Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

Editorial: Braze yourself, as the arch-conservative makes his comeback, for something bleak and dark.
October 5645



Fort William - The Earl of Windbury is back - no, not the Earl that we've seen during the first term of his premiership, but the flamboyant conservative fighter is back - and would we look at that, all of Luthori is screaming in pain, like an old person forced from her hospital bed to witness her final demise - with the recent push of the far-right in Luthorian politics, the Tories have been sent running all over their headquarters trying to figure out what went wrong and try to contain the HDA's seizure of long-time Tory voters, their solution? Being even more conservative than they have been. After what was undoubtedly the least interesting election in recent memory - the State Opening of Parliament can be considered as being one of the most consequential in Luthorian history - and not in a good way.

In this address, written by the Government to outline their priorities during the first year of their second term has been unprecedented in its radical vocabulary and conservative objectives, it seems that, under pressure from the right-wing of the Conservative Party and helped in this endeavour by the right-wing Liberals and the more "opened" Moderates, the Cabinet has begun its mission of reconquest over the hearts and minds of the people who stopped voting Conservative during this election - even with a decent result for the moderate right being noted. The Windbury government would undertook severe and deep "reflexion" upon Luthori's standard of welfare state, with the Cabinet outlining its plans to "drastically reform" the entire welfare state to make more "modern" and "efficient" for Luthorians - another word meaning that the Government would begin slowly but steadily destroy the welfare state in favour of unchecked laissez-faire in the welfare sector. Although, of course, they aren't going to completely destroy the IHS (Imperial Health Service) or Social Security, but they are going to start slowly, but terminating some elements of the welfare state to align with their bleak vision of Luthori.

The Cabinet effectively announced that it was looking towards working with "social partners" to reach a satisfying settlement for every party involved - even as they [the Government] are planning at least £20 billions in cuts in the Luthorian welfare state with the Cabinet looking towards cutting unemployment benefits and the so-called "baby boosts", benefits granted to families upon the birth of a child. Upon the encouragement of Foreign Secretary Porchey and Chancellor Pottle, the Government seems to also engage in a path aiming to promote and benefit private insurances at the expense of existing state-owned programs. The Emperor also announced that the Government was "looking towards" decreasing its role within the economy, through an "extensive" program of privatisations of currently state-owned companies - for now, the companies that would impacted by such changes aren't known - most suspect the Imperial Post Office or the Imperial Oil Company being the first victims of such moves.

Opposition Leader in the Senate, Tom Paschtenark (Labour), seemed to be looking with horror at the Emperor's statements, as it basically gives him more work in the Senate, opposing the Government at every single turn, the Senate Minority Leader was seen putting his head in his hands in complete disbelief at this complete u-turn from the Prime Minister after 3 years of working with him in the Senate, a confident of Mr. Paschtenark stated that this address was privately commented by the Senate Official Opposition Leader as a complete "embarrassment" and a "complete disaster waiting to happen". In the Chamber of Representatives, the Leader of the Opposition, Stella Wadden-Wayner (Labour) led the charge against the Government's program of "social dismantlement" as she puts it, the Labour leader pointed out, rightly and thankfully, at the lack of replacement of the watered-down social programs and to the increase in both poverty and inequalities that this would create. The opposition leader finished her address by saying that "numerous Luthorians are already struggling with social benefits - now what this government is proposing is essentially to kill them and leave them rot in the street".

Fear - not anticipation or excitement, dominates Luthori's political landscape tonight, as while the Government's economic program was expected, but the social implications of such economic program is dreaded upon by numerous Luthorians who already struggle to finish their month properly with the Government's support and now that would even more struggle due to the said government cutting down on these programs. Prime Minister Windbury assured that the Cabinet would create "appropriate" measures to reduce unemployment through different programs to support the reintroduction of the inactive workforce into professional activity, with increased penalties being imposed on those who "do not actively search a permanent solution to their professional issues", the Leader of the Opposition criticised what she dubbed as government "tied to corporate interests" and not to the hard-working people of Luthori.

The Government's planned reform to social issues rooting the nation has been more muted, the Prime Minister only promising to enact immigration reform to "simplify" the process of entering the country as an foreign national, while vowing to crackdown on any illegal routes that might exist towards the Empire. There was no brand promises like the abolishment of the right of abortion in Luthori, a subject so extreme that even the most die-hard traditionalist Conservatives wouldn't dare to touch this subject in hopes of remaining popular enough to survive in the next general election, there was no talk about the Government's policy towards euthanasia - which most of the populace and progressive forces are supportive of while conservative forces are either neutral to opposed, which is the case for the Conservatives, but seems that being in a coalition with "progressives" helps to moderate your social proposals by a bit.

Everyone, even the Emperor and Empress - who are normally neutral in politics, but whose reactions have been shown to be quite worried, especially from the Empress, are worried by the Cabinet, which is most far-right ministry that Luthori has ever seen in modern history, with deregulation being the way forward, a ruthless education reform that'll basically increase the pressure felt by students (already very high) and is likely to increase the rate of school failure and suicide or depression rate for the younger generation. Faced with the dismantlement of the welfare state and the increase in reactionary thought, it is important that progressives across the nation rally against this government to force its resignation or at least, stay true to the status quo. Something that we'll do here, at the Guardian.