Chapter 601: Guinness World Records

In the midst of all the chaos, May arrived in a flash.

On May 1st, the Conservative Party once again defeated the Labour Party in Middlesbrough County and won a seat in the House of Commons.

With this, the Conservative Party finally obtained 326 seats in the House of Commons, more than 50%, and became the majority party.

This day was a day of revelry for the Conservative Party, and most Labour Party members were disheartened, but they did not give up hope. The Labour Party leader immediately gathered the party's top brass to implement the second plan, compete for more government department positions, and accumulate strength for the next general election.

On May 4, summoned by Queen Elizabeth II, Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher went to Buckingham Palace.

In the midst of great anticipation, Elizabeth II signed the appointment of Margaret Thatcher as the 49th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and instructed her to immediately form a cabinet.

On this day, the atmosphere within the Conservative Party was even better than the previous few days, with Conservative Party members holding private gatherings all over the country.

Xia Yu also immediately had the Financial Times and Daily Telegraph report and publish their congratulations.

The UK branch of the Jiuding News Agency also reported the news back to Hong Kong as soon as possible. Jiuding News Agency had received orders from Xia Yu in advance, and had conducted a series of in-depth analyses on Margaret and the Conservative Party's administration. Now that the time had come, they immediately put them into use. Once the reports were published, they immediately attracted the pursuit of Hong Kong people, and sales and influence increased significantly, with Jiuding News Agency standing out from the rest.

Two flowers blooming together, each expressing a different view. Let's talk about the latest news on Margaret forming a cabinet.

In order to facilitate the smooth implementation of policies, it is best for the political views of cabinet members to be consistent with those of the prime minister.

Even within the same political party, opinions are unlikely to be uniform. Political advocacy is the hallmark of a politician and is not easily changed. This makes it so that there are opponents within the same political party, while supporters of political advocacy can be found in rival political parties.

This is the case in European politics: parties and political views do not need to be consistent. Joining a political party is simply a way to climb the ladder and better realise one's ambitions.

Political parties can be changed as long as there is the ability and opportunity to do so. Michael Bloomberg, for example, switched between the Republican and Democratic parties in the United States, and even strongly criticised the party he had previously belonged to.

Of course, as leader of the Conservative Party, Margaret would ideally like to choose as many members of her cabinet from within the Conservative Party as possible, which would help strengthen her authority within the party.

But as the Prime Minister of a country, her importance is even greater than that of the leader of the Conservative Party, so when forming a cabinet, Margaret would also choose people from the Labour Party or the Liberal Party.

With the strength of the Labour Party and the Liberal Party, she would definitely be able to place people in the cabinet. Rather than arranging for people with different political views to slow her down, she would use this as leverage to choose people with the same political views, which would make the new cabinet more united and her decrees more unimpeded.

Forming a political synergy is in the best interests of a country.

After observing for so many years and this election, the Conservative Party has a register of every politician's characteristics and positions.

When the election situation became clear, Margaret and her staff began to make a preliminary list of cabinet members.

Once she became Prime Minister, she immediately put her plan into action, and if there were any new changes, she would make the most beneficial adjustments based on the actual situation.

After the election, the battle for cabinet positions became a new focus.

As the cabinet formation was still in the process, the three parties were in fierce competition, and the approval of the Rolls-Royce acquisition had not yet been dealt with. Xia Yu was in no hurry. He had waited for several months, so a few more days would not make a difference.

Feeling bored from being constantly busy at work, Xia Yu planned to take Li Qian out for some fun on Saturday. Coincidentally, Henry also came to Guangming Fund Company on Saturday, and Elena was temporarily free, so the two siblings teamed up with Xia Yu.

After some discussion, they decided that Elena would be the tour guide and they would go to her alma mater, Oxford University, which Xia Yu and Li Qian had never been to before.

Oxford University is located in Oxfordshire, northwest of London, about 60 miles from London, a journey of nearly 100 kilometers. They set off at 8:30 a.m. and arrived in Oxford, Oxfordshire at 10:20 a.m.

In theory, Xia Yu would have been better off having the car drive up to the front door of Oxford University in order to look after the two girls and young Henry.

But the reality is that Oxford University does not have a front door, and even if you look at a map, you won't be able to find the location of Oxford University.

This is because Oxford University is very special. Unlike traditional universities, the oldest and most famous university in the UK does not have walls, a front door or a campus. It doesn't even have a sign. It now has only 35 independent colleges, located all over the town.

In other words, the entire University of Oxford constitutes the city of Oxford, or the entire city of Oxford belongs to the University of Oxford. Therefore, the locals generally do not refer to the University of Oxford or the city of Oxford, but rather call it the City of Oxford.

The Oxford University model of running a school belongs to the collegiate federal system, which is a major feature of British institutions.

The relationship between colleges and schools in the collegiate federal system is like the federal relationship between the central government and local governments in the United States. Each college has a high degree of autonomy, owns land, property, and funds, and is economically and pedagogically independent. The university headquarters is only a joint administrative body of the colleges. It can be said that each college is equivalent to an independent small university.

After the car entered Oxford, ancient buildings lined both sides of the road. Many buildings had company signs hanging in the doorway, and the companies were very dense.

This is thanks to the Oxford University's industry-university-research model. There are as many as 100 companies derived from the various colleges of Oxford University alone. Coupled with those companies that covet Oxford University's outstanding students and professors, there are more than 1,500 companies in Oxford, a city of only 150,000 people.

Xia Yu's British company will definitely set up a branch here in the future, just to compete for resources from the source and enhance competitiveness.

After all, top talent is the greatest resource.

Of course, these are all matters for the company president in the future. Xia Yu just wants to accompany everyone on a relaxing tour for now.

'Elena, what kind of knowledge does this college mainly teach?'

Li Qian looked around at the ancient buildings with curious eyes, and suddenly saw many students enter a gate. She looked at it and saw that it said Exeter College. She asked Elena curiously.

Elena glanced at it and said with a smile, 'This college is the fourth oldest in Oxford. It offers majors in literature, history, and other subjects. The most distinctive feature is the literature major. The great modern British writer J.R.R. Tolkien graduated from this college.'

'Oh!'

Li Qian suddenly understood and looked around again.

Xia Yu squinted for a few seconds, nodded slightly, and vaguely remembered that the old gentleman Qian Zhongshu, known as the 'cultural Kunlun', also obtained a bachelor's degree from Exeter College.

'Elena, which college did you attend?'

Xia Yu asked curiously. He only knew that Elena studied business administration, and he also knew about the well-known Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford in later generations, but Saïd Business School should not have been established yet.

Elena gently brushed back her hair and smiled gently, saying, 'Oxford University focuses more on liberal arts majors, and the business administration major was only established in recent years. It is still part of the Management Research Center, and I was one of the fifth group of students to be admitted. The Management Research Center also has three other majors. According to my advisor, at the right time, the Management Research Center will be reformed into a business school.'

'In fact, because the majors are all set up according to the template of a business school, our students are also used to calling the Management Research Center a business school in private.'

'Oh! I see!'

Xia Yu suddenly understood and asked again, 'You are about to graduate, do you need to go back to see your mentor?'

Elena's eyes twinkled as if she had remembered her beloved mentor. She blinked her eyes and looked at Xia Yu and Li Qian and asked, 'Do you want to go see where I went to school?'

'Of course, it is worth a visit to be able to produce such an outstanding graduate,'

Xia Yu said with a smile.

Elena gave Xia Yu a sweet smile in return for his praise. Then everyone got into the car and drove to the Research Management Center.

They parked the car again, walked into the Research Management Centre, and in the centre was a sculpture fountain, followed by a flower bed. Looking around, there were lush small groves and colourful flower gardens, and in the distance was a Western-style castle-like building.

'Hey, Xia Yu, there are so many people over there, what are they doing?'

Li Qian pointed to a large group of people on a road to the right and asked curiously.

'Go over and have a look and you'll know.'

The group walked over and saw a very strange bicycle with many people of all ages sitting on a series of seats. At the front of the bicycle was a strong young man with blonde hair.

There were crowds of people on both sides of the road watching the spectacle. Xia Yu, who had sharp eyesight, also saw two middle-aged men in suits, one holding a microphone and the other a book with a logo on a blue background. Behind the two men was a camera filming them.

This scene looked familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before.

'Excuse me, classmate, what kind of event is this?'

Elena asked a boy standing nearby.

The boy recognised Elena at once as the 'Piano Princess' of the school and was immediately excited to introduce her: 'The second year students from the business administration class have built a bicycle that can hold fifteen people, and they are challenging the world record for the longest bicycle in the world. Those two are record certification officers from the Guinness World Records company.'

'Elena, I am...'

After the introduction, the boy immediately started talking non-stop, and Elena interrupted him with a smile, and told Xia Yu in the face of the boy's shocked and disappointed expression.

In fact, when the boy was talking, Xia Yu had already heard clearly, but since Elena repeated it again, he naturally acted as a qualified listener.

'The longest bicycle in the world? It can't be used on the road, it's not practical at all, so what's the point of challenging it?'

Unlike Henry, who was full of curiosity, Li Qian was curious but more puzzled, and she asked in a low voice.

Xia Yu smiled and whispered in her ear, 'There are always some people in this world with strange ideas in their heads, creating some boring world records.'

'For example, the fastest dog in the world running on two legs, the person who has not slept for the longest time in the world, the biggest fried rice in the world, crushing a watermelon in the shortest time with your thighs, holding the most snakes in your mouth at once, the person with the longest tongue, the person with the longest hair, the longest time without bathing...'

As Xia Yu listed them one by one, Li Qian's eyes grew wider and wider, looking incredulous, and even Elena looked surprised.

Seeing the two girls' cute expressions, Xia Yu's eyes twinkled, and he said, 'If you want to set a world record, you can also go and create one, for example, making the world's biggest burger?'

'Or challenging the longest time without washing your hair?'

'I would never do something so boring and disgusting.'

Elena rolled her eyes and pouted, and Li Qian nodded in agreement, looking at Xia Yu's hair with strange eyes, as if she had thought of Xia Yu not washing his hair for a long time, and she couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh lightly.

Xia Yu laughed, and his gaze fell on the blue-backed 'book' in the female certification officer's hand. That should be the World Record Certification, he thought it was a notebook just now.

His gaze swept over the crowd of people enjoying the melons around him, and a flash of thought crossed Xia Yu's eyes.

It seems that in the future, the Guinness World Records is world-renowned, and many children know the term, which shows its influence.

Now, decades in advance, the popularity, influence, and commercial value of the Guinness World Records should still be less than one-tenth of what it will be in the future, or even lower.

'Looks like we've discovered another toy with good value, hehe...'

'It was the right decision to come here with Elena, lucky star...'

'Just as Gavin Peter wants to acquire a publishing company in the UK as a foothold, Guinness World Records is a good choice. I'll give him a call when I get back.'