Govt to sell £3billion of English assets to fund UK - but no Scots assets

You could raise a lot of money if you sold the future rights to tax North Sea oil for example.

But no the Scots lead government of the anti-English Labour party instead plans to:

1) Sell the right to Tax the English for a crossing they have already more than paid for at Dartford.
2) Sell the English student loan book ( maybe some Welsh and Irish in there somewhere ).
3) Sell the Channel Tunnel rail link - which will allow ,money to be raised from the English again

Why not sell the rights to future North Sea Oil and Gas revenues ? That would be simple and there would be plenty of buyers, but of course the unelected Scottish prime minister and the Scottish MP who is Chancellor of the exchequer prefer to sell the English into further debt for the state spending in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that the English fund and Labour won't cut back.

Higher taxes - but only for the English

Labour's plans to punish England for giving it less votes than the Conservatives at the 2005 general election are now well advanced. the following measures have been "leaked" or trailed over Christmas:

• Student fees may rise by up to £20k/year - but only for the English of course. Also Labour supporters will no doubt get grants to help fight social mobility. So an English middle class family will pay for - the Scots/Welsh and Irish to educate their kids. EU citizens for their education ( when we know the govt can't manage to claim the loans back ).
• The punish people in Tory areas council tax revaluation plan. Those people who don't get their windows broken regularly or walk through broken glass on their pavement regularly will have to pay more council tax.
• You get extra tax for old age only in England. Now this is being spun as compulsory "saving" and "insurance". But the Scots get this for free, paid in part by the English. You can bet that the government won't be able to avoid getting its sticky paws on the "insurance" money - anyone remember National Insurance ? And of course only the middle class will be taxed - creating the reverse of Frank Filed objection about targeted benefits (which discourage saving )- with unavoidable targeted taxation.

How is the Bank of England official interest rate meant to work ?

As the political row gets going about changes in interest rates getting passed onto borrowers (or not ), I realise that I don't fully understand the mechanism by which this all works.

The Bank of England web site says:

The Bank of England sets an interest rate at which it lends to financial institutions. This interest rate then affects the whole range of interest rates set by commercial banks, building societies and other institutions for their own savers and borrowers. It also tends to affect the price of financial assets, such as bonds and shares, and the exchange rate, which affect consumer and business demand in a variety of ways. Lowering or raising interest rates affects spending in the economy.

But 'how much' does the Bank of England lend and on what terms ? What are the limits and where does the money come from ?

I seem to remember something about Banks having to make deposits with the Bank of England etc - but its been a long time since 'O' level Economics and I'm a bit rusty here. Anyone know a good site to explain all this ?

Update: I have yet to find on the net any proper explanation of all this or to hear one. ( Robert Peston of the BBC comes closest ).

England to be sacrificed to pay bribes to Scots, Welsh and Irish

The problem is that England has no representation. There needs to be a English Conservative party in the same way as there are Welsh, Northern Irish and Scots Conservative parties.

Until then the answer will always be to short change England.

See Conservative home reaction to the TPA's analysis of this year Barnett Formula bonaza for the Celts.

Further:

Alan Cochrane writes in the Telegraph today (no comments allowd on his peace today - and I can see why he would be running scared of them ):

In addition David Cameron has made it plain that he is determined to safeguard the UK by not pandering to his "little Englander" wing and by putting the Union first.

If you read the article you'll see that only English nationalism is referred to as "little". Scots nationalism by contrast is granted full respect by this supposed Unionist, who from what I can see has been employed by the Telegraph with the single task of defending the Union.

And yet, by and large, it is not the English nationalists who seek to break the Union, but the Scots.

So, Mr Cochrane, why never "little Scotlanders" ?

Also see:

Iain Dale: The Barnett Formula: Time for it to go
Unequal Shares: A definitive guide to the Barnett Formula ( TPA)

Brown says it again - regions and nations !

Just watching PMQs ( the questions get asked, but almost never get answered by Brown - he lacks the debating to skill to do it ).

But he just uttered the words the regions and nations. We all know he means Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales England.

I wonder if something on these lines is coming in his pre-announced Queens speech?

Only ever "Scotland and Britain" never England

It is noticeable from Gordon Brown's speech in Aviemore to the Scottish Labour conference that he uses the phrase "Scotland and Britain" on a few occasions - see report by the Press Association. ( The BBC of course realising this puts their man in a bad light managed to avoid reporting that phrase in its version here saying "we'll stand up the SNP" - which is of course bollocks as all they have done so far is cave in with English tax payers money. The examples are the avoiding cutting the Scottish NHS budget in proportion to the cut he made to the English one last year, not clawing back the money the last Labour administration in Scotland had been unable to spend ( over a billion pounds I believe - no wonder Alex Salmond smiles) , and the absurd sight of the Barnett tribute formulae being used to send yet more dollops of cash north of the border when London finally got the OK for crossrail.

With Labour its either Scotland, Scotland and Britain ( doesn't that count Scotland twice ? Not very good with figures is he for a academic economic historian ), or the British Nations and Regions ( I'll give you a clue, for Gordon England is not in the British Nations part ).

The truth is that England is very inconvenient for the Labour party - except as a source of cash to taken elsewhere. Come on Gordon say England !

Labour has become the enemy of England and the English. Remeber this is you find yourself near a ballot box in the future.

The hypocrisy of Gordon Brown and his anti-English (and Irish) plans

Gordon Brown is trying to save his own skin by rapping himself in the Union flag - see today's Telegraph here. Frankly the hypocrisy of the man who has done more than almost any other to destroy the Union to now try to claim to be its champion is almost beyond belief.

Not that I don't have anything else to do - but I had to fisk his article. Go on a read the comments its received and utter fury from other English people.

Man in a Shed is in favour of the Union - but will accept with good grace the wish of any of the other nations to leave and would wish them well. He is married to a Scot and has lived there for years - its a great place with wonderful people (except some of their self serving politicians ).

But Labour trying to politicise the idea of the Union will doom it to destruction, a process they started with their anti-English devolution settlement. Personally I believe it was fuelled by a desire to have fiefdoms for the Labour party where no Conservative government could ever interfere and still be able to win more than their share of UK elections.

Gordon Brown is the greatest Enemy of the United Kingdom - as his signing of the Scottish Claim of Right confirms.

Note also an indication that Labour are going to again try to balkanise England for their own political advantage.

Anyway - on with the Fisk of his article !

More than a year ago I argued that a debate about the future of the United Kingdom was long overdue as people have finally rumbled the anti-English devolution settlement and my being an unelected Scot head of a defacto government of England were we didn't even win the most votes in a general election with a poor turnout.

I suggested that, unless we start to focus more on what unites us than we do on what divides us like you being PM perhaps ?, there is a real risk that one day people will wake up and find that the benefits of the Union like the English paying for everyone else- which they had taken for granted for so long - had disappeared.


I was accused of crying wolf - no you were accused of being a hypocrite - just as you accused John Major of crying Wolf when he said we had 24 hrs to save the Union before you came into power and broke it. But when secessionist forces are loudly at work it is not the time for silence and passivity - but you haven't been - your the one who made the problem in the first place !!!!. We must be resolute in defending the Union and argue against those who put it at risk the only way you could do this is by resigning.


In these islands we have, over centuries, created the world's most successful multinational state because we celebrate and respect the multiple identities that enrich us all. I am Scottish and proud of it, but I am no less proud to be British - just as there are millions who are proud to be Welsh and British and English and British too - any seen the Irish ?.

In recognition of this, 10 years ago we embarked on devolution fantastic bear face lie direct to our face - ensuring that the smaller nations that are part of the UK have more control over their own affairs can you see some sort of why England could never be allowed to be Tory have its own Parliament argument building up here ?. Devolution simply acknowledges the dual identities: Welsh and British, Scottish and British too What about the English !!! Are you so bigoted that you can't get the word out ?.

Yet if, as I believe, the Union is a multiplier for good that too often and for too long has been taken for granted, then it is time now to explain how the Union can benefit all of us, and not at the expense of each other - its mostly at the expense of the English - you've made it into an abusive relationship.

There is no Scotland-only, Wales-only, England-only solution to transnational challenges that range from terrorism to foot and mouth disease, and from avian flu to security and climate change. So for these islands an environmental Union, a security Union and a Union for defence is to the benefit of all This is really an argument as much for the EU as the UK - I'm sure Scots Nats would happily subscribe and suggest they can get all this from the EU - you must think you are talking to ignorant children.

But what matters even more are the common values we share across the United
Kingdom: values we have developed together over the years (300 of them - England on the other hand is over 1000 years old ) that are rooted in liberty, in fairness and tolerance, in enterprise, in civic initiative and internationalism Again mainly English virtues.

These values live in the popularity of our common institutions from the NHS there are 4 NHS's - the least money per head being spent on the English one, the BBC the BBC has national units for everyone except England - just like its socialist pay masters, to the Queen - and even more recently in UK-wide support for the Olympics where every other part of the UK complains about London, Children in Need, Comic Relief, Make Poverty History that politics - and stupidity and
action on climate change again politics and stupidity.

We know also that we are stronger together because again and again each part of our country has benefited from innovations with origins in only one: the NHS founded by a Welshman; universal education with many of its earliest roots in Scotland; and universal suffrage championed by radicals in England. ( And how was the UK important here - I'm just asking as you make these points ? )

In all these, and in many other instances, we did not lose because we worked together, but gained something greater than we could have achieved separately.

The fact is, the Union is more like a covenant founded on shared values that have created bonds
of belonging that make us all feel part of a wider Britain. Out of these bonds of belonging we have created not just the rights and responsibilities of a political citizenship but also of a social and
economic citizenship too. But for the English who must be oppressed and bleed dry by punitive taxation, unfair distribution of resource and vindictive political spending against areas that don't vote Celtic Labour.

So today, wherever and whoever you are in any part of the United Kingdom, you enjoy not only
the right to liberty within the law but also the right to education, to healthcare, to help when unemployed and to a state pension and soon, for everyone, an occupational pension too. It is through such social insurance that all parts of the UK share risks and resources to provide
security for each of us. ( Warning to the Scots - vote SNP and the English won't be there to bail out you socialist utopia and public sector run economy when the oil runs out )


It is precisely because these shared values are so important and continue to flourish that it
is possible to reconcile English, Scottish and Welsh pride with the progress of the Union - because the Union succeeds in combining recognition of separate national identities with the ideals and common values that reflect our wider Brutishness like the anti-English constitutional arrangement eh ?.

Today Jack Straw the cabinet's token English person, Secretary for Justice, is consulting throughout the country on a statement of values that define British citizenship and on the
case for a full British bill of rights and duties setting out rights and obligations for all citizens. He will of course not ask those who disagree with him - the English have never needed such a statement and certainly don't trust Labour to come up with it.

The theme of the next stage of constitutional reform will be the empowerment of people ie the fudging of the issue- at local, regional WARNING - THIS IS LABOUR's next anti-English plan - destroy England with the British regions !!!! and national levels. So it makes sense also to look at the relationship between the nations and regions you can see what coming right ?and whether it strikes the right balance as we strive to meet and master new global challenges.

The discussion about the future of Britain will succeed best if it is based on our shared values, and rooted in the hopes and aspirations for the future of people in every part of our country. So why are the English not asked - insulted and marginalised - is it because we don't vote for your party Mr Brown in large enough numbers ?

There is a modern case for the Union, and it must be heard there was a case for the Union you broke Mr Brown - but you ignored it: it is not about partnership at the expense of pride, or about pride that can be satisfied only by sacrificing partnership ( you know what this means England and the English sacrifice - everyone one else cleans up ). Instead, it is to ensure that each region and nation of the United Kingdom flourishes within a covenant and in a partnership of equals for the benefit of all except of course England and the English.




PS Anyone know what happened to http://www.toque.co.uk/witan today ?

Armed forces day ? Doesn't sound very British does it ....

Armed forces day ? Maybe in some South American military dictatorship or socialist peoples paradise, but surely not the people of the UK.

What the campaign being run by various people, including the Telegraph, is really doing is having a day to support government policy of pre-emptive wars.

In effect the government is using the military uniforms we have heard so much about wearing as a type of human shield. That's not British, and its certainly not decent. ( Not that the current government could recognise decency if it saw it.)

My father spend many of his best years in the RAF. I grew up in the Army cadets. I have no problem with the uniform or the people. I admire and support the volunteers who give us all the freedom and safety we enjoy.

But Armed forces day is militarism, and it is also attempting to place current policy and its execution above criticism. We will regret the day that we replace Remembrance day with the sort of blind jingoistic nationalism that armed forces day would represent, just because Gordon Brown has a problem with being a Scottish MP acting as England's First Minister as well as PM of the UK and having supported Blair's deception of the people over the war in Iraq.

Is Nick Clegg calling for a federal UK ?

Read this article by Tomos Livingstone, Western Mail.

It looks a lot to me like Nick Clegg is coming close to suggesting the need for a federal UK .

We have both Wales and Scotland demanding more power, and England ruled by a party that the majority of its people who voted didn't vote for and whose government is dominated by executive members from parts of the UK other than England.

Of course the system is broken Nick !

But are you going to allow justice for England. Recognition of England as a nation ?

Or is it to be Labour's balkanisation agenda again ?

The pound in your pocket - again !

Ok this is the 3rd post I wasn't going to write today. But the madness of our rulers waits for no man.

The Bank of England admits that Inflation is out of control ( aka will rise ) and reduces interest rates at the same time. This is effect destroying the savings of those people who haven't been supporting Gordon's great debt fuel campaign to make himself prime minister and cling to power as long as he can.

Lets not pretend any more that the BoE is independent shall we. I'm guessing that Labour are going to go for a snap election soon before the really dire news sets in.

Its a bloody disgrace. But as we know the Labour party is shameless and especially its leader.

Apparently Gordon is just planning on recycling the English ! ( Body snatchers part II)

It has been pointed out that Gordon Brown's plan for taking your organs just after your dead applies only to the English. Yes its apparently a devolved matter.

So perhaps Scots and Welsh will benefit from all those spare English body parts ?

Yet again Gordon Brown finds a way to benefit his Scottish constituents by depriving the English of their assets.

Hat tip to Tom Paine - The Last Ditch for spotting the angle.

See earlier post on Gordon Brown's body snatching here ....

Labour in denial about their act of consitutional vandalism

They still don't get it. I've just read this article reproduced on Labour home from Tribune.

It mentions a number of things - not least calling the West Lothian Question arcane and suggesting that the Conservatives are in league with the SNP to break up the Union. They are still making excuses and denying the impact of there own actions in putting the Union on the road to break up with the Celtic devolved settlements. Their default position is to blame England and the English for not being willing to be mugged by MacLabour and the Celtic Lib Dems.

Now the denial has reached the level that they think they are defending the Union ! Since they believe in so little these days it may just be what their focus groups have told them to say.

( Does anyone remember Labour refusing any significant national celebration of 300 years of the Union of the crowns of England and Scotland ( this is all I could find - I remember the Queen being refused permission to attend some celebrations by Mr Blair )? Or surely you'll remember the street parties they organised for the 200 year anniversary ? No ... We'll Labour were still playing the nationalist card in Scotland and Wales at the time.)

24 hours to save the Union ? That was John Major, New Labour said that creating unbalanced and unjust devolution would strengthen the Union, but then they lied on so much in 1997 ( and kept going ... ).

Any serious debate and attempt to bring justice to England will need all of the people who will in the future be involved in English politics, and that includes the Labour party. And the process must start with a unreserved apology from the Labour party for the cavalier and unprincipled way it damaged the Union for its own political advantage. Once that is out of the way we can get on with building and English political system - inside or outside the Union or EU.

Labour needs to stop its denials about what it has done and smears on other parties and admit it was wrong and ask for forgiveness. Then the rest of us should accept that apology and move on.

After all we have a New Jerusalem to build.

Update See Simon Heffer in Weds Telegraph "The Union of England and Scotland is over".

If king's job is under threat then is the Bank of England independent ?

The Telegraph reports that Melvyn King's job may be under threat over a spat with Alistair 'yet another Scotsman' Darling on who's to blame for the first run on a British bank in over a century.

If so then the Bank of England isn't independent is it ?