Posted on 27 October 2009 by David
For the avoidance of doubt, I am not a BNP supporter. I despise their racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia. However, I agree with some of their key policies: restrictions to immigration, withdrawal of the UK from the EU, withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan, and more accountable local and regional democracy. Yes, those last two items [...]
Filed under: Afghanistan, BBC, Britain, British National Party (BNP), British parliament, Conservative Party, David Cameron, EU constitution, England, English Parliament, European Parliament, European Union (EU), First Past the Post, Gordon Brown, Liberal Democrats, Lisbon Treaty, New Labour, Nick Griffin, Question Time, Real Change, United Kingdom, constitutional convention, constitutional reform, hung parliament, immigration, parliament, politics, proportional representation, racism, sovereignty | 2 Comments »
Posted on 2 June 2009 by David
Never thought I’d say that! I don’t consider myself to be politically right-wing and I’m certainly not a Unionist; so UKIP is far from being a natural political home for me. I don’t like UKIP’s simplistic, black-and-white presentation of the case against the EU and open immigration policies, even though I myself am in favour [...]
Filed under: Britain, Conservative Party, David Cameron, EU, EU constitution, England, English Parliament, English governance, English nationalism, English pauses for English clauses, European Parliament, First Past the Post, Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Lisbon Treaty, MPs' expenses, PR, UK governance, United Kingdom, West Lothian Question, constitutional reform, devolution, federal UK, federalism, monarchy, nationalism, parliament, politics, proportional representation, referendum, representative democracy, sovereignty, the English Question, unionism | 9 Comments »
Posted on 21 May 2009 by David
Over the past week or so, I’ve been attempting to write a rather long post on the implications of the ongoing MPs’ expenses scandal. I started to write it last week, when I was concerned that the initial reaction was tending to ignore the fact that public outrage about MPs’ behaviour was symptomatic of a [...]
Filed under: Britain, British parliament, Campaign for an English Parliament (CEP), Conservative Party, Cornwall, David Cameron, England, English Parliament, English governance, English identity, English nationhood, First Past the Post, Liberal Democrats, MPs' expenses, New Labour, Norman Tebbit, PR, UK governance, United Kingdom, West Lothian Question, accountability, constitutional reform, devolution, federal UK, federalism, parliament, petitions, politics, proportional representation, representative democracy, the English Question, unionism | 7 Comments »
Posted on 20 March 2009 by David
One of the objections that is often raised to an English Parliament is that it would add a whole new large body of MEPs, as I suppose we’d have to call them (unfortunate clash with the European Parliament), on top of the existing 530-odd (or however many) Westminster MPs representing English constituencies. To say nothing [...]
Filed under: England, English Parliament, English governance, First Past the Post, PR, Single Transferable Vote (STV), UK governance, United Kingdom, West Lothian Question, constitutional reform, devolution, federal UK, federalism, parliament, parliamentary sovereignty, politics, popular sovereignty, proportional representation, representative democracy, sovereignty, the English Question | 10 Comments »
Posted on 2 December 2008 by David
The trouble with the UK is ‘Great Britain’. The future of the UK, if it has one, will be settled by coming to a more stable, mature and equitable relationship between the different nations that currently make up that state. Great Britain, and its even more ill-defined cognate ‘Britain’, is the great interloper that stands [...]
Filed under: Britain, British identity, Britishness, Cornwall, England, English Parliament, English governance, English identity, English independence, English nationalism, English nationhood, Englishness, First Past the Post, Gordon Brown, Great Britain, New Labour, Northern Ireland, PR, Scotland, Scottish Claim of Right, Scottish independence, Scottish nationhood, Single Transferable Vote (STV), UK governance, United Kingdom, Wales, West Lothian Question, constitutional reform, denial of England, devolution, federal UK, federalism, national identity, nationalism, parliament, parliamentary sovereignty, political vision, politics, popular sovereignty, proportional representation, referendum, representative democracy, say England, sovereignty, the English Question, unionism | 23 Comments »
Posted on 30 September 2008 by David
Just submitted my response to the government’s ‘national framework for greater citizen engagement’ discussion document – one day ahead of the deadline for sending in comments. Here’s what the delectably named Laura Beaumont will find from me in her inbox tomorrow morning:
Dear Ms Beaumont,
While this government initiative to build a greater level of engagement, participation [...]
Filed under: England, England Nation petition, English Parliament, English nationhood, First Past the Post, PR, United Kingdom, citizen engagement, constitutional reform, devolution, parliament, parliamentary sovereignty, politics, popular sovereignty, proportional representation, referendum, representation, representative democracy, sovereignty | 4 Comments »
Posted on 24 July 2008 by David
The Tories look set to establish their own version of the West Lothian Question in the next Westminster parliament. News reports today suggest that David Cameron is trying to forge an alliance or merger with the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), with which it was connected in the past. The advantages of this are described in [...]
Filed under: Conservative Party, David Cameron, Democracy Task Force, England, First Past the Post, Northern Ireland, Ulster Unionist Party, United Kingdom, West Lothian Question, gerrymandering, parliament, politics, unionism | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 18 July 2008 by David
Here’s how I see the asymmetric devolution settlement brought in by New Labour in 1998. This may not be terribly original; but it could serve as a useful guide to the cynical politics that has brought us to our present pass.
Scotland-side, there’s the view that devolution, rather than being merely a nationalistic movement for greater [...]
Filed under: Conservative Party, David Cameron, England, English independence, First Past the Post, Labour Party, PR, Scotland, Scottish independence, Wales, Welsh independence, constitutional reform, devolution, parliament, politics, proportional representation, sovereignty | 9 Comments »
Posted on 2 July 2008 by David
Yesterday, the Tories finally published the recommendations of their Democracy Task Force on how to ‘resolve’ the West Lothian Question. Their report contained no surprises, as it was virtually as leaked two weeks ago. There was, however, one clarification. In the leaked account of the Tories’ proposals, it was stated that: “At the third and [...]
Filed under: Conservative Party, Democracy Task Force, England, English Grand Committee, English Parliament, English pauses for English clauses, First Past the Post, PR, West Lothian Question, constitutional reform, devolution, federal UK, parliament, politics, proportional representation | Tagged: " | 1 Comment »