DEFRA – to some cynics the Department for Eliminating Farming and Rural Activity – is piloting a Bill through the Westminster Parliament to change how the water and sewerage industry is regulated. It tells us that “privatisation of the water industry has been successful in attracting over £116 billion of investment… Without this investment, waterContinueContinue reading “Receiving The Water Bill”
Author Archives: WR_admin
Write Lines
Although politicians from the London parties routinely associate the words ‘education’ and ‘choice’, the thing most striking about their policies is that they offer the electorate no choice at all. Would you guess, from following the roll-out of academies and free schools, the constant undermining of local democratic choice, which party was in power? TheContinueContinue reading “Write Lines”
British Balderdash Conspiracy
One reason why our publicity is largely channelled through this blog is that London hacks simply can’t be trusted to tell the unvarnished truth. Wessex is a really straightforward idea with which they really struggle. At the start of this month we gave an interview to the BBC. Their researcher – who is actually fromContinueContinue reading “British Balderdash Conspiracy”
Some Folk With Attitude
The folk of Wessex think of themselves as free, but are slaves to their own poor self-esteem, forever doubting their capacity for self-rule. Nine hundred years after the brutal conquest of their land, they have so little pride left in them that they cheerfully reject at every election the escape route offered by regionalism, preferringContinueContinue reading “Some Folk With Attitude”
The Worker’s Hire
“They hang the man, and flog the woman,Who steals the goose from off the commonBut leave the greater felon looseWho steals the common from the goose. The law demands that we atoneWhen we take things we do not ownBut leaves the lords and ladies fineWho takes things that are yours and mine.The poor and wretched don’t escapeIfContinueContinue reading “The Worker’s Hire”
Come On, Wessex!
WR President Colin Bex and Secretary-General David Robins were in Cornwall on Saturday, sitting in on the Annual Conference of Mebyon Kernow. The venue was what used to be New County Hall, Truro and is now Lys Kernow (‘the Court of Cornwall’). The building’s directional signage is all bilingual, in English and an expanding languageContinueContinue reading “Come On, Wessex!”
That Artful London
After the 2008 financial crash, the investment bank Goldman Sachs acquired an unforgettable description, as a “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money”. England has been struggling with its own undying vampire squid for centuries, in the form of London’s political, economicContinueContinue reading “That Artful London”
Here We Go Again
The regions are being rebuilt, even under the Coalition. Last week a consultation began on the formation of a ‘combined authority’ for Durham, Northumberland and Tyne & Wear. It will take over transport, economic development and regeneration powers from the seven member councils. It’s almost the regional assembly all over again, and will be ifContinueContinue reading “Here We Go Again”
Wallace versus Wonga?
The Anglican Bishop of Portsmouth, speaking on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday, warned of the social consequences of ending naval shipbuilding in the city, including that jobless families could turn to loan sharks as the lenders of last resort. Cue Labour’s latest, greatest initiative. And what an odd policy announcement it was: Ed Miliband commitsContinueContinue reading “Wallace versus Wonga?”
Anchoring the Future
Popular history has it that the Royal Navy was founded by King Ælfred the Great. It’s not quite accurate – his father, King Æthelwulf also had a fleet of some sort – but the idea of England’s first sailor-king has maintained its powerful hold on the imagination. So if naval shipbuilding in England began inContinueContinue reading “Anchoring the Future”
Wessex Regionalists 