Author Archives: WR_admin

Fighting On The Beaches

Sussex isn’t Wessex.  We don’t claim it and the Saxon chronicles, read attentively, back up us on that.  Nevertheless, it’s fascinating to glance east at present.At Balcombe, environmental protestors are making life difficult for Cuadrilla, the firm that wants to frack for oil and gas.  It’s been well described as ‘extreme energy’, a last desperateContinueContinue reading “Fighting On The Beaches”

Down The Drain

Thames Water’s bills are set to rise.  That’s bad news in Swindon, especially as the reason given for needing the money is to upgrade infrastructure in London. The locals aren’t happy and the suggestion has been made that perhaps Thames should be split into Upper and Lower zones for billing purposes.  An excellent idea.  LondonContinueContinue reading “Down The Drain”

The Wealth of Wessex

Here is a link to the case for Scottish independence, set out in maps and numbers.  The second map shows the extent to which the wealth of England, measured in GDP per head, is concentrated along the M4 corridor.  It’s our wealth: our answer to the claim that we all depend on London’s cleverness withContinueContinue reading “The Wealth of Wessex”

If Enough Is Never Enough

“Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable – the art of the next best.”Otto von Bismarck, 1867Bismarck’s most famous quote is characteristically double-edged. Understood passively, it implies working within the constraints of the world as we find it. But to what end? Understood assertively, it implies redefining those limits, steadily moving the goalpostsContinueContinue reading “If Enough Is Never Enough”

A Broken Constitution

We’re SO all in it together. Professor Sir Peter Hall of University College London, an expert on regional economic policy, had this to say about the figures in George Osborne’s Comprehensive Spending Review: “Even on capital spending, which Osborne claims to be boosting – actually only after election year 2015, but let that pass –ContinueContinue reading “A Broken Constitution”

The Flag of the Future

Eric Pickles is a Tory, and a member of the Coalition Government, and so one would think no friend of Wessex.  Yet this weekend, his department flew the Wyvern outside its head office, Eland House in London, to mark St Ealdhelm’s Day, the 25th of May.  View the photographic proof.Pickles’ politics apart, he has done good workContinueContinue reading “The Flag of the Future”

Review of 2012

Every year when we submit our accounts to the Electoral Commission we are also required to provide a ‘Review of Political Activities’ covering the year just gone.The 2012 Review has recently been forwarded to the Commission and here is what it says:“Between elections, our principal means of communication with the public are now predominantly online.ContinueContinue reading “Review of 2012”

Times of Tension

It was good to hear Nick Clegg last week distancing himself from the PM. We’re all Thatcherites now, claimed Cameron. Oh no, we’re not, insisted Clegg. Any reminder that the man is Deputy Prime Minister and not Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party is very welcome.So too was another breaking of ranks last week, whenContinueContinue reading “Times of Tension”

Contesting The Legacy

“There are certainly parts of the country that are more anti-her than others, but I think they tend to be the parts that have become relatively less important.”Charles Moore, former editor of the Daily TelegraphMoore spoke on the day that we saw the last of the Rt Hon the Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven. At leastContinueContinue reading “Contesting The Legacy”