Rule Britannia!

[lucky_kari]

No: HPFGUIDX 45406

I always feel a little hesitant to make these types of posts for fear
that all the Brits will jump up and say, "That's not how it is at all!"

But it's got to be asked...

I've been reading Richard Adams again (moans from certain listies),
and I was quite struck by his last paragraph, which introduces an idea
that I don't think he properly explores. 

"In fact, technologically at least, the wizard world appears to have
stopped somewhere around 1918. And this is significant. Those wizards
not raised among modern Muggles would not feel out of place in the
world of J. P. Hartley's The Go-Between. Even their currency gestures
towards pre-decimal pounds, shillings and pence, although in the
wizard world these become galleons (gold), sickles (silver) and knuts
(bronze) -- all coins, there are no banknotes, credit cards or cheque
books. This is an interesting era for Rowling to model the wizard
world on, because it was of course the last time that Britain could
genuinely call itself a great power. That it did not remain one is at
least in part explained by the two world wars of the twentieth century."

http://www.voiceoftheturtle.org/reviews/books/richard_potter.shtml

Why are the aurors searching Europe for Voldemort?

Think of it this way. Can Tony Blair send special forces with an
investigative capacity (for that is what the aurors essentially are),
authorized to use lethal force and torture across Europe? 

One might reply that the local countries are co-operating. But if that
is so, they are really co-operating. Beyond the point of reasonability
in our world. The aurors are not an international force. Despite the
little jokes about the EU in GoF, Britain is as independant as ever,
and the aurors are controlled directly from the Ministry. They operate
in secret too, and they go everywhere. 

Was Karkaroff definitely in England when he was apprehended? Why would
a man hailing from Eastern Europe who had been on the run for months
be? Antonin Dolohov? 

And there's that puzzling question about whether Voldemort was a
threat to Britian, Europe, or the whole world. The evidence is
contradictory. Unless one sees Britian as the wizarding super-power. 

I haven't considered this too far, and I would be glad to see what
others make of this, and how it fits in with <sigh> nostalgia and all
that.

Eileen