Opinion: The Hypocracies of Hanover

In which His Majesty Osman Shahanshah of the Kingdom of Babkha casts his eye over the public workings of Hanover and finds no redeeming features whatsoever.

While Hanover denounces simulationist micronations, its very own Prime Minister proposed to the 'Imperial Parliament' the establishment of a simulated economy and health care system, an example of joined-up government which drew a scathing response from the honourable Sir Carson Smith, who was quite surprised to find himself sitting in an Imperial Parliament when he had most certainly entered a House of Lords and Commons Together Assembled.

This incongruity being thus highlighted drew the sheepish admission from Prime Minister Portela that he had in fact copied most of the speech from one made to the 'Imperial Parliament' of the Empire of the Alexandrians, a simulationist micronation over which the Prime Minister of Hanover presides as Emperor.

None of this impressed Sir Carson, who remarked that "Copying speeches, regardless of who wrote them originally, is only going to make you look stupid. The Right Honorable gentleman still is not off the hook for the Imperial Parliament goof-up."

Hanoverians, it seems, are maybe starting to wonder about the comparative merits of allowing confessed simulationists attain the hallowed office of Prime Minister. More worryingly for Hanover it is perhaps the dearth of native talent that is forcing King Alexander to rely on imported potentates to provide his public officials, such as the current Prime Minister of Hanover, Mr Portela, his predecessor Mr Thompson, and the Speaker of the Assembled House, a certain Mr Dreesbach who happens to be the King of Interland, the sometimes disputed GC member-state and or Atteran province.

The Hanoverian delusion of sovereignty and nationhood does not so much place them on a par with Ascalon as with the myriad egostans of the 5th World Council led by the transcendental, or perhaps just plain mental, Cesidio Tallini.

- His Majesty Osman Shahanshah

Norton Awards Revived!

Following his special appearance at last year's FNORD Awards as Guest of Honour, President Kevin Baugh of Molossia has decided to revive the original Norton Awards this year, at the suggestion of Carson Smith, the King of Ronen, among many other things.

As before, the Norton Awards are held to celebrate Emperor Norton Day on January 8th, to commemorate the anniversary of his death in 1880. A short biography of his life and achievements may be found here.

The winners of the 2005 Norton Awards are:

Cultural achievement: President Kevin Baugh - for developing the Republic of Molossia's culture.
Intermicronational achievement: Marjorie Boodlesmythe of the NFA - for getting Micro-Net back on the Internet.
Political achievement: Northern Forest Archipelago - for being mentioned in 2 articles in the macronational press, one article focusing mainly on the NFA.
New micronation of the year: Utopia - for its promotion of individual sovereignty, and Interlingua as a common tongue.
Personal achievement: Kieran Bennett, Julian Starr, and Richard Shears - for the founding of Kallidéa.

FNORD! Malarbor Green with Envy as 2006 Winners are Announced!

THE NORTON LOUNGE, MNN - This morning His Majesty the King of Gotzborg presented the 2006 FNORD Awards, in association the Royal Institute of Micronational Antiquities (RIMA), but the Shireroth's Evil Tree God (TM) Malarbor (TM) was so jealous at the winner of the journalism award that he created his own.

Addressing the assembled audience, His Majesty thanked the awards committee and applauded the new awards, commending this year's changes and improvements, and declaring that they "represent the best examples of the people, efforts, projects and micronations which make up... the most dynamic community in our online world".

He added that, irrespective of the numerous reasons for people coming together to participate in micronations, in the end everyone walks away from their experiences "better for the interaction, better for the opportunities and better for the time spent".

The official award winners are:

Best New Micronationalist - Carson Smith
Best Revolutionary Concept - The Kingdom of Lovely
The Bill Dusch Award for Micronational Cultural Development - Ric Lyon
The Odlum Award for Individual Achievement - Ryan Caruso
The Norton Award for Excellence in the Field of Journalism - Novaya Zemlya
The Peter Little Award for Excellence in Micronational Literature - Greg Russell
The RIMA Award for Excellence in Micronational History - The Staff of Microwiki

Meanwhile, Malarbor's (TM) Malarbor Award for Journalistic Nift (TM) went to Nick "Foghorn" Leghorn.

Aerlig Appoints New Ministers

ADELWIN, AERLIG - Aerlig’s new Prime Minister Carson Smith has appointed his first Cabinet to help him run his new Government.

Along with the new Ministers, the Prime Minister also adjusted the ministries to reflect Aerlig’s new position as a member of the Commonwealth. The Internal Affairs ministry has gained control over the nations defence until the Commonwealth requisitions it, while the External Affairs Ministry has become the Ministry for Extragovernmental Affairs, or specifically, dealing with the Commonwealth.

The new ministers for the Republic are Lachlan Powers as the Minister of Extragovernmental Affairs and returning citizen Peter Krembs as Internal Affairs Minister. Dugobert Wurmser has been appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister.

News Shorts- 6th March 2005

Adelwin, Aerlig- The Protector of the Republic Lachlan Powers has assumed the role of the Prime Minister of the Republic due to the recent inactivity of the former Prime Minister, Mr Zachary Klass. Mr Powers will remain in the role until such a time as a replacement is installed.

Treynor Proper, Treynor- The newly installed Protector of the Independent Colony of Treynor, the Protector of Aerlig Lachlan Powers, has successfully completed his first week of protection of the nation by accidentally deleting the nation’s forums. The red-faced Protector was unavailable to comment at the time of print.

Lemuria- Citizen of less than three weeks Carson Smith has resigned his citizenship in the Empire of Lemuria. Mr Smith stated that he was not compatible with Lemuria’s laid back approach to activity, and would be better suited to a more active nation.

Kamalshahr, Babkha- The 2004-05 EIFA World Cup is now into Preliminary Final mode, with 16 nations battling it out for the eight spots in the Quarter Finals. For the latest news and information about the EIFA World Cup check out our sister publication Football Fever.

Babkha- Babkha is currently at the polls until the 10^th of March. As usual, voters have a wide variety of choice in their candidates, with candidates promising rewards such as severed and bonus legs.

San Martin- There has been a revolution in San Martin, and a new monarchy has been installed. So far there appears to be little resistance to the new government.