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 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 28 January 2009 by David
I was somewhat surprised this morning to find that Gareth Young had posted a campaign carrying the name of this blog on the Labourspace forum. Surprised in a couple of ways: first, the theft borrowing of the name, for which Gareth has in any case apologised. Besides which, I nicked the name off the SNP, [...]
Filed under: Conservative Party, England, English Parliament, English governance, English nationalism, Labour Party, Labourspace, Liberal Democrats, National Conversation for England, Nick Clegg, PR, UK governance, United Kingdom, constitutional convention, constitutional monarchy, constitutional reform, devolution, federal UK, monarchy, nationalism, parliament, parliamentary sovereignty, politics, popular sovereignty, proportional representation, republicanism, sovereignty, the English Question | 1 Comment »
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 3 October 2008 by David
Hat tip to Waking Hereward for this little gem. Here’s what the Labour MEP for the North West Region said, writing in the Labour magazine Egremont Today:
“I don’t know about you, but I am getting a bit fed up with those who keep telling me we need to have an extra public holiday centred around [...]
Filed under: Brian Simpson, Britain, British identity, Britishness, EU, England, English Parliament, English identity, English nationalism, English nationhood, Englishness, European Parliament, Labour Party, New Labour, United Kingdom, politics | 2 Comments »
Posted on 20 September 2008 by David
I reproduce here a comment I made on a post in the OurKingdom blog that was reviewing a presentation by the political historian David Marquand of his new book Britain after 1918: The Strange Career of British Democracy. In this book, Marquand analyses British history over the last 90 years as a product of the interplay [...]
Filed under: Conservative Party, David Cameron, Downing Street petition, England, England Nation petition, English nationalism, Labour Party, New Labour, One-Nation Conservatism, United Kingdom, civic nationalism, constitutional reform, nationalism, parliament, parliamentary sovereignty, petitions, politics, popular sovereignty, republicanism, sovereignty, unionism | 3 Comments »
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 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 »