It has taken the Anglican Church long soaked in the views of the international elite an age to discover the cause of England. Despite carrying our countryâs name in its own the C of E has regularly adopted fashionable global and EU tropes that are unwelcome to many in a doughty independent island country with global reach and ambition.
The Archbishop is by inference attacking the Lambeth Palace and Brussels oriented views of recent Archbishops of Canterbury by remembering his own Northern roots. He then reveals he too lacks understanding of how Englishmen and women feel by recommending we get another dose of regional devolution within England. So like the EU elite he wants to break up and balkanise England whilst leaving Scottish and Welsh devolution whole at the country level. The whole point about the English case is we wish to have for England some of the  same devolved  rights that Scotland  enjoys.
I proposed to David Cameron that we gave England EVEN, English votes for English needs, in the Commons. Instead of setting up a costly new English Parliament with extra MPs and a new building, why not let UK MPs elected to Westminster carry the dual mandate and meet as a Grand Committee at Westminster for any legislation or budgetary review matters that would mirror those powers devolved to Scotland or Wales. Mr Cameron on advice from Mr Hague watered that down to an English veto on English laws, with no right to initiate an English proposal for English MPs. Now Mr Gove has removed even that.
Meanwhile we need a BBC that gives equal billing to England as to Scotland. Why is there no BBC England? We need an anthem for English teams that we know and want to sing, and a better and more sympathetic presentation of English history, literature and culture by English and UK institutions.
August 10, 2021
Good morning.
It is a very sad day that, when someone who wants TRUE equality in this so called union, he has to look to Nationalists of other parts of said union to get it.
And whilst we are on the subject of costs regarding devolution, how about all those Mayors that have been created by the Tories without our consent. The Scots and the Welsh were asked if they wanted devolution, we were not asked about Mayors.
As for setting up another devolved assembly for England with another building, that is not what I and many others want. What has been asked for both here and elsewhere is the abolition of the HoL and a creation of a UK Senate in its place, and the conversion of the HoC into a true English Parliament. It would, in fact, actually save money and solve the lopsided and grossly unfair issue of devolution.
August 10, 2021
We were asked about the first of the ‘new’ Mayoralties – under Mr Blair, there was a referendum in Greater London in 1998 to ask if the area wanted such an innovation. The overall average turnout was around 35%, but within that, the YES vote was decisive.
August 10, 2021
Mark B, That is a good alternative – an elected UK senate, and an English HoC. I would prefer a single UK Parliament (with an pr elected second chamber).
August 10, 2021
The cost of devolution has been enormous for England yet we didnât get to vote on the issue. Take the benefits systems as an example; DWP has had to spend millions separating their benefit systems into England and Scottish regions. The cost for these changes should have been borne by Scotland but this hasnât happened.
August 10, 2021
+10000000. Sick of politicians bleating on about the cost of an English Parliament when they have no such qualms about the cost of building and maintaining the Scots & Welsh Parliaments plus the added cost of the overBloated U.K. representation of Scottish, Welsh & NI MPs whose main mandate nowadays seems to be interfering and voting on English only affairs.
You are spot on Mark that an English Parliament would actually save money. The building is there, get rid of the Lords and we wouldnât need anywhere near 650 generously paid U.K. MPs with all their perks and gold plated pensions. 100 say for the Senate and the rest could be given their P45s. Isnât that the real reason our self serving MPs are opposed to an EP? As they show over and over again, the Westminster Gravy Train is far more important to them than equality for England.
August 10, 2021
+ 1
We really do need equality off devolution.
English votes for English business, just like both the welsh and Scots.
August 10, 2021
It is the job of England to prop up the rest of the union.
England is overwhelmingly right of centre so the majority of limp dumbs posing as tories would lose their seats to a English national party.
August 10, 2021
What do you mean by England though?
Come on – a car worker in Sunderland has infinitely more in common with his peer in DĂŒsseldorf than he does with one of Cameron’s Chipping Campden set, and a dairy farmer in Devon more with one in Normandy than he does with a metals futures trader in the City.
It’s a huge pity, that someone somehow fooled them that they don’t.
August 10, 2021
Well the Scots are totally different from South to North but they manage.
August 10, 2021
What a weird association! One could just as easily (and correctly) point out that England, as a recognised and constitutional entity, has existed far longer than France or Germany: the disputed provinces between those two countries were the cause of wars for centuries, up to and including WW1, for example. Why, the EU still cannot agree on a capital, hence the regular and expensive movement between Brussels and Strasbourg!
August 11, 2021
Italy, Finland, Poland, Yugoslavia?
August 10, 2021
You’re assuming that all people are defined by the jobs they do, and nothing else.
August 10, 2021
No, I’m not at all.
However, I’m suggesting that to use “we”, when the only thing that many might have in common is a passport issuer is probably creating a fiction.
August 10, 2021
Yes, you are defining people by their jobs, Martin. That’s exactly what you did do in claiming that a farmer in Devon has more (“infinitely more”) in common with a farmer in Normandy, than with a metals futures trader in London. We are not interchangeable serfs – what people do for work is not who they are. Belonging means something to most people – something you’ve failed to learn despite Leave’s win being based on it.
August 10, 2021
Only problem is that perhaps not many car workers in Sunderland speak German, or a dairy Farmer in Devon, French.
Only good thing many Germans and French speak English so perhaps they may get along over a pint of something or a glass of wine !
August 10, 2021
Yes, I’d very much say so, Alan.
Especially if they earned their livings facing much the same challenges.
August 10, 2021
Do grow up, Lad
August 10, 2021
@ MiC
Total rubbish.
August 10, 2021
In your case yes, Steve đ
August 11, 2021
“In your case yes, Steve”
Your response appears that of an eleven year old.
August 10, 2021
Oh yes!
What an unceremonious booting out that would be.
August 10, 2021
When I read the Archbishopâs embarrassing article I too assumed he was another whinging northerner with a chip on his shoulder. I was wrong.
The truth is worse: he comes from Essex. No wonder he writes such nonsense.
August 10, 2021
I was aware of our Andy’s ageist bias, but his prejudice against people from Essex is new. Perhaps it’s distressing for those with a middle-class home counties background to see a person who grew up somewhere between Southend and Basildon, and attended a comprehensive, rise to become an archbishop. For the Andys of this world, that probably isn’t supposed to happen.
August 10, 2021
Isnât that all a bitâŠerâŠdiscriminatory?
I am positively blenching at the âhateâ therein!
đł
August 10, 2021
That’s right, Andy, when you have no factual arguments, you go right ahead and rely on birthplace ad hominems.
August 11, 2021
Best not to dignify cowards with a response.
August 10, 2021
Oh dear. More hate and venom from Tesla, second home, pensioner bashing Andy.One wonders what we have to be for Andy to approve.
August 10, 2021
A Remain dupe??
August 11, 2021
Millions of people died to protect a country that produces this.
August 10, 2021
The C of E is now nothing little more than a political agitators for the woke left. Infected, it dies rotting from head to foot.
Of course our kind host conveniently forgets that he represents in many capacities a political party whose leaders actions have led directly to the institutional, constitutional, cultural, moral and democratic destruction we see today. All is woke. All is racial. All is political. All is identity.
From Major right through to this PM who is now a card carrying member of the woke Marxist clique. Yes, John your leader is damaged goods.
The Tory party’s refusal to confront Labour’ destructive agenda since 1997 has led directly to what we see today. All Tory MPs are responsible. They belong to the party and they represent they party in all its forms. If only they would admit they are captured and break free from this woke parasitism that is enveloping our world and strangling freedom and open debate
The downing of MT was a watershed. It marked the rise of a politics that will consume our nation, destroy our freedoms and expose us to totalitarianism using all and any method available to the woke Marxist State
I see the Reform Party is being denied banking facilities to allow it to conduct its activities. I find that so sinister. A party whose purpose is to strengthen democracy and defend freedom of expression targeted. We are captured and your party working with the forces of woke left are responsible
Shameful, utterly shameful
Reply I have allowed you to post virtually identical denunciations of our main parties on many occasions. If you want to be posted please contribute some different ideas. We will take it for granted you hate the current main parties.
August 10, 2021
Which Banks are denying the Reform Party banking facilities?
August 10, 2021
Metro Bank
August 10, 2021
This is very sinister. A good speech by Richard Tice about this.
August 10, 2021
Don’t Think Tice – It’s All Right.
August 11, 2021
Martin – we saw Joan B in Oxford a couple of years ago, but no Dylan sadly.
So long, honey babe
Where I’m bound, I can’t tell
Goodbye is too good a word, babe
So I just say, “fare thee well”
I ain’t a-sayin’ you treated me unkind
You could have done better but I don’t mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don’t think twice, it’s all right.
Poignant words about leaving EU.?
August 11, 2021
Last saw Zimm in 2016.
He seems to be doing well at eighty now.
August 10, 2021
Brian – Metro Bank’s chairman, Sir Michael Snyder, is a big name in the City of London. He was quoted in Freemasonry Today (8/12/2015) as saying ‘The reason the City has been so successful over the centuries is because anyone in the world can come here to trade and expect the same treatment.’ Fair enough, except that if you’re a political party disagreeing with the government on lockdowns and Covid vaccine coercion, you don’t get the same treatment, or at least not from him.
August 10, 2021
You are right though Dom and it is all heartbreaking.
Mr Tice actually appears to have a little backbone and also manages to get some MSM coverage.
He is appealing to the B of E for an account ( is that likely to happen?). Publicity for the injustices done to non-mainstream, putative political parties I imagine/wonder.Create a sh*storm I hope!
So many small parties that would have saved us, if only as a UKIP type threat, from our present situation have been sinisterly silenced and crushed.
Imagine if both Con and Lab split into two factions!!
August 10, 2021
I am always perplexed by people – all over the world – who assume they will get their views across if yet more small political Parties are formed. If people with strong political views cannot unite on a reasonable working basis with others of a similar though not identical bent, how on earth do you imagine they could form a powerful Opposition or indeed a practical Government?
Labour’s different factions are undermining their own Party, and the LibDems are a pathetic shadow that could be far more effective if they set out to attract Labour moderates and very wet Conservatives – then, perhaps, the kind of Conservative Party I would prefer, as represented by our host, would be a persuasive option for many.
August 10, 2021
YesâŠthat is what I would prefer. I actually imagined that was what we would get with Johnson. Ho, ho, ho!
I propose that the THREAT from small parties would keep the main parties in check.
A rather forlorn hope however since increasing totalitarianism has seen many small parties virtually criminalised.
It is said that UKIP was promoted by the BBC in order to crush the BNP which was fervently anti EU. Not sure if that was a miscalculation on the part of ( Cameron was it?) as the tactic handed more power than expected to UKIP?
AnywayâŠapparently Cameron and Osborne didnât understand that they were embracing a form of 1960s mind-messing communism in Blairism and we now suffer the result. Also Cameron said that Brexit would lead to WW3âŠand donât it feel like it??
August 10, 2021
+1
August 10, 2021
Reply to reply
Whilst I don’t always agree with Dom, however, if he, and others only expressed concern over the direction this country is heading once, then the political class as a whole would just dismiss it out of hand. They have form on doing just that. I understand the Johnson regime wants to effectively ban protests/demonstrations, no matter how peaceful they are.
A growing number of the electorate also seem to be vastly concerned by what is happening, but they don’t have any mechanism to stop it, or even the ability to remove politicians who were effectively elected on a lie.
How else can the electorate get the message across, except by using the only ‘tool’ they have and that is to voice discontent, and if necessary, constantly?
I am of the opinion some use your forum to express their discontent, because they know you listen to their concerns.
August 10, 2021
J Bush :
Agreed.
August 10, 2021
Quite right J Bush. How can we vent our frustrations? The ballot box is no good when all main parties think and act alike. Dom is desperate to get his message through and many of us can see how near the truth he is. To shut down his opinions would be undemocratic. He may say similar things Sir John but then many others do too. How about shutting Andy up with his pensioner crap?
August 10, 2021
It looks like Dom is over the target. The Conservative party has been the party of government for the majority of the last 50 years. It’s been the best funded, with the best-connected and most influential people. Capture it and you were well placed to take over the running of the state. That is what has happened. You couldn’t do that by taking over the obviously failed and now unelectable Labour party.
Thanks to the government’s measures in 2020, the state accounts for between 55-60% of the UK economy. Public transport is nationalised, the media is state-funded, and the state intrudes into private aspects of people’s lives – their freedom to travel and their health, even their freedom to choose their preferred form of heating their home. The state represses free speech and demonstrations when people protest against it. This is the road to slavery.
I don’t think leading Conservatives wanted this to happen, but they’ve allowed it to happen. The sooner they stop listening to unelected Green Socialist advisers dictating policy, the more chance there is that their MPs can win a democratic election again.
August 10, 2021
Hat man, just so.
August 10, 2021
Very well put. I applaud you Sir.
August 10, 2021
I note Vodafone are reintroducing roaming charges . You assured us this would never happen. When will you apologise for misleading the British people about the consequences of your failed Brexit?
Reply I offered no assurance. I reported the clear statements from the phone companies that they would not introduce such charges. 2 I see are now saying they will on some new contracts. You should pursue them.
August 10, 2021
Don, use market forces. Take your business elsewhere. Your money , your weapon in the market place
August 10, 2021
I have to say I am absolutely fed up with all these people in so called high places wanting to trash and separate England, it’s history, its culture, its people, but are all happy to sup at the bowl of plenty (bowl of debt now) whilst doing so.
We have so called UK Government, we have so called National Government (except England) we have Regional Mayors in some areas, we have Unitary Authorities, we have Local Authorities, we have Town Councils, we have Parish Councils, how many more bloody Authorities do these people want.
Then we have a whole mixture of different services, we have a National Health Service which is not National at all, as different areas have different criteria for treatment and purchasing, we have Regional Police forces who all have different priorities, we have Police commissioners for different areas within the same Regional Police force. I could go on and on.
I really do think we need to start thinking about starting again, but with the present lot in parliament (sorry John) it would end up being even more of a dogs dinner than it is now. Just look at the 4 years of bloody chaos we had with Brexit, when all we had to do was leave !
We need some clear thinking, not tinkering with even more complications and more cost.
August 10, 2021
As an Englishman – not my first identifier in my view – I’m not quite sure just how numerous are this “we” to whom John refers, who share his aspirations for the country. Those seem to stem from a nostalgia based on a mythical past rather than from modern reality.
It would help if he would specify whom he means by terms such as “international elite” too, but he seems confident enough that his readership will imagine that they know, and so I expect that he will continue to use such trigger terms freely without more.
It’s knowing where to start with so many implications, really.
August 10, 2021
MiC – We know who the international elite are, because they say who they are, on the invitee lists at Davos and suchlike gatherings.
Your car workers and dairy farmers never get invited, it seems.
August 10, 2021
Would you prefer that eminent people from the different parts of the world never met to discuss anything?
I don’t think that that is who John actually means anyway.
Apparently, according to some here, the “metropolitan elite” now means anyone with a garden attached to their home, so these terms seem rather Alice-in-Wonderland.
August 10, 2021
That’s a pointless question. My preferences on who should meet who at global level don’t count, neither do yours. They will going on meeting up, at Davos and elsewhere, and they’ll quite openly announce who they are and what sort of world they want to construct. And they’ll hold their think tank conferences and often put the videos online. Anyone who wants to keep up can follow what they’re saying and doing – there’s no conspiracy, and no mystery.
But it suits those like you who can’t cope with this, to avert their gaze and pretend that the term ‘international elite’ is hopelessly vague, and therefore there can’t be one.
August 10, 2021
Well said, Philip P.
August 10, 2021
My point is, are you sure that this is what John means, and if so then how?
August 11, 2021
But they ‘discuss’ things often with little relevance, and the admirable sounding end output fades away to **** all action. An ‘elite’ talking shop. You know rather like the UN.
August 10, 2021
Actually, the BBC aready does a great deal of regional programming for England. Apart from the excellent BBC Radio Berkshire that broadcasts much local news and topical commentary for the Wokingham area, it also produces the very good BBC TV Oxford news programme that frequently reports on the state of play in the consituency. Not all of which is bad. And they gave you airtime yesterday.
August 10, 2021
I would not know as I have the means to select so the bbc lies have not been listened to since we got GBNews
August 10, 2021
Yes, GB News is most refreshing. Common sense at last.
August 10, 2021
Indeed Gove really is a wrong-un. First he knifes Boris in the back, inflicting the appalling May on the nation and worse costing me my wager. Then he suggests VAT on private school fees to destroy even further any fare competition in schools and augment the state monopoly here by making private school parents pay four times over. Now he further damages what is left of real English democracy and pushes the endless climate alarmist lunacy.
Just seen Boris on Twitter with his COP agenda video. He says:
âIt is far cheaper and more effective to act now to avoid incalculable damage in the futureâ – wrong & if incalculable how can you make this duff claim?
âWe need every other country to commit to net zero carbonâ – sure Boris that is really going to happen! Nor should they – they are not all led by people as deluded as yourself and Carrie Boris.
He wants to end âthe massacre of the forestsâ and âban ICU cars worldwideâ. Well actually Boris if you want to reduce CO2 you are better chopping mature trees down using the wood to build (not burn as you idiotically do at Drax) and replacing with new growing trees. Also you should want to keep old cars running and not cause new EV cars and batteries to be manufactured as this actually increases CO2.
The Boris agenda is totally deluded, unscientific and political suicide. About 90% of the population are rightly against your expensive energy agenda. It is complete economic, political, job destroying and environmental lunacy Boris.
August 10, 2021
+1
August 10, 2021
Interesting release on Guido today about the suggested cost of every Green job.
Every one taxpayer funded of course, these are not proper jobs at all, they are simply created from the combined taxes of real people, with real jobs, manufacturing and selling competitive products and services.
When is this utter madness going to stop JR, otherwise as a Country we are going to be bankrupt.
August 11, 2021
+1 every green job must kill or export about 4 real ones.
August 11, 2021
LIfelogic
Apparently it is being suggested that it takes the full annual tax take of 34 full time workers in real jobs to subsidise one new Green Job !!!
Bonkers !!!
August 11, 2021
So when is Boris going to meet Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi, Biden etc and ‘beat them up’ over their countries’ destruction of the environment?
August 10, 2021
So your crazed nationalist experiment has taken us out of the EU, now you want to destroy the UK too. There’s no end to this nonsense is there. You’ll always have some grievance to complain about, there’ll always be an imaginaryenemy, whether it’s Brussels, Edinburgh, the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Hague, Michael Gove ….. But of course I do understand why you are keen to deflect attention from your catastrophic Brexit
August 10, 2021
The government and Tories generally may be totally useless but we are starting to develop new trade routes that both cut out the EU and are more efficient.I’ve just been reading a couple of articles on railfreight.com about new multimodal logistical services from China to the UK via the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad-goods travel from China through Kazakhstan and Russia by train and then are shipped from Kaliningrad where customs and handling is very efficient-it takes just 10 hours to transit and load-then onto UK.The service started in March to Immingham,frequency has already been increased to once a week from twice a month,a second service has just started to Felixstowe and a third to Tilbury later his month.
This is also significatly quicker than existing routes like China-Duisberg-Rotterdam-ferry to UK or those that go through France and the Channel Tunnel.
Free to view on railfreight.com :
13/4/21 “New UK China service,this time via port of Kalingrad”.
13/7/21 “Since Brexit,vessel Anja brings China cargo via Kaliningrad to UK”
August 10, 2021
And in what way would European Union membership have prevented the establishment of those routes?
August 10, 2021
In what way has 47 years of EU membership benefitted the UK, Martin?
August 10, 2021
This is your “what did the Romans ever do for us?” moment, John.
August 11, 2021
MIc – – This is your âwhat did the Romans ever do for us?â moment, John.
SLAVERY?
August 11, 2021
The EU would want to control them.China and Russia(and their friends in Germany) intend to control the Trans-Eurasian trade network.
August 11, 2021
Excellent, Mitchel. Do take a trip to Cornwall and explain to the fishermen how they can ship their goods to Spain via Kaliningrad. Travel back via Kent and let the apple growers know that they can’t get into Belgium because of Brexit red tape, but they can send them to Kaliningrad every week or so
August 10, 2021
You’re saying the EU isn’t nationalist, Grey? With a flag, an anthem and – apparently – Olympic medals? And you have an enemy too – England.
August 10, 2021
The Bishop says:- âVarious devolutions seemed to be a good development. They emphasized that unity in diversity. They shared responsibility and empowered local government. A Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly were born.â
Seems like an appalling development to me, yet more essentially parasitic & socialist government for the poor Scots and Welsh to suffer under. Done for party political reasons by the appalling Blair (but this backfired on Labour as I predicted it would). It was also appallingly unfair to England, English voters and particularly the English Regions. What does Blair now think about the mess left by the US following Blairsâ wars in Afghanistan?
August 10, 2021
With the current government so utterly hopeless,the misunderstud Messiah,Blair,is just waiting for the call to bring him out of his “wilderness years”.
He certainly gets a lot of airtime from BBC/Sky.
August 10, 2021
Most people here seem content with the Welsh Government’s handling of covid19 and its vaccination scheme.
August 10, 2021
Especially because England paid for the many tens of billions invested in the development of the vaccine.
You chipping in MiC in Cardiff?
August 10, 2021
So what?
August 10, 2021
We need a Federation.
Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland already have their own Gov. Turn the HoC into England’s Gov. Remove the non-English constituency MP’s (117 from memory) One massive financial SAVING.
No new buildings required.
Get rid of 800 plus peers and turn the Upper Chamber into a UK Federal Gov. for reserved affairs. Gigantic SAVING.
Create a Federal body consisting of Senators to represent the UK. Some cost, but paid for out of the SAVINGS.
Or sit on your hands pretending there is no problem, as you all have since 1998 And continue to pretend England doesn’t or shouldn’t exist.
August 10, 2021
Although they chopped and changed politically, having huge influence over the years, the role of A of C was originally a Roman ( papal) missionary one, organised by Pope Gregory 1.
The A of C is extremely powerful, crowning our monarchs and being hierarchically just below princes! The English happily handed over all that power to Rome.
Augustineâs ( 1st A of C , I think) remit was to convert the âpagansâ here and no doubt control and subvert the culture. Very EU like! Maybe Henry 8 didnât go far enough?
All a very long time ago but an anti Brexit, anti English Archbishop isnât a great surprise really.
Shame we donât have religious leaders like they have in Africa where they are desperately trying to save their agriculture from the grip of globalists.
August 10, 2021
âMeanwhile we need a BBC that gives equal billing to England as to Scotland.â
We donât need a BBC. It would be better to simply remove the TV licence than to try to micromanage it.
I find even Radio 4 tiresome now. Same topics in the news, predictable opinions etc. It is a struggle to even make it through the ten minutes of headlines.
August 10, 2021
Don’t bother with the BBC, otherwise you’ll end up woke programmed.
August 10, 2021
The BBC is just appalling, the one sided (& the wrong side too) coverage of the climate report yesterday was pure & blatant propaganda.
The BBC is also anti-english and anti-men in an Emily Thornberry tweet way, insufferably woke and anti-real science too. Staffed by rather dim, woke, lefty, deluded art graduates. Why still no reporting of the Wuhan lab leek now this is virtually certainly the Covid source. Why is Rabb still pretending the wet market was the most likely cause? When will he come clean, the evidence now is very clear.
August 10, 2021
leak rather!
August 10, 2021
LL
“Why is Rabb still pretending the wet market was the most likely cause?”
Because the big corporates depend on China for cheap labour and nasty inferior goods at maximum profit, and we can’t be upsetting that now can we.
August 10, 2021
Spot On
August 10, 2021
The Church of England has long ago lost any authority – spiritual or otherwise.
Thus the Bishop of Manchester can say of Matt Hancock :-
âSo, I think Iâm more worried about the fact that he failed to keep social distancing than I am about the fact that here is a middle-aged bloke having a bit of a fling.â
We donât do âadulteryâ.
August 10, 2021
+1 six children involved too.
August 11, 2021
Boris now will have 7 if we can keep count.
August 10, 2021
You can understand why English nationalism is a dirty phrase to the likes of Gove. Like so many, he is doing exactly what is described in the above piece, he still carries on the popular concept that it is ok to punish England for being England. Wokism is alive and well in this establishment.
Too many Tory ministers have disappointed us all, but mainly the English – not only not living up to the hype for themselves, but themselves as ministers. I never expect anything from labour ministers but deceit, high taxes and a disregard for the working people of England that keep the Union afloat. I despair when a Tory government emulates this.
Too many people are allowed to foist their views on us because they are briefly famous names – Time the media became more critical of these people – they just parrot the phrases used as though they were messages from the official deity.
Talking of the media parroting – The latest report from the IPCC is a total sham, but it didn’t stop the BBC and others spreading the word without a shred of evidence or balance.
We, including the media, used to be able to analyse such blatant fake news and pick it apart – Now nobody dare even try since in this woke age it has become its own religion.
August 10, 2021
I share you distaste for the position England finds itself in compared to the devolved nations. However the first step should be parity of funding for each country. As a union we must accept that funds cross borders and that some regions raise more in taxes than others but we should not have to accept the inequitable distribution of those funds.
Each citizen should receive the same funding, it is only because England can not blackmail the rest of the Union with a threat to leave that it is treated so shabbily both financially and in creating laws.
Scotland has tax raising powers, if it wants to give it’s people free stuff that the rest of the UK does not enjoy, its citizens can be taxed to pay for it.
August 10, 2021
Too many words of wisdom in that piece, Mr Redwood.
Your colleagues are ill equipped to cope with such sense.
August 10, 2021
DOM, +1,
SirJohn, itâs inevitable that much repetition of ideas will occur on such issues as are discussed daily and DOM does, in my opinion, frame things very well. There is a great frustration and anger that the Conservative Party has become so ineffectual in countering socialist ideas and is now even leading in âwokeâ and green lunatic action.
The contributions by DOM are rational and they are also visceral and he is not alone.
If itâs the case that the Reform Party is being impeded by Banking complications then itâs not a small matter.
August 10, 2021
+1
August 10, 2021
Metro Bank suddenly told the Reform Party that they’d got 6 weeks to close their account ….. and then it would be closed for them.
It would appear that the Establishment is very rattled indeed by the Reform Party.
August 10, 2021
Of course, Donna. The Red Wall might vote for some of the 500 candidates they’re putting up at the next election. And then what?
August 10, 2021
“Friendship of the world is enmity with God” says the scripture. The CofE has forgotten this and wants to be popular. When will they realise that to be of any use they need to be saying the things people don’t want to hear?
The salt has lost its savour.
August 10, 2021
Given that the concept of one Parliament for the whole UK has been abandoned (principally by Tony Blair), then England must have its own Parliament. The alternative – removing the Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales Parliaments – is preferable to me, but is probably not politically feasible. The UK would then be a federal kingdom, with the UK Parliament responsible only for external defence and foreign relations financed by a UK wide national income tax.
August 10, 2021
I see the Essex boy blog troll – who specialises in posting nothing worth reading – has reared his ugly head again. I specialise in ignoring him and his provocative nonsense. Like all trolls, he then goes away and bothers another blog
August 10, 2021
What on earth are you talking about, Sakara? Just because you have problems with green technology that I have to point out to you won’t work?
August 10, 2021
An English Parliament? That’s another layer of MPs to rule us? Another Parliament building? More civil servants? More security/logistics/transport? More expenses?
Sir John’s idea of using the current English MPs for English issues seems eminently sensible to me.
August 10, 2021
+10
August 10, 2021
I’m not suggesting duplication – there wouldn’t need to any extra MPs, they’d simply meet say once a month for UK business. We do need an elected second chamber though – there’s nothing wrong with the existing Lords contributing, but they shouldn’t have a vote.
August 10, 2021
Stephen, you might have a point if those âEnglishâ MPs ever stood up for England but they donât. Their refusal to do so proves they are unworthy to represent their English constituents. They canât even say the word England let alone stand up for it. An English Parliament wouldnât mean another layer, it would be a replacement to the current union first England last self serving bunch. P45s for the lot of them plus 800 Lords and Ladies and replaced by dedicated EMPs who are prepared to put England first for a change unlike now.
August 10, 2021
York contrasts then to the Conservative Party that is itself wrong about England but right about the remedy.
Its remedy of course is to see only the United Kingdom. It should now have the courage of its unstated convictions and do away with the corrosive and practically pointless devolution in North Britain and Wales.
(You did bags the House of Lords chamber for use by the English Parliament when it becomes vacant with the Lords’ overdue move to York I trust.)
August 10, 2021
The former A of B.
We can expect nothing of the Church!
âGod has raised up a prophet in Greta Thunberg in a way that no one could predict,â former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has claimed. âShe has said things no one else could have said. Thank God for her!â
August 10, 2021
Certainly no one honest and with any grasp of climate, physics and energy engineering or energy economics would have said.
August 10, 2021
It is the job of Cof E bishops to talk vacuous, hypocritical drivel so we can laugh at them. PRINCE Charles, the BBC and most actors too too.
August 10, 2021
Proof – if any were needed – that AGW has transmuted into a major religion from a scientific theory.
August 10, 2021
+1
August 11, 2021
She sounds a bit too much Joan of Arc for my taste.
August 10, 2021
England
Is it not that England’s Sovereignty, power and influence over the past decades been deliberately reduced by the Elite because of their long term plan to have England part of France, and look at the almost 1940’s police brutality that is taking place in France against the will of their people, is this what is to become of England once the French people’s will has been broken?
August 10, 2021
It is a very long time since the Church of England could accurately have been described as ‘The Tory Party at Prayer!’
I just want to be treated in the same way as subjects of the other constituent countries of the UK. If English Votes for English Laws is wrong, then the devolution enjoyed by Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is wrong too, and Mr Gove should be pursuing its reversal in all three cases. You cannot have it both ways.
August 10, 2021
I doubt you would want to be treated in the same way as subjects in Northern Ireland are being treated.
Quite apart from being abandoned on the other side of what is effectively a new border in the Irish Sea:
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/owen-polley-the-response-of-the-main-unionist-parties-to-the-appalling-vandalism-of-the-irish-sea-border-has-been-inconsistent-and-inadequate-3339057
there is the longstanding anomaly of having a “Team GB” rather than a “Team UK” at the Olympics:
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/letters/it-is-not-acceptable-for-athletes-from-northern-ireland-to-have-to-compete-under-a-foreign-flag-3340429
“During the early periods of devolution I can recall strenuous efforts being made by Northern Ireland competitive cyclists to be recognised as British cyclists and to be considered for selection for the British team. David Trimble, as the then First Minister, backed their cause but they encountered huge opposition from the Irish federation who went to exceptional lengths to ensure that Northern Ireland cyclists would not be recognised as British by the International governing bodies.”
reply The full title of our team was GB plus NI plus others
August 10, 2021
+100
August 10, 2021
That was to William Long.
August 10, 2021
Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish voters have a parliament/assembly that is broadly reflective of them due to the use of STV in Northern Ireland and the additional members in Scotland and Wales (look at how different Holyrood would look if the only MSPs were those elected from the FPTP constituencies).
England should most certainly have the same.
August 10, 2021
William,
English votes for English laws (which was watered down to English vetoes by Hague) was a meaningless sop and in no way comes close to the devolution Scotland, Wales & NI enjoy but it seems even that was too good for England thanks to Gove. Such is the contempt this Conservative Government holds us in.
August 10, 2021
The Archbishop of York is entitled to his opinions of course and to be able to express them in the HoL.
However, whilst I have no objection to the Archbishop being selected by a party to represent them in the HoL, and vote accordingly, I believe that the number of Lords selected to vote for each party should be proportional to the number of votes each party receives in the previous GE and include all parties who receive 5% or more of the total votes cast.
August 10, 2021
I have no wish to descend to the level of the SNP with their rabble rousing attitude. I used to know many Scots and count some of them as friends. These islands are much stronger as a whole and we should not be distracted by some trumped up councillors wanting more money and power. Their arguments for independence, only to join the EU are nonsensical and, unless France under the odious little Macron has made rash, undeliverable promises, have no basis in reality. Blair, as usual, was utterly short sighted and incompetent in proposing devolution. The SNP looks to be rotting from the inside and may soon cease to function.
Your mention of the BBC (doubtless prompted by your post of yesterday) reminds me that we should sell this corporation and, if the Left want a national communications department, let them pay for it.
August 10, 2021
Devolution was a nice idea that has now become a complete mess, as successive UK governments have been giving away more power as bribes to keep the three administrations quiet. The UK parliament is no more than a weak parent who has lost control of their 3 teenage kids. Also it has not been helped by several senior members of the C of E over stepping the mark and getting involved in politics.
These additional mayors will do little more than increase the cost of local government with little benefit to the rate payer and provide a lucrative bolthole for fifty year old MPs who have outstayed their usefulness in parliament.
Your proposal that those MPs elected in England should have a dual mandate is absolutely right as we don’t need that unruly bunch of crofters led by that rude, uncouth fellow from the Isle of Skye sticking their noses into matters which only concern England. Most Scots with ambition and drive come South to further their careers and the vast majority are very successful and remain south of the border. They should be encouraged to help their home nation improve its administration and local services and allowed to vote on any Union matters.
The whole matter needs to be gripped and sorted as a matter of urgency. To be firm is much kinder in the long run than appeasement and acquiescence.
August 10, 2021
George
“Devolution was a nice idea”
………it was treason.
August 10, 2021
The option of creating an English Parliament doesn’t necessarily mean another tranche of MPs and all their hangers-on.
If the UK was reconstructed to have an English, Welsh, Scots and NI Parliament all dealing with their devolved policies, the Westminster (Federal) Parliament would only have responsibility for those policy areas which affected all the countries/regions – Defence, Security, Immigration etc. So it would be perfectly possible to significantly downsize it (and abolish the House of Lords).
And that, of course, is one of the reasons why the Establishment Parties will never genuinely consider it: their own careers and power-base.
I am tired of being a second-class citizen in our “democracy” forced to subsidise those who have their own national/regional Parliament but have full involvement in laws which don’t affect their regions but do affect me. A Manifesto Commitment to the creation of an English Parliament is one of the issues which will affect my voting decision at the next General Election.
August 10, 2021
The real crux of the matter Sir John is, we the country do not need a BBC in its present format and ideology.
Regarding Mr Gove and his thought process. He is a Scot it is in his DNA it doesn’t justify his actions past and present but it gives a better insight.
The politicians and the media have made things the way they are by always referring to the “Scottish Government” It is a devolved parliament nothing more nothing less.
August 10, 2021
Too right TurBo.
August 10, 2021
The church should concentrate on its real job, and keep it nose out of politics.
August 10, 2021
+1
August 10, 2021
100% correct
August 10, 2021
The Church of England has lost its way, it no longer provides stability in a mixed up world. Instead I am embarrassed to say under the current regime it chooses politics, extreme politics, extreme ‘hand wringing’ at that, yet no one was permitted to vote for them. Which I guess is why outside of England (although with inside knowledge – inside as well) the Anglican Church is almost a separate entity.
Then primarily in part I agree with a small part of the Archbishop of York’s. The archbishop points out the London âmetropolitan eliteâ for treating people who are proud to be English as âbackwardly xenophobicâ. That sums up this Government attitude to anyone outside of their Socialist clique – they believe they are the only ones that matter.
On devolution, it was a job not even half done. Most of what central Government tries to do and does extremely badly should have been dissipated down to the Counties/Shires, that includes Scotland, NI and Wales. Then if needs must they should be the ones to push it up to their regional bodies if constraints of size causes a problem or need is created. Payments from the Barnett Formula should go directly to the Counties/Shires and they should get to decide were the need is. Never forget it is the locals that carry the burden and eventually have responsibility for the job. Cutting out the cost of the middle man means more to go around. That way the whole of the UK would get to participate. That way the BF gets to fund directly the need, not becoming a tool for political asperation.
If devolution had been done properly we would have a vastly slimmed down UK Government focused on the real things that affect the country. The bits the UK Government does badly, centralised control of local issues would then be working effectively by those that needed to do the job all along.
There is nonsense in the current setup, the UK Health Minister can have no say outside of England, likewise the UK Cabinet member for Education – there is no such position, its England only job. The contradictions go on. There is not a single cohesive element left that could be seen as efficient Government
Would a UK Government get its act together and create real change, I think not – that would be like turkeys voting for Christmas. It is in essence why this Government has turned to Socialisms and deflecting attention to a problem it(the UK Government) can never solve while 50% of the World(the industrialized part) will not participate – the Global Warming situation. Todays buzz on grants for adopting more efficient home heating boilers, paid for by the taxpayer – not Government, will have no effect other than a ‘grandstanding – virtue signal’ add to already burden taxes. Better the money was spent in adjusting the UK to better cope with the predicted rise in temperatures. The UK can ‘Never’ cut its carbon emissions enough to compensate for the real producers. The added contradiction is that every element of Government proposals relies on the UK importing goods and services from those that will have nothing to do with UN’s dictates.
What the Archbishop is so very correct on we are in need of proper Government that serves the whole of the UK. We need to move away from the need to be on message with an inner isolated clique that just wants a World dictated by their own personal message. We need a Parliament and a Government that serves the UK, that way a lot of these rumblings will disappear.
The trouble is the next election is further away than the UK can afford it to be – the bill to the taxpayer is leading to insolvency.
August 10, 2021
@Nota# – for the last 40years or more successive UK Governments and the HoC have actually been a subordinate EU State not a Country, as such has just had to work as a glorified local council. When all that time the Local Councils could do the job better and still can. It was a nice cosy lazy job, no responsibility, no proper accountability – just jump to the tune of masters elsewhere.
What is needed now is for our elected members to wake up and realise the UK is now trying to be a fully fledge self-reliant democratic Country and we need a fully functioning Parliament and Government capable of taking on that role – a Government for the whole of the UK. The Government and the HoC should become the sole responsible entity for how the Country is run – and that is not play Local Council any more. Laws, rules and regulations are no longer (or should be no longer) handed down by an outside power, their creation, amendments and repealing is the sole responsibility of OUR elected members that we pay to serve this Country.
The problem appears to be a remain parliament still wants to be told by others what to do.
August 10, 2021
One of The Archbishop of York’s statements were: âMany English people feel left behind by metropolitan elites in London and the South Eastâ
This is wrong. Those that are âleft behindâ are those âmetropolitan elitesâ many of whom take their cue from the unelected and out-of-touch.
I have always believed in the âwisdom of the crowdâ and, as always, the majority are ahead of the game as they were with Brexit and their rejection of the Labour Party.
The Archbishop needs to catch up.
August 10, 2021
While I agree that ‘wisdom of the crowd’ should be supreme, it isn’t while parliament and the elites have a veto over the people
August 10, 2021
You mention the BBC John. It only serves one purpose – broadcaster of biased “allowed” comments to carry on the brainwashing and farce of a govt that has lied and lied – now moving from non-stop Covid to Climate Climate Climate. Guess what? the only govt/world cure will be – – for the rich to be made richer and the poor even poorer. So the rich can carry on living their rich lives.
Thank God I was told yesterday I only have “Up to a year”.
August 10, 2021
Big Neil. If your last sentence means what I think it does I offer my sincere condolences. I’m sorry if I’ve got it wrong.
August 10, 2021
I’m sorry to hear that.
August 10, 2021
b-nc
Hopefully I have read your last comment the wrong way?
If not I will look forward to reading your contributions as long as possible.
August 10, 2021
There is a real danger that any change in the status of England will be likely to result in the Balkanisation of our Country in the misguided interests of fairness and parity with Scotland and Wales.
England has been a single Country for more than a thousand years and we cannot allow that to happen. All Blair’s lopsided devolution has taught us is that it just makes things worse : the recipients of devolved powers just demand more and more until they get independence.
It is true that England makes up the overwhelming majority of our population : 85%, and is the single constituent part that has to support the rest of the UK financially to the tune of almost ÂŁ40bn a year.
At the very least we deserve an English Grand Committee. What are our politicians so scared of that they feel that they can ignore the wishes of 85% of UK voters ??
August 10, 2021
Sub-national management of England is a mess; it very much suits Westminster and Whitehall to keep it that way. Imagine if the other eight “regions” of England were copies of the London region!
The UK is the most centrally operated country that was ever in the EU28. The regions of England were abolished in 2010. Public Services since being based on various ad hoc areas operated by Quangos, Trusts or private operators to central diktat. Unlike by LĂ€nder in Germany, or by Regions in France; Republics with proper Constitutions and democracies that penetrate far deeper into their socio-economic systems.
PS. Comment from an expat. “Brexit is surely the last full stop on the last chapter of three centuries of the British Empire.”
Reply The North East rejected elected regional government and Labour rightly decided there was no point in asking anyone else as the answer would have been No. The British Empire ended many years ago and is unconnected with Brexit.
August 10, 2021
Reply to Reply. The NE rejected it for good reason : England is one Country and should remain so.
August 10, 2021
Whatever happened to the other part of the Libertarian Boast – “localism”?
It appears that it was for the chop, as it would have prevented the nationwide blanket extinguishment of social democracy, even at the lowest level.
Doesn’t it?
August 10, 2021
No it doesn’t MiC
Where do you get your claim that libertarians boasted about localism?
Strange post from you.
August 10, 2021
Do you mean England should remain a one region country? Regionalisation would not affect England being a country (non-sovereign) within the UK (the sovereign state in UN terms).
Reply Yes a one region country as Scotland is allowed to be. The regions in the Uk are artificial and usually unpopular. Liverpool does not want to be run from Manchester n or Sunderland from Newcastle or Plymouth from Exeter.
August 10, 2021
Well said, JR.
August 10, 2021
Oh yes, John, I’m sure that they all far prefer being run from London.
August 10, 2021
+1
The ‘regionalisation’ of England was a EU concept, splitting England into eight/nine regions, with the far south west coming under France, thus eliminating England as a country in its own right.
What I want to know is why the Johnson regime appears to be still supporting the destruction of England, when we voted to leave the EU 6 years ago and they were elected on “get brexit done”?
My opinion of Johnson is he and his regime are traitorous globalist lying toerags.
August 10, 2021
J. Bush
“My opinion of Johnson is he and his regime are traitorous globalist lying toerags.”
Fully agree. Looks, dresses, and talks like a con merchant doesn’t he.
August 11, 2021
but flogging doubtful origins champagne, not dodgy old cut-and-shut cars.
August 10, 2021
J.Bush
Sorry missed this :
“What I want to know is why the Johnson regime appears to be still supporting the destruction of England, when we voted to leave the EU 6 years ago and they were elected on âget brexit doneâ? ”
The answer is simple, we were’nt supposed to vote leave, and their plan B was to wreck the whole gaff if we did. They had no intention of delivering true brexit, the plan was to fobb us off with brino and spitefully destroy the nation.
They lied, because that’s what liars do.
August 10, 2021
They lied alright and stabbed us in the front
August 11, 2021
“The âregionalisationâ of England was a EU concept, splitting England into eight/nine regions, with the far south west coming under France, thus eliminating England as a country in its own right.”
None of these things ever happened
Reply The EU used funding schemes and its maps to impose phoney regions and Labour tried to give them elected governments but were repulsed by voters.
August 10, 2021
The North East did reject regional government. If I remember correctly, it was one Dominic Cummings who orchestrated that campaign. A methodology that he later improved and applied to the Brexit Referendum campaign. Hence, proving that in a binary, first past the post contest, you only have to fool 50.1% of the voters. A task that turned out to be even easier than Dom expected.
Reply You do not fool voters. The margin against NE regional government was large. Get over it, people do not want elected lander in England
August 10, 2021
Exactly !
Those proposing to regionalise England are trying to erase 1,000 years of history by breaking up our country.
There is no appetite for more regional government, we just want our own MPs alone to decide on English matters. That has to include proposing legislation, not just vetoing it.
August 10, 2021
Chris S
“There is no appetite for more regional government, we just want our own MPs alone to decide on English matters.”
Is not enough. We also want them to do as we say.
August 10, 2021
Our own dedicated MPs ChrisS elected in England to speak for England and not the current bunch of U.K. MPs squatting in English constituencies who canât even say the word England let alone speak up for it.
August 10, 2021
JR
“You do not fool voters.”
Excuse me Sir Redwood, respectfully –
Brexit means Brexit.
Border control / Immigration
Fair tax system.
Licence fee decriminalisation.
………… all were pledges and we’re still waiting. Fair to say we were lied to and thus fooled.
August 10, 2021
It is fortunate that we live in a democracy with a fine tradition of investigative journalism. Were we living in Lukashenko’s Belarus, Putin’s Russia or Xi Jinping’s China the producers and journalists involved in last night’s BBC Panorama program concerning Cameron and Greensill Capital would be locked up and the broadcaster closed down. Or any number of other totalitarian juristictions across the globe.
August 10, 2021
More proof how socialism drives out individual freedom
Thanks SG
August 10, 2021
Belarus and Russia are right wing populist-run countries, not socialist. The Left are the downtrodden opposition there.
China is now a state authoritarian capitalist set-up which calls itself communist for some reason.
None of them are what a reasonable person would call free.
August 10, 2021
MiC :
“None of them (Belarus, Russia and China) are what a reasonable person would call free.”
You are correct and are describing the ultimate destination if socialism is followed, a cult which brings everybody down to the lowest level (apart fom a few ruling elites), is intolerant and always believes that the ends justifies the means.
August 10, 2021
Odd idea MiC that they are right wing.
But I agree with your last sentence.
August 11, 2021
Well, Lukashenko is a big pal of OrbĂ n, make what you will of that.
August 10, 2021
Sakara
Well I happen to think May & Johnson should be locked up, but there you go.
August 11, 2021
and Dave.
August 10, 2021
Off topic, more vital updates to the detailed information now essential for anybody who wishes to transfer goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, notionally two parts of the same country, the so-called “United Kingdom”, thanks to this so-called “Conservative and Unionist” government:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/customs-declaration-completion-requirements-for-the-northern-ireland-protocol
“Customs Declaration Completion Requirements for The Northern Ireland Protocol”
“Northern Ireland Protocol CDS Tariff Guide (Imports, Exports) supplementing the current version of the UK Trade Tariff: Volume 3 for CDS.”
If there has to be such burdensome complexity for traders then it might as well be applied where it should properly be applied, which quite obviously would be for the transfer of goods across the international land border between the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, and the Irish Republic.
Incidentally I sent a query to the WTO about the Trade Facilitation Agreement, which came into force on February 22 2017, as follows:
“Since the TFA came into force, has there been any instance where one WTO Member has complained that measures taken by another WTO Member under its Article 7 have conflicted with the fundamental MFN principle? For example, with Member A complaining that Member B has relaxed customs controls at its border with Member C, but has maintained strict controls at its border with Member A.”
To which I have now received this reply:
“There have not been such instances. To date, no Member has submitted any complaint in this regard.”
So the EU need not fear that if simply left its border with the UK completely open and unpoliced then under “WTO MFN rules” it would have to afford the same relaxed treatment to Belarus, and order the Lithuanians to remove that razor wire they have been installing:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/lithuanian-parliament-debate-building-fence-belarus-border-2021-08-10/
“Lithuanian parliament to debate building fence on Belarus border”
The nonsense talked by Remoaners beggars belief, but goes unchallenged by the UK government.
August 11, 2021
You are very confused. The burdensome complexity for traders applies between NI and GB because of an international agreement with the EU freely entered into by the United Kingdom
August 11, 2021
Doh!
August 10, 2021
What utterly woeful piece. Of course the Archbishop is wrong to suggest regionalisation, it has also been wrong to promote and install mayors. We do not want England broken into competing peices; that is after all a means of destroying it.
But what has Sir John got to say? First a reference to his failed ideas of EVEN and EVEL which many of us said would never be understood and would be walked all over, as it was because it was a weak solution to a fundmental issue.
A Grand Committee sounds like something from the middle ages or the height of the Victorian era. It is nonsense. Who can believe in it as a solution to the denial of England. Getting a BBC England is not a solution either. It cannot be argued that Scotland can have a parliament but England can’t. Claiming that cost should be a deciding factor is a disgrace.
The solution is a true English parliament but you will never get support for that from a Unionist. No political Unionist can claim to be a true Englishman because they will always put England second. Look what happens – collapse deceit and impoverishment.
August 10, 2021
I’m certainly not a Unionist but I am practical and realistic :
If a referendum was held on the establishment of a full English Parliament with additional, salaried MEPs (Members of the English Parliament) and a separate, shiny new and expensive parliament building in York or somewhere else outside London, there is no doubt that the outcome would be a resounding NO.
Offer the alternative of English MPs sitting as the English Parliament in Westminster on days devoted only to English matters and that would certainly attract majority support.
I’ve never met anybody n England who wants another political talking shop, especially one with second and third rate politicians like the deeply unimpressive bunch the Scots are burdened with in Holyrood.
August 10, 2021
ChrisS – have you read the other posts on here? There is no need for a shiny new building, we have the HofC and English MPs would replace U.K. MPs, not be as well as, except for say a hundred that would sit in the U.K. Parliament for reserved matters. The U.K. Parliament could use the HofL when 800 has beens and hangers on have been given their marching orders.
August 10, 2021
Concur.
August 10, 2021
Iâve come to the conclusion that, including both MPs and Peers, there are only about 2,000 âeliteâ people that control and shape our nation of 68 million
Its become abundantly clear that our system of parliamentary government and the farce of the general election is undemocratic â I say farce because governments do what they like and treat us like plebs, tell us what to do and test their theories of social engineering on us
My examples include; Brexit, Immigration, Zero Carbon, Banning the Car, HS2, Devolution, BBC and Lobbying
The voting people donât read the manifestos they rely upon TV debates, interviews, sound-bites and propaganda…and when the promises donât materialise politicians point to their manifesto
These 2,000 âeliteâ people are our new masters, the barons and lords of oldâŠ.we need either a political revolution or MPs that will start working for us and abide by our wishes and acknowledge that the winning voters wishes are paramount
August 10, 2021
You appear to be yet another one of these people, who expect a representative of the “they” to knock on your door and to ask you exactly how you would like everything to be, after having explained how everything is at the moment, and what all the options for the future are.
There are millions like you too.
August 10, 2021
The church is a powerful institution and although probably unseen, attached to Rome and wealth. We had the protectionist move from TB which brought home the sustained power the church has.I though would not attempt to challenge its’ power in the light of other religions which could bring the western civilisation to beg .
The central ethos is good ,and many people all over the world still firmly believe in Christianity . When it is sub sectioned into the C of E, it highlights for many of our age, the way we were raised, The brownies, guides ,cubs scouts , Sunday school etc . I love England and Wales, yet we are making a transition and need to objectively and ethically formulate a future with English / Welsh heritage and the acceptance of all.
August 10, 2021
Yes indeed MiC
We are called voters.
August 10, 2021
So you admit that you cannot do a blind thing to inform yourself then.
Thanks – I can’t believe that it would have been that easy.
August 10, 2021
Plainly everyone can inform themselves.
You are going off on a socialist tangent as usual.
August 10, 2021
MiC
“There are millions like you too.”
Doesn’t sound like we’re the minority you frequently alledge us to be, does it MiC.
August 10, 2021
I really struggle to believe that you so readily admit to being so utterly, pathetically, helpless, when it comes to informing yourself.
But you say it here, plain and simple.
August 10, 2021
Translates into….think like me or you are automatically wrong.
The usual lefty superiority idea.
August 11, 2021
Well clearly some on here reach for the Bible, Mein Kampf, The little red book, Marxâs Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism, back issues of the Daily Worker and Morning Star – and to complete the set the Grauniad.
You have a one off reference guide, and it possibly is unique.
August 11, 2021
The inferences to be drawn from your and Steve’s replies are crystal clear, and ironic, given your rantings about the “nanny state”.
It’s evident that you want to be utterly babied by the State, to be spoon-fed with everything that you want to know, and then to be canvassed endlessly as to your opinions – assuming that the State has guessed what it is exactly that you wanted to know, upon which to base your oh-so-precious opinions.
Some of the electorate – as you demonstrate so openly and effectively – really are totally useless.
August 10, 2021
MiC, I have been asking some local Tory Councillors, if they could supply me with their map to the Brexit Sunny Uplands. You wouldn’t think so many “Blue Rinse” Tory females, actually know that many four letter words!
August 10, 2021
What are you waffling about acorn?
Sunny uplands
Maps
Ridiculous nonsense.
August 11, 2021
Andrea Leadsom, 04/07/2016: âI want to guide Britain to the sunlit uplandsâ, The Spectator.
Andrea Leadsom, Daily Express, 29/12/2020: âThe free trade deal between the UK and the European Union is a phenomenal achievementâ. âThis deals returns sovereignty and full political and economic control to our shoresâ. âAfter a year of Covid-19 challenges and uncertainty, the sunlit uplands – vaccine roll out and global trade deals – are on the horizon. We will use this opportunity to redefine and reset our place in the world, using our ingenuity and expertise across multiple industries to promote free trade, human rights, decarbonisation and brilliant scientific innovationâ. âLet us seize the opportunities that our new position brings. Letâs use this as the positive push for our post-Covid recovery. The Roaring Twenties can truly begin!â
Isnât it a shame that some here cannot be as uplifted as Mrs Leadsom.
So P2, are you not a believer in this vision? Or is it simply you are so misinformed you cannot follow your leaders?
August 11, 2021
My leaders hef?
What total nonsense from you as usual.
Go off and troll someone else on here for a change.
But at least you have answered acorns post.
Did you intend to do that?
August 11, 2021
Peter2, the quintessential Redwoodian. If you had a brain you would be dangerous!
August 11, 2021
Now that really is funny, Hefner.
Thanks!
August 11, 2021
acorn and marty demonstrating how lefties debate.
Resort to cheap insults.
Childish and ineffective.
August 10, 2021
I donât expect much, but when politicians say theyâll enact the results of a referendum I expect them to kept their word, not a brexit in name only after 7 years. When politicians say theyâll reduce immigration to the thousands I expect them to kept their word
I donât expect politicians to use slight of hand to get HS2 and Green policies enacted
I only want politicians to do what they said theyâll do at the general election, nothing more nothing less
There are 68 million like me
August 10, 2021
Thatâs 68 million and probably anywhere up to 2 million illegal immigrants, 1.9 million visa overstayers and average 20.000 per year asylum seekers & 5,000 refugees per year
August 11, 2021
What I find so puzzling Martin is that you compare any God forsaken place, event, history, other bizarre occurances to an often insignificant example here in UK. If your experience of life is so troublesome here, why on earth didn’t you go when you could? Wales surely is no better, are you locked up in some location like The Prisoner.?
August 10, 2021
Glen
+1
August 10, 2021
JR
Well this is what happens when churchmen try to comment on thing’s they shouldn’t……you get nothing but poppycock.
Personally I haven’t had much to do with religion since they allowed women Vicars etc. Not sexist, just my right to personal preference as to what I agree and disagree with.
Gove?…….I take no notice of him he isn’t one of us, and I don’t think much of people who stick it to their mates between the shoulder blades….LMF, height challenged and obnoxiously ambitious.
BBC?…….Glad you mention them. Can you ask your boss why people are still being criminalised for non-payment of licence fees despite his pledge to us ?
Moreover, Macron has his house covered in manure by french farmers, EU member states are embroiled in a knife fight with the commission because of concessions to UK – NI trade, the CCC got caught – out hiding the cost of net zero………and not one single word of any of it on the BBC.
Pro – EU brino Johnson has them, using our money and continues to crimilalise anyone who refuses to fund that quisling government’s propaganda outfit.
August 10, 2021
+10
August 11, 2021
Dom, P2, steve: Isnât it âhilariousâ to see, day after day, week after week, month after month, people not so much on âThe Road to Serfdomâ, but on their self-made road to dementia (aka, fear of a âleft wing armageddonâ).
Keep on the good work, youâre almost there.
And BTW, the manure thing was uploaded to YouTube on 12/11/2014, the way people are dressed shows that it did not happen in July. But who am I to discuss such things when the Steve reports them?
August 11, 2021
Hef
Your use of dementia as a metaphor towards people you disagree with in order to try to make a point is a new low from you.
Shame on you.
August 11, 2021
PS
I don’t understand why you added me into your post Hef
I haven’t written posts “day after day”…about “fears of a left wing armageddon”
Very odd.
August 11, 2021
P2, I really hope so, and hope for even lower, donât you know? The problem with you in particular is that you are fully waterproof to anything sensible and feel compelled to add your little dubious prose after anything you donât like. Never one to let go and keep quiet, are you? OCD maybe?
August 11, 2021
You are in a bad mood.
Another lefty demonstration of how they all engage in debate.
Cheap ad hominem insults.
Now after dementia comment we are using the medical condition of OCD
Very poor.
Off onto a politically correct training course soon hef?
August 11, 2021
You often post with facts and figures heffy and often criticise others for posting without doing their own research.
So here is a challenge for you.
When have my posts”every day” you said, talked about…” a fear of left wing armageddon”
Surely when you wrote that post and nominated me you had done some research.
I await your post with great anticipation
PS
Try to avoid personal insults in your response.
Thanks
August 12, 2021
Gosh where has heffy gone.
Usual lefty hot air and rudeness from him but when challenged he runs away.
August 11, 2021
Peter 2
Remember it takes tremendous courage to cast personal insults from the anonymity of a PC.
Personally I’m a believer in what goes around comes around, our heffy should hope that on this occasion karma wasn’t watching, lest he gets dementia himself when he gets older.
Some things you just don’t lampoon about.
August 11, 2021
I agree Steve
The left push politically correct speech for us all, but regularly demonstrate how its OK for them to lash out using awful comments.
Hilarious!
August 10, 2021
‘Getting two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine is the key to enjoying a host of new freedoms safely â whether that be to enjoy a trip abroad with family or a night out with friends â as we continue to build our wall of protection.’
This public statement by an elected politician is probably one of the most sinister and unnerving public statements it has been my misfortune to read. It is not an exaggeration to say that it sent a shiver of fear down my spine.
This country is on the verge of a dark age in terms of freedom from State interference and monitoring and checks on movements
Using a clinical event to justify a brutal crackdown on freedom and liberty is simply unprecedented in British political history
The two main parties and their allies have smashed into the dirt centuries of freedoms, culture and history
EVIL
August 10, 2021
I no longer trust your government on England John. Gove is a big disappointment to me, Scottish first perhaps, this is what we seem to get when Scots are put in charge of the cabinet positions stabbed in the back. My husband told me that Gove said something about backing another Scottish independence referendum the other weekend. So he disappoints the English and rewards his clan. How do your party get away with this. Putting tuition fees on only the English, raising them from ÂŁ3000 to ÂŁ9000 and on, 6% interest on English students so their graduation tax never ends. We keep giving your party the benefit of the doubt and you keep letting us down.
August 10, 2021
Anyone with an interest in solving the problem of Climate Change should read this sobering report on the scientific facts behind the current fads of wind and solar generation.
https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2019/11/Kelly-1.pdf
August 10, 2021
If we want to teach English history that doesn’t lead to unnecessary friction within the Union, we might do well not to dwell on the career of Edward 1st, the hammer of the Scots.
August 11, 2021
On the contrary, both sides could learn a great deal from studying why Edward l attempted to control Scotland, and also why Henry ll tried to do the same in Ireland.
August 10, 2021
Ah you guys are sunk,. Really sunk and by your own hamd
August 11, 2021
I don`t believe you care about England but for what its worth I agree that regionalism is not an answer to the English question whatever merits it may otherwise have .An English Parliament elected with an element of PR would be real parity. One problem with a new English anthem is that you would have to learn the words ….
August 11, 2021
And it would almost completely sideline the UK Parliament, wouldn’t it?
August 11, 2021
Yes – I think, personally this sort of change would be best bound up with a reform of the HOL but whatever we do we cannot have an England only Parliament elected by pure FPTP
August 11, 2021
I totally disagree. Protecting the Union is the most important task for govt. We do not need to diverge further from one another.
What we need is to decentralise govt to councils, giving them more power to raise taxes and spend money in their areas and scrap devolution totally.
The Snp are dedicated to destroying the country and eventually they will if we do not stop them. No govt can allow that.
We need to allow councils to give their people what system they want and spend what they want. Scotland is more left wing and will want higher tax and spend.
Cameron was a useless PM. The Act of Union clearly says we are joined forever into 1 country. Now people view the UK as 4 countries joined which is totally wrong. We are one country.
The govt has allowed the Snp to brainwash their people for 14 years with No PUSHBACK! IT IS UNBELIEVABLE!
We have to fix this.
Blair was a curse by allowing devolution. It proves politicians will sacrifice their country to further themselves. He had no right to do that to our country. We need to go back to one country, and more importantly work with one another and help one another. We need to fix our social safety net and make sure there are jobs and wealth spread throughout our Union.
I would also cancel Barnet and give that more to the Scottish people as a UK Citizen payment so they can actually See the benefits of the UK. The Snp lies that there is even a Barnet formula, and polls show most Scots think it does not exist.
It would also force the Snp to govern with less resources, rather than using UK money to look better than the rest of the UK. They are using British money to destroy Britain.
We have to act now!
August 11, 2021
Jason
“Protecting the Union is the most important task”
Disagree, Jason.
When you look at the nasty rhetoric coming from the devolved regions it’s obvious they don’t like us, they don’t like our money or the employment we provide. So maybe it’s time for a mutual parting of the ways.
Obviuosly the EU would treat them better and have sympathy for them not having currencies of their own, and be fully supportive of their ‘independence’ ideology. I’m sure the EU would welcome them with open arms.
If they hate us that much, let them go.
August 11, 2021
There will be no more religious and political class by 2030.
August 11, 2021
MiC
“Itâs evident that you want to be utterly babied by the State, to be spoon-fed with everything that you want to know, and then to be canvassed endlessly as to your opinions â assuming that the State has guessed what it is exactly that you wanted to know, upon which to base your oh-so-precious opinions.”
And you know this for a fact, do you ?
If people want to express or share their opinions they do not need your approval or your sacrcasm.
Secondly, most people, myself included work bloody hard for what they have and pay taxes. We are proud to do so and do not require to be ‘babied’ by anyone. I suggest your remarks are more likely coming from someone who IS being kept by the state. The psychology behind your vicious aspersions is very much ‘evident’ and in my opinion fuelled by bitterness and jealousy.
I find your nasty remarks offensive, personally judgemental, and certainly non-contributory to forum.
August 12, 2021
Well don’t say things, which give a logical mind little choice but to draw those conclusions then, Steve.