On 9th November 2014, Catalonia voted 4 to 1 for independence from Spain. Madrid isn’t ready to begin talks on separation. Instead, it’s determined to prosecuteCatalonia’s leading nationalists for organising the vote. Will David Cameron protest? Will there be airstrikes? On 20th November 2014, the French Parliament voted to abolish many of the historic regionsContinueContinue reading “Scared As A Bully”
Category Archives: Europe
Frying-Pans & Fires
With the dust now settled on the Euro-elections, let’s take a look at who will be speaking for Wessex in Brussels and Strasbourg. Well, not just Wessex. We have 16 MEPs, 6 of them shared with Cornwall and the other 10 shared with just a few of the more peripheral parts of the Londonian region.ContinueContinue reading “Frying-Pans & Fires”
A Voice in Europe?
Postal ballot papers for the Euros have started to arrive, allowing some of us to see what ‘choice’, if any, the ‘democratic’ process has thrown up this time. Although WR has contested European elections in the past, this was when the constituencies were smaller, single-member ones that did less damage to regional identity. We haveContinueContinue reading “A Voice in Europe?”
Berlin Wall II
Aye or nae, Scotland’s debate over its future is laying bare the fundamental structure of the UK in ways that no academic study could have begun to contemplate. There’s nothing like demanding answers to questions that were always thought too fanciful to ask but have suddenly become part of an urgent reality. We know whatContinueContinue reading “Berlin Wall II”
Identity Censorship Rules!
The Kernow Branch of the Celtic League is to be thanked for posting on Facebook the following cautionary tale: “Heritage Kernow – a study in ‘English’ Heritage sabotageEuropean Objective One funding was awarded to Cornwall some years ago. Its Single Programming Document was supposedly legally binding and its Priority 5 identified Celtic affinities, heritage, languageContinueContinue reading “Identity Censorship Rules!”
Is Democracy Legal?
The European Free Alliance is well worth following onFacebook. Especially this month, with the EU’s José Manuel Barroso demonstrating exactly why it’s time he retired. Barroso’s attempt to put the entrenched interests of Member States above the will of their peoples attracted a withering response from John Palmer in the (London) Guardian, one that concluded:ContinueContinue reading “Is Democracy Legal?”
No Federal Finale
Officially, the Coalition doesn’t do regions. Much play is made of the apparent deconstruction of the institutional legacy heaped up by successive governments. Yet too much remains in place for the spin to be taken seriously. The regions still exist for statistical purposes and for European elections and are still used by numerous organisations, bothContinueContinue reading “No Federal Finale”
Ins & Outs
So, what is the Conservative Party’s settled policy on Europe? Not one to be written without a regular check over the shoulder in the direction of Monsieur Farage. Expect many more gimmicks like the one we saw recently: in effect taking scarecrows on wheels around the inner cities, urging illegal immigrants to get the messageContinueContinue reading “Ins & Outs”
Whose Europe?
“Every step forward is preceded by a suppression; every reform by the exposure of some abuse; every new idea is born because of the inadequacy of the old concepts.”Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865)Please don’t call us Europhiles. Please don’t call us Eurosceptics. We won’t be driven into any Manichaean pigeonholes. We might perhaps settle for ‘Euro-wary’, attentiveContinueContinue reading “Whose Europe?”
A Stitch In Time
We remain firmly opposed to the wave upon wave of London overspill housing that is changing the character of our region for the worse. (And destroying in the process the very things that settlers find attractive.) That’s not to say that we think all construction workers should pack up their tools and seek a differentContinueContinue reading “A Stitch In Time”
Wessex Regionalists 