Is it time England got a lawyer ?
Hidden away amongst Gordon Brown's almost quixotic speech to the CBI in Glasgow are the seeds of the final break up of Britain. I say Britain as I think in the same way that many Commonwealth nations have the Queen as head of state, the Welsh, Scots and maybe Northern Irish would continue - the UK may continue as a lose or confederated arrangement.
Why say this ? Because its only inertia that holds Britain together now. Take for example the debate on Olympic teams for each home nation. The argument against a Scottish team made by Chris Hoy is not one of loyalty to Britain or his British team mates, but one of money. Equally the arguments against the moves to Scottish and Welsh independence are usually framed in terms of problems to be over come (like how to keep the tap of English money flowing / take all the Oil money ), almost never in compelling terms about Britain.
Now, under the Labour party's and lets not forget Liberal Democrats, devolution settlement all the main politicians for all the main party's in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will never need to travel or live in the rest of the UK. The Scots Labour party now seems to want direct control over its own Westminster MPs, the future careers of all the student/careerist politicians and over promoted shop stewards will follow the gravy to Cardiff and Edinburgh.
Unless someone changes the terms of this trade in influence and incentives then the break up of the Union is inevitable. ( I'm afraid to say that David Cameron's policies on this area are laughable - indeed Alex Salmond is waiting with the anti-English Tory elephant trap for Cameron to charge on in.)
The economy is the most immediate problem facing us, but the divorce of the Union is the most urgent.
Since none of our national political parties or politicians seem to have a clue on how to change the direction of events away from the regrettable break up of the Union its time to start thinking about how the split will happen.
Right now we have Scots and Welsh politicians eagerly negotiating for the maximum advantage for the fiefdoms rapped in the nationalist flags of their home nations. Sitting on the other side of the table are "British" politicians desperate to retain the Union, their only cards to play are selling English interests out.
In this road crash of a constitutional divorce the only country without a lawyer or representation is England. It isn't hard to imagine that the English will get the worse deal from this Dutch auction of our interests.
PS I wish that the Unionist politicians would create a positive vision of a fair and just Union, but they all see to just want to issue concessions to the Scots and Welsh whilst keeping the English in the dark.
Why say this ? Because its only inertia that holds Britain together now. Take for example the debate on Olympic teams for each home nation. The argument against a Scottish team made by Chris Hoy is not one of loyalty to Britain or his British team mates, but one of money. Equally the arguments against the moves to Scottish and Welsh independence are usually framed in terms of problems to be over come (like how to keep the tap of English money flowing / take all the Oil money ), almost never in compelling terms about Britain.
Now, under the Labour party's and lets not forget Liberal Democrats, devolution settlement all the main politicians for all the main party's in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will never need to travel or live in the rest of the UK. The Scots Labour party now seems to want direct control over its own Westminster MPs, the future careers of all the student/careerist politicians and over promoted shop stewards will follow the gravy to Cardiff and Edinburgh.
Unless someone changes the terms of this trade in influence and incentives then the break up of the Union is inevitable. ( I'm afraid to say that David Cameron's policies on this area are laughable - indeed Alex Salmond is waiting with the anti-English Tory elephant trap for Cameron to charge on in.)
The economy is the most immediate problem facing us, but the divorce of the Union is the most urgent.
Since none of our national political parties or politicians seem to have a clue on how to change the direction of events away from the regrettable break up of the Union its time to start thinking about how the split will happen.
Right now we have Scots and Welsh politicians eagerly negotiating for the maximum advantage for the fiefdoms rapped in the nationalist flags of their home nations. Sitting on the other side of the table are "British" politicians desperate to retain the Union, their only cards to play are selling English interests out.
In this road crash of a constitutional divorce the only country without a lawyer or representation is England. It isn't hard to imagine that the English will get the worse deal from this Dutch auction of our interests.
PS I wish that the Unionist politicians would create a positive vision of a fair and just Union, but they all see to just want to issue concessions to the Scots and Welsh whilst keeping the English in the dark.
1 comment:
Don't fret - there is nothing that has been done, that can't be undone.
I am with you in thinking that the only thing these idiots have to bribe the fringe dwellers with is English assets, but come the revolution (or independance!) there will be English people deciding what agreements will or will not be honoured. And agreements which have been negotiated without our input will come in the "not honoured" basket until futher negotiations have been undertaken.
Remember, in the long run we hold 85% of the land, raise 85% of all taxable income, and control most of the armed forces - only fools will overlook the significance of that.
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