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Hello and welcome to this edition of the Observer. It has been a very exciting week for us this week, and for more than one reason! Firstly, I would like to welcome lord141 to the writing team, and he has been very busy conducting interviews with predominant members of the eUK society. We now have a website where you can read all our stories as we get them, as well as business statistics gathered for the week which give you an idea of the wage and goods market, which will be up shortly. Thanks to Jan Baykara for our new logos and banners that are evidently up on display here and on our website. Our first article reached number 2 in the UK media charts with 88 votes, which I believe is a record achievement. Remember to vote, subscribe and read to keep this paper going!Now, let us get down to the matters of what has been happening this week.

-This Week in Commons-
A couple of big issues emerged on Sunday evening which set the forums on fire! Firstly, the FB and RFA, were working together to boycott any new HoL proposals. This caused a massive stir with cries that it was undemocratic attempt to stop a democratic process, however it certainly got the attention of people, and even though they dropped it after a few hours, it got the point across and a compromise is being hammered out as we speak in public discussion. However, rastari, in what I think was a blotched and foolish attempt put his ideas on the HoL reform to a commons vote but many congressmen have voted not in favour of the motion because they see it is an attempt to stop the process of a better law from being created and it being done out of spite.

In other news, one time congressman jaden87 who recently left for Switzerland and returned broken hearted has decided to quit eRepublik. He went out with a bang, giving his companies to Vinners, to run under Rollins Enterprises and he gave 40G in gold and currencies to me, which I am grateful for. He posted lots of abusive comments and he has got his wish, which was to be banned.
The eUK CP has ordered hostile military action in the form of a political takeover without consulting either the HoC or the War council, both who are qualified even if the War council are undemocratic. I support motions that call for a full investigation and a vote of no confidence in our esteemed CP. Rayf has called for a full resignation of everyone involved, but I don't think it will go that far, because of the massive opposition to it that has already started in the thread and the appearance of the military commanders will give people some hope that they are accountable to the public.

Over the last few days, in the aftermath of the Czech Republic takeover, questions are being raised about whether the CP, Malta1990 has overstepped the mark. Ordering a military action in conjunction with military leaders (this I have no problem with) and not consulting with the HoC. However the main issue is that he chose not to consult either the war council (Iain Keers has said he wasn't involved) and in cabinet, showing that he has no regard for the processes put in place.
At a time when the Philippines, run by a bunch of ex UK'ers was facing a takeover, and many citizens funded others to move there and vote, our government was stealing gold from a country that is allied with our ally. The operation was run because of the lack of funding to the military, which should have been handled by Iain Keers the MoF, but apparently he has denied their requests.
Thehorseltd, the C/O of the Navy has resigned in protest over what he describes as the MoF “has not given the military any more than the most basic of funding - refusing us at every request” and we hope that the public support him on this because he is a valued community member and has every right to be annoyed. A vote of no confidence was issued by funky44 against Malta for not following procedures and not informing those closest to him about this decision to take military action. We have managed to get an *exclusive* interview with thehorseltd here, or you can read it later in the article.

There have also been calls for a public investigation group to be set up if people are not happy about the way things are run- and there are lots of those people. Iain Keers has remained quiet over the last few days, only appearing to challenge thehorseltd in his resignation thread.
Now we turn our attention to the Country President elections. At first it seemed there were 2 major candidates, Sara Droz from the UKRP and Hassan Peseran from the LSD, backed by the PCP. However, with the announcement from TUP that they are backing Sara, he has pulled out of the race, because he believes that there is no chance of winning when the 2 biggest UK parties support one candidate. Dan Fallows, the PP of the PCP has since announced he will be running, as will Azra’eil, from the FB party, which has sparked controversy because of it’s some what fascist views. We are fortunate to have interviews with Sara this week, , the UKRP candidate for country presidency:

-Hello, could you please explain who you are to people who don't know you?-

I am a 22 year old Graduate from Cambridge where I studied Classics and Philosophy in real life. In erep I have been Minister of Foreign Affairs for the last two terms

-Which party are you from and why do you think you have had the experience that is required to become CP? -

I have only ever been a member of the UK Reform Party in eUK. Apart from my experience as MoFa (where I am considered somewhat of an expert now) I previously served apprenticeships at the Ministry and Finance and started at MoFa. Prior to that I was Sergeant of 'Easy@ Platoon in the Royal Navy. Whether I have sufficient experience is for the voters to decide but I would urge them to judge me on my plans. I am a person that gets the job done.

-There has been lots of talk recently about the deployment of the military in PTO's. Do you find this an acceptable form of warfare?-

I think that depends on whom it is used against. For myself personally - and for the good of eUK - I would NOT have chosen a neutral country such as the Czech Republic but would have approved a PEACE country PTO if it had gone through War Council - as the law requires, but when your enemies use foul tactics sadly you must use them too.

-There have been a lot of businesses collapse recently, and both prices and wages have crashed, resulting in huge losses for companies. What would your economic plans do to help these failing companies?-

Well one thing that rrs and I didn't manage to achieve while I was his Apprentice is an MoF forum where major companies would be able to consult and advise the Minister. This I would like to see happen for alot of reasons: to help regulate the markets and have greater communication. I would also propose a gradual lessening of VAT to 0% and cuts in income tax but this would have to be phased in slowly.

-There is little doubt the Wellness Fast is a good way to get wellness, but wouldn't you say we are losing lots of valuable workers to other countries and that productivity is suffering? Wouldn’t it be better just for the eUK to go to war so that we have no need for this system?-

This question entails a Foreign Affairs and Military Policy... I shall introduce a new military system that will gradually phase out the need for ANY NHS. For those who must and who chose to remain in eUK it will be the immediate task of myself and my MoFa to organise a continuous training war. Discussions on this are already under way.

-Can we have any more information on this new military plan that will abolish the NHS?-

Let me put it this way: The last time I spoke to my Honoured opponent Hassan on msn he said that the "military needs nationalising". I think our plans are similar but I prefer to say that I shall help them to "privatise". They will still have Government subsidies but essentially become self governing Corps and Corporations. They will fund future wellness for their own.

-Thank you for you time that is all we have got time for now-.

You're more than welcome.

Now we have an extract from lord141’s interview with Scipio the Great, who he has interviewed about politics and the alliance system in particular that fights battles all across the globe. Sadly we cannot fit it all in to this article, but the full interview can be found here on our website. Here is the sneak preview:

-What is Atlantis?-

Formed in August 2008 it's a military alliance of 10 active members, of which we are one, and 3 passive. It is an agreement between the members to support one another economically and militarily if war is decalred upon a member, though there's no need to aid if the member is the one declaring war. Important to remember is that both alliances are not in-game formed structures, unless there are MPPs involved (the in-game alliance between two member nations which when triggered automatically allows military support from the other allied nation), there is no automatic decleration of war by all alliance members against an agressor. The two main countries involved in conflicts in ATLANTIS are Romania and the UK, though Romania is far ahead in this.

-What Is PEACE?-

Very similar to ATLANTIS, it was also formed in August 2008 and since then the two alliances have been battaling across the globe. The two main nations involved are Indonesia and Hungary, though they have 18 members in total. Where as ATLANTIS describes itself as a military alliance PEACE describes itself as a defensive alliance. However, both really have no claim to be defensive as they continually work offensively using their own member nations as support.


- What of the ESA? Are they to be a greater deal?-

ESA was an idea of Squiddy's. The plan was to make a European defensive and economic alliance. Similar in a sense to ATLANTIS orginal plans, don't attack anyone only defend signitories should it be neccessary and help eachother economically via trade etc. However, it broke down somewhat over the main issue of conflict of interests. Europe is divided between the two alliances, although ESA had no requirements for signitories to leave previous alliances, questions were raised as to which would take precedent, ESA or original alliances. Eg, if Romania was attacked by Iran, would France (a PEACE ally with Iran) then be obliged to support Romania? It was said to be a non-military alliance, however, it was eventually conceded that it would at some point probably become military. Things, particularly came to a head when it was clear that most of those in ESA and willing to join ESA were PEACE members.

-What of the newer countries? Will we try and influence them in any way?-

I know of no plans concerning these countries. Their positions, for ATLANTIS, makes them difficult to hold as allies. South and Central America are, for now, well within the grasp of PEACE and any new nations would do well to join them.

-Lord141-


-Enterprise Column-

A better week for the economy this week than last and hopefully good news for the future. We can report that while last week the future of the wood market looked bleak due to the part collapse of the housing market, it is still going strong. Prices have remained largely unchanged since last week with the cheapest wood Q2 at 0.525 GBP per piece of wood which is only slightly down on last weeks price, but it is still a far cry from the old price of wood which was over 1 GBP for one piece about a month ago. Grain prices have increased ever so slightly, but this has triggered a bigger increase in the price of food to match it, however the difference between this weeks and last weeks food prices are far bigger than the difference in the price of grain.

Wages have risen accordingly and in manufacturing most wages have increased by about 1GBP over the course of this last week. A similar picture with land as we have seen even bigger wage rises most probably because grain is selling at a higher price.
Construction are the big losers overall though, there are no job offers for the lower skill levels apart from at skill 0, which means that new construction workers will have to stay in the government companies until they have a large enough skill to get a job at one of the housing companies, and even then the wages are not great until you hit level 5, which will take quite a few months. So this week, our advice to new readers, if you are in a construction company and are low skill, get out now and get a job in manufacturing because that is where most of the money is.

-Rank and File-

It’s been an interesting week for the military this week, from controversy to brand new ideas. Firstly, the paras politically took over the Czech Republic, for 80G rather than aid our apparent ‘allies’ in the Philippines, who were being helped by Indonesia. There were lots of debates about who was responsible, and the general feeling that malta, who didn’t inform the cabinet or the war council, was to blame. However, thehorseltd, C/O of the Royal Navy, resigned because of what he called an apparently ‘lack of funds’ not given by the MoF Iain Keers, head of The Unity Party to the armed forces as a whole. We have managed to get an exclusive interview with him this week:

-Hi, who are you?-

Hi, i'm thehorseltd

-What have you done in eRepublik so far?-

Let me see, i've made a lot of avatars, started a design competition, i've been a member of TUP, Was Electoral Activities and then Chairman of the MDU (Now Forward Britian!), Member of LSD, am currently a member of UKRP (I should really join PCP and that other one who's name escapes me at the minute just to do the top 5), I was Congressman for Northern Ireland (1 Term), Helped write the Constitution of the Northern Irish Senate and became Senator for Entertainment, and have been Private, Corporal, Colonel and finally Brigadier (Under the new ranking system that's Able Rate, Leading Rate, Petty Officer, Commodore, and Fleet Admiral) of the Royal Navy. Think that's it! lol

-What part of the army where you involved in?-

I was involved in the Royal Navy branch of the Reserve Section of the British Military, and was most of my eLife.

-Can you tell us a bit about the TO of the Czech Republic?-

My favorite statement of the last 2 days: 'It is Royal Navy policy not to comment on operations either active or otherwise.'. Where I cannot tell you any specific details about the mission, I will tell you that it was a brilliantly planned covert operation, which it was an honor to have a hand in. Whether or not you agree with the objectives of the mission, or anything else about it, I think the people of the United Kingdom should be proud in the fact that they have such strong military leaders, who will do anything to protect the United Kingdom.

-Why were the war council or the Cabinet not told about this action?-

See above.

-Why did you resign?-

I resigned as I believed it was the only way to truly highlight the funding crisis the British Armed forces have been made to suffer through, and I am confident that it will be debated in the upcoming presidential elections, and hopefully something will be done quickly. Military commanders should never have to beg, borrow or yes, indeed steal funds.

On a side note, and an exclusive for your paper, I serve at the pleasure of the Prime Minister, and am patriotic to the last. As Malta refused to accept my resignation, I am still very much a member of the British Armed Services, but have passed effective command of the Royal Navy to Admiral Trooper_c. I hope, if I am to stay in the services to have a wider, less focused role where I can do good for all the reserve branch, not just the Navy.

After discussion with the Prime Minister, I have taken up post as a Military Adviser to the Reserve Branch of the British Armed Forces.

-Do you think the CP (or any member of the government) isn't doing their job properly?-

I will not use this opportunity to have a go at the Prime Minister. I have found him to be a highly approachable character. As for the rest of his administration, I believe my point was made in my resignation letter.

-Would you sign a vote of no confidence against our CP?-

No.

-Thank you thehorseltd for you interview, his resignation letter can be found here: http://forums.erepublik.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7989 -


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