Posted on 5 October 2009 by David
A truly comical row has broken out over SNP leader Alex Salmond’s insistence that he should participate in any debate between the party leaders broadcast in Scotland ahead of the next general election. The three main parties are insisting that as Salmond isn’t even standing for parliament – and therefore, by definition, is not a [...]
Filed under: Alex Salmond, Britain, British parliament, England, English democratic deficit, English social policy, SNP, Scotland, United Kingdom, democracy, devolution, devolved matters, general election, leaders' debate, nationalism, parliament, politics, reserved matters | 3 Comments »
Posted on 26 September 2009 by David
Watched the TV interview with the English Democrat chairman Robin Tilbrook on the Daily Politics yesterday. Effectively, he was given about half of the five minutes allotted to the item, with the remaining half being given over to a couple of panellists. I thought he held his own quite well against some fairly tough questioning. [...]
Filed under: Anita Anand, BBC, Barnett Formula, Britain, British parliament, Daily Politics, England, English Democrats, English NHS, English Parliament, English democratic deficit, English governance, English identity, English nationalism, English nationhood, Englishness, Fraser Nelson, NHS, PR, Radio Four, Robin Tilbrook, Scotland, Scottish Parliament, Today Programme, UK governance, United Kingdom, asymmetric devolution, civic nationalism, constitutional reform, democracy, denial of England, devolution, general election, media bias, national identity, nationalism, nations and regions, parliament, politics, proportional representation, referendum, the English Question, unionism | 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 3 March 2009 by David
I’ve been thinking and reading quite a bit recently on the subject of liberty and the national question. This was the topic of a debate at the Convention On Modern Liberty event in London at the weekend. I wasn’t there but I’ve read the interestingly divergent accounts by Gareth Young (who was speaking on behalf [...]
Filed under: Britain, British identity, Convention on Modern Liberty, Downing Street petition, England, English governance, English identity, English nationalism, English nationhood, Englishness, Scotland, Scottish Claim of Right, Scottish independence, UK governance, United Kingdom, Wales, anglophobia, constitutional reform, denial of England, devolution, liberty, national identity, nationalism, politics, popular sovereignty, sovereignty, the English Question | 3 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 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 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 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 4 September 2008 by David
‘Nation of England’! Now there’s a phrase to stir the blood or – for some – to make it boil. ‘Nation of England’: sounds rather un-English, doesn’t it? We English are not given to aggressive displays of ‘national pride’ and self-assertion. It sounds like the demand of some rebellious ethnic minority to be respected and [...]
Filed under: Britain, British identity, Calman Commission, Campaign for an English Parliament (CEP), England, English Parliament, English identity, United Kingdom, West Lothian Question, constitutional reform, devolution, national identity, nationalism, parliament, parliamentary sovereignty, politics, popular sovereignty, sovereignty, the English Question | 6 Comments »
