The Celtic (1707 linguistic term from Welsh Nationalist Edward Lhuyd, not an ancient UK ethnicity) myth and all things horrible, Andy Burnham. Look after the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish (don't mention Darien, disproportionate activity by the Scots in the British Empire, the partitioning of Ireland by a Welsh PM with avid backing of Protestant Scots, the invention of the Poll Tax by Scotsman Douglas Mason and its implementation there in 1989 by its own Secretary of State, Wales as separate rivalries and kingdoms, not an ancient, unified country) and pander to their one-side retellings of history. And as for the far more ethnically diverse England? Stuff that!
Isn't it gross that it looks like we're getting a non-elected PM, with no loyalty to England (he has bragged of Scots and Irish blood - very odd and rather racist), who wants to break England further into pieces? Well, all UK, Scots and Welsh MPs favour that, of course.
Burnham is, of course, co-author of Head North (featuring a UK outline mainly featuring nationally devolved Scotland on its cover).
Now, the Barnett Formula and West Lothian Question - producing fiscal and democratic deficits for England - will continue, although Burnham once mentioned 'tearing up' the Barnett Formula. But nobody wants to upset the fierce Tiny Scotlanders.
Burnham wants an office in the North. The North of where? Well, he didn't mention it by name, but he obviously means England as Scotland has its own domestic parliament, higher per capita spending from the UK tax pot (Barnett Formula), a Scottish Minister in the UK Parliament, non-representative MPs in the UK Parliament helping pass legislation on England (West Lothian Question), and free prescriptions for millionaires. Wales has that too.
Lord Joel Barnett, creator of the Barnett Formula, later decried it repeatedly as unfair to people across England. Burnham tries to divide and rule by caricaturing southern and eastern England as 'haves' and the North as 'have nots'. In reality, the picture is far more nuanced, with appalling areas of poverty across the South and East.
Three of the poorest streets in England in the English Indices were found to be in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, in recent years.
Burnham, a Cambridge University grad himself, is a totally silly divide and ruler.
Keep the UK Parliament gravy train going, continue to pander to nationalistic nonsense from Scotland and Wales (who are far from innocent in UK history) and sod the vast majority in England.
The UK's most ethnically diverse country by far.
And he brags of having Scottish and Irish blood. No such thing. DNA studies have taken all that nonsense apart, and waving that as a flag of inclusivity and diversity is ridiculous.
Just above the poverty line Saleem in Great Yarmouth pays nearly £10 per prescription item. Super rich Angus in Edinburgh or Cerys in Cardiff get them free.
Meanwhile, the UK gravy train of divide, rule and discriminate against England continues.
It's driven by anti-English/England attitudes, and the refusal of anybody in politics to speak for England. A lot of Scots and Welsh arguments could have been discussed years ago, and refuted where necessary. It never happened. So, England became the rump of the UK, with Scots and Welsh bile unchallenged, and more and more privileges for those tiny elites in those far less ethnically diverse UK countries.
Diversity, equity and inclusion?
Funnily enough, the British nationality is only a few hundred years old. It was intended as a pan-Britain identity at the time of the union with Scotland. The time of Empire. So, with the UK Government tying to instill 'British' values in everyone in England, what are they? Colonisation?
Scotland likes to argue that the oil off its coastline belongs to Scotland alone. Of course it doesn't. Scotland was bailed out by England after its disastrous Darien colonisation attempt, and then made a huge splash on the world stage and enormous amounts of dosh from the British Empire, being disproportionately active. Made possible by the union with England.
And it has benefitted hugely from asymmetric national devolution, the Barnett Formula (from 1978) and another formula, Goschen, from 1888, giving it higher funding.
I'm afraid a union is a union, and that doesn't mean what's England's is also Scotland's, but a natural resource off Scotland's coastline is Scotland's alone.
And the oil receipts don't nearly cover Scotland's funding and UK benefits over the centuries.
Destabilising England is, in our view, the fastest way to destabilise the so-called UK. It's been treated as the rump of the UK since devolution, and often before, with Wales and Scotland having Secretaries of State, and the Barnett Formula, dating back to 1978.
And Scotland had the Goschen Formula, dating from 1888, to favour it financially before that..
Highlighting the true haves and have nots across Britain by regionalising England should provoke some interesting times, amidst lots of expensive new politicians and raised voices.
Domestic parliaments for all the UK nations and a vastly slimmed down UK Parliament for pan-UK legislation is the simple answer. Then England could decide on its own internal governance with no need for further devolution. Counties were rather good.
But the UK Parliament gravy train refuses to let go of England.
This way is going to be very messy and noisy.
Well, the UK Parliament has denied England for so long, it will be fun to watch as its chickens come home to roost.
