Re: [FT universe]

>well, i was sort of arguing from the premise that parliament is
currently
powerless, given that it can only really act via the cabinet, which is
informed by and acts through the civil service, which thus has a great
deal
of influence.

You have as cynical a view of these things as I do then.

>i was tipping hat to 'yes, minister'/'yes, prime minister' (jon must be
old enough to remember these too!), a pair of old BBC comedy series in
which a suave, clever civil servant relentlessly manipulated a naive
minister/pm. as wll as being very funny, it was strangely believable ...

I must be getting old.	I remember seeing it years ago and more recently
when they repeated it. A favourite of mine.  I begin to see what you
mean
more clearly.

>>  Unless the monarchy seizes
>> political power again.
>
>maybe the parliament + cabinet focuses on terran/core affairs, leaving
the
civil service / house of lords / monarch to deal with outer space. it
all
depends on the relative importance of the outlying reaches vs the core.

Perhaps a department of the outer colonies rather than the delegation of
it
to the upper house and monarch.   Its unlikely the government would want
to
cut themelves out of what may someday be lucrative areas.  Although you
could draw some conclusions that the Lords and monarch regard these
outer
colonies as a sort of playground where they will brook no interference
from
parliament.  Could be an interesting power stuggle within the NAC.
Division would be along upper and lower house rather than on a party
polotical basis.

>> >> has it devolved back to the old ideal of an aristocracy
>> >> and their cronies running things?
>> >*back* to the old ideal?
>> Far be it for me to criticise from afar.  I think its the same
everywhere
>> and throughout history.
>[snip niall accurately and concisely summing up human history]

Nasty habit of mine...

>>  In other words the nominal meritocracy in existence today has been
>> replaced by a reconstituted aristocracy.

>it is possible that the aristocracy is not reconstituted but new - as
jobs
get more complex and the rich-poor gap gets wider, we see the emergence
of
(explicit or implicit) 'guilds': the only way to get a job as (navy
officer/civil servant/academic) is if you are the offspring of one. it's
unlikely, i admit. as usual, i'm just throwing random ideas around and
trying to play devil's advocate.

Its an interesting idea. Its certainly true that jobs are getting more
complex as they require more education than brawn to accomplish.  Formal
guilds might be unlikely but informal ones could come into existence as
you
say through inheritance.  While there aren't any laws saying that you
can't
get into a particular profession its unlikely you will proceed very fa
without appropriate patronage.	

>> Of course that all depends on what the NAC is really like.  As Jon
has said
>> before there aren't any good guys in this universe but then there
aren't
>> that many bad ones either.
>
>in that kind of universe, there aren't too many wars. i prefer the
dystropian, everyone is a bad guy, approach, but ymmv.
>
>> Well except for the Kra'Vak. Nasty bug eyed aliens.	With big nasty
ships.
>
>welll, an intro text to a scenario in MT leads me to think that they
see
humanity as an important public health issue ...

Thats a very rational explanation of why the bug eyed aliens would like
to
come here in the first place.  

Its good to know you're being exterminated by aliens with good personal
hygiene.  

>Tom
>
>
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--------------------
Niall Gilsenan,
DIT Cathal Brugha St,
Dublin 1,
Ireland.

ngilsena@indigo.ie
--------------------
The miscellany (Sci-Fi combat games)
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