DEFRA – to some cynics the Department for Eliminating Farming and Rural Activity – is piloting a Bill through the Westminster Parliament to change how the water and sewerage industry is regulated. It tells us that “privatisation of the water industry has been successful in attracting over £116 billion of investment… Without this investment, waterContinueContinue reading “Receiving The Water Bill”
Tag Archives: scotland
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”
The Wealth of Wessex
Here is a link to the case for Scottish independence, set out in maps and numbers. The second map shows the extent to which the wealth of England, measured in GDP per head, is concentrated along the M4 corridor. It’s our wealth: our answer to the claim that we all depend on London’s cleverness withContinueContinue reading “The Wealth of Wessex”
Upping the Occupation
Nearly a quarter-century after the Cold War ended, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond this week announced detailed plans for the withdrawal of British forces from Germany (along with the £600 million annual injection into the German economy that they represent). The Army’s presence there dates from the Second World War, nearly 70 years ago. We mayContinueContinue reading “Upping the Occupation”
The Long View
“Economics, said Mr Stanley [Oliver Stanley, then President of the Board of Trade], is 50% psychology … What we need, apparently, is not statesmen but hypnotists, not scientists, but witchdoctors, not confidence born of scientific prediction of the future, but confidence created by a political confidence trick. There is nothing surprising in this. It isContinueContinue reading “The Long View”
Keep Calm And Cut It Down
So Andrew Mitchell has at last resigned over his altercation with a police officer in London’s Downing Street. Those who battled in vain to defend him helpfully stressed how stressful the job of helping to run the country is just at this moment.Then why not make it less stressful by spreading the workload? Alex SalmondContinueContinue reading “Keep Calm And Cut It Down”
Review of 2011
Every year when we submit our accounts to the Electoral Commission we are also required to provide a ‘Review of Political Activities’ covering the year just gone.The 2011 Review has recently been forwarded to the Commission and here is what it says:“With no General Election in 2011, activity was less intense than last year butContinueContinue reading “Review of 2011”
Whose England?
Smile at us, pay us, pass us; but do not quite forget.For we are the people of England, that never have spoken yet.G.K. Chesterton, The Secret PeopleTen years ago last month a petition of 50,000 signatures calling for a Cornish Assembly was delivered to Downing Street, to the home of a Prime Minister renowned forContinueContinue reading “Whose England?”
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”
Wessex Regionalists 