The Other Minister (was Re: Is Umbridge a commentary on British govt. ed

[or.phan_ann]

Geoff Bannister said:
> >
> > Ann:
> > Yes, JKR's just being 1990s/2000s anachronistic again. But if we 
  > > play the game of All-Canon-Is-Accurate, it's obvious who the PM
is: > > Neil Kinnock. (Wikipedia link for non-Britons:
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election%2C_1992)
> > (His predecessor is John Major, but I'm not sure who the
> > redecorator/Chancellor is.) Come on, it's only a small change...
> 
> Geoff:
> Hate to say it, but you're obviously not a UK voter. Neil Kinnock  
  > was never PM; he was the Labour Party leader from 1983-1992.
> 
> The rollcall of PMs in the 1990s was that Margaret Thatcher stepped 
> down in November 1990 and was succeeded by John Major who remained 
> in office until May 1997 when Tony Blair's Labour Party ousted the
> Conservatives.

Ann:
You're wrong! I *am too* a UK voter. You just misread me, honest. See
that remark about "it's only a small change"?  What I meant was that
you'd only need a small change to make Kinnock PM, because that
election was so close - and given the Potterverse's huge thumping
differences to our world (such as *magic*), it shouldn't raise any
eyebrows, right?  

(Sorry for being confusing, btw - I was more explicit in draft, but
decided I was over-explaining the joke. That's life...)
 
Ann, who doesn't really think the PM in HBP is Kinnock, just a
fictional one so JKR didn't look too political