At least the UK isn’t the US

 

16 May 2026

 

It was a strange day in England, that Saturday.

It was the FA Cup final.  The team from the poorer north, Manchester Albion, was playing the team from the riche south, Kensington.  The match was going to be held in London.  There would be a lot of people travelling into the city, and within it.

To add considerably to the chaos two rival political factions were marching on the same day, Hate UK on the right, Love GB for the left.  Careful plans had been made to keep these groups apart, and the police called in huge numbers of officers, some with horses, some with dogs, all with protective vests and helmets, many with shields.  They deployed helicopters, drones, facial recognition equipment and vans for carting away the overexcited, violent and hate stirring.  Ambulances lined the side streets with the occasional fire truck.

Hotels did a roaring trade putting up the world’s media, football fans and marchers.

Television, radio, news reporters of all types descended on the capital, for the tense rivalries on the pitch and in the streets, and also in Downing Street.

The Prime Minister had been swept into office on a landslide less than two years previously, but minor mishaps had been exaggerated wildly by the mainly right-wing media, and at that month’s local elections, the White Party won far more widely than any other party with only five members of parliament had ever dreamed of.

Sleaze wars abounded around political platforms.  The PM had been donated several pairs of glasses and a few new suits to start his job; the leader of the White Party had been donated £5million from an emigrant before he won his seat in Parliament at the same election.

The Prime Minister had elected a man who was nicknamed unflatteringly for not having the highest integrity, but the PM thought it was just a joke.  He sacked him as soon as he was publicly told whom he had been associated with, but this gave his opponents much ammunition to call for him to resign.  He had already been in hot water for having a Chancellor who failed the elderly and raised the cost of employing people.

By this Saturday the PM was holding tight to his job but his opponents from both inside and outside his own party were calling for him to be replaced.

Two main contenders were being backed for the position, the Northern King and the Secretary for Health, both very popular.  There was also the former Deputy Prime Minister, who had been let go due to a slip up with the stamp duty paid on her new private home away from London, and in recent days a court ruling declared she had done nothing wrong after all.  A fourth person was backed by quite a few: a man who almost won a previous election as leader, but not quite.  He had been put in charge of environmental matters and energy.

Once before the Northern King had wanted to resign his post as Northern Mayor to return to the national parliament, but the party said no.  Now a big chunk of them wanted the PM replaced he was given permission to stand in a by-election should a parliamentary seat become available.  And lo and behold, someone resigned their seat.

Next, he had to win the party’s internal voting to be declared its candidate. It was expected he would, but the formalities must be followed.  But although the seat was in the realm where he was so popular as Mayor, at those pesky local elections, the White Party just happened to win that council.  Would he really win against the usurpers?  And if he did, would he be chosen by the party to become the new leader, and hence the PM?

The Secretary for Health resigned to be free if called upon to be PM.

Meanwhile the streets were packed to the gills with protesters.  Those on the far right were against the governing party; whilst those on the compassionate left were not happy with the lack of national help for the victims of the Zionists gradually reducing their numbers and flattening their land, making some of it infertile so they could not grow food.  It was genocide, put bluntly.

 The party had difficulty either way.

By late afternoon, the police had arrested thirty-one people involved with the marches, and the news online declared no riots or deaths.

The Prime Minister continued to do his job.

And the northern team won the FA Cup by an underwhelming one goal to nil.  Could that be taken as an omen that the Northern King would just slide into Number Ten?  Maybe.

Oh well, time will tell.  As it will reveal how well the country does economically and in relation to health and social care.  Things are pretty flat at the moment.  Some blame the PM for lack of growth and improvement, but there is a war in the Middle East, and the Strait of Hormuz is virtually a no-go area, so things are becoming more expensive, especially as the world still relies far too much on oil based fuels to transport goods.

And then there’s Brexit.  That messed up the economy no end, and saw a fall in European health workers, which didn’t help.  Word is we’re going to edge closer to the EU once again, and that can only be a good thing.

But who will be PM to take the credit?