivka, a town 45 kilometers away from Zaporizhzhia on the bank of the Dnipro River. On the second day of the sham referendum, local “election officials” called upon her house in the company of armed Russian soldiers to force her participation. Huliaieva recalled her mother’s account:

“A collaborator came to her door, behind her two men with automatic rifles.

'Auntie Olia,' she said, 'will you vote?'. 

'Why are they coming here with rifles asking me to vote?' she said.

'What should they come with, lasers?'

'Sure, even with lasers if they want to, but not with rifles.'

That's how they did it, apartment by apartment. 'And you know if you don't vote,' the woman said, 'you might not get your next pension.'

I had warned her earlier, I told her to quietly and quickly put a cross in the ‘no’ box, but not to cause a scene. I don't know exactly what she did at the end, she didn't say.”

The results of the sham votes were a foregone conclusion. Russia’s Central Election Commission, which claims to have overseen the process, announced a 93.11% vote in favor of joining Russia, with a claimed turnout of 85.4% in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Similar numbers were announced for other three partially occupied regions. 

Huliaeva says that collaborators know “exactly what kind of nonsense” these figures are. “After victory I will go there, I will fetch my mother, and I will look them all in the eye.”

Circus on Red Square

Thousands of Russians were bussed into Moscow’s central Red Square for a concert in celebration of the annexation on Sept. 30. The slogan on the stage proclaimed that Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts were now Russia.

As Russia celebrated the illegal annexation, the fragility of its grip on the occupied territories continued to be exposed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. On the next day, Ukraine liberated Lyman, a strategically important city in Donetsk Oblast.

Despite their city becoming a new Russian regional capital in the eyes of the Kremlin, many locals in Zaporizhzhia did not pay the event much attention.

For Valerii, 55, a biker and long-haul truck driver who goes by the name of “Jim Beam,” there was no reason to tune in. “Why should I watch that?” he said. “It's all fake, nobody is interested in those ‘referendums.’”

Maksym Hrytsenko and Aliona Ivanova, both 19-year-old university students, also felt no inclination to follow the spectacle of their region’s annexation closely.

“I caught bits of it, but why spend your time and nerves on that?” Hrytsenko said. “On one hand my reaction was angry and aggressive, on the other it was to be expected, and doesn't change anything.”

“They can sing out whatever they want on their Red Square,” Ivanova said. “Zaporizhzhia is Ukraine and Zaporizhzhia Oblast is Ukraine.” 

“It’s just to show the Russian audience that they achieved something with their stupid ‘special operation,’ that so many of them died for a reason.”

A matter of time 

Following the annexation of the four Ukrainian regions, Pavel Krasheninnikov, head of Russia’s State Duma Committee on State Building and Legislation, told media that Zaporizhzhia Oblast would join Russia within its administrative borders, despite about 25% of the region living in Ukrainian-controlled territory.

In the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, when Russian forces swept quickly through the south of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the regional capital itself became the next major target.

As with Kharkiv and Mykolaiv, however, Ukrainian forces held the line outside the city, and Russia has failed to make any significant advances in the sector since March.

“We were scared at first,” said Hrytsenko, “but the chances that they could enter Zaporizhzhia now are close to zero. 

Russia’s rule in the occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia Oblast is far from secure either. The city of Melitopol, occupied since March 1, has become a center of Ukrainian partisan activity. Multiple attacks on Russian military bases and Russian proxies in Melitopol have been reported repeatedly by the city’s exiled mayor Ivan Fedorov.

“My friends are there, doing great work,” Valerii said, “eliminating Russian soldiers, collaborators.” 

“I don’t want to live a life of theft and violence, and that is what life under Russia is about,” he said. “The only place for a thief is either in prison or in the ground.”

Valerii’s ex-wife lives in occupied Berdiansk, a port city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast 75 kilometers southwest of occupied Mariupol.

“She told me the Russians don't come into Berdiansk anymore, they stay outside the city limits, afraid of our partisans,” he said. “Hardly anyone feels that Russia will be there for long.” 

In the days following the illegal annexation, Russia has suffered heavy defeats on the battlefield, losing settlement after settlement in newly-annexed Luhansk, Donetsk, and Kherson oblasts.

On Oct. 3, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Russia would hold “consultations with locals” to define the new “borders” of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, though no details were given on what that might look like.

Regardless of the status of the region in Russia, there is no doubt in the minds of locals that Russia will be forced from their region for good.

“It's harder (for Ukrainian forces) to push them (Russians) here,” Ivanova said. “It's an open steppe and it's crawling with them.”

“It may take longer, but it’s just a matter of time, and we are waiting patiently.”

[lizseyi]

Government Announces Planning Overhaul To Meet New Housing Targets - Portner

The government has announced that all local councils in England will be given mandatory housing targets in order to deliver 1.5 million new homes by 2029. This confirms its commitment “to get Britain building” as set out on the opening of parliament. In this article, we examine the new planning proposals and other new legislation we can expect to directly or indirectly impact the residential property market in the coming months.

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner introduced the government’s planning “revolution” by saying Britain is facing “the most acute housing crisis in living memory”. She said the UK’s housing target will increase to 370,000 a year, a steep rise from the 200,000 new homes predicted to be built this year. Despite this, the target for London will reduce from what Ms Rayner described as a “nonsense” target of 99,000 new homes to 80,000.

How will the new housing targets be met?

The government will make it easier to build on low-quality green belt land, which will be reclassified as “grey belt”. This will include land on the edge of existing settlements or roads, as well as old petrol stations and car parks. Development on grey belt land will be subject to new “golden rules” requiring a provision of 50% affordable housing, with a focus on social rent. The rules will also require increased access to green spaces and appropriate infrastructure, such as schools and doctors’ surgeries.

If local authorities do not have up-to-date plans or fail to enable sufficient new housing to meet local targets, housebuilders can bring forward proposals to build on grey belt land.

Local housing targets will become mandatory for the first time rather than advisory. New rules will change the standard method used to calculate housing needs so that it better reflects the urgency of supply in local areas. This new method will require local authorities to plan for homes proportionate to the size of existing communities. Councils will also have to review their green belt if needed to meet housing targets.

The government has committed to “go further in building genuinely affordable homes”. It says part of this must come from developers, and the housing minister will meet the major developers so that they “commit to matching our pace of reform”. In addition, there will be changes to Right to Buy, giving councils more flexibility to build and buy more social homes.

What other new legislation affecting the residential property market can we expect?

In our article, King’s Speech confirms new government will ban ‘no-fault’ evictions and reform leasehold property, we wrote about new legislation that will affect the rental market and planned changes to the “feudal” leasehold system.

In its pre-election manifesto, the Labour Party made other pledges should it win the election, and we can expect these to be introduced in the near future. These include:

The stamp duty nil rate band for first-time buyers will revert to £300,000 from the temporary level of £425,000 introduced in November 2022. The Conservative government had planned to make this change permanent. Overseas buyers will also pay a 1% stamp duty surcharge.

The Labour Party did not rule out increasing capital gains tax (CGT), and if it does, this could impact landlords. It has said, however, that it will not charge CGT on primary residences. Any changes to CGT could be introduced in the new government’s first budget.

The manifesto pledged to abolish non-dom status in order to address unfairness in the tax system. It says it will also end the use of offshore trusts to avoid inheritance tax so that everyone who lives in the UK pays their tax here. Having said that, the government will be cautious about driving wealthy individuals from the country, so it is likely to proceed with caution.

We will keep you updated as and when the government makes further announcements that could affect the residential property market. In the meantime, if you have any residential property queries, please contact Daniel Broughton at dbr@portner.co.uk.