Cornwall is bigger than Wessex. Yes or no? It depends on definitions. Land area is one thing, but there are some rights of sovereignty that extend out to the 200-mile limit of the Continental Shelf. And it’s not just sovereign states who have clearly demarcated areas of seabed to their name. So do the devolvedContinueContinue reading “All At Sea”
Tag Archives: Energy
Seizing Power
Those old enough to remember the world before it went completely mad may fondly recall nationalisation as an inspirational idea incompetently implemented. Good, in theory, because it allowed democracy to be extended into the field of economics, so that choices can be determined by intelligent debate rather than by a mindless love of money. Bad,ContinueContinue reading “Seizing Power”
The Great Turn-Off
In his 1915 poem In Time of ‘the Breaking of Nations’, Thomas Hardy wrote of young love and the agricultural routine as the unchangeable backdrop to war, the things that ‘will go onward the same, though dynasties pass’. The first verse features a man guiding a horse, still then the unassailable essence of farm powerContinueContinue reading “The Great Turn-Off”
Circuses & Bread
The euphoria will pass. And then what?Today, as the Olympic Games draw to a close, David Cameron hosts a two-hour summit meeting on hunger. It’s an excellent opportunity to talk about everything but the real issue. No doubt there’ll be much condemnation of barriers to global free enterprise (like communal land rights), a little tokenContinueContinue reading “Circuses & Bread”
Realising Some Virtual Potential
A Cornish blog at the weekend called attention to the fact that the debate on the UK’s constitutional future is now on the move once more. Scotland may go it alone. The North wants recognition. Will Wessex be left behind?It’s up to us. We do not, as a matter of principle, respond to blogs, websitesContinueContinue reading “Realising Some Virtual Potential”
The Sack of Wessex
Pressure is being piled on MPs to toughen scrap-metal legislation in a bid to stop thieves stripping out our infrastructure in search of a quick profit.There was a time when metal theft was more or less restricted to opportunist pilfering from building sites and removing lead from the roofs of abandoned churches. Not any more.ContinueContinue reading “The Sack of Wessex”
Politics, Philosophy & Economics
Politics – featuring the unacknowledged death of localism.Philosophy – or the message behind the medium.Economics – coming soon to a petrol station near you.Because understanding what’s happening is the first step towards influencing it.
End of the Beginning
When the London Stock Exchange closed yesterday, it became possible to compare the year-end positions for 2010 and 2011. The FTSE 100 was down 5.6% over the year. Banks fell more sharply. Oil and gas shares rose. The High Street remains in dire straits, partly due to the impact of online shopping, partly due toContinueContinue reading “End of the Beginning”
Bright Sparks
Ten years ago yesterday there began a brief spell when our region had its own train company, Wessex Trains, which basically ran the former Western Region local services, excluding the Thames valley and south Wales. The original plans for the franchise would have seen it eventually take over the remaining ex-Southern Region diesel-hauled services onContinueContinue reading “Bright Sparks”
Panic Over?
“The question remains whether, as the Berliners say, ‘the situation is desperate, but not hopeless,’ or ‘hopeless but not desperate,’ as the Viennese used to put it.” Walter C. Dowling (US Ambassador to Korea), 1957 Consider three documents. The first is the State of the South West Report 2011, which informs us that human activityContinueContinue reading “Panic Over?”
Wessex Regionalists 