Crossofstgeorge Debate

[Hotspur]

http://www.yorkshir epost.co. uk/letters- to-the-editor/ Tuesday39s- Letters-Politici ans-who-failed. 5666278.jp

Published Date: 21 September 2009
THE political elite of continental Europe, the competitors and erstwhile adversaries of Britain, set up the EU (European Union) to act as a proxy in their plans to take over the UK for commercial and political reasons.
The French "founding father" of the EU said: "The nations of Europe should be led towards union without their people understanding what is happening; each step disguised as having an economic purpose, but which will inevitably and irrevocably lead to federation."

Former French President Mitterand told his confidant Magoudi: "I will take my revenge on the English upstarts. I will destroy their beloved island by linking it with Europe." Magoudi let the cat out of the bag.

By agreement with the Lib-Lab-Con UK politicians, none of whom will allow a vote on EU exit, Britain is being taken over step by stealthy step. Under the pretence of trade advantages, UK politicians have agreed to the UK to be taken over.

National governments of EU member countries will be abolished. In England's case, Westminster parliament and government will be replaced by John Prescott's Regional Assemblies which will take instructions from Brussels. On the latest EU maps, England has disappeared! The latest estimate on the cost of EU membership to the UK is more than £100bn per year, an average of more than £1,768 for each citizen; money from the EU is only a fraction of the total cost to the UK.

The trade deficit with the EU is more than £40bn a year. Apart from the UK Independence Party, none of the British politicians will allow a vote on EU exit. The agreements they have made with the EU are illegal and treason.

Only the UK electorate hold power to assign sovereignty and independence to a foreign entity. Without UKIP MPs in the next election, England is finished. The discredited Lib-Lab-Con politicians must be consigned to the dustbin of history.

From: Edwin Bateman, Sedbergh, Cumbria.
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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".

[HomeRuleforEngland]

Southern Daily Echo 29.9.09

The agenda for the 2009 Conservative Party conference has been published.
Here is the list of speakers for the discussion on The Union:-

Cheryl Gillan - Shadow Secretary of State for Wales

David Mundell - Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland

Owen Paterson - Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

Nick Bourne - Leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the National Assembly

Sir Reg Empey - Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party

There is one glaring omission from this list of speakers - a representative for England!

No doubt it is a foregone conclusion that England is of no importance within The Union.

Derek Marshall
The Campaign for an English Parliament
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The don't like it up em!

[Hotspur]

Shropshire Star

Easy way of saving NHS cash in England
With all the talk of cutting services at the Princess Royal Hospital, it is worth bearing in mind a few things. Firstly, the English NHS has been underspending for the last few years by a considerable amount.

Spending on the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish NHS has increased considerably. Secondly, the Welsh government refuses to pay the going rate to English hospitals for treating Welsh patients - something that costs the NHS in Shropshire approximately £2m per year.

Thirdly, the Welsh are terrible payers - Oswestry hospital threatened to refuse to treate patients from Powys earlier this year because they wouldn't pay their bills. A hospital in Bristol actually went as far as cancelling surgery for Welsh patients this year for the same reason.

The Welsh get free prescriptions and free hospital car parking yet we in England still subsidise their health service thanks to the Barnett Formula.

Why do our MPs allow £20bn a year flow over the border to subsidise spending in the rest of the UK? Shropshire's hospitals could raise well over £2m a year by charging Welsh health boards the amount for treating their patients and penalising for overdue payments.

Stuart Parr
Telford



Rules for English are unfair
I agree with Stuart Parr's letter (Shropshire Star, October 2). We English are very unfairly treated under the Barnett formula to the advantage of the other countries in the so-called United Kingdom.

Over the last few years this has become the "dis-united kingdom". He asks why our MPs allow this disparity and all I can do is point out again that our Government is heavily Scottish-dominated. The other countries in the UK all have their own assemblies, but not the English.

The Scottish-dominated government will not even stop the Scottish, Welsh and Ulster MPs from voting on English-only matters in Westminster.

All this is very unfair to the English and even Barnett has stated so, but with the majority of English MPs being Conservative our current government is not going to change anything,

We can only hope to achieve parity after the next election and have our own parliament, or better still get rid of the other money-wasting and expense claiming assemblies.

Graham Burns
Newport
_________________
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.yorkshir epost.co. uk/letters- to-the-editor/ Friday39s- Letters-Council- has-trampled. 5718965.jp

Give us a referendum for a separate England

From: Tim Hunter, Farfield Avenue, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire.

GIVE us a referendum on leaving the UK and establishing England as a separate country with its own parliament.

There is a lot of talk about referendums at the moment. All of this talk assumes one thing: that the United Kingdom of Britain is still capable of speaking with one voice. Following devolution, this may no longer be a sound assumption.

Supposing, for instance, we had a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and only in England was there a majority against it.

It's not impossible that Scotland, in those circumstances, might argue it had effectively agreed to the treaty and could refuse to reject Lisbon. Equally, suppose we had a referendum on whether we wanted to stay in the EU. England might opt for withdrawal. However, Scotland and Wales might refuse to withdraw from the EU along with England if those countries had a majority of pro-EU votes.

The point is, many people are ignoring the fact that the Union is crumbling and the identity of being British is withering. If you ask English people in a pub what their nationality is, most will say English.


To solve this, the real referendum we need is to be asked whether we want to be part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. The UK is not really a country, but merely an entity that decides things on behalf of four separate countries.
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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]

Scotsman


It's England's wall

Published Date: 17 October 2009
Michael Hamilton (Letters, 16 October) raises the defence implications of Scottish independence. In that scenario, Scotland would have no input into the decisions of the government of the remainder of the UK, so the SNP must answer for itself.
I can say with confidence, however, that many of us down here eagerly await the money and jobs a total English withdrawal to south of the Border would bring. South of Hadrian's Wall is another matter, though, since that structure lies entirely within England.

JAMES MATTHEWS

Highgate Edge

London
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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.shropshirestar.com/2009/10/26/letter-selling-england-by-the-pound/

Letter: Brown’s proposed sale of Government assets expressly targets England’s assets; Scotland’s will hardly be affected.

The devolution legislation, which Brown more than anyone else, engineered for Scotland in 1998 makes sure of that.

The school playing fields and libraries of his Scottish constituency of Kirkcaldy are untouchable. But every single one in every single English constituency is now under threat and up for grabs by any rich punter from anywhere in the world.

Whatever the economic worth of Gordon Brown’s proposed sale of Government assets, which Vince Cable has derisively called a “Government car boot sale” there is another aspect to it. It is very exploitative of England. All the major assets so far listed are either totally or predominately in England: the Dartford Crossing, the cross-Channel rail link, the nationalised bookmaker the Tote, the Government’s 33 per cent stake in Urenco and the invaluable real estate around St. Pancras and Kings Cross Stations.

But there are aspects of this fire sale of our English assets which in their way are even more pernicious and harmful.

In the last resort English local councils, even county councils, are subject to Whitehall dictat in everything.

This is why Brown made his announcement without consulting the Local Government Association in England.

That is why every asset of all English local authorities could now be sold off over both the heads of local councillors and the electorate.

It is vital that we have an English Parliament to address this imbalance.

B Lawson

Ludlow
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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.thestar.co.uk/letters/Immigration-issue-in-the-spotlight.5789744.jp

WHY is it, when filling in documents and forms, I can no longer put down that I’m English.

I can only write down I’m British.

Yet I can support England football. We are slowly losing our identity and heritage.

Why don’t the Government erase England from the map altogether?

We can no longer wear religious items for fear of offending ethnic minorities.

The city of Sheffield has become a city of strangers whose ways are not ours.

Mrs KP, Sheffield
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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.cwherald.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor/devolution-is-unfinished-business-20100104337991.htm

Devolution is unfinished business
Monday, 04 January 2010
Sir, Brian Nicholls raises the subject of Scottish independence in his regular column (Herald, 5th December). While I agree with the main thrust of his article, perhaps I might be allowed to comment on one or two points he makes.

By all means if the Scots want to have a referendum on independence then they should be allowed to get on with it. Just as the people of England had no say in the referendum for devolution, then similarly the English should not impede this wish either.

It should be remembered that devolution has always been described by politicians as a “process”, meaning independence as a long-term aim. But Brian is right, and some other journalists are now making the same point he makes, which is that the same opportunity for a referendum should be given to the English.

Where I differ, my referendum would not be whether the Scots should have full independence but whether the English should have their own parliament with at least equal powers to those enjoyed by the Scottish Parliament.

As the major country with 85 per cent. of the population in the United Kingdom, we should not be playing second fiddle to the devolved countries. Politicians will preach that it is a “union of equals” when clearly it is not.

I recall a telephone poll on the BBC Radio 2 lunchtime program when Jimmy Young asked if the English should have their own parliament. In the two-hour program, more than 14,000 callers voted with a resultant 94 per cent. in favour of having an English parliament.

This is why politicians deny the English the opportunity of having referenda. They know what the result will be.

Mr. Nicholls suggests that independence for Scotland is never going to happen. I am rather more optimistic for several reasons. Recently in the House of Commons a Tory MP said that it would be the English who would break the Union — perhaps. I think that Gordon Brown could, as a last vindictive act, especially if he thought that the Tories would win the next general election, grant the Scots their referendum.

If the Tories win that election, then the Scots will sprint for independence because they detest the Tories and they have a particular loathing for Margaret Thatcher who they regard as having destroyed their heavy industries.

This is why I believe that any Scot who wishes to stand as a Tory candidate has to come south to England. Consequently, we have a Scot standing for the Tory seat in Carlisle and Rory the Tory, as Brian Nicholls affectionately calls him, standing for Penrith and the Border. We also have an Irishman from Donegal, Gareth McKeever, standing for the Tories in Westmorland and Lonsdale. Are the English politically inept and therefore unsuitable?

For obvious reasons the main political parties will not agree to any referendum. They all supported devolution but are dismayed if full independence is even mentioned. David Cameron has said that he wants to be the prime minister of a United Kingdom. Does this mean that the English have to remain second-class citizens just to satisfy his ego?

I believe that to clear up the constitutional mess brought about by devolution we need a top-down restructure starting with an English parliament and then decide on the tiers of government we need. This is the only way to deal with the unhappiness and dissatisfaction felt by the English. Devolution is unfinished business. Yours etc,

GEOFFREY GRAHAM

Berrier Road,

Greystoke.
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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.thenorthernecho.co.uk/yoursay/letters/4355863.Scotland/


WE are now “celebrating” ten years of the Scots Parliament.

Most matters, including education and health, are devolved to Edinburgh.

Residents of Scotland are represented by MSPs. Which begs the question: what is there for Scottish MPs in London to do?

Apart, that is, from voting on matters affecting only the English? A truly absurd situation. – Susan Willis, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough
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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]

Telegraph


Constitutional injustice

SIR – Gordon Brown (report, February 3) continues to talk of
constitutional change, but as we have seen time and time again, he and
the Labour Party refuse to confront the injustice of a proper
constitutional settlement for England.

Until both are prepared to renounce their selfish interests and
recognise the constitutional injustice of the West Lothian Question and
the right of the people of England to determine their own domestic laws
– without the unjustified interference of those from other parts of the
United Kingdom – their zeal for change will always seem hollow.

Professor Jeremy Dibble
Durham University
Durham
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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]

I always fly our flag with pride – even on cufflinks!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 08:00
Comment on this story

Lincs Echo

IT DOESN'T do for everyone to be the same. I was surprised to see that H. Carter (December 16) doesn't like our Lincolnshire flag.

I think it is excellent and a great advocate for a county that I complain frequently sells itself short, unlike those such as Tykes, Lancastrians and Cockneys, who always promote their heritage.

I am a proud Yellowbelly and fly the flag above my garage throughout the summer, although the wind, cutting across the fields, rips it to shreds at this time of year.

I guess some of them are made in China or somewhere as they are not always very good quality.

I get nothing but complimentary comments from visitors who often say they wish their county had one too.

I also have the flag on my cufflinks which, again, I wear to promote the county when we go away on cruises, and they always attract favourable comments, too.

Indeed, an American once tried to buy them off me.

Of course, we should be proud to fly the flag of St George, and I do so on appropriate dates, because I am also proud to be an Englishman, and we also need to match the patriotism of the Welsh and Scots, whose flags appear everywhere.

The day we get an English parliament is the day I really want to fly it, as I will then know English people have finally woken up to the way we are treated, and put right a ridiculous position whereby we are the only nation in the United Kingdom without our own Parliament.

I just cannot understand why we don't press harder for it, and then Gordon Brown can pedal back and make a mess of running Scotland.

D. ENDERBY Skegness.
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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".

[Lance Dragon]

SIR – The Government’s green Paper on defence expenditure misses the very critical point the Government must take into account: the defence footprint and spending in the different nations and regions of Britain. Since Labour came to power over 10, 000 Ministry of Defence jobs have been lost in Scotland, and spending has been cut.

A full Scottish defence spending review is required, and this exercise should focus on the challenges our brave servicemen and women will face in the future – not the challenges Labour are facing in the run up to the election.

Alex Orr
Edinburgh

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/7168459/The-floodgates-of-truth-have-opened-on-climate-change.html
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RBS - Robbed by Scots
The deadliest enemies of the English are the British
Better a "Sour Little Englander" than a Poisonous Wee J ock.

[Hotspur]

northern echo

Barnett formula
11:57am Monday 8th February 2010

Print Email Share Comments(4)

I READ your article about the Barnett Formula, “Brown ‘is afraid of Scottish backlash’”

(Echo, Feb 3), with interest.

Gordon Brown should remember that he is facing a General Election, possibly on May 6, which will give English people a chance of voting against his Labour Party on the grounds that Scotland already has its own government.

Why should we have a Scot as Prime Minister when he refuses to correct the injustice towards areas of the North-East, which loses billions due to the unfairness of this outdated formula?

In my opinion, this is the biggest single issue which affects all areas of our funding.

For Scotland to receive funding of 98 per cent and the North-East only 77 per cent of the national average is an anomaly that should be corrected immediately.

Councillor Ben Ord, Spennymoor/Middlestone Division, Durham County Council.
_________________
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]

We need an honest parliament amid Middle EnglandPremium Article !Your Date: 08 February 2010
PARLIAMENT is still mired by MPs' sense of entitlement. The latest episode of the expenses saga dogging Westminster will not restore confidence in Parliament.
It is clear that Parliament's reputation will not be restored after the General Election when a new crop of MPs is elected, so deep is the
public's sense of betrayal.

More than half the MPs in Parliament have had to return money they had
wrongly claimed. Tory MP Alan Duncan may have been the only MP who was
indiscreet enough to mention that MPs were on "rations", but moat cleaning and duck houses have not been forgotten.

A sense of entitlement, vanity and privilege has fuelled the whole sorry saga, but the MPs' shamelessness is not the point. The problem is inherent in the Westminster village set-up. The first part of
Parliamentary reform has to be an English parliament, preferably a hundred miles from Westminster amid Middle England.

From: Tom Spratt, Priory Road, Weston Super Mare



http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/letters-to-the-editor/Tuesdays-Letters-We-need-an.6053829.jp
_________________
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.yorkshirepost.co.uk/letters-to-the-editor/Friday39s-Letters-Who-can-lead.5923081.jp

From: Tom Spratt, Priory Road, Weston-Super-Mare.

THE Government can find billions of pounds to bail out the banks and keep bankers in the style to which they are accustomed. By contrast, the real economy is allowed to go to the wall. The mothballing of the Corus steelworks in Redcar is indicative of this Government's anti-English attitude.

Jobs will go and skills will be lost with the economy of the North East taking yet another blow as future employment is exported out of England to China and India. We need an English parliament, which would put English workers first. We also need to buy the slab steel produced at Redcar and hold it until such times as the need for steel revives. That would keep the jobs and skills in England and the North East
_________________
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".