Thatcher's First Term Began Thirty Years Ago! That's Not AT ALL Remarkable...

I am so bored with the likes of the BBC and just about everybody else wittering on about Margaret Thatcher coming to power in 1979.

I mean PURLEASE! What was so remarkable? The only remarkable thing I can recall was the fact that she was a woman, Britain's first female PM. Labour and Tories were in and out like fiddlers' elbows in those days.

It was Thatcher's alliance with Reagan (elected in 1980), the Falklands (1982) and two subsequent re-elections that made her truly memorable. This attitude that 1979 was such a watershed is entirely inaccurate.

History is being rewritten.

And the changeable, turbulent years of Thatcher's reign dim beside the absurd assertion that a Conservative hegemony until 1990 was assured in 1979.

BBC Anti-English Bruce Robinson Article Altered - But It's Still Anti-English!

The BBC British History on-line article about the Great Fire Of London has been altered after complaints -

With the country also at war with the French and Dutch, paranoid xenophobia - a familiar English trait - was rife.

"Of the period" has been inserted after "familar English trait". But this is still wrong to my mind, still anti-English. Did Bruce Robinson have a Tardis so that he could nip back and do an Esther Rantzen-style vox pop? And even if paranoid xenophobia was rife, surely it was not confined to the English alone in the world?

The article's better. But still not right.

BBC Decides That Bruce Robinson Is Fine - The English Do Have Paranoid Xenophobia - Absolutely, Without A Shadow Of A Doubt!

All of us that have ever complained to the BBC recognise the pro-forma, with a few relevant points inserted just to show our pathetic protestations have been read, that the BBC sends out when rejecting complaints. And the Cross Of St George forum reports that this is just how they are treating the complaints about their designation of the English as paranoid xenophobics.

With the country also at war with the French and Dutch, paranoid xenophobia - a familiar English trait - was rife.

(click on red text for BBC British History article by Bruce Robinson)

So this trait is always around, but rife at certain times.

And it's peculiar to the English.

Can you imagine the BBC referring to the Scots, Welsh or Irish in such a way? Or indeed anybody else?

The BBC are once more treating the English - and England - with contempt, and attempting to incite hatred of anybody professing to be English.

Gordon Brown - Stamping Out England: The British Language

‘So should there be a citizenship test that is stronger for people who want to be part of this country? Should the rules that we apply for citizenship take more aspects of British culture, British history, [the English] language into account?’

That's Gordon Brown, banging onto Matthew d’Ancona, editor of The Spectator on his pet theme of "Britishness". To Matthew d'Ancona, the West Lothian Question, the Barnett Formula, Brown's unaccountability to the English on a vast range of issues, don't seem to exist. But then Matthew is a confirmed Brit, dedicated to ignoring anything that may stand in the way.

Like equality.

However, Mr d'Ancona does step in and insert [the English] into Gordon's blethering about "Britishness". The squared brackets indicate that "the English" is a writer's insert. So what Gordon Brown actually said was:

‘What are the responsibilities of citizenship in the modern world?’ he asks. ‘So should there be a citizenship test that is stronger for people who want to be part of this country? Should the rules that we apply for citizenship take more aspects of British culture, British history, language into account?'

The British language? Gordon's determination to stamp out England and Englishness is becoming plainer by the day.

And once again Gordon refers to Britain as a country. It is not, it is a so-called union of countries - England, Scotland and Wales, as the devious Prime Minister knows very well indeed.

March 1989 To March 2009 - 20 Years Since The Invention Of The World Wide Web

An historic document.

It's twenty years since Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web at CERN, in Switzerland.

Well done that man!

The genesis of Mr Berners-Lee's Web idea can be traced back to June to December 1980, when he built ENQUIRE, his first computer program for storing information, whilst working as consultant software engineer at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland.

He left CERN, returned in 1984, and in 1989 invented the World Wide Web.

He wrote the first web browser in 1990 and soon many of us who had eyed the rise of home computing in the '80s with unease, were happily surfing the Web.

From 1989 invention to today - a world unimaginable without the Web.

Pretty amazing, isn't it?

Adrian Sanders (Lib Dems) and Ken Purchase (Labour), Glib, Smart-Mouthed Hatred Of England

Marsha Singh has tabled an Early Day Motion to make St George's Day a public holiday.

Ken Purchase, Wolverhampton, Labour, and Adrian Sanders, (Torbay) Lib Dems, then leapt in with two daft amendments, which make plain their smug hatred of England.

These MPs are rotten to the pips. Health apartheid? Who gives a damn? The West Lothian Question? Ditto. The Barnett Formula? You guessed it. What the hell are their constituents doing electing these people who wilfully work against their best interests and pour scorn on their country?

Adrian Sanders is probably the most pathetic of the two (it's very close run) as he comes up with an alternative bank holiday to "benefit the UK tourist industry" - obviously unaware that Scotland and Wales are far better provided for, having retained their own tourist boards and representation through the "British" site whilst England, once again, is the poor relation.

When it comes to sneering, smug and out of touch people, not fulfilling the roles expected of them, Adrian Sanders and Ken Purchase are difficult to beat. But then I suspect that they are very typical indeed.

Toque has the whole story here - and remains far calmer and more eloquent than myself!

"Being British" - Gordon Brown At It Again!

Here's Gordon Brown pursuing his Britishness agenda again - this time in relation to the recession. He never misses an opportunity, does he?

From The Guardian:

Without a clear sense of national identity, "we give ourselves a false sense of who we are", said the PM. "We define ourselves by race or ethnicity – which would be a disaster for a country that has many people with different backgrounds as part of it. Or we just describe ourselves in terms of unchanging institutions, which would mean that we were frozen in the past."

Um, actually Gordon signed the Scottish Claim Of Right in 1989 - a pledge to put the people of his native Scotland first in all he did.

So, why is simply being "British" not good enough for himself and his own people, the Scots? Why did he pledge to put the Scots above the rest of the British? Also, "British" means, basically, English, Scottish or Welsh. It is a synthetic nationality born in the days of Empire.

I can't help wondering why Gordon Brown describes Britain as a "country" - it is not, it is a (so-called) union of countries, England, Scotland and Wales.

And English, Scottish and Welsh are nationalities - not races - so inclusive civic identities in each of those countries would not see people fragmenting into "race or ethnicity".

Gordon Brown is a Prime Minister without a mandate, representing a constituency in Scotland, which has its own parliament. This means that around 75% of the legislation his government passes does not affect his own constituents. Mr Brown is such a liar and twister. He fair takes my breath away.

The forthcoming BBC Radio 4 documentary on Britishness by the editor of the Spectator, Matthew d'Ancona, sounds like more New Labour propaganda, especially designed to keep the people of England under-funded - and under the Scotsman's thumb.

Daniel Hannan and Nigel Farrage Tell It Like It Is. Gordon Brown Grins.

Daniel Hannan tells Gordon Brown a few home truths at the European Parliament.



Nigel Farrage follows it up. No mandate dictator Gordon Brown is amused.

Jacqui Smith - Very Devious...

Jacqui Smith, old Hitler in Knickers herself, is at it again: not content with an illegal DNA Database and CCTV everywhere, etc, she now proposes training people, like shopping centre managers, to inform on "suspicious" types.

Shopping centre and store managers will be among 60,000 British workers trained for action on a new frontline against terror.

The workers' army is at the centrepiece of a new government anti-terror strategy unveiled today by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, who said police, security and intelligence agencies could not be “solely” relied upon to tackle the threat.

The strategy will involve enlising the "widest range" of people and making other citizens more vigilant about the threat of an attack, Ms Smith said in a round of broadcast interviews this morning. It could also see official funding withdrawn from organisations that flirt with extremism, even if they remain within the letter of the law.

Jacqui Smith plays on the terrorism threat, plays on fear, to enslave us. I know I'm out of step with the vast majority of people on this subject - but you see, I'm not keen on EastEnders, reality TV shows and the latest "It" people. And I can't stand Big Brother.

Bruce Robinson Of The BBC - The English Are Paranoid Xenophobics

The BBC likes to slur the English. It calls us racist, narrow-minded, snobbish, yobbish - you name it, if something slurs the English, the BBC loves it.

Recently, we've heard the BBC's anti-English hatred on the Welsh-produced Dr Who and we've heard it on BBC Radio One's The Surgery. I'm sure there are many other examples. But the CEP Media Watch has come up with a staggering example.

Here's the BBC's Bruce Robinson, writing about The Great Fire Of London on BBC British History:

With the country also at war with the French and Dutch, paranoid xenophobia - a familiar English trait - was rife.

Yoiks - so paranoid xenophobia is a familiar English trait?

Why? When? After all, England has seen many waves of immigrants. Why are WE in particular regarded as being paranoid xenophobics by the BBC? Sure, there are some problems, but there are in Scotland and Wales, too. In fact, in most places.

I've written to hate-filled old Auntie:

I was shocked at this comment on the BBC's "London's Burning: The Great Fire" article by Bruce Robinson:

"With the country also at war with the French and Dutch, paranoid xenophobia - a familiar English trait - was rife."

At times of war, paranoid xenophobia is, regrettably, often rife - and this is not confined to the English. I find this article offensive in the extreme, it is at the very least an example of anti-English bigotry and one unlikely to endear English people to the readers of the article.

I request that this comment is removed. I cannot imagine that this would have been written about the Scots or Welsh, although the BBC has often had cause to report outbreaks of xenophobia in those nations - including racist attacks on the English.

The BBC is gaining a reputation for anti-English bigotry, and now seems to be attempting to inflame public opinion against the English. I am very concerned.

The BBC truly defies belief at times.

Education For Simon Walters, Daily Mail Writer: Tony Blair Is SCOTTISH Not English...

The recent story in the Daily Mail about the Labour party bod who said "I don't speak Glaswegian" and was accused of racism, was laugheable.

Being half-Scot myself, I'm often hard put to it to understand my Glaswegian relatives. English speaking Welsh folk are perfectly clear to me, as are most English accents, but give me broad Norfolk and I'm lost.

But the Daily Mail article writer, Simon Walters, seems to want to use the article to soap box a little and a peculiar anti-English chip on the shoulder, a desire to malign and stereotype, creeps in:

"It is not the first time a prominent English figure has been accused of racism against another part of Britain. Tony Blair faced a police investigation after allegedly bawling ‘******* Welsh’ when Labour did badly in an election there."

Um, Tony Blair is SCOTTISH, born and bred in Scotland, and of mixed parentage. Here's Tony talking about his grandfather:

"If we were naughty," he said recently, "he'd come after us with that stick and say, 'Ah'll gie ye a richt skelpin.'"

Despite Tony's own attempts to blur his origins for political purposes at times, the fact remains that he was born in Scotland and that makes him Scottish. Unless, of course, his background doesn't stand up to ethnic purity tests in the eyes of Simon Walters? But then, surely, Scottish is a nationality, not a race? Any other assertion is racist.

But what really sticks in the crop about Simon Walters is the fact that he can write a load of inaccurate nonsense, but true examples of racism in the UK - including the Barnett Formula and West Lothian Question, both levelled against the English, don't seem to exist to him.

Is North Sea Oil Owned By The Shetland Isles?

Whilst we know that SOME North Sea Oil and Gas is English, does the majority belong to Scotland should it go independent?

Found on-line...

"Is North Sea Oil Owned By The Shetland Isles?

To answer this question you need to do some research into the history of Udal Law in Shetland. The Shetland and Orkney Udal Law group (SOUL) can be found on the Internet and highlights the main points of the argument.

Basically, although Shetland and Orkney are acknowledged as being under Scottish rule since the annexation, the annexation was not entirely legal. Shetland and Orkney were pledged as part of a dowry payment in 1468/9 with the understanding that sovereignty would not be handed over and the islands would be redeemed at a later date when the money could be raised.

The Scottish Crown was fly - even though the Danish/Norwegian Crown made several attempts to regain control of Shetland and Orkney, the Scottish Crown refused. Shetland was increasingly brought under Scottish rule and the issue of sovereignty was never fully addressed.

Under Udal law, outright ownership of land included the seabed - so if Shetland is still legally Scandinavian and Udal law has never been completely replaced, then the seabed around Shetland belongs to Shetland and not to Scotland.

North sea oil around the Shetland basin therefore belongs to Shetland and the Scottish Crown is well aware of this. To openly address the issue of Shetland's sovereignty is thus to make this public knowledge...and the British parliament wouldn't want that...now would they?"

Fascinating!

Clive Anderson And Alfie...

Alfie has been in touch with TV and radio personality Clive Anderson about a disparaging and inaccurate remark he made about Englishness on the Loose Ends show:

When on Loose Ends Sarah Miles raised the question of Englishness, somewhat tangentially to the main thrust of our conversation, I attempted an off-the-cuff and, I hope, amusing explanation as to why England or Englishness might be unpopular.

If I had specified 200 years of imperialism I think your point, as far is it goes, would have been a fair one, as perhaps I would have been confusing England and Britain (or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , or in later years the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)– an error that almost everyone risks falling into from time to time – but one which I would have wanted to avoid in the context of the conversation we were having, however light-hearted.

In fact according to the BBC transcript of the programme I said

I think it’s a few hundred years of imperialism that have made England very unpopular.

This is vaguer, but I think more apt. In any event , I had in mind not just the years of the British Empire but also the centuries before that in which English kings, queens and state attempted, with some success, to acquire dominion over the rest of the British Isles and elsewhere. All in all I think there is a perception that Britain, and particularly England, has over long periods of history sought to rule parts of the world beyond its borders. While there is much to be proud of in England’s history it is perhaps understandable that this has provoked a certain amount of resentment in Scotland, Wales, Ireland and overseas.

"Amusing"? "Off-the-cuff"? Surely his remark was simply a typical example of the determination of a certain type of person to make the people of England feel guilty? To make us shoulder the blame for all that is now perceived as "wrong" in the British Isle historically? It's a familiar ploy, but not amusing or "off the cuff". I've read such nonsense at least a thousand times over the years.

Clive Anderson is a fine example of what is wrong in England today. There he sits, on his tumpty, loads of dosh, unaffected by health apartheid and the Barnett Formula, convinced that the people of England deserve the West Lothian Question and that the English alone in the British Isle have been aggressive. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - not so.

Nonsense.

And as for imperialism... didn't Scotland bankrupt itself during a colonial venture BEFORE the Act of Union?

Mr Anderson, it seems, belongs in the same bed as Jack Straw. What he says sounds priggish, ill-informed, bigotedly anti-English and hopelessly 1990s.

And, in view of the Barnett Formula, health apartheid and the West Lothian Question, very uncaring indeed.

Mind you, this is the man who even upset the 60s/70s/80s pop group The Bee Gees. Judging by his latest ill-informed outburst, he's enough to make anybody shriek.

UK Government Fails England AGAIN! Please Sign The British Heart Foundation Petition

The British Heart Foundation website brings interesting news. The UK Government has yet to commit to a new plan for tackling heart and circulatory conditions in England over the next decade. Typical, eh?

More here. Please read the info and then sign the petition.

Jacqui Smith: Violence Against Women Is Unacceptable, But Who Gives A Stuff About Men? I Know, Let's Have ANOTHER Database!

I thought this Government was supposed to look after ALL our interests? Not so.

Earlier, Ms Smith told the meeting violence against women was unacceptable whatever the circumstances.

But violence against men is perfectly acceptable, eh, Jacqui Smith? Years ago, I knew a poor guy who was regularly beaten by his wife. On one occasion, she actually broke his nose with an unplugged iron. He daren't protest, daren't go to the police for fear of ridicule, daren't do anything. He experienced years of misery. But that doesn't matter, eh, Ms Smith? He's a minority (but don't you usually make a particular point of looking after minorities?), and he's male. The scumbag!

And now old Hitler in knickers wants to introduce another database to combat the problem! Oh, Jacqui, you controlling, sexist, power mad person, you!

Jack Straw - Mr Anti-English/Anti-England: England Needs Watching Because The English Are So Violent...

Jack Straw, via Toque:

"Is big brother watching you? Are you – innocent and law-abiding – kept awake at night for fear that your door will be kicked in by agents of the state?"

Yes, if a good friend of this blog, a care worker in his early forties, with no police record, arrested on the piffling accusation of one other person, without witnesses, treated like a criminal at Parkside Police Station, Cambridge, released without charge, but now on the DNA Database for life (and, we suppose beyond) is anything to go by.

Jack Straw hates the English. He hates England. Remember this, from the BBC?

Home Secretary Jack Straw says the English had used their "propensity to violence to subjugate Ireland, Wales and Scotland" on the Radio 4 programme Brits.

(Click on red text for more).

The comment shows more than anything Jack Straw's contempt and hatred for England and the English. The fact that he sometimes attempts to muddy the waters by describing himself as "English" is simply a ploy. Jack Straw is British. Nationality is largely a state of mind in the UK and he is British. An English-hating, deceitful, slime-ball Brit at that.

But it seems that Mr Straw thinks the Police State, the loss of individual freedoms in England, is justified. Accept he will never admit there is a Police State. According to him, crime is falling.

Obviously making Orwell's 1984 reality and keeping the people of England, with their "propensity to violence" (the entire English population, according to Straw in his BBC quote) in a Police State, and then denying there is one, is justified.

Harriet Harman - WOMEN'S Minister - Highly Sexist?

Harriet Harman is Minister for Women and spends a great deal of time pontificating on "unfairnesses" to the female gender and how wonderful and put-upon she and her gender are.

Now, as this is a non-sexist society, may I ask where is her opposite number, the Minister for Men, to pontificate on "unfairnesses" to the male gender (like International Women's Day) and how wonderful and put-upon he and the male gender are?

Knowledge Of The Barnett Formula Did Not Reach Public Domain Until July 1980!

Early knowledge of the Barnett formula stems from a public session on 7 July 1980, atwhich George Younger MP, then Secretary of State for Scotland, gave evidence to theCommittee chaired by Donald Dewar MP3. Some of the durability of the Barnett formula maybe attributable to information about its existence having reached the public domain in thisway. This knowledge allowed the Scottish Affairs Committee to regularly ask the Secretaryof State for Scotland whether that year’s public expenditure changes had been settled bymeans of the Barnett formula. Defence of the formula, against what was suspected to be theTreasury’s desire to change it, became one of the key tasks of the Secretary of State forScotland4. Although reliable information about the formula’s operation was slow to reach thepublic domain, there was clearly a substantial amount of newspaper briefing

Click on the red text for more on the "origins and role of the Barnett Formula". The what?! You know, that little formula whose creator, Lord Joel Barnett, has declared unfair to England. You know, that little formula which discriminates against all citizens of England, creating a so-called "Celtic" elite in Scotland and Wales. You know, that little formula which decrees that they can have and you cannot.

The Labour Party, The Conservative Party, The Liberal Democrats, The British National Party - Racists All

We all remember the referendum in the North East of England which voted 78% against regionalisation. Sadly, the rest of us weren't given a say and New Labour continued the break-up of England regardless. Gordon Brown's last act as Chancellor was to swipe £2bn from the English NHS:

From the Financial Times:

However, Mr Brown avoided equivalent cuts to the Scottish and Welsh NHS budgets even though the funding formula for the UK nations suggests they should have shared the pain. That decision leaves him open to criticism that he favoured patients in his home country

Gordon Brown's first act as Prime Minister without a mandate was to create regional ministers in England, and now regional select committees. But those given a say in the North East said a resounding NO to regionalisation. That doesn't matter. The people of England are not allowed to live in a democracy.

Now, the Lib Dumbs are screeching over Labour "unfairness" in the composition of the new Regional Select Committees. Note, NOT over the fact that the people of England don't WANT regions. The Lib Dumbs go even further, stating that their article here "refers to UK" - which it doesn't. Scotland and Wales have their own national governing bodies. The article refers to ENGLAND.

So, lower public spending in England - via the Barnett Formula, health apartheid, the West Lothian Question... and MPs of all parties remain quite unconcerned about the people of England. Keep 'em quite. Put in more CCTV. Keep the DNA Database. Tell 'em it's to combat terrorism. Fool the people. Crush the people.

As charges of racism can brought on grounds of nationality/country of origin, it seems that the major UK political parties - New Labour, the Tories, the Lib Dumbs, and the BNP are ALL guilty of racism.

Now, isn't that a spooky factoid?

The Mandelson Green Custard Incident - Smells Like 1980s Spirit!

The Daily Mirror, 1984.

Ooh, the Peter Mandelson green custard incident brought back fabulous memories of the 1980s and Margaret Thatcher's "go to work with an egg" days.

Jacqui Smith - Hitler In Knickers, And The DNA Database Again...

Despite the European Court of Human Rights ruling against the UK DNA Database, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has decided that thousands of innocent people will remain on the Database. See the Guardian article here.

Just to give some comfort and joy, here's how one man ended up on the Database.

A good friend of ours, in his 40s, and like ourselves a care worker with a totally clean police record, was accused of "hitting" a neighbour on the arm. Nobody witnessed it. No marks were left. Of course, our friend denied the charge - and the neighbour is well known in his local community as a trouble maker.

But our friend was arrested. He denied the accusation, no further action was taken, but our friend's DNA was taken and is now on the Database.

And that's just one example of how innocent people find themselves on the Database. In a democracy, there can be no excuse for arresting people and retaining their DNA on hearsay. And anybody could find themselves in exactly the same situation. Just accuse somebody you dislike of hitting you on the arm and see what happens to them. This should not be happening. And there is no excuse for retaining DNA already taken. If anything, victims of this abomination should be granted compensation for the trauma they have been put through.

All this is at the behest of Jacqui Smith, whose own good character was recently called into question.

Democracy in England is dead. And we are ruled by people, like Ms Smith, who are evil. No more. No less.

Jade Goody - Unfair "NHS" Screening - England Suffers Again

Speaking of reality TV star Jade Goody, Max Pemberton wrote in The Telegraph of another facet of the mockery which is the NHS, and how once again it differs between England and the so-called Celtic nations:

But what she also did last week was to expose the inconsistencies in healthcare in the UK, which make a mockery of the NHS founding principle of equality. On the back of Jade's high-profile case, the sexual health charity Marie Stopes International called on the NHS to lower the age at which women are first offered a smear test to 20. This had been the age when they first began screening until 2003 when it was raised by NHS cancer screening services to 25, after research suggested a negative effect.

This was because experts said that in their early 20s, there was evidence that women had natural changes in their cervical cells, which could be mistaken for pre-cancerous changes. This would lead to unnecessary treatment, which can lead to complications in later life, including difficulties carrying a baby to term. But on closer examination, the debate that Jade has sparked is concerned with the NHS in England only, because the rest of the UK screens at the age of 20. Since devolution within the NHS, there have been numerous examples of inconsistency and unfairness.

Prescription charges, access to medication, waiting times, hospital parking charges; the NHS is no longer consistent across the nation. In a nationalised service, there is something fundamentally wrong if such discrepancies exist. There remains debate about the appropriate age at which screening should begin, with no consensus across other European countries. But it seems ludicrous that people who are served by the same institution receive different treatment based on where they live, when the very ideological underpinning of that institution is the abolition of inequity within healthcare.

Whatever the correct age is to begin screening, young women somewhere in the UK are being let down by the devolved NHS. Either it is those in England, who should be offered it at a younger age and are therefore being exposed to an increased risk of a potentially fatal disease. Or, it is those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, who are risking unnecessary, invasive treatment that can result in them miscarrying in the future.

As we often parrot on this blog, it must be remembered that Scotland and Wales have democratic devolved governing bodies, and that England is ruled by the UK Parliament, headed by Gordon Brown, a man who represents a Scottish constituency and is therefore unaccountable to his constituents for around 75% of legislation his government passes - as they have their own parliament.

Aided and abetted by his Scottish Raj and MPs supposedly representing English constituencies, who spurn any recognition of England as a nation, Gordon Brown makes a mockery of democratic representation in England - and if you speak up, he and his cohorts are likely to accuse you of racism.

Whatever your background, WAKE UP to the abuse you are suffering as a citizen of England and the lies that are being spun, the smoke and mirrors employed by the UK Government and the Opposition parties, to keep intact the "UK", which now works against every man, woman and child resident in England. England is being broken up, regionalised out of existence - and we, the electorate across England, are the losers.

David Williamson, Wales On Sunday, Thatcher Multi-Election Winning from '79 to '90? What A Load Of Cobblers!

David Williamson writes in Wales on Sunday: "From May 1979 to November 1990, Mrs Thatcher led a multi-election-winning Conservative administration which divided Britain between those who considered the first female Prime Minister a crusading hero and others who believed she was the enemy of the vulnerable."

Rubbish! Mrs T was not multi-election-winning from 1979 onwards. In fact she didn't win her second election until 1983 and her third until 1987. Sorry to be pedantic, but the Wales On Sunday article is a piece of very bad - and potentially highly misleading - writing! Once again, defining events of the 1980s seem to have slipped down the back of the sofa! And surely Thatcher was only the UK's first female Prime Minister, not simply "the first"?

George Monbiot: Great Article - But Smelling Slightly Of Inaccurate Priggishness...

"England, that great colonising land, has itself become a colony," chirrups George Monbiot here - fascinating article, well worth a read. Unfortunately, it contains more than a whiff of PC priggishness and inaccuracy. Firstly, BRITAIN was the great colonising land, surely? The Scots were disproportionately involved in the British Empire.

And the Union was "forged by a dominant England"? - not so, the Scots elite were as eager as could be.

George is, apparently, a "global citizen" - lucky him - sophisticated and well-travelled enough to be instantly a part of things wherever he may go. Sounds a bit arrogant and cocky to the likes of us, because, sadly, we can't even afford to take a weekend break outside of England. We could visit Scotland and Wales, of course, but we don't want to run the risk of getting beaten up.

Still, Mr Monbiot has woken up to some of the realities and his article may do some good. In fact it's a great achievement for somebody who comes across (to our tiny, working class minds) as a snobbish, upper middle-class English git.

Yvonne Davies of Sandwell Council - A Problem With St George - Is She A Racist (And Sexist) Herself?

Racist and sexist? - Yvonne Davies.

Oh no! Another anti-England English council emerges! Councillor Yvonne Davies, representing Hateley Heath on Sandwell Council, West Bromwich, has deemed the area's St George's Day celebrations "racist". The event apparently creates an "unhealthy atmosphere" and causes young boys to be racist (note - not girls - in Ms Davies' eyes girls seem to be above reproach so she's obviously highly sexist).

"It is not only the parade which is the problem, but the tribal excitement it creates," she chirrups. But it appears problems have been minimal and surely it's the job of the local police to keep order? But Ms Davies' colleagues have backed her and financial support has been withdrawn. There are other plans afoot, but there is no doubt that getting rid of England's biggest St George's Day parade is something of a coup for the "let's enforce regionalisation and break England into pieces - and bugger the electorate" New Labour crowd.

Actually this event, which has been running since 1998, is totally inclusive and all English citizens, regardless of race, origin, creed or colour are most welcome to attend. In fact, some of the organisers say that the event has helped to claim the Cross of St George from racists. But actually it was never in their hands. The BNP flies the Union Flag and is British. The Scots, English and Welsh flags all feature at their rallies, but the Union flag is always the centre piece and is part of their logo.

The odious British National Party logo features the Union flag. Yvonne Davies has no problems with this flag - but she is totally opposed to the Cross of St George.

What's Ms Davies' problem? Does she see the anti-English attacks in Scotland and Wales - as we witnessed most recently with Lucy Newman - as a problem? No, apparently not. Does she see health apartheid, the West Lothian Question and the Barnett Formula as a problem? No. She simply sees large numbers of people, of any race or colour, gathering together to celebrate England as a problem.

And let's face it - that threatens the Divide And Rule tactics of New Labour and the very existence of the gravy train Ms Davies and her undemocratic kind ride.

Yvonne Davies, you are the one with the problem. You appear to be racist, self-serving, patronising and dictatorial. Just four of the words which spring to mind.

Lucy Newman attacked in Scotland by a Scot for being and sounding English. Yvonne Davies is also determined to stamp out any manifestations of Englishness in her area of England.

More Snooping...

A DNA Database, containing the DNA of millions of innocent people. CCTV cameras following our every move. Alarming new powers for the police. Databases to watch our travelling arrangements. And now our e-mails, web activity and phone calls are also to be studied. Even your local town hall will have access. Which makes things rather alarming for sites like this, which campaign against the dishonest capers of Government organisations like these. What excuses will be found to close down blogs like this, and persecute their owners?

Welcome to Orwell's 1984.

I had a very disturbed night last night - sometimes things get to me, and last night, in the wee, small hours, I was frightened. Frightened of this dishonest and authoritarian government. Frightened of the lack of an effective Opposition. Terrified by the EU monster. Scared witless by CCTV and Databases.

I slept a broken, fitful sleep. When I awoke this morning, I stepped into the garden to breathe the air and try to restore some sense of well being. My neighbour appeared, on her way to work, and stopped for a word. Feeling it my duty to spread the word, I told her about my disturbed night, my fears about the Government and the surveillance state.

She looked at me with polite interest, then said:

"Ooh, it's terrible to have a bad night. I had this dream the other week - I was on this coach in Great Yarmouth and Jerry Springer was sitting right behind me..."

CEP: Protection Alive, Well And Legal In Scotland

Protectionism is alive and well and legal in Scotland, but denounced as xenophobic and illegal in England.

‘If ever proof was needed that this Government under Gordon Brown, the MP for Scotland’s Kirkaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency, operates double standards in Scotland’s favour, one of his own Scottish Labour MPs has provided it.’ This information has been revealed in the columns of The Scotsman newspaper. Michael Connarty, the Labour MP for Linlithgow and East Falkirk accused the English protesting against their exclusion from applying for jobs at the Lindsey refinery in Lincolnshire of ‘xenophobia and protectionism’. Yet at the same time in that newspaper he made the stunning revelation that there are "long-standing working practices in Scotland that allow workers living within 40 miles of a plant to be prioritised for work”.

‘What a display of double standards!” Michael Knowles speaking for the CEP has declared. ‘The number of Portuguese or Italian workers who meet the specified criteria is rather limited to say the very least. The brutal undeniable fact is that they were brought to England, they are being housed in floating hotels by their employment agents and it is can only be suspected therefore that they got their jobs, not on merit, but because they are prepared to accept a rate of pay below Englsh, even local Lincolnshire, rates.

‘How can a Labour Prime Minister allow a situation where the jobs of his own Scottish countrymen and women are protected against foreign competition while those of the people of England are not? How can the Leader of the Conservative Party stand up in Parliament at PMQT and denounce protectionism and say not a word in support of the right of English workers to apply for work in their own country against unfair foreign competition while workers in Scotland operate regulations which protect them from foreign competition?

‘The only conclusion to draw from the revelations made by Mr Connarty is that there is one law for the Scottish workforce in the United Kingdom and another law for the English workforce. As this Campaign asks again and again: Who is there in the UK Parliament who speaks up for England?

Contacts

Michael Knowles. CEP Media Unit. Tel@ 01260 271139. Email: michael-knowles@tiscali.co.uk

Jeremy Clarkson's Gordon Brown Insult - An Outrage - Anti-English Scots' Attack On Lucy Newman - Ignored!

There's absolute "outrage" today as motormouth Jeremy Clarkson has described Prime Minister Gordon Brown as "a one eyed Scottish idiot"! Watch the Great and the Good rise up in righteous fury, screeching "RACIST!", etc.

The same Great and the Good who ignored the recent physical attack on Englishwoman Lucy Newman in Scotland, which left her in possible need of facial surgery.

It's all a matter of priorities, isn't it?

More here.

The Recovery Approach, The Audit Commission, Supporting People And Primary Care Trusts

Our recent posts about the Supporting People organisation, and "The Recovery Approach" to care and support, have aroused much interest.

Carol writes:

The Audit Commission, Supporting People and various business-orientated so-called charitable care providers have been having a field day with "The Recovery Approach" for about five years! It's a pretty nebulous set of ideas to assist in enabling people with mental health problems to live happy, and as far as possible, independent lives.

All well and good, but our dreadful UK Government, acting in England only, sees it as a means to make cutbacks. And "The Recovery Approach" is basically loosely interpreted and used as an excuse and a cover to remove services, such as 24 hour care, without consulting the service users.

The Recovery Approach as practised in England is an outright con. It's all about money, and all to do with abusing vulnerable people, unable to speak-up for themselves.

CEP: Heathrow third runway: Flying in the face of English democracy

The Campaign for an English Parliament has noted that last Wednesday's vote on a third runway at Heathrow Airport was won for the Government by MPs elected outside England. English constituency MPs rejected the third runway by a margin of 20 votes but a phalanx of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs trooped through the lobby to win the day for the Government, overturning, in the process, the democratic will of England.

According to one Labour rebel a “tearful and dewy eyed” Prime Minister had called wavering Labour MPs into his office to tell them that losing this vote would “de-stabilise the Government and de-stabilise the markets”. In the event 52% of English MPs voted against the Government, 48% with the Government. But MPs elected outside England were a different matter altogether, of these MPs only 29% voted against the Government, with a whopping 71% supporting the building of a new £13bn runway on top of the ancient English village of Sipson.

Across the country the general public opposed the third runway by a margin of 13% (YouGov), so English MPs appear to be better reflecting public opinion than non-English MPs who fly in the face of it. So why the disparity? The Constitution Unit at University College London may have the answer. Between May 2005 and June 2007 CU researchers analysed data from almost 500 votes in the House of Commons. It revealed that Scottish Labour backbenchers rebelled in an average of 1.8% of votes, compared to an average of 3.4% for their English counterparts and 1.9% among Welsh MPs.

According to the Constitution Unit the “most significant factor” in explaining this phenomenon is that Scots MPs vote through unpopular Government measures that do not apply north of the Border because they face no external pressure from their constituents or local party.

“It would be wrong to suggest that Scottish electors do not care about the issues surrounding the Heathrow debate”, said Gareth Young, in a message to CEP members, “but we have to recognise that they elect a Minister to the Scottish Parliament to represent them on Transport, Planning and the Environment (planning is a devolved matter); so a Scottish Westminster MP looking to advance his career by voting with the Government can be reasonably sure that his constituents will disregard his voting record on these matters.

“There is the small matter of the Barnett consequentials too, Scotland stands to rake in up to £130 million from this, to spend on whatever they want without the interference of English MPs.
“The presence of non-English MPs in the parliament that governs England not only allows them to foist unpopular measures on England, but also helps to stabilise an unpopular and unwanted government; compromising England's right to pick the government of its choosing, and lessening our chances of kicking out a government that we don’t want.”

Contacts:

Gareth Young CEP: email - gpy1973@yahoo.co.uk

Michael Knowles:

CEP Media Unit

Tel: 01260 271139

Email: michael-knowles@tiscali.co.uk

The 25th British Social Attitudes Report - More Cooked Up Nonsense To Make The English Look Happy With Inequality In The UK...

The 25th British Social Attudes report is, like other recent examples, apparently largely cobbled together to keep the people of England squarely under the undemocratic cosh of the UK Government.

Would we rather be governed by a "new" English Parliament OR by Westminster? Er, I'd like to be governed by an English Parliament AT Westminster, it's the traditional location of English Government. But the phrasing of the BSA report carries hints that a new building will have to be forked out for if an English Parliament were established! Once more the bogus, "cost" issue is vaguely wafted about. It's all in the word "new" - new usually costs!

And then there is a very undemocratic tick box response to the question:

With all the changes going on in the way different parts of Great Britain are run, which of the following do you think would be best for England?

There are three options, and the second one is:

b) Each region of England should have its own regional assembly that runs services like health

But we shouldn't HAVE regions - the North East, the only area allowed a referendum, voted 78% NO to them!

Some of the questions are carefully phrased, water muddying is going on as per usual, but one finding stands out a mile and cannot be disguised: 61% of those surveyed think that Scots MPs should not be allowed to vote on English issues!

I must go to bed now, work looms in about seven hours - but Gareth has lots more on the BSA Report - I strongly recommend a visit to Toque.

Goodnight!

Telford: Traffic Road Works Signs In Welsh - First And Foremost?!!

From Wonko's World:

It’s my birthday on Saturday and I’m off work tomorrow so, as tradition dictates, I popped to a nearby Chavda to buy some cakes and biscuits.

As I was driving back through some roadworks I noticed the roadsigns were all written in bloody Welsh with English translations underneath. Welsh. In Telford, which is about 40 miles as the crow flies from the nearest point of the Welsh border.

I phoned the council and they said that as long as it’d got English on there and it was legible it’s fine. I pointed out that if you’re reading a road sign and the first line is foreign it means you’ve got to scan the sign for the English which takes longer and hence makes the signs less safe. The disinterest went off the disinterest-o-meter.

This strikes me as being positively dangerous: road safety signs in England with Welsh as the primary language? There are tourists and newcomers here who are not even that familiar with English and the signs could be very confusing when people are driving at night in wintery conditions...

And just how many people in England speak and read Welsh? Our road safety signs need to be ABSOLUTELY CLEAR. What the hell’s going on?

Fiona Bruce - Radio Times - Bigging Up Scottish Ancestry, But What About English?

We don't know who Fiona Bruce actually is, as we don't watch modern TV at all, but this Radio Times cover made us feel slightly ill. More Scots pride. More posturing. Can you bear it? Apparently, it's all in aid of a BBC show called Who Do You Think You Are? What's the betting that English participants will not be getting a lovely pride-filled Radio Times cover to themselves? In fact they'll probably be referred to as "British". I imagine if the surname "Bruce" had belonged to an English participant, the BBC would place great emphasis on its French origins - more here.

With all that's going on, especially the racist attacks on the English in Scotland, the cover strikes us as the height of bad taste. Do we really want it on our coffee tables? Sadly, as we all know, Scots' pride can be a dangerous thing. Especially if you're English.

More here.

Greedy And Hateful - UK MPs To Change The Law To Conceal Their Expenses From The Electorate?

From Little Man In A Toque:

On the 16th of May 2008 the High Court ruled that MPs’ expenses must be published under the Freedom of Information Act.

This Thursday, MPs are voting to change the law to keep their expenses secret after all, just before publication was due and after spending nearly a million of your pounds and seven months compiling the data.

Your MP may not even know about this proposal (it was sneaked out under the Heathrow runway announcement). Please take a few minutes to alert them to this attack on Parliamentary transparency and ask them to vote against the measure.

I'm short of time today and can't write anything up, but I strongly recommend that you visit Toque to find out what YOU can do to try and avert this appalling proposal to change the law to suit "our" piggish (and often priggish) MPs.

Yet More Anti-English Racism in Scotland. And David Cameron And Gordon Brown Do Not Condemn It!

The CEP News Blog is putting out some great articles at the moment.

Earlier this week it was reported that a woman in Aberdeen had been viciously assaulted by a Scottish racist who targeted her because she was English.

Now it appears that the Scottish racists have struck again, this time forcing an English family from their home in Paisley.

Despite leaving several messages for his press secretary, there’s still no comment from David Cameron on the racist attack earlier this week and no doubt he’ll remain silent over the latest racist attack and the wider problem of anti-English racism in Scotland which even the Scottish police admit is a serious problem.

I also expect David Blunkett will remain silent rather than calling on the Scottish to reclaim their flag from the racists like he famously told the English we must do to stop the racism of the British National Party.

And even more interestingly is this from the Comments thread:

"The problem is not the individual case although that is bad enough but that the Scots (and others) have been taught that abusing the English is acceptable. From the execrable Braveheart, Jack McConnell, Andy Murray, David Cameron and many others in my personal experience. I had a perfectly nice, sane and intelligent Scottish colleague who informed me that she hated the English because of what we had done to Scotland. Speaking for myself and all my relations, including those that are deceased, we have done nothing to Scotland. We are not responsible for past history (in which the Scots invaded England more often than the English invaded Scotland) nor for the activity of the British government."

Many Scots thrive on hating the English - it is one of their largest motivating factors. And that hatred is formed by centuries of anti-English lies and scapegoating. The same is true in many parts of Wales.

The only way England can get a fair deal is by breaking away from its Union prison. And with MPs representing English constituencies grunting merrily around the piggery that is Westminster, allowing the evil Scottish Raj to do exactly as it pleases, that is not going to be easy.