Realpolitik of the Smoky Skies - The Reboot

Wait, so no more fascists party? Aw, hell yeah! Huh? von Bismark might be gone gone?...Uhh, that's sad, I suppose!

The new Government has been sworn in by the Emperor in Pulias City. The 3rd Prime Minister of Pulias, Senator the Honourable Aurora Gurra announced her ministry today and it was a definite surprise: all seven Senators of the 4th Senate are members of her government, which has been termed a "People's Unity Government".

The Cabinet, which must surely be unwieldy with all the competing personalities and priorities, was formed surprisingly quickly, much quicker than the Second Heerlo Ministry in the 3rd Senate was, especially when considering it contains the two mainstay parties — the Pulias People's Party and Pulian Advancement Union — and two independents.

This Senate boasts not only the first two female representatives elected anywhere in Europa, but also the first two female ministers and the first female head of government. Senator the Honourable Sofia Megame, who had been appointed by the Emperor on the Senate's recommendation to the vacant seat in Pulias City was widely and shrilly decried by fascists once it became known she had been given a ministry, but the volume of their ranting and raving was matched only by their ignorance of constitutional law and common decency and so could therefore be safely disregarded.

In more encouraging news, the Nationalist Democrats — the vanguard party of those fascists who had under their previous, more honest guise pledged to murder migrants, Senators and the Emperor — appear to have folded a month or so after they first appeared on the scene, even after their cosmetic reorganisation to imbue "respectability" several weeks ago that aimed to whitewash their crimes and sought to make them an electable force by leeching off the good reputation of the Pulian Imperial Party like a parasite.

The Prime Minister refused to make any specific comments on the formation of her government but did comment on the apparent demise of the fascistic umbrella organisation: "I must say I am surprised that a party with such strong beliefs and an agenda for vendetta against pretty much everyone in Senate would just dissolve like that".

In even more encouraging news, Henry Absoluti of the previously respected Pulian Imperial Party announced the dissolution of the ill-considered Dawn Coalition, and furthermore that the Pulian Imperial Party would be duly renamed the Dawn Party. Such a name is clearly more in line with the Long Peace we have experienced since the Dawn, and it is encouraging to see the son of a truly great man steer clear of what many considered undesirable and corrupting partnerships.

The whereabouts of Christos von Bismarck, the disgraced and possibly mad leader and founder of the Nationalist Party and the Democratic Nationalist Party are unknown. There are unconfirmed rumours that he has died and that the collapse of his party, built entirely around the fleeting appeal of his celebrity may have fallen into a power vacuum.

Whatever the reason, it is hoped that with the fall of such a toxic influence in our body politic that a more civil, sincere and honest politics can be practice if the new government can be trusted. Questions are being asked as to whether a coalition which has been in power for more than three decades is more reminiscent of absolute monarchy or oligarchy, but for the moment at least the announcement of an unprecedented cross-party co-operative ministry appears to have quelled fears of a PPP/PAU takeover.

Time will tell if such an ambitious experiment in democracy can succeed, or if we will be all going back to the polls early if it all comes crashing down in failure.

Editor's note: The views expressed here by Mister Granville are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Godwin Herald nor any of its other staff.

Some would consider it unwise to question their boss, especially in a public setting such as an interview in the national broadsheet.

I call it doing my job. I consider it quality journalism.

The Godwin Herald, until recently known to everyone in the Realm as the Haven Herald, had always prided itself on impartiality and providing high quality news and analysis of current affairs across a broad range of issues, including politics, arts and international affairs. "Without bias or agenda" was what they prided their editorial stance to be.

This all changed when persons unknown murdered the political journalist, and arguably the man who had brought the Herald to a national audience, the late Harland Godwin. That he was brutally murdered in a manner reminiscent of the colourful descriptions of violence from the upstart fascist leader Christos von Bismarck led to an automatic assumption that fascists, or fascist sympathisers were behind his killing. And this led to the editor of the paper, Charles Pilkington taking the most controversial stance the paper has ever had in its eleven-year history: he declared that the paper would not interview or cover positively anything nor anyone who even so much as associated with the fascists.

To some this was a justifiable response to a direct attack on the newspaper itself, to others it was a blatantly partisan act which discredited the independence and put a lie to the agenda-free editorial position of what had been a relative bastion of virtue in a world of trashy, gossipy tabloids.



G. Granville: Mister Pilkington, many people have attacked your decision to wage a propaganda war with the Dawn Coalition.

C. Pilkington: I understand that, although I wouldn't call it a "propaganda war". We were attacked, our colleague was killed by one of the coalition's leaders; we had no choice but to protect ourselves and retaliate in whatever means at our disposal.

G.G.: But do you not see that by responding as you did, you effectively made the paper a political entity? If anything you made the paper more of a target for retribution.

C.P.: I agree with your point about the paper becoming politicised, I do. It was entirely the intent. This movement had proven themselves to be a cancer upon the body politic of this nation. As for my actions making us more of a target: they had already murdered our most prominent employee: we were already a target!

G.G.: Most people would consider the proper role of a newspaper to be a conduit simply relaying the news, or providing careful analysis, not acting as a generator or a creator of news itself.

C.P.: We were already the story. Harland was murdered by these people. These subhuman scum. They themselves declared war on the paper through their actions. We had to arm ourselves, and instead of their clubs and nooses all we had were pens, ink and paper. And so we used them.

G.G.: In war truth is often the first casualty. Many people would consider a paper acting in such a blatantly partisan and political way to be unreliable with the truth.

C.P.: We did not publish anything which was untrue. The fascists were violent thugs and criminals, nothing more.

G.G.: But there were other casualties, though, in this war, weren't there? For example your decision to attack Henry Absoluti and the Pulian Imperialist Party.

C.P.: Yes, that was unfortunate because many of us here in the paper have a lot of respect for Mister Absoluti, and the Pulian Imperial Party, just as we have respect for all of the members of non-fascistic parties. Mister Absoluti's father served as Minister of Culture in the First Heerlo Ministry for ten years and then held the Second Heerlo Ministry to account in the Senate as Leader of the Opposition. His father was a great servant of the nation, and the nation is far worse off for his loss. I had nothing personally against Mister Absoluti or his party, but he chose to ally himself with these thugs and murders. I had to respond to that.

G.G.: And was it worth it? How much did it cost the paper?

C.P.: Readership is drastically down in Coventry, as was to be expected by taking on a respected party like the PIP and the Absoluti name. Again, very unfortunate. However, everywhere else in the nation there was effectively no change. Even in the so-called "fascist heartland" of the capital hardly anyone stopped buying the Herald, the fascists clearly had no real support base — it was attacking the PIP was probably what hurt us the most.

G.G.: And what about the harm done to your reputation? To the paper's reputation as an impartial medium of truth and accuracy?

C.P.: I do regret any harm done to our reputation in that regard, and I take full responsibility, but I would do it again if I had my time over. I'm not sure why Mister Absoluti trusted to work in partnership with a cretinous man such as Christos von Bismarck. But I am very pleased that the arrangement had disintegrated.

G.G.: Does this mean your war on the Dawn Coalition is over?

C.P.: Well . . . yes, of course; the Dawn Coalition doesn't exist anymore.

G.G.: And what if the rifts you've caused between this paper and Mister Absoluti and his party, between this paper and the good people of Coventry are too great to heal?

C.P.: Then I regret that, too, but I did what I felt was the right thing to do. You weren't here then, you have no idea what it was like even a few weeks ago, expecting armed thugs to break down doors and kill us all as we worked or slept. We had to hire guards to protect our very lives for god's sake!

G.G.: There have been a great many calls for your resignation as editor. Will you?

C.P.: Certainly not! Most of those calls were by fascist scum, who are the lowest form of life imaginable. I will not be standing down.

G.G.: So you're ending the paper's stance of bias, then?

C.P.: I wouldn't term it that way, but yes: we will treat the Dawn Party just the same as any other political party in Pulias.


The interview ended there; Mister Pilkington was extremely unhappy with me. But that's how it is when you're a hard-hitting journalist: if you're making friends you're not doing it right.

What I think might be dawning on my unrepentant editor is that the reputational harm he's inflicted on the paper could potentially last decades, far longer than even the Herald has been publishing to date.

While I sympathise with his rationales for engaging in such reckless editorial behaviour, I do question the outcomes and means: surely interviewing those who are ridiculous and demonstrating it to a national audience will be more effective than censoring them.

At any rate, members of the Dawn Party take note: the Godwin Herald has apparently declared a cease-fire.

Make of that what you will.

Sofia shook her head, reading on with unpleasantness. "I have to agree with this Gilbert dude. Abandoning neutrality and attacking a party was a bad move.

Marielle nods in agreement. "Indeed. Once you target someone, you have abandoned all sense of neutrality and have become your own side."

Sofia sighed. "Yep. And now that means there are literally no notable neutral-aligned newspapers in the nation, not until all of fascism is wiped out, at least." she lamented.

"That seems to be the case. It's almost as futile as your own bid for neutrality." Marielle commented with a smile.

To which her boss pouted in response. "Oh, shut it! I'm not trying to be so close to the PPP and PAU, they're just the ones who've been friendly to me!" she defended herself. "Heck, why don't you try becoming neutral and impartial? Yeah, go start your own newspaper!" she joked.

But a dangerous gleam in Marielle's eyes appeared. "Oh...? That doesn't sound so bad, actually." she replied with a smile.

Sofia gulped. "He, hey now...it'll be hard, you know. In the first place, you're my secretary, so people are definitely going to accuse you of being partial towards me or something..."

Marielle shook her head. "There are two kinds of neutrality. One where you choose no side...and one where you attack all sides."

Sofia's eyes widened. "Wha, what?!"