A Happier Wessex

What colour is Wessex Regionalism? Our campaign colours are yellow and green, reflecting our core concerns with personal/communal liberty and the ecological challenge, as well as our agrarian roots, the downs and the vales, the chalk and the cheese. Blue and red could have been equally appropriate, given our commitment both to heritage and traditionalContinue reading "A Happier Wessex"

Your Crisis, Our Opportunity

After nearly eight centuries as a political unit, the Princely County of Tyrol was dismembered at the end of the First World War. Today, North Tyrol and East Tyrol form the federal state of Tyrol within Austria. Separating them is South Tyrol, part of an autonomous region within Italy that goes by the name ofContinue reading "Your Crisis, Our Opportunity"

Squeezed Down The Plughole

“Man stalks across the landscape, and desert follows his footsteps.”Herodotus (5th century BC)North-eastern Wessex, along with much of the rest of southern and eastern England, is now subject to a hosepipe ban. Parts of western Wessex are heading that way too.Why? Last night, the BBC’s reporter let slip that one component of the problem isContinue reading "Squeezed Down The Plughole"

Review of 2011

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 2011 Review has recently been forwarded to the Commission and here is what it says:“With no General Election in 2011, activity was less intense than last year butContinue reading "Review of 2011"

Ardent for Some Desperate Glory?

George Galloway’s sensational win in the Bradford West by-election ought to be a wake-up call to all who have swallowed the line that there is no alternative to austerity at home and the waste of lives and treasure abroad. A one-off, it may be, but it demonstrates what can be done with sufficient commitment. GallowayContinue reading "Ardent for Some Desperate Glory?"

Building a Worse World

We didn’t ask for the National Planning Policy Framework. We pointed out that a government actually committed to localism wouldn’t issue detailed instructions on how local powers are to be used; it would get out of the control freakery business altogether.Nevertheless, the NPPF arrived, on Tuesday, amidst much trepidation. Environmental groups, alarmed by the slash-and-burnContinue reading "Building a Worse World"

When Fair’s Unfair

Nick Clegg yesterday, in his capacity as Minister for Things That Don’t Count For Very Much In The Real World, announced that Chelmsford, Perth and St Asaph have been awarded city status to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, while Armagh will be getting a Lord Mayor.The first reaction may well be to ask why oneContinue reading "When Fair’s Unfair"

Keeping Up With The Joneses

A letter in the Bristol Evening Post this week berated the ‘South West’ zone’s MEPs for not stemming the flow of Bristol jobs across the Severn. The problem is real enough, as south Wales has long benefited from regional development money in one shape or another. But to define the problem as being about howContinue reading "Keeping Up With The Joneses"