Crossofstgeorge Debate

[tyke]

Successes so far. Well done everyone who joined in. Volume is paramount. Keep it up.


Links for replies as given. If you get a letter printed and we don't spot it, please copy it onto here with a link so we can send letters of support

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Yorkshire Post letters, Sept 13

Unfair to English
From: Sarah Jones, St Monica's Close, Melbourne, York.

ENGLISH hospitals are shedding services while Wales can offer cheap prescriptions, and Scotland free care for the elderly because of the out-dated Barnett formula.
This formula, created at the end of the 1970s, awards a greater proportion of public funds per head of population to Scotland and Wales than to England, allowing the devolved bodies now set up in those countries to provide generous benefits to their populations.
The Barnett formula was intended to be short-term only, but 20 or so years later it's still going. Its creator, Joel Barnett, has called for it to be replaced, but the main political parties, worried about handing a coup to Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties, lack the political will to reform it.
Until we in England get either a political party capable of shaking the complacency of the main parties, or an English Parliament, answerable to the English electorate, to call for a fairer allocation of funding, we will be expected to take our lumps.

Send supporting letters to

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/contactus.aspx

------------------------------------------------------

WESTERN DAILY PRESS

ENGLAND ENTITLED TO ITS OWN PARLIAMENT

10:15 - 12 September 2005

Sir - May I congratulate RA Hopkins on his, or her, letter (Your Say, September 6). The Barnett formula has allowed the Scottish Parliament to introduce free long-term care for the elderly and abolished university top-up and tuition fees. The Welsh Assembly froze prescription charges two years ago and did away with them to those under 25. They also intend to scrap all prescription charges as soon as possible.

The English have to sell their homes to pay for health care, take out loans to cover the cost of education and many cannot afford prescription charges, all this despite the fact that English taxpayers are paying for Scottish and Welsh spending.

This discrimination is brought about by the Barnett formula which means that central government spending per head of population in Scotland is 25 per cent higher than in England, and in Wales 18 per cent higher. Lord Barnett who devised the formula in 1978 now admits that he got it wrong and states that the present Government is reluctant to change it although it clearly needs changing.

No one should doubt that the English feel as passionate about their country as do the Scots and Welsh, and should be given the same opportunity to enjoy the opportunities and benefits that devolution can bring.

There are many good constitutional and financial reasons for creating an English Parliament, but the over-riding point is that the English are a nation and as such are entitled to a parliament, which would enable them to acknowledge and promote their identity and culture.

Brian Coombs Chippenham Wiltshire


WE ARE INVISIBLE TO WHITEHALL

10:15 - 12 September 2005

Sir - I would like to thank Mr RA Hopkins on his call for an English Parliament, and the Western Daily Press for publishing it. This call is going up all around England but, alas, it seems to be going mostly unheeded by our politicians. New Labour's nations and regions agenda has failed England altogether and England is now invisible to Whitehall. New Labour likes to think that the English are having an identity crisis, but in fact it is them.

In the years since devolution for Wales and Scotland, Labour has spent our taxes, employing psychologists to wander around England asking loaded questions about regional identity and if people consider themselves British.

Of course, any unsuspecting soul affirming that he or she is British is taken as tacit approval of the Westminster status quo.

Britain is good for Gordon Brown - England means that he'll have to go homewards to think again. New Labour has so far tried and failed with its regional assemblies to put the English in a box. It is high time that English MPs spoke for England.

Keith Young Preston Lancashire

DEMOCRACY HAS TO START AT HOME

09:30 - 13 September 2005

Sir - Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. How can Tony Blair blatantly call for China's booming economic superpower to be matched by development in democracy (Western Daily Press, September 7) on the one hand, when on the other hand, here in the UK, we have one country with its own parliament, two others with assemblies and one country with no democratic or national recognition whatsoever?

He is quoted as saying: "Will this developing economy be matched by political development and development in the field of human rights as well?" What about the democratic and human rights of people living in England?

Surely it is in the interest of our human rights to be acknowledged as a proud and historic nation as are Wales and Scotland?

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, "England no longer officially exists as a Governmental or political unit".

I suggest that, in the interest of democracy, this undemocratic state of affairs is redressed as a matter of the utmost urgency.

Our crusading Prime Minister should take care of the issues in his own backyard before criticising other governments.

Let England have its own parliament now Mr Blair, then you can legitimately criticise other world leaders.

Veronica Newman Trowbridge Wiltshire


Send supporting letters to

wdletters@bepp.co.uk
_________________
Write Celt Geld/ or Celt Gelt if you prefer Lance, on the reverse side of ALL English bank notes as a peaceful protest at the Barnett Formula. You an also do it on any Scottish notes you may handle. This is worth a dozen letters in the press and something the media cannot control.

[Hotspur]

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=101&ArticleID=1188725

Assembling the argument
From: Nichola Chipman, Church Street, Driffield.
FURTHER to comments regarding the EU regions of England (Yorkshire Post, September 9). In reply to a letter asking if I would be allowed to vote to get rid of our regional assembly, the Yorkshire and Humber RA has informed me that they've had a lengthy consultation with John Prescott's office regarding the future of the nine EU Regional Assemblies in England. It was decided that because the people of the North East voted no to a regional assembly, the rest of the country will not be allowed to vote. No doubt because we too would come up with the wrong answer. I was also informed that it was in the Labour manifesto that they were here to stay. I would like to point out that Labour did not win the General Election in England and therefore have no mandate to govern the only country in Britain that they deem unfit to have its own Parliament. No doubt that's because if we had our own, Labour, in their wisdom, assume we would vote for the wrong party.
Intriguingly, the regional assemblies are now referred to as "voluntary" and as such, they are not covered by the Freedom of Information Act. That's New Labour in the 21st century.
Generations of working class people in this country have been badly let down. It's time to face the truth. New Labour are no friends of democracy or of England.

letters to the editor

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/contactus.aspx
_________________
Lord Hugh Cecil 1918



"the truth is that colouring federalism with nationalism is like painting a rat red: it kills the animal.

Federalism and Nationalism are contradictory and mutually Fatal".

[tyke]

Sept 14

Letters, Driffield Times
D Petch of Burdale Close, Driffield, writes ....

Whilst the future of hospitals in the Yorkshire Wolds area are hung in the balance, our neighbours have no such fears. Wales and Scotland are enjoying the spending sprees gleefully handed to them by the British government.
This has allowed Scotland to introduce free eye tests by 2007, costing £37m, free personal care for the elderly, £125m, free central heating for the elderly, across the whole of Scotland, £350.
Wales is introducing free personal care, £130m, free prescriptions for all in Wales, by 2007, £130m, free swimming for the elderly, as well as free national travel in both these countries (ours are only offered free local travel)
In England, we are even denied life saving drugs, which are available in Scotland. The reason, according to Andrew Dillon, of NICE, is because the government cut his budget by £3.5 million, leading to three assessment committees being scrapped and there is now a backlog of 63 drug clearances for England.
So why are our hospitals shedding services and facing threats of closure, when Wales and Scotland are already getting so much more than anyone in England?
Why should an English person suffer for the want of life saving drugs, or even a nearby hospital, when British taxes can easily be found to fund extra, free services for Scotland and Wales? Why is no-one speaking out for equal treatment for us and devoted groups are having to fight tooth and nail to preserve the few services we have at the moment?

http://www.driffieldtoday.co.uk/contactus.aspx
_________________
Write Celt Geld/ or Celt Gelt if you prefer Lance, on the reverse side of ALL English bank notes as a peaceful protest at the Barnett Formula. You an also do it on any Scottish notes you may handle. This is worth a dozen letters in the press and something the media cannot control.

[Hotspur]

http://www.cumbria-online.co.uk/viewarticle.asp?id=281889


WE DESERVE OUR OWN PARLIAMENT
Published in News & Star on Wednesday, September 14th 2005


What does devolution mean for Cumbria? When the late lamented Scotsman Robin Cook was questioned about devolution and a Parliament for Scotland, the interviewer said, "That's all very well, Mr Cook, but what about England?"

"England isn't a nation," came the reply, "It's only a collection of regions."

Despite "north easterners" rejecting an elected regional assembly in their 2004 referendum, New Labour surreptitiously upgraded existing regional chambers to non-elected regional assemblies.

Under the Euro-regions plan, Cumbria and England will cease to exist. Already our emergency call centres are being moved outside the county. Scottish MPs from constituencies outside England ensured foundation hospitals, student tuition fees and care for the elderly were imposed on Cumbrian people, but the Scottish Parliament kept them out of Scotland.

Bowel cancer claims thousands of lives in Britain every year, so the Government is to provide funding from general taxation for NHS screening of the disease. Fortunately, for those living in Scotland, screening will be provided for people between the ages of 50 to 74. Unfortunately, for those living in Cumbria it will only be available for people between the ages of 60 to 69. Why a 70-year-old Cumbrian living in care, funded by the sale of his/her house, and suffering from undetected bowel cancer, should be expected to subsidise the care and screening of a Scottish resident of identical age, beggars belief.

Another ridiculous situation is where Cumbrian parents of a student attending a Scottish university, will have to pay more for their child's education than, not only Scottish students, but also students attending the same university, from any other EU country outside of the UK. What a difference a few miles make.

England should have its own parliament too, which will focus clearly on English needs as a whole. Local government can at the same time, be removed from the North West Assembly and returned to Cumbria where it belongs.

Stephen Gash, who lives in Carlisle, is a member of the Campaign for an English Parliament.
_________________
Lord Hugh Cecil 1918



"the truth is that colouring federalism with nationalism is like painting a rat red: it kills the animal.

Federalism and Nationalism are contradictory and mutually Fatal".

[Hotspur]

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=101&ArticleID=1193905


England held hostage by Scots and Welsh
From: I Sinnott, Ackworth Road, Pontefract.
IT is reported that English patients are being denied lifesaving drugs in English hospitals but patients from Wales and Scotland are not.
Ultimately English taxes are being used to fund better health care for those in Scotland and Wales than is available to the people of England.
England is held hostage to the fortunes of the Scots and Welsh and it was a predominantly Scottish and Welsh cabinet that was responsible for taking England into an illegal war in Iraq.
We English now need to re-define political representation for ourselves, enabling us to take back control of our own country.
If the Scots and Welsh can have their own national political parties in the names of the Scottish Nationalist Party and the Welsh Nationalist Party, then why should we English not have our own English Nationalist Party to represent our own very best interests?
An English Nationalist Party would vigorously campaign for the best interests of the people of England to be served through the implementation of our own English parliament, seeking to reduce the number of MPs at Westminster and secure the unconditional withdrawal of our costly and ill-afforded ineffective EU membership. An English national media campaign to this end is long overdue.

From: David Lowe, Windsor Close, Torquay, Devon.
NICHOLA Chipman (Letters September 14) hit the nail on the head when she accused New Labour of being "no friends of democracy or England".
The extent to which Blair and Prescott and their cohorts are prepared to duck and weave to (a) Balkanise England and (b) deny England a Parliament, is a scandal of stupendous proportions.
Their actions have brought about a whole new meaning to the buzz-phrase "to move the goal posts". So much so that any English man, woman or child still in any doubt as to the motives of Blair's government regarding the future of England needs only to ask him or herself one simple question: would the German, French or Italian people stand mute while their respective nations were carved-up into amorphous regions, and their national identities rendered meaningless? I think not. Perhaps, then, the time has come for we people of England to voice – en-masse – our outrage over the Blair government's cynical and undemocratic attempts to, not only, butcher our nation, but also deny us a specifically English Parliament.
_________________
Lord Hugh Cecil 1918



"the truth is that colouring federalism with nationalism is like painting a rat red: it kills the animal.

Federalism and Nationalism are contradictory and mutually Fatal".

[Hotspur]

God bless the Yorkshire Post if only the national media weren't so terrified of New Labour -

Unhealthy imbalance
From: Nichola Chipman, Church St, Driffield.

AT the end of this month, the Yorkshire Wolds Primary Care Trust will announce which of our hospitals are to close and which services are to be cut. Included in their review, is the Macmillan cancer unit at Bridlington. The trust is £6.5m in the red and so there is no hope that all our health services can escape the Government axe.

Contrast that then, with an announcement this week in the Welsh Assembly, that Wales is pleased that the Government is committed to increasing the funding to that country, via the Barnett Formula, which ensures that every country in the UK receives higher funding than England.

It was announced that in 1999, the sum was £8bn, this year it is £12bn and is to rise to £14bn in two years' time.

A Cabinet spokeswoman said: "This means that the Labour Government, through the Barnett Formula, has delivered a near doubling in public spend, so that we as an Assembly government have been able to invest in health, education and the other services greatly valued by the people of Wales. Had the Labour Government not been re-elected, we could have been spending a lot of time talking about how to share out an ever decreasing amount of investment in public services." (like England is?)

I could complain to the English Labour Party, but there isn't one. I doubt that the Scottish or Welsh Labour Parties care.

Get stuck in -

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/contactus.aspx
_________________
Lord Hugh Cecil 1918



"the truth is that colouring federalism with nationalism is like painting a rat red: it kills the animal.

Federalism and Nationalism are contradictory and mutually Fatal".

[Hotspur]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?menuId=1588&menuItemId=-1&view=DISPLAYCONTENT&grid=P8&targetRule=0

Sir - Now we know the truth about the scrapping of local police forces. The new areas coincide with the EU regions, and it is part of the EU plan to break down England into EU regions, and reduce this government to even more of a farce.

K. M. Wells, W Sussex
_________________
Lord Hugh Cecil 1918



"the truth is that colouring federalism with nationalism is like painting a rat red: it kills the animal.

Federalism and Nationalism are contradictory and mutually Fatal".

[Hotspur]

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=101&ArticleID=1197521

It's a mug's game for the English

From: Stephen Gash, (National Council, Campaign for an English Parliament), St Augusta View, Carlisle.
I READ with amused interest Philip Clay's letter "Apathy rules" (Yorkshire Post, September 20) in which he states his Scots friend described the English as being "mugs".
This may be the case for a decreasing minority, but a growing majority are heartily fed up with the overt prejudice flung at us by the Scottish/Welsh cabal in Westminster.
Many English people want an English Parliament with powers at least equal to the Scottish Parliament, and we will succeed in this. It is the Scots who are the mugs for not seeing a good thing when they have it and choose to spread jam on both sides of their thick slice of bread, handed to them by way of an over-generous Barnett Formula.
It is the Scottish mug of a Chancellor of the Exchequer who has squandered Britain's financial future with his dismal economic policies that affect the English above all. At the moment, English people are kept largely in the dark about the discrimination punishing them in their pockets because the national press and television choose to follow the three main parties and ignore the issue.
The more intelligent editors of local papers like the Yorkshire Post keep us abreast of the flagrant anti-English policies of these parties. This is because they are in touch with their readership, unlike our politicians who reside on another virtual planet.
The English do not riot because we are ignored, unlike some of our fellow British citizens who choose to fire bomb and shoot at police vehicles. This does not make us mugs. It shows we are quietly and peacefully determined to get our way. MPs and the media are bombarded daily with letters from disgruntled English people, who have realised an English Parliament is the only fair way to achieve justice and happiness for English people.
We are not mugs, as some Scots – especially the Prime Minister – misguidedly believe us to be.
_________________
Lord Hugh Cecil 1918



"the truth is that colouring federalism with nationalism is like painting a rat red: it kills the animal.

Federalism and Nationalism are contradictory and mutually Fatal".

[Hotspur]

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=101&ArticleID=1200958



English rise up in protest
From: N Chipman, Church Street, Driffield.
STEPHEN Gash hit the nail on the head (Letters, September 22) when he says the English are becoming increasingly fed up with being ruled by Scottish and Welsh MPs, especially when they now have their own parliaments.
Furthermore, the elected governments of Scotland and Wales are given increased funding from English taxes to provide free services and even lifesaving drugs, which are denied to people in England by the very same people.
It is a form of apartheid that the minority rule the majority, using political and economic discrimination, to benefit the minority – and then have the cheek to call it democracy.
I have filled in the application online for the Campaign for an English Parliament. I, for one, am prepared to stand up and be counted with the rest of you.
I will remain a member until the Scottish Raj are forced to pack their bagpipes and slink off back to their own Parliament, where they can do England no more harm.

From: D Petch, Burdale Close, Driffield.
I AM increasingly bewildered why the subject of an English parliament is taboo in the national media. It is also noticeable that MPs who read the Yorkshire Post remain silent on this issue.
They were elected to represent our best interests, not for the indulgence of Scotland and Wales. They hide behind desks while our sick, elderly and young are treated appallingly.
English taxpayers subsidise free services for their neighbours while being denied access themselves, including lifesaving drugs and cancer screening.
All those who have access to the internet should immediately type in English Parliament and find out the true scale of what has been done to the people of this country, seemingly with the co-operation of our MPs.
The Government fight so hard against an English Parliament that one has to wonder why they are so afraid of losing control of this country – or maybe its simply English taxes they crave?
_________________
Lord Hugh Cecil 1918



"the truth is that colouring federalism with nationalism is like painting a rat red: it kills the animal.

Federalism and Nationalism are contradictory and mutually Fatal".

[isca]

Wonderful, wonderful! I can see all those shafts thudding in just like 'Strongbow' arrows!

Very cogent! I particularly liked the one about local MPs remaining silent and hiding "behind desks while our sick, elderly and young are treated appallingly."! My MP is Anne MacIntosh (former MEP)!

[Hotspur]

http://www.westpress.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145809&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145792&contentPK=13227595&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch

NOW 'ENGLAND' HAS BECOME A DIRTY WORD


09:54 - 24 September 2005

Sir - I read the letters concerning the outdated and discriminatory Barnett Formula with interest. It may have been noticed that since devolution was handed to Scotland and Wales, the British media and politicians have been quick to slap down any mention of England or English, as being inherently racist and a dirty state of being that must be put down immediately with name-calling.

A clue to this over-the-top reaction can be found in a conversation between Neil Kinnock and a Scottish MP, who, while discussing how the Barnett Formula can be maintained to the advantage of Wales and Scotland, Kinnock stated that "Britishness" should be pushed more to stop the rise of "loathsome and nasty English nationalism".

It's odd how the Government is fearless with English lives in the face of terrorism, but yet they are terrified of losing absolute control over England.

Could it be because both the Prime Minister and Chancellor are Scottish, the Deputy Prime Minister is Welsh and only by keeping a stranglehold on England can they hope to sit at the top table of world affairs? We'll never know, because they'll never tell us.

They should know this: a union of countries cannot co-exist in peace and harmony unless all are treated equally.

So until England gets its own Parliament, English nationalism will merely continue to increase.

For we are the people of England, and we have not spoken yet.

D Petch

Driffield

GIVE ENGLAND ITS OWN PARLIAMENT


09:46 - 20 September 2005

Sir - I recently read comments in your paper concerning an English parliament. It is clear this is now of great importance as we are beginning to be left behind - Great Britain no longer exists as we knew it.

The Scots have devolved and have been given all of the advantages, and England are paying for it. We need equal rights now.

In any other country, if one group was seen to be openly given less representation than the others, this Government would make noises - yet they will not give the English the same rights they give the rest of the United Kingdom.

David Knight Portsmouth


ENGLAND, WORST-OFF COUNTRY IN BRITAIN . . .


09:30 - 17 September 2005

Sir - I read Veronica Newman's letter (No English cycle team, September 9) with interest. Denial of an English identity has reached the point where our nationality is being deliberately suppressed for political reasons.

Each Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish person receives £1,300 per head more than any person in England for education, health care and social services.

A Government report found that Scotland is being subsidised by English taxpayers to the tune of £7.7bn a year, a third of the total budget of the Scottish Parliament's Executive. Scotland's budget is now double what it was before it got its own Parliament.

Scottish university students have to repay only £2,000 after graduation and they get free tuition, while English students pay back student loans, tuition fees and top-up fees of up to £25,000.

Scotland's and Wales's pensioners get free bus travel countrywide. In Scotland they get free central heating and insulation programmes, free nursing and personal care. In England both are means tested.

In Wales, people from the age of 18 to 25 get free prescriptions, but not in England. The Welsh Assembly has reduced prescription charges to £4 and will abolish them altogether in the year 2007.

The Scots have their own Parliament with full independent power over major governmental matters including education, health, transport and agriculture.

At the time, Scottish MPs can be Ministers in London, like Alistair Darling, who remains in charge of transport policy for England.

To get his foundation hospitals and university top-up fees through in England, against the wishes of English MPs, Mr Blair had to rely on the votes of his Scottish MPs and with his majority cut at the General Election on May 5, Mr Blair will have to rely on them even more.

This injustice has to be put right.

England must be given its own Parliament, equal to the Scottish one, with equal funding for all the residents of our once-proud nation.

With the next Prime Minister and some of the Conservative contenders for leadership being Scottish, we can expect to see the notion of Britishness being pushed even more, especially in England.

They think you don't know what's happening. You do now.

Della Petch, East Yorkshire
_________________
Lord Hugh Cecil 1918



"the truth is that colouring federalism with nationalism is like painting a rat red: it kills the animal.

Federalism and Nationalism are contradictory and mutually Fatal".

[isca]

I've just plagiarised one of your letters tyke, and sent it to the Express & Echo in Exeter - the SW being a potent breeding ground for discontent, and potentially a very fertile recruiting area for the English Democrats Party when they become even more disenchanted with both the Lib Dems & the Tories. Quite frankly, they don't know which way to turn, especially now that UKIP is seen as being a farce, thanks mainly to RKS!

Here is the (amended) text:

"24 September 2005


NOW 'ENGLAND' HAS BECOME A DIRTY WORD


Dear Editor

Robert Craig (Letters 21 Sep) was correct in making a connection between the amalgamation of important public services (including fire, ambulance and, more recently, the police) and the Government's surreptitious drive to impose nine English regions. These are measures which the Scottish dominated Government in Westminster are not imposing on Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales; the objective is to eliminate England as a nation.

E&E readers may have noticed that, since devolution was handed to Scotland and Wales, the "British" media and politicians have been quick to slap down any mention of England or English, as being inherently racist and a sullied state of being that immediately must be condemned! For example, the recent triumph of an ENGLAND cricket team in the Ashes series was criticised by Sir Simon Jenkins (of Guardian fame) who said that it was "absurd" that the "victory was laboriously attributed to England", and Lady Yasmin Alabhai Brown who asserted that because of it "many more white Britons will give up on Britain and take refuge in England".

The Lib Dem MP for Twickenham, Vince Cable, is even more vicious in asserting that "the threat to harmonious social relations in Britain" comes from English patriots, who he places in the same category as "white supremacists" and "Islamic fundamentalists". (Conversely, he writes approvingly of Scottish nationalism!)

How ironic the Government is so fearless with English lives in the face of terrorism, but yet they are terrified of losing absolute control over England. Look, and you will find no mention of England & the English in party manifestos.

Could it be because both the Prime Minister and Chancellor are Scottish, the Deputy Prime Minister is Welsh and, only by keeping a stranglehold on England can they hope to sit at the top table of world affairs? We do not know, because they will not tell us. They seem not understand that a union of nations cannot co-exist in peace and harmony unless all are treated equally, and that the largest by far must not be treated simply as a milch cow and its citizens third class!

So, until England gets its own Parliament, English nationalism will continue to increase. We are the people of England, but we have not spoken yet. When we do, let us hope that it is to take control over our own affairs at all levels!

Yours sincerely"

[tyke]

If it gets in, be sure to post it so we can all do follow ups.

Another one that made the letters pages, but wasn't spotted until today by another member of the CEP.

Western Daily Press

REPRESENT ENGLAND
11:10 - 19 September 2005

Sir - England needs a parliament of its own, we are unrepresented and have no one to stand up for our national interests. We have been left out and disadvantaged in this devolution of the UK.
Christopher Reeves, Plymouth
_________________
Write Celt Geld/ or Celt Gelt if you prefer Lance, on the reverse side of ALL English bank notes as a peaceful protest at the Barnett Formula. You an also do it on any Scottish notes you may handle. This is worth a dozen letters in the press and something the media cannot control.

[tyke]

Yorkshire Post, 26 Sept

Media spotlight on campaign for English Parliament
From: Sarah Jones, Melbourne, York.

I Sinnott (Yorkshire Post, September 17) is right in stating that an English national media campaign is well overdue to highlight the lack of an English Parliament and English representation.
Unfortunately, this runs straight away into a major problem. There is no English national media. The media in England is either local/regional or British. The BBC has a Radio Scotland or BBC Wales but in England you'll be listening to Radio Humber or watching BBC South West. The Scotsman may not be to every Scot's taste but it can be said to be a Scottish newspaper giving news from a Scottish perspective, whereas all "English" national newspapers are in reality British.
Local/regional papers, whether large like the Yorkshire Post or small, are often receptive to debates and discussions on this issue, but the lack of any national English media forum to do the same is a major hindrance and that's even before you get to the unwillingness of some media, such as the BBC, to act as if there is even a debate to be had.

From: Michael Cassidy, Yorkshire chairman, English Democrats Party, Anlaby, Hull.

IN reply to recent correspondence, I would point out that there is in fact already an English nationalist party. It is called the English Democrats Party.
We contested seats at the General Election in Yorkshire, and also the EU elections in 2004. We believe that there needs to be an English parliament to put the English on an equal footing with the Scottish and Welsh. We are opposed to regionalisation, which is simply ruse for divide and conquer.
There is a democratic anomaly in that the Welsh and Scottish have their own nationalist parties to represent their own national interests, yet the English are relying on the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems – none of whom wish to represent English interests and see themselves as British parties.
This has resulted in the favourable treatment of both Scotland and Wales, coupled with the continuing sacrifice of English interests.
There is absolutely no reason why the Scottish should continue to be subsidised by the English to the tune of £10bn per year. Scotland is the third wealthiest region in the UK. If the Scots wish to have high government spending, then they can pay for it themselves.We want our money back.
The Scottish have a parliament with tax raising powers.
Let them use them.

Unsporting position
From: Keith Young, Broadwood Drive, Fulwood, Preston.

The suggestion by Kate Hoey and Lord Moynihan that Sport England be abolished, but the national sporting bodies for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland remain intact, is one more example of the total contempt many Westminster MPs have for England.
Not only is England missing from Westminster, but on the field of sport as well.
It is high time these politicians were made to explain their indifference towards the English.

Replies to

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/contactus.aspx
_________________
Write Celt Geld/ or Celt Gelt if you prefer Lance, on the reverse side of ALL English bank notes as a peaceful protest at the Barnett Formula. You an also do it on any Scottish notes you may handle. This is worth a dozen letters in the press and something the media cannot control.

[isca]

Wonderful! We seem to have moved onto the next phase in Yorkshire - naming the English Democrats Party as the vehicle for English representation!

Hopefully, references to the English Democrats Party can be included in more letters, even as an aside which can reinforce the impression of being firmly established and here to stay! (Unlike V*****s for example!)