The leading article today in The Times (a London newspaper) is about the north-south divide. It reports a call – actually made back in March – from Paul Hackett of the Smith Institute for a ‘Council of the North’ to be established, “a body that would bring together politicians, business leaders and academics to speakContinueContinue reading “The Return of the Region”
Category Archives: External Relations
We & They
Our website currently includes a page of links to movements for autonomy among our neighbours – the Cornish, the Welsh and, within England, the Mercians. Our southern neighbours the Bretons and, within France, the Normans, are not neglected either. In a Wessex-centred perspective, within the Europe of Regions, we have no false loyalties to widerContinueContinue reading “We & They”
Fool’s Gold
On Tuesday, the Coalition announced that it would no longer be giving money away to China, Russia and a long list of other countries. Opinion polling suggests that two-thirds of voters query the priority given to foreign aid during this gloomy ‘age of austerity’ at home. (After all, this is money we borrow in orderContinueContinue reading “Fool’s Gold”
Non Homo Insula Est
No man is an island. The famous words of John Donne, Dean of St Paul’s in London. Written in English, translated here into Latin.Why Latin? A cloud of celebrities ranging from Joanna Lumley, a native of Kashmir, to Boris Johnson, former MP for Henley-on Thames, has recently been gathered in support of the proposition thatContinueContinue reading “Non Homo Insula Est”
The Pageant of Death
“I have said that we must base our future thinking on the acceptance that nation states, individual, independent nations, can no longer really seriously influence the way in which the world develops. There is nothing that we or, I believe, any other single country can do on its own to affect these great trends ofContinueContinue reading “The Pageant of Death”
Cornwall Points the Way
Among all the commentary from the London media about the results from the 4 June elections, it is possible that a few facts about Cornwall may have escaped widespread notice.In the Euro election, Mebyon Kernow – the Party for Cornwall took 7% of the vote across the Cornwall counting area. In many parts of midContinueContinue reading “Cornwall Points the Way”
Note from Abruzzo
Guest contribution by Colin Bex, Wessex Regionalists’ London BureauStaying near a village in Casoli, some eighty miles south-west of L’Aquila, I awoke at 3.30am on Monday 6 April, but was unaware of any particular reason other than as part of an irritating cycle of broken sleep to which have become accustomed for some time now.NeighboursContinueContinue reading “Note from Abruzzo”
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. WhenContinueContinue reading “A Smaller World, Please”
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 byContinueContinue reading “The Meaning of No”
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 canContinueContinue reading “Minding Our Own Business”
Wessex Regionalists 