Over at the Waendal Journal, Tony has been a witness to a slab of BBC propaganda, this time from Mark Easton, "Home Editor", happily giving his own opinion regarding recent record levels of immigration on air. Read it here.
Fiona this morning caught part of the feature on that issue - hard-pressed maternity services struggling to cope with the recent huge rise in immigration, being covered on BBC breakfast TV. Fiona heard a female reporter saying something along the lines of: "It's ironic that without migrant workers the hospitals would not be staffed."
Chris Abbott has written of his concerns about migrant workers being used as slave labour, and as all three of us here sometimes work in nursing roles in NHS run hospitals in England, we can definitely add that this latest BBC statement is yet another piece of spin and propaganda.
The reason for high numbers of immigrant workers in jobs in the English NHS is that the work pays so appallingly, and after many years of cut-backs, which have accelerated beyond belief under New Labour, nursing and care work are no longer an option for many seeking a satisfying career.
So, people just arriving here are used and abused to keep up staff numbers.
The BBC increasingly beggars belief.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
ENGLAND VICTIMISED YET AGAIN BY UNITED KINGDOM GOVERNMENT
Campaign for an English Parliament Press Release: Monday, 28 Jan 2008
The Council tax in England will be going up in April by just under 5%, more than twice the limit on pay increases being imposed by the Union Government. The average Council Tax bill in England will go up by £115 per month. Meanwhile in Scotland the proposal of the Scottish Parliament under its Scottish National Party leadership is to freeze council tax, and for that the overwhelming majority of Scottish councils are fully in support.
The injustice to England since devolution just goes on and on. In addition to having itself acknowledged under the Union Government as a distinct nation enjoying Home Rule Scotland now enjoys free eye care, free dental check-ups, free access to cancer drugs, and free personal care free travel countryside for the elderly. With a Scottish Prime Minister and a Scottish Chancellor of the Exechequer Scotland is getting benefits denied to England,while it is the English taxpayer who is paying for them.
The injustice does not stop there. Despite the council tax increase local services are being cut back. The Union Government under Brown and Darling, while making more and more demands up local councils even as the cost of existing services and the council’s wage bill increase, is not increasing central government subsidy in line with increased costs.
‘Little wonder a recent Yougov poll found that the Council tax is the most unpopular tax of all. ‘67% of people in England resent it more than any other’.’, says Veronica Newman, secretary of the Campaign for an English Parliament. ‘The way England is being victimised just has to stop. The people of England cannot just be expected to pay for the benefits of devolution which Scotland is getting while getting none of them themselves and no parliament of their own either. The people of England should be able to decide for themselves how their money is to be spent. It’s time England had a patriotic government with patriotic MPs just as Scotland has.’
The Council tax in England will be going up in April by just under 5%, more than twice the limit on pay increases being imposed by the Union Government. The average Council Tax bill in England will go up by £115 per month. Meanwhile in Scotland the proposal of the Scottish Parliament under its Scottish National Party leadership is to freeze council tax, and for that the overwhelming majority of Scottish councils are fully in support.
The injustice to England since devolution just goes on and on. In addition to having itself acknowledged under the Union Government as a distinct nation enjoying Home Rule Scotland now enjoys free eye care, free dental check-ups, free access to cancer drugs, and free personal care free travel countryside for the elderly. With a Scottish Prime Minister and a Scottish Chancellor of the Exechequer Scotland is getting benefits denied to England,while it is the English taxpayer who is paying for them.
The injustice does not stop there. Despite the council tax increase local services are being cut back. The Union Government under Brown and Darling, while making more and more demands up local councils even as the cost of existing services and the council’s wage bill increase, is not increasing central government subsidy in line with increased costs.
‘Little wonder a recent Yougov poll found that the Council tax is the most unpopular tax of all. ‘67% of people in England resent it more than any other’.’, says Veronica Newman, secretary of the Campaign for an English Parliament. ‘The way England is being victimised just has to stop. The people of England cannot just be expected to pay for the benefits of devolution which Scotland is getting while getting none of them themselves and no parliament of their own either. The people of England should be able to decide for themselves how their money is to be spent. It’s time England had a patriotic government with patriotic MPs just as Scotland has.’
Thursday, January 24, 2008
McCain Goes Brit
I'm without oven chips because I've developed an allergy to the Union flag. Daft, I know, but the merest glimpse of it and I go hot and get horrible itchy sensations all over.
Why so? Well, I've never felt any great affinity with it. When I was at school in the 1960s, the flag seemed nothing to shout about and although I remember 1966, that was simply football. I hated the game and, if anything, the sudden brief Union Flag mania turned my antipathy towards the flag into something resembling dislike.
My nationality was something not very well defined at all, until the start of devolution for some. And then I discovered Englishness. In an amazingly short amount of time, I've grown to love it. Oh true, certain aspects annoy me - like the forelock tugging class thing, but in the main Englishness has so much more form, depth, warmth and kindness about it than Britishness.
My dislike of the Union Flag, begun in '66, has now turned to something approaching hatred. Just as I was discovering that my nationality was something I rather liked, that I was English rather than British - with all its Empire building baggage, I suddenly discovered that the Union Flag was seemingly everywhere in my vicinity - fluttering from Cambridge Guildhall and Magistrates courts, on all English products in Tesco (not on Scots, of course), making inroads at the Co-op, everywhere.
I suspect Gordy's claptrap has something to do with this. In fact, in the case of our local public buildings, I know it has!
So, when I walked into Sainsbury's yesterday, I somehow wasn't surprised to see a display of Scots flags (Burns' birthday approaches - how nice!) but when I reached the freezer section and grasped a bag of my usual brand of delicious McCain crinkle cut oven chips, I was suddenly stopped in my tracks. A Union Flag winked at me from the packaging. This was new. The packinging had never featured a Union Flag before.
Suddenly I felt as though I didn't exist. My nationality certainly didn't, and neither did my country. I was standing in a store in one of a number of EU regions in the UK, listening to a tannoy waxing lyrical about Burns, with a display of Saltires behind me and a display of Union Flags in front of me.
I didn't want any Union brainwashing nonsense in my house. Not even tucked away in the freezer. I was suddenly angry - a second rate UK citizen, in a tinpot region nobody voted for, grasping a bag of oven chips.
I put the chips down and quietly walked out.
And had pasta for dinner.
DEBS
Why so? Well, I've never felt any great affinity with it. When I was at school in the 1960s, the flag seemed nothing to shout about and although I remember 1966, that was simply football. I hated the game and, if anything, the sudden brief Union Flag mania turned my antipathy towards the flag into something resembling dislike.
My nationality was something not very well defined at all, until the start of devolution for some. And then I discovered Englishness. In an amazingly short amount of time, I've grown to love it. Oh true, certain aspects annoy me - like the forelock tugging class thing, but in the main Englishness has so much more form, depth, warmth and kindness about it than Britishness.
My dislike of the Union Flag, begun in '66, has now turned to something approaching hatred. Just as I was discovering that my nationality was something I rather liked, that I was English rather than British - with all its Empire building baggage, I suddenly discovered that the Union Flag was seemingly everywhere in my vicinity - fluttering from Cambridge Guildhall and Magistrates courts, on all English products in Tesco (not on Scots, of course), making inroads at the Co-op, everywhere.
I suspect Gordy's claptrap has something to do with this. In fact, in the case of our local public buildings, I know it has!
So, when I walked into Sainsbury's yesterday, I somehow wasn't surprised to see a display of Scots flags (Burns' birthday approaches - how nice!) but when I reached the freezer section and grasped a bag of my usual brand of delicious McCain crinkle cut oven chips, I was suddenly stopped in my tracks. A Union Flag winked at me from the packaging. This was new. The packinging had never featured a Union Flag before.
Suddenly I felt as though I didn't exist. My nationality certainly didn't, and neither did my country. I was standing in a store in one of a number of EU regions in the UK, listening to a tannoy waxing lyrical about Burns, with a display of Saltires behind me and a display of Union Flags in front of me.
I didn't want any Union brainwashing nonsense in my house. Not even tucked away in the freezer. I was suddenly angry - a second rate UK citizen, in a tinpot region nobody voted for, grasping a bag of oven chips.
I put the chips down and quietly walked out.
And had pasta for dinner.
DEBS
Yellow Swordfish: If In Doubt Blame The '80s!
When Yellow Swordfish finds a car parked almost in the middle of the road, he blames the 1980s! Yes, the selfish '80s, you know, that quaint decade of inner city riots, CND marches, environmental protest, Red Wedge, etc, now reviled as the cause of all modern ills.
In the early ’70s, my neighbour used to park his car on the pavement, completely blocking our gate. In fact, there were cars on the pavement all over our road, blocking pram, pushchair and wheelchair users and forcing them onto the road. And this was 1972!! What does Yellow Swordfish blame it on? Ted Heath? The 1970s 1950s revival? Sorry, the ’80s were crap, but they just weren’t that influential as to be able to extend their influence backwards. Until we start looking to now and ceasing the priggish, hypocritical nonsense about the ’80s, we’re going nowhere.
I was vehemently anti-Thatcher - but that's the difference between the '80s and now, people were vehement then, not always looking to blame the past and write a load of harping nonsense!
Yellow Swordfish writes of more "innocent times" before the '80s. I do hope he's not referring to the '70s - one look at the media of that decade reveals one very sorry truth: the '70s and '80s go hand-in-hand as possibly the two naffest decades of the twentieth century - the so-called '70s revival has been bolstered up to the hilt with '60s and '80s pop culture, and the actually rather non-influential '80s, complete with pantomime hair and daft clothes and pantomime "boom" era, have made such a wonderfully convenient scapegoat for the woes of now.
Including bizarre people parking their cars in the middle of the road, it seems.
MARIA
In the early ’70s, my neighbour used to park his car on the pavement, completely blocking our gate. In fact, there were cars on the pavement all over our road, blocking pram, pushchair and wheelchair users and forcing them onto the road. And this was 1972!! What does Yellow Swordfish blame it on? Ted Heath? The 1970s 1950s revival? Sorry, the ’80s were crap, but they just weren’t that influential as to be able to extend their influence backwards. Until we start looking to now and ceasing the priggish, hypocritical nonsense about the ’80s, we’re going nowhere.
I was vehemently anti-Thatcher - but that's the difference between the '80s and now, people were vehement then, not always looking to blame the past and write a load of harping nonsense!
Yellow Swordfish writes of more "innocent times" before the '80s. I do hope he's not referring to the '70s - one look at the media of that decade reveals one very sorry truth: the '70s and '80s go hand-in-hand as possibly the two naffest decades of the twentieth century - the so-called '70s revival has been bolstered up to the hilt with '60s and '80s pop culture, and the actually rather non-influential '80s, complete with pantomime hair and daft clothes and pantomime "boom" era, have made such a wonderfully convenient scapegoat for the woes of now.
Including bizarre people parking their cars in the middle of the road, it seems.
MARIA
Nick Clegg Lets Down England
CEP Press Release: Thursday, 24 Jan 2008
Nick Clegg, the new Lib Dem leader, has hardly been in office when he has already done a U-turn on his promise to make free personal care for all the elderly in England part of the Party’s policy programme. He came into the party leadership saying he supported Scottish-style free care for all elderly citizens regardless of income. Now he’s dropped it. Outlining plans for what he is calling ‘a people’s health service’ in preparation for the Lib Dem Spring Conference in March in Liverpool, he is now proposing that the elderly match government input pound for pound, unlike in Scotland where the Scottish Parliament pays the lot.
‘The injustice inflicted upon the people of England by devolution for Scotland and Wales,’ says Michael Knowles member of the National Council of the Campaign for an English Parliament, ‘has reached incredible proportions. Elderly people in Scotland get free personal health care, not one single elderly person in England. Everyone in Wales gets free prescriptions. People in England have to pay £6:85 per prescription item. Scotland and Wales have home rule. England not only does not have home rule but it is the people of England who are paying for all the benefits Scotland and Wales are getting out of having their own Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly. Each English taxpayer pays an extra £281 each year in income tax to subsidise the extra benefits Scotland is getting within the Union.’
Nick Clegg, the new Lib Dem leader, has hardly been in office when he has already done a U-turn on his promise to make free personal care for all the elderly in England part of the Party’s policy programme. He came into the party leadership saying he supported Scottish-style free care for all elderly citizens regardless of income. Now he’s dropped it. Outlining plans for what he is calling ‘a people’s health service’ in preparation for the Lib Dem Spring Conference in March in Liverpool, he is now proposing that the elderly match government input pound for pound, unlike in Scotland where the Scottish Parliament pays the lot.
‘The injustice inflicted upon the people of England by devolution for Scotland and Wales,’ says Michael Knowles member of the National Council of the Campaign for an English Parliament, ‘has reached incredible proportions. Elderly people in Scotland get free personal health care, not one single elderly person in England. Everyone in Wales gets free prescriptions. People in England have to pay £6:85 per prescription item. Scotland and Wales have home rule. England not only does not have home rule but it is the people of England who are paying for all the benefits Scotland and Wales are getting out of having their own Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly. Each English taxpayer pays an extra £281 each year in income tax to subsidise the extra benefits Scotland is getting within the Union.’
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
British Social Attitudes Survey
Lots about this on the CEP News Blog - here and here.
One of the basic findings is that whilst "Britishness" is on the decline in England, only 22% of the general population would favour an English Parliament. We don't have all the stats, but apparently "regions" were also amongst the options given, unlike the question asked in the Scots referendum.
Surely the survey shouldn’t be asking about “regions” - the only people polled in England voted 78% against them. Democratically, they should not exist. The people of the North East, said NO very loudly. And yet the Government has gone ahead anyway and the Natcen people are still flogging the question in the BSA survey! Never give up. One day the electorate might agree to what has already been foisted on it!
The problem with the BSA questions on how England is governed is lack of information. The good old NULabour ploy of smoke and mirrors and muddy waters. Many people we speak to confuse region with “county” - this is rampant even amongst the journalists (a kind description) on the Cambridge Evening News, our local rag. They write articles beginning with such gems as: “Police in the Cambridgeshire region…”
The fact that the "regions" question is on the BSA Survey at all smells rather strongly of something not quite right. Either the Government explains the regional concept clearly and gives a referendum for the WHOLE of England, or the BSA leaves them out of the equation.
So many people don’t know what’s going on devolution-wise, even now. We quizzed a woman assistant at our local post office today about why there was a Union Jack on her name badge. Turned out she'd taken it from a pear she’d had for lunch and stuck it on. When we talked to her about devolution issues, she looked at us as if we were potty. The West Lothian Question, health apartheid? They didn’t exist in her universe.
The problem here seems to be a lack of information via the Press in England, apathy, sheep-like tendancies, and a continuing over-identification with the “British pride” thing.
Until the people of England are clearly informed of all the devolutionary facts, the BSA Survey should not go placing any importance whatsoever on its findings in the area of English governance. Recent polls have shown much higher support for an EP than the BSA findings.
The facts and a referendum are what the electorate needs.
As far as the BSA survey goes, we smell corruption. But then we often do nowadays. Of course, we'll be dismissed as ignorant, paranoid idiots... but don't hold your breath waiting for us to be proved wrong.
Drew & Fiona
One of the basic findings is that whilst "Britishness" is on the decline in England, only 22% of the general population would favour an English Parliament. We don't have all the stats, but apparently "regions" were also amongst the options given, unlike the question asked in the Scots referendum.
Surely the survey shouldn’t be asking about “regions” - the only people polled in England voted 78% against them. Democratically, they should not exist. The people of the North East, said NO very loudly. And yet the Government has gone ahead anyway and the Natcen people are still flogging the question in the BSA survey! Never give up. One day the electorate might agree to what has already been foisted on it!
The problem with the BSA questions on how England is governed is lack of information. The good old NULabour ploy of smoke and mirrors and muddy waters. Many people we speak to confuse region with “county” - this is rampant even amongst the journalists (a kind description) on the Cambridge Evening News, our local rag. They write articles beginning with such gems as: “Police in the Cambridgeshire region…”
The fact that the "regions" question is on the BSA Survey at all smells rather strongly of something not quite right. Either the Government explains the regional concept clearly and gives a referendum for the WHOLE of England, or the BSA leaves them out of the equation.
So many people don’t know what’s going on devolution-wise, even now. We quizzed a woman assistant at our local post office today about why there was a Union Jack on her name badge. Turned out she'd taken it from a pear she’d had for lunch and stuck it on. When we talked to her about devolution issues, she looked at us as if we were potty. The West Lothian Question, health apartheid? They didn’t exist in her universe.
The problem here seems to be a lack of information via the Press in England, apathy, sheep-like tendancies, and a continuing over-identification with the “British pride” thing.
Until the people of England are clearly informed of all the devolutionary facts, the BSA Survey should not go placing any importance whatsoever on its findings in the area of English governance. Recent polls have shown much higher support for an EP than the BSA findings.
The facts and a referendum are what the electorate needs.
As far as the BSA survey goes, we smell corruption. But then we often do nowadays. Of course, we'll be dismissed as ignorant, paranoid idiots... but don't hold your breath waiting for us to be proved wrong.
Drew & Fiona
Monday, January 21, 2008
Our Kingdom: The Trouble With Fascists
The mind boggles. “Our Kingdom”, which has published some of the most ghastly, anti-English drivel known to humankind, has moved to smack a pathetic fascist on the nose with the headline English fascist.
Of course, the e-mail writer was wrong, but if we published articles about every drop of anti-English drivel we receive at WENAP, it would run and run. There would be about two dozen articles on this blog entitled "Scots/Welsh Fascist" and a couple entitled "Cornish Fascist". We have received e-mails about how pure the "Celts" are and how mongrel are the English!
Nobody should condone fascism. And yet publishing material about how England doesn’t deserve equality because it apparently has no moral vision and articles presenting its history in a purely negative light is all fine and dandy for those lovely upstanding folks at Our Kingdom.
Our rights to make decisions about how our country is governed, to have equality in health care, democratic representation, etc are poison to Our Kingdom. We have been stunned at some of the material they have published.
And what's all this bizarre waffle about the "Celts" and "Celtic nations" which the site happily lets pass? Surely, English, Welsh and Scots are nationalities, not races/pure ethnicities?
We thinks there are more than a few British anti-English/England fascists behind the scenes at Our Kingdom. It shocks us that they cannot see their own faults.
Two wrongs don’t make a right!
Drew and Fiona (in Chris Abbott's absence)
Of course, the e-mail writer was wrong, but if we published articles about every drop of anti-English drivel we receive at WENAP, it would run and run. There would be about two dozen articles on this blog entitled "Scots/Welsh Fascist" and a couple entitled "Cornish Fascist". We have received e-mails about how pure the "Celts" are and how mongrel are the English!
Nobody should condone fascism. And yet publishing material about how England doesn’t deserve equality because it apparently has no moral vision and articles presenting its history in a purely negative light is all fine and dandy for those lovely upstanding folks at Our Kingdom.
Our rights to make decisions about how our country is governed, to have equality in health care, democratic representation, etc are poison to Our Kingdom. We have been stunned at some of the material they have published.
And what's all this bizarre waffle about the "Celts" and "Celtic nations" which the site happily lets pass? Surely, English, Welsh and Scots are nationalities, not races/pure ethnicities?
We thinks there are more than a few British anti-English/England fascists behind the scenes at Our Kingdom. It shocks us that they cannot see their own faults.
Two wrongs don’t make a right!
Drew and Fiona (in Chris Abbott's absence)
Chris Abbott On Holiday
Hi, folks! Chris Abbott is off to Brighton for a couple of weeks, so we'll be holding the fort here at WENAP Towers. We're a bit rusty, but raring to go!
Drew & Fiona
Drew & Fiona
Friday, January 18, 2008
David Marquand
Over at Our Kingdom, Mr Marquand claims that England must have a "moral vision" before qualifying for democratic rule. By that, he means converting to his own warped version of "socialism". "Think as I do". Mr Maquand then applauds the Scots and Welsh for their own visions.
Rubbish. The Scottish and Welsh nationalist movements are riddled with misconceptions of the past and Anglophobia.
The current set up is racist, pure and simple. The last time I checked (back in the days of the CRE) racism could be on grounds of nationality! Just think, people can die in England for want of medication available on the NHS in Scotland, the English public services and NHS are underfunded, other UK MPs foist legislation onto England, people in England scrape together money for prescriptions available free to millionaires in Wales.
It’s spite - some kind of “pay back” for perceived injustices in the past. These “injustices” are far from clear cut when closely examined. It’s simply that the perceived wrongs of “Britain” are heaped upon England.
There is no noble vision. It is a racist elite (the pure “Celt” thing is terrifying and inaccurate) ruling a “great unwashed”. That people cannot see the racist element in all this worries me intensely.
England must have its own parliament.
David Marquand is an arrogant racist, out to butter his own parsnips in seeking to ensure that the current undemocratic and corrupt system of governance is upheld.
Rubbish. The Scottish and Welsh nationalist movements are riddled with misconceptions of the past and Anglophobia.
The current set up is racist, pure and simple. The last time I checked (back in the days of the CRE) racism could be on grounds of nationality! Just think, people can die in England for want of medication available on the NHS in Scotland, the English public services and NHS are underfunded, other UK MPs foist legislation onto England, people in England scrape together money for prescriptions available free to millionaires in Wales.
It’s spite - some kind of “pay back” for perceived injustices in the past. These “injustices” are far from clear cut when closely examined. It’s simply that the perceived wrongs of “Britain” are heaped upon England.
There is no noble vision. It is a racist elite (the pure “Celt” thing is terrifying and inaccurate) ruling a “great unwashed”. That people cannot see the racist element in all this worries me intensely.
England must have its own parliament.
David Marquand is an arrogant racist, out to butter his own parsnips in seeking to ensure that the current undemocratic and corrupt system of governance is upheld.
England Excluded From Affairs Of The Union
CEP Press Release: Tuesday, 15 Jan 2008
Today January 15th behind closed doors in a room in Portcullis House in Westminster in London, England’s capital, six of Scotland’s MPs and MSPs will meet to decide what further powers to give to the Scottish Parliament. England, which makes up 80% of the Union population, has 550 of its 650 MPs and contributes 85% of its wealth, is being totally excluded from the discussions. No English MP is invited. This will be their second meeting, the first was in November of last year
The Scottish Six are: Des Browne Labour MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun and (part-time) Secretary of State for Scotland, Alistair Carmichael Lib-Dem MP for Orkney and Shetlands, David Mundell Conservative MP for Dumfrieshire, Clydesdale and Tweesdale, Wendy Alexander Labour MSP for Paisley South, Annabel Goldie Conservative MSP for the West of Scotland and Nicol Stephen Lib-Den MSP for Aberdeen South.
They are meeting in a state of intense inter-party anxiety. One thing unites them, their opposition to the Scottish National Party. The latest You-Gov poll for the Scottish Daily Express has put the SNP nine points ahead of labour in the constituency vote, and of course streets ahead of the Lib-Dem and the Tory parties. They meet under the banner of defence of the Union. Their principal concern however is the survival of their parties in Scotland.
In 1997 the Labour Party led by Scottish MPs Gordon Brown, Tony Blair, Donald Dewar, Robin Cook and Des Browne was convinced that a devolved Scottish Parliament would kill off the SNP for good. It did not. The Scottish First Minister is Alex Salmond. They believed that giving to Scotland complete power over all its internal affairs such as health and education would stop the rise of Scottish nationalism in its tracks. It achieved the exact opposite. They believed that keeping the power of Scottish MPs in the Union Parliament to legislate in every single matter for England while excluding English MPs from any say in Scotland’s internal affairs would go unnoticed by the English people. But the last ten years of devolution has dramatically witnessed the biggest rise in English patriotism ever. In addition the resentment of the English people against the rampant injustice inflicted by the 1997 legislation upon them is now filling every MP’s postbag. 58% of English people want Scotland to go independent, 72% want their own separate English Parliament.
The Scottish Six are meeting behind closed doors, no English representation allowed, to decide what extra powers to give to the Scottish Parliament to keep the SNP at bay. What lessons they might have learned over the past ten years are their business. What is England’s business however is the knowledge that these Scottish MPs think they can play fast and loose with United Kingdom constitutional matters without consultation with England which is 80% of the Union. What is England’s business is the sheer brass of these Scottish MPs giving even more powers to Scotland and even less say for England in Scottish matters while keeping for themselves the right to legislate for England in every single thing.
‘The next ten years,’ says Mrs Scilla Cullen, Chairman of the Campaign for an English Parliament, ‘will see all this put right. The constitution of the United Kingdom cannot be made to serve just the interests of Scotland’.
Today January 15th behind closed doors in a room in Portcullis House in Westminster in London, England’s capital, six of Scotland’s MPs and MSPs will meet to decide what further powers to give to the Scottish Parliament. England, which makes up 80% of the Union population, has 550 of its 650 MPs and contributes 85% of its wealth, is being totally excluded from the discussions. No English MP is invited. This will be their second meeting, the first was in November of last year
The Scottish Six are: Des Browne Labour MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun and (part-time) Secretary of State for Scotland, Alistair Carmichael Lib-Dem MP for Orkney and Shetlands, David Mundell Conservative MP for Dumfrieshire, Clydesdale and Tweesdale, Wendy Alexander Labour MSP for Paisley South, Annabel Goldie Conservative MSP for the West of Scotland and Nicol Stephen Lib-Den MSP for Aberdeen South.
They are meeting in a state of intense inter-party anxiety. One thing unites them, their opposition to the Scottish National Party. The latest You-Gov poll for the Scottish Daily Express has put the SNP nine points ahead of labour in the constituency vote, and of course streets ahead of the Lib-Dem and the Tory parties. They meet under the banner of defence of the Union. Their principal concern however is the survival of their parties in Scotland.
In 1997 the Labour Party led by Scottish MPs Gordon Brown, Tony Blair, Donald Dewar, Robin Cook and Des Browne was convinced that a devolved Scottish Parliament would kill off the SNP for good. It did not. The Scottish First Minister is Alex Salmond. They believed that giving to Scotland complete power over all its internal affairs such as health and education would stop the rise of Scottish nationalism in its tracks. It achieved the exact opposite. They believed that keeping the power of Scottish MPs in the Union Parliament to legislate in every single matter for England while excluding English MPs from any say in Scotland’s internal affairs would go unnoticed by the English people. But the last ten years of devolution has dramatically witnessed the biggest rise in English patriotism ever. In addition the resentment of the English people against the rampant injustice inflicted by the 1997 legislation upon them is now filling every MP’s postbag. 58% of English people want Scotland to go independent, 72% want their own separate English Parliament.
The Scottish Six are meeting behind closed doors, no English representation allowed, to decide what extra powers to give to the Scottish Parliament to keep the SNP at bay. What lessons they might have learned over the past ten years are their business. What is England’s business however is the knowledge that these Scottish MPs think they can play fast and loose with United Kingdom constitutional matters without consultation with England which is 80% of the Union. What is England’s business is the sheer brass of these Scottish MPs giving even more powers to Scotland and even less say for England in Scottish matters while keeping for themselves the right to legislate for England in every single thing.
‘The next ten years,’ says Mrs Scilla Cullen, Chairman of the Campaign for an English Parliament, ‘will see all this put right. The constitution of the United Kingdom cannot be made to serve just the interests of Scotland’.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Gordon Brown Dictates Nuclear Power Stations For England, But His Own Constituents In Scotland Are Not Affected...
Since 2006, England has lived under threat of the imposition of a new generation of nuclear power stations being built across the country. It was bad enough when Blair, a PM elected in an English constituency, was leading the call, with the knowledge that Scotland, his homeland, would not be having them. It was bad enough when Alastair Darling, an MP elected in a Scottish constituency, was announced as being the man to "oversee the details". And I was stunned when it was announced laws would be changed in England to help prevent Local Authorities and environmental protesters being heard.But Gordon Brown, our unelected PM, whose constituents up in Scotland will be unaffected by the new generation of plants, shows incredible arrogance in trying to push the plans through.
Take a look at the BBC.
This is truly shocking.
Personally, I am not in favour of nuclear power. The benefits may be great when all goes well, but side effects like leukemia pockets and the danger of a nuclear accident, outweigh the advantages to my mind.
But if a new generation of English nuclear power stations was the democratic will of the majority of people in England, and this was proven, I would be a lot happier.
Some say that the English WOULD vote for a new generation of nuclear power plants.
Fine. But they MUST be given all the facts and the OPPORTUNITY to decide.
More and more the Scottish Raj is showing just how arrogant and, I believe, unhinged its members are. The Raj's disregard for democracy in England on a number of fronts is sick, nothing more, nothing less. More and more so-called English MPs and the so-called "opposition" parties are showing just how anti-English or apathetic they are.
I make no apology for including again the Times Chernobyl cover from 1986. Nuclear power is a serious business.
The people of England must be allowed to decide.
See my 2006 post on the subject here.
Friday, January 04, 2008
The Scot-Brit Rulers Of England
Interesting times. UK PLC takes precedence over equality for the people of England, David Heath, MP, from Nick Clegg's brave "new" Liberal Democrats Party, has asserted, NO English Parliament (the majority appear to want it? Well TOUGH!!) and Gordon Brown has announced an NHS Constitution - but ONLY for England, although he has tried not to mention the fact. His own constituents in his Scottish homeland will not be affected one jot by what he does. And it never seems to be mentioned that health outside of England is far better funded.
As the Scot-Brit establishment works to keep England dissolved and the English under the thumb, as English MPs lick arse (have you seen Jack Straw's brown neck?) and ride the gravy train, Gordy is intriguingly referring to "responsibilities" before one qualifies for NHS treatment in England. This will not apply elsewhere. Having free marketed the health and social care services in England (ever heard of an odious Government agency called "Supporting People", which promises vulnerable adults in supported housing schemes across England much if they become de-registered, then savagely slashes staffing and other budgets to keep things "competitive", leaving people with histories of mental illness and institutionalisation to basically fend for themselves for long hours, particularly at night?), Nu Labour now intends to see that the people of England DESERVE NHS treatment.
If not, what? If you're too fat, used to/do smoke, etc, are a drug addict, what then? What's the message from the Scottish Raj at Westminster? "Drop dead, sassenach bastard!" seems to be the answer.
As the Scot-Brit establishment works to keep England dissolved and the English under the thumb, as English MPs lick arse (have you seen Jack Straw's brown neck?) and ride the gravy train, Gordy is intriguingly referring to "responsibilities" before one qualifies for NHS treatment in England. This will not apply elsewhere. Having free marketed the health and social care services in England (ever heard of an odious Government agency called "Supporting People", which promises vulnerable adults in supported housing schemes across England much if they become de-registered, then savagely slashes staffing and other budgets to keep things "competitive", leaving people with histories of mental illness and institutionalisation to basically fend for themselves for long hours, particularly at night?), Nu Labour now intends to see that the people of England DESERVE NHS treatment.
If not, what? If you're too fat, used to/do smoke, etc, are a drug addict, what then? What's the message from the Scottish Raj at Westminster? "Drop dead, sassenach bastard!" seems to be the answer.
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