England
This article is being re-constructed, even as you read this.
Although, technically, England is but one of the constituent parts of the nation known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland rather than a sovereign nation unto itself, we are treating it, informally, as such so as to specifically differentiate it from the UK's other constituent parts: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Overview
England is the home nation of our protagonist, Jennifer Greenwood. Most of the narrative action that takes place on Earth, takes place in England.
Facts and Figures
Etymology
England takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe deriving their name from the Anglia peninsula, who settled Britain during the fifth and sixth centuries. It means, simply: “Land of the Angles”.
Foundation
A unified Kingdom of England came into existence on 12 July 927. During the preceding centuries, the lands that were to become England were fought over by an assortment of kingdoms ruled variously by Angles, Saxons and Danes.
Two of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which became part of the unified England were named Mercia and Wessex. Whether or not there exist any direct connections between these Kingdoms and the Calmarendian Provinces of the same names (see: Calmarendian Mercia and Calmarendian Wessex is generally undefined but thought to be unlikely. It should be noted, however, that both names, without their historical context being necessarily well known, retain a geographical significance in the modern world and would have been familiar to many Humans of Earth living in England during the twentieth century.
Population (1992)
Beyond Unreality: This figure is the mid-year estimate for 1992 in your timeline as published by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS). It does not account for the existence of Athershaw which we currently envisage having a population of around 180,000 to 190,000. In part, the population of Athershaw will be accounted for by a redistribution of Greater Manchester’s real timeline population and partly by a national redistribution of population to account for all the people who exist in our timeline but not in the real timeline.
Area
Beyond Unreality: This figure does not take account of Athershaw which occupies an additional area of 130.279 km2 . It should be regarded as a measure of the land area defined by England’s outline on the global map with Athershaw adding an extra 1‰ to the total occupiable land therein. How this difference is reconciled or by what means it goes unnoticed is strictly undefined.
Geography
Location within the North Atlantic Archipelago
England is one of the nations located within the North Atlantic Archipelago, an island group which lies off the north west coast of continental Europe. It occupies the central and southern parts of Britain, one of the two main islands of the archipelago, together with a number of smaller associated islands. England shares a land border with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west.
Topography
Central, Eastern and Southern England
England is not considered a mountainous nation although it has its moments. Central, southern and eastern England are generally devoid of any but the most gentle of upland areas amongst which are the North and South Downs (between the Thames Valley and the south coast), the Chiltern Hills (north west of London) and the Cotswolds, further to the north and west. Also of note amongst the hills of southern England are the Mendip Hills: not for their elevation or extent but because they are in the area where Jennifer was born and are the hills she can yet gaze upon from her current abode.
West and North of England
The major uplands of England, however, lie to the west and north of the nation. In the far south-west are the high moors of Bodmin, Exmoor and Dartmoor. In the west, butting up against the border with Wales, are the Shropshire Hills. In the north-east are the North Yorkshire moors. The most expansive of England’s upland areas are the Pennine and Cheviot hills. Sometimes referred to as the “Backbone of England” they form an almost unbroken chain of high moorlands stretching from from Derbyshire in the Midlands all the way to the Scottish border, entirely separating the north-west of England from the north-east and, apocryphally, keeping the denizens of Lancashire and Yorkshire from each other’s throats.
The one true area of rugged, mountainous terrain that England has to offer is the Lake District in the far north west. Although, undoubtedly, a beautiful part of the world, even its tallest peaks fall shy of the 1,000 m mark although, in the “old money”, four are above 3,000 feet.
History
England certainly has a lot of history (not always in a good way) but perhaps, from the perspective of our narrative, one of the most significant events (the Mingling of the Blood) happened long before England ever existed while its most momentous still lie in its future.
Government
Although we are generally, as mentioned already, treating England as if it were an independent sovereign state, it has no actual self-determination, taking its governance directly from the government of the United Kingdom. As of 1992 it will, in the real timeline, be a while yet before any nations of the UK are granted their own legislative parliaments and (at the time of writing, thirty years later) it seems highly unlikely that a specifically English legislature will come into existence any time soon.
What follows, therefore, is a brief description of some salient features of UK Government and, in particular, the things about it that most vex those of our characters who are involved most closely with it.
Government Type
Constitutional Monarchy in the United Kingdom
As part of the United Kingdom, English government operates as a Constitutional Monarchy.
Theoretically, the hereditary monarch is Head of State in little more than name. Theoretically the government of the day, exercising power on the monarch’s behalf, may do so only while it has the support of the democratically elected House of Commons, the lower chamber of the UK’s bicameral parliament. And, theoretically, legislative power resides with Parliament, albeit with an unelected upper chamber made up of placemen and hereditary peers, not democratically elected representatives of the people. Quite how much power and influence the Monarch, the Royal Family and their cronies are able to wield and how much they in fact do so is, for the most part, a matter for speculation to which very few have a definitive answer.
From this, and from the fact that the UK (famously) does not have a written constitution, you may get an idea that British democracy is a little, shall we say, sub-optimal. Except that, for most people, the flaws in the system are not a matter for concern; a majority, even, would take not inconsiderable exception to anyone who might suggest changing to a more transparent and equitable system of government. Against this backdrop, even the likes of Jennifer and Colette need to be somewhat circumspect about agitating for even modest change, never mind an outright abolition of the monarchy.
Democratic Deficit in the United Kingdom
Democratic deficit is a term used to describe circumstances where an ostensibly democratic organization (particularly a government) fails to fulfil the principles of democracy in its practices or operation. Many believe that such a deficit exists in the United Kingdom.
There are certainly questions to be answered about the power that may (or may not) be exercised by the Royal Family, the hereditary peers, big business, news media and any number of other vested (and maybe corrupt) interests at work behind the scenes. But many would argue that any actual democracy that citizens of the UK enjoy is really not all that. Rooted as it is in an archaic single member constituency, first-past-the-post system, it is (almost as if by design) incapable of electing a government truly representative of the electorate.
Jennifer, as much as she, at an intellectual level, knows its flaws, has just won election under first-past-the-post; from her perspective it has produced the right and proper outcome. That she won having secured only 42% of the vote in her constituency, that the other 58% of the electorate would have preferred someone else to have won and, quite possibly, actively despise her and/or what (they believe) she stands for, will not have crossed her mind.
Colette, more than most, understands just how broken the system is. She knows that, with her efforts at gaming the current system for all it is worth, she is part of the problem not the solution. But what is a girl to to?
Victoria can only watch from the sidelines ineffectually, knowing that her vote in public elections will forever be ignored, incapable of ever making a change for the good. She knows, for example, that had her party of choice — the Green Party — put up a candidate in Bristol North West, they might well have struggled to avoid coming last but the effort would, nevertheless, have certainly cost Jennifer her victory and would have resulted in the worst of all possible outcomes, another Conservative MP in the House of Commons.
England in the Wider World
The term “Little Englander” (used pejoratively to to describe a xenophobic English person who believes, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, that England is superior to all other nations on the planet, shows support for the worst elements of English nationalism and does not believe in working together with other countries unless it benefits England to their detriment) is still some way off entering the political lexicon of British political discourse but the phenomenon it describes is beginning to emerge from the shadows of extremism and finding favour in mainstream British politics.
As a member of the European Economic Community (EEC) (which, in April 1992, is still a few months off becoming the European Union) there are some areas of UK law and administration that are determined by the institutions of the EEC, as you would expect in any hierarchical organizational structure. This is not, however, how many in UK politics (on both left and right) seem to imagine hierarchies are supposed to work and the terms of the UK’s membership of the European Union, as it will become, is one of the most contentious issues in British politics in the early 1990s.
Inauguration
The UK Parliament in its present form — or at least one recognizable as such — came into being with the 1707 Acts of Union (which united the Kingdoms of England and Scotland) although there had been an English parliament in one form or another for several centuries prior.
Political History
Plenty of that but there will probably never be a day more momentous in British political history than 9 April 1992, the day on which Jennifer Leigh-Anne Greenwood was elected to the House of Commons as member for Bristol North West.
Dissolution
Not yet.
Seat of Government
Notable Members and Representatives
- Betty Battenburg — Head of State — Betty is known to her friends as Queen Elizabeth II.
- John Major — Head of Government: The Prime Minister — Major first became Prime Minister in 1990 — following the resignation of his predecessor Margaret Thatcher — via the arcane procedures of a Conservative Party leadership ballot which he “won” following the withdrawal of his opponents rather than by securing more votes than them in an actual ballot. Yesterday (9 April 1992), however, any lingering doubt about his legitimacy as leader of the government was dispelled after securing a further term of office by winning an overall majority in the General Election.
- Neil Kinnock — Leader of the Opposition — Known to his friends as the “Welsh Windbag”, to others by far worse names.
- Notable Members of Parliament:
- Jennifer Greenwood — newly elected member representing Bristol North West.
- Liam Fox— newly elected member representing Woodspring.
- Dawn Primarolo— member representing Bristol South.
- Tony Benn — member representing Chesterfield, Derbyshire.
Included Locations
Geopolitical Subdivisions
The first tier of administrative sub-division within England are the Counties. Those of interest to our narrative and characters include:
- County of Avon — where Jennifer, Colette and Victoria C live.
- Greater Manchester— where Jennifer had her first outing as a Parliamentary candidate.
- Northumberland — long-time home of Acantha le Fae.
- Nottinghamshire — where Colette’s maternal grandparents had their home.
- Somerset — home to Jennifer’s maternal ancestors.
- South Yorkshire — Colette’s birthplace.
- West Yorkshire — origin point of the Elmetian Fae and some of Jennifer’s paternal ancestors.
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