2040's

The 2040's

The world suddenly found itself in a new space race. The massive RAF Sol, the largest ever manmade object to leave the seabed and enter the atmosphere. Then to top it off it hovered over Washington, USA before rising further into the sky and in to high orbit! Great Britain was opening their borders and were willing to trade technology with the rest of the world. Their were many bidders but few met the UKs requirements.

Space

Once RAF Sol reached high Earth orbit it launched three craft. The first headed directly to the moon and deployed a mobile settlement. The second passed the US and Chinese manned Mars missions and made a soft landing on Mars deploying the same large base. The third headed in a different direction towards Jupiter. It again overtook the US and North Korean missions and set down on the Jovian moon, Europa.
The US complained that other planets could not be claimed by a nation and that they should always be open to all nations. The UK stated that it had made no such claims. But as it was the only nation capable of completing this feat it seemed only reasonable that the planet be run by the UK.

Politics

Citizenship voting had settled down from some of the more silly and ludicrous petitions that were first posted. It caused problems still with those not able to vote but whenever it is brought up it immediately gets voted down. Most citizens were happy that certain groups should not be able to vote.

Riots and Animosity

2042 saw the first riots against Citizenship voting. Large parts of London was burnt to the ground before the military was called in to subdue the rioters. The Military of course had the right to vote leading to more problems further north in Birmingham and Liverpool.
The non-citizens were complaining that the only way to become a citizen was to work but there were no jobs for them to have. The state kept them, provided medical care, and provided housing, but this wasn’t enough. They blamed the old for staying in their jobs too long and not retiring. This was deemed to be unfair as they couldn’t vote unless they could get a job.
This then extended in 2043 to the old costing more money to keep as they had been working and could vote to give themselves more.

Employment

The citizens were petitioned on many points of the subject. The first and most controversial, was the unemployed would no longer get benefits that were as high as those who were working. The unemployed would now be employed by the state. They would be given the minimum required including housing and food, but no perks. Their benefits could only be spent on certain essential goods. To increase their benefits they would be offered work. The company would employ the supervisors and the benefit worker would do the work. It would also give them experience and could train them in additional skills.

Conflict

The US believed that the United Kingdom had subdued Ireland in to joining its union. Many Irish Americans thought that the Irish should rise up against the occupiers and push them from their shores. And although many Irish wanted to be separated from the UK, many more wanted to stay part of the United Kingdom.
With the blockade down a covert US lead force entered Ireland near Kerry under the cover of darkness. By the morning the large force had moved further east and north claiming to be freeing the Irish from the Tyranny of British rule. Although the Americans thought that they were the redeeming force the locals had a bit more to say about it. They came out in force and stood against the invading US force. It didn’t take long before the protest became violent. A single local man stood his ground in front of a US vehicle. The officer ordered a soldier to move the man. Two soldiers climbed from the armoured vehicle and push the man away. Two more local men stood up to the soldiers defending the man only to find additional soldiers deployed against them. It was then that the US vehicles were attacked with petrol bombs, shots were fired with dead on both sides.
The nearest military unit was 59 squadron, Irish Rifles. A light infantry unit. As soon as they neared the US force they were attacked. War had started between the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
The US sea force was destroyed within a matter of hours by the combined forces from HMS Dublin and HMS Cardiff cutting off the US force. The US was given the opportunity to surrender and voluntarily depart the UK or face retribution. The invading force decided to continue their attack backed by the US senate. UK forces met them head on before defeating the US force.
The US was now to find out just what the UK was capable of. They were given 48 hours to evacuate Washington before it would be destroyed. 2 days later a single super cav missile exited the water just off the coast of Boston. The missile headed directly towards the Whitehouse. The Americans couldn’t believe it. Moments before impact the missile self-destructed showering the Whitehouse with small amounts of debris. You would think that the US would now realise that it was lucky. But alas, no. The Americans argued that the UK had attacked the US and that it was an act of war. The US felt that they were justified in retaliating against the UK. They launched 24 missiles from various sites targeted at the UK. The UK had 20 minutes or less to do something about it. As the missiles were on their way to the UK a second missile exited the sea off the Washington coast. This missile was also targeted at the Whitehouse. It moved a lot faster than the previous missile, it was also not a dummy but equipped with a Havoc warhead. It detonated over the Whitehouse showering it and all of the neighbouring buildings in graphene fibres. At the same time a massive EMP burst disabled all electrical equipment in a 200 mile radius. America had been effectively disabled.
However, America’s missiles were still on their way to the UK. Now almost halfway across the Atlantic ocean. The UK deployed some of her advanced anti-missile technology. The first hit was from the new haywire defence screen. A wide area effect beam weapon that scrambles electronics and causes misfires. Over half of the missiles were effected and crashed harmlessly into the ocean. Others prematurely detonated. A few continued unscathed. These few were met and destroyed by Spitfires from the RAF.