Cornish patriots are gathering today beneath the Tamar Bridge at Saltash to protest against the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill. There is even serious talk of hunger strikes. What is it that has brought this on?The Bill paves the way for a referendum next May on replacing First-Past-The-Post with the Alternative Vote system. SoContinueContinue reading “Killing Community, Killing Democracy”
Tag Archives: Community
Mortgaging Democracy
“Will the Tamar Bridge be sold?” That was the question posed by the Western Morning News earlier this month. And not just the bridge. Torquay’s Torre Abbey was mentioned too, though in both cases the relevant local councils denied any sale plans.Gordon Brown’s announcement that he plans to sell off our public assets was, theContinueContinue reading “Mortgaging Democracy”
Hippies in Denial
This time last month (30 May), there was a gathering at Glastonbury Town Hall to discuss the town’s ‘transition’ to a post-oil world. It began with a talk from a leading light in Transition Town Totnes (TTT), the pioneers of transition thinking in the UK. Sadly, amidst all the joyful envisioning of local self-sufficiency, thereContinueContinue reading “Hippies in Denial”
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 partsContinueContinue 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. WhenContinueContinue reading “A Smaller World, Please”
Wessex Regionalists 