We’ve been hearing quite a lot recently about Ponzi schemes, as the financial chickens come home to roost. A Ponzi scheme is an investment scam that promises investors a high rate of return but in fact is paying earlier entrants out of the money collected from later entrants. Eventually, for whatever reason, the scheme willContinue reading "The People’s Ponzi"
Hands Off Our History!
On Monday a letter appeared in the Bristol Evening Post advocating a radical overhaul of local government in Wessex, linking this with the name of our Party. The proposal was to sweep away both districts and counties in favour of Jacobin-style ‘cantons’:“the Canton of Oxford would include much of Berkshire, parts of Buckinghamshire and partsContinue reading "Hands Off Our History!"
A Smaller World, Please
Think globally, act locally. The sentiment is sound but the first instruction requires a lot less effort than the second. A lot less effort, because successive centralist governments at Westminster have made the second instruction well nigh impossible to carry out.Take the example of planning, where local discretion has now been all but abolished. WhenContinue reading "A Smaller World, Please"
Whither Wessex?
"At a number of places in his celebrated Imperialism (1902), J. A. Hobson used southern England as an image of the successful, imperialist side of British capitalism: a countryside of plush ‘parasitism’ drawing tribute from overseas via the City, supporting ‘great tame masses of retainers’ in service and secondary industries, and riddled with ex-imperialist hirelings.Continue reading "Whither Wessex?"
Property & Privilege
One of the more amusing, if nonetheless unpleasant aspects of the current financial meltdown is the speed with which ardent free marketeers have rounded on the regulatory authorities for not being tough enough with them. Regulation that inhibits profits is bad, lack of regulation that fails to prevent losses is equally bad. Regulation, for itsContinue reading "Property & Privilege"
The Meaning of No
Sir Desmond Glazebrook: ‘Surely a decision’s a decision?’Sir Humphrey Appleby: ‘Only if it’s the decision you want. If not it’s just a temporary setback.’‘Yes, Minister’, 1981The rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon by Irish voters has been the subject of much triumphalist crowing by Eurosceptics, much dismissive arrogance by Europhiles and much fevered speculation byContinue reading "The Meaning of No"
Beware of Barbarians
“…the forces of vandalism and cruelty are ever ready to exploit or destroy what so many generations have painfully laboured to create…”Dr Herman Finer, 1933Change itself is the only constant but there are different kinds or degrees of change. Some changes enhance the quality of life, others can diminish it (which is why 'modernisation' -Continue reading "Beware of Barbarians"
The ‘G’ Word
At the end of March, the Brown regime announced plans to further nationalise the control of development in Wessex. Those who thought local opinion could not be sidelined any more than it is already will be sorely disappointed.Remember that when Labour took office in 1997 it inherited sweeping powers to interfere in local decision-making. WhitehallContinue reading "The ‘G’ Word"
Minding Our Own Business
"Peace is a coin which has two sides – one is the avoidance of the use of force and the other is the creation of conditions of justice. In the long run you cannot expect one without the other."John Foster Dulles, 1956Dulles was not a man whose actions lived up to his words. Nor canContinue reading "Minding Our Own Business"
Bonfire of the Inanities
Should we have a new archbishop? Not just a new archbishop of Canterbury, but a new archbishopric. Of Winchester.Wales separated from Canterbury in 1920 and there is a similar demand for a separate Cornish Church today. So why not a separate Wessex Church? It’s not a new idea. Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester fromContinue reading "Bonfire of the Inanities"
Wessex Regionalists 