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 29 September 2009 by David
This article is cross-posted from Labour Home. Accordingly, it is orientated towards Labour Party members and sympathisers. I am not myself a member of the Labour Party. But I would like to see the Labour Party evolving into a movement focused on the needs of English society and people, which it has clearly failed to [...]
Filed under: Britain, Conservative Party, David Cameron, England, English governance, English nationhood, English social policy, Gordon Brown, Labour Party, NHS, New Labour, United Kingdom, devolution, economics, politics, progressive politics, social democracy, social policy | 4 Comments »
Posted on 28 July 2009 by David
Introduction: Deliberations on British-constitutional reform must factor in the national questions
I recently signed up to ‘Real Change‘. This is a grassroots movement that aims to set in motion a nationwide debate, at local level, about fundamental constitutional reform, culminating ultimately in a citizens’ convention to collate and deliberate on all the options, and to come [...]
Filed under: Britain, British parliament, England, English Grand Committee, English Parliament, English governance, English nationhood, Gordon Brown, MPs, MPs' expenses, New Labour, Real Change, Scottish Claim of Right, Scottish independence, Scottish nationhood, UK governance, United Kingdom, West Lothian Question, asymmetric devolution, constitutional convention, constitutional reform, democracy, denial of England, devolution, national identity, nations and regions, parliament, parliamentary sovereignty, politics, popular sovereignty, representative democracy, republicanism, sovereignty, the English Question, unionism | 3 Comments »
Posted on 25 June 2009 by David
“Nobody puts new wine in old wineskins; otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins and run to waste, and the skins will be ruined. No; new wine must be put in fresh skins. And nobody who has been drinking old wine wants new. ‘The old is good’, he says”. The Gospel According To St. [...]
Filed under: Britain, British parliament, Chilcot Enquiry, Church of England, England, English Parliament, English governance, Gordon Brown, House of Lords, John Bercow, PR, Parliamentary Standards Authority, United Kingdom, accountability, constitutional convention, constitutional reform, disestablishment, federal UK, federalism, parliament, parliamentary sovereignty, politics, popular sovereignty, proportional representation, sovereignty | Leave a Comment »
Posted on 17 January 2009 by David
I was bowled over by the government’s response last Monday to the ‘England nation’ petition that I posted on the Number 10 website, and which so many of my readers signed – for which, many thanks.
To remind you, the petition asked: “We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to state whether he recognises that England [...]
Filed under: Britain, Downing Street petition, England, England Nation petition, English Parliament, English governance, English independence, English nationalism, English nationhood, Gordon Brown, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Scottish Claim of Right, Scottish nationhood, UK governance, United Kingdom, Wales, Welsh nationhood, constitutional reform, denial of England, devolution, federal UK, nationalism, nations and regions, parliament, parliamentary sovereignty, petitions, politics, popular sovereignty, referendum, representative democracy, say England, sovereignty, the English Question, unionism | 13 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 16 November 2008 by David
I have written on many occasions, both in this blog and elsewhere, about the ways in which the government, the three main parties and the media seem to conspire to drop all mention of ‘England’ even when they’re discussing policies and topics that relate exclusively to England. This is most typically the case when they [...]
Filed under: Britain, Downing Street petition, England, England Nation petition, English Parliament, English governance, English nationhood, Gordon Brown, Labour Party, New Labour, Scottish nationhood, UK governance, United Kingdom, constitutional reform, denial of England, devolution, national identity, parliament, petitions, political vision, politics, say England | 2 Comments »
Posted on 15 September 2008 by David
Not often I do a direct plug; but here goes. I invite UK readers of this blog to sign a new petition that has appeared on the 10 Downing Street website. This reads as follows:
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to state whether he recognises that England is a nation.”
The background to this is [...]
Filed under: Britain, Downing Street petition, England, England Nation petition, English Parliament, English nationalism, English nationhood, Gordon Brown, Scotland, Scottish nationhood, United Kingdom, Wales, Welsh nationhood, constitutional reform, devolution, national identity, nationalism, parliament, petitions, politics, popular sovereignty, sovereignty, the English Question | 1 Comment »
Posted on 9 June 2008 by David
The Sunday Times reported yesterday that Frank Field has urged Gordon Brown to hold an immediate UK-wide referendum on the future of the Union. The Labour MP is quoted as saying, “Unless Gordon Brown wrongfoots [Alex Salmond] by addressing the English question and by holding a UK-wide referendum before he has the chance to build [...]
Filed under: England, English independence, Frank Field, Gordon Brown, Labour Party, Scotland, Scottish Claim of Right, Scottish independence, United Kingdom, constitutional convention, constitutional reform, parliament, politics, referendum, sovereignty, the English Question | 2 Comments »
Posted on 5 June 2008 by David
In his speech to the University of Hertfordshire on Tuesday of this week, Labour MP Frank Field made out a strong case for the right of all UK citizens, not just Scottish voters, to determine the future shape of the UK: “Wendy Alexander . . . recently called for an early referendum on independence. Yet [...]
Filed under: David Cameron, England, English Parliament, Frank Field, Gordon Brown, Labour Party, Scotland, United Kingdom, constitutional reform, devolution, federal UK, parliament, politics, referendum, sovereignty, the English Question | 4 Comments »
