armchairranting

I have an idea how to answer the West Lothian ques...

2007-07-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

I have an idea how to answer the West Lothian question, why not let the English elect a proportionate amount of MSPs to the Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly, say 15 English MSPs and 4 assembly members.

That’s fair isn’t it?

Armed police are called in to deal with a ten year...

2007-07-05T17:35:00.000-07:00

Armed police are called in to deal with a ten year old with a plastic gun. The excuse: terrorism.
In the seventies and eighties, with the IRA blowing up bits of London on a regular basis, my friends and I were running around looking like miniature Rambos on speed, armed to the teeth with plastic weaponry of all descriptions.
No police ever got involved, the only form of response we got was to be told to keep the noise down.

Is this the most depressing article you can read? ...

2007-06-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

Is this the most depressing article you can read?
When all that is wrong with your country is listed like this by an "outsider" it tends to have more impact.

'nuff said

2007-05-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

Ill informed rant

2007-03-09T20:44:00.000-08:00

My dad, bless him, is a true Brit. He is one of those people who cannot distinguish between Britain and England; in fact I think he still believes in the empire. Maybe this has something to do with his time in the merchant navy during he sixties, or it could be a form of rebellion against his own father who he claimed was “a fucking communist”.
I have tried to explain my views to him, to say its time England stood up and demanded equality within the UK, he sits there and smiles and agrees with everything I say but I know, deep down, that he is happy I’ve finally found patriotism. Yes I do have a few union flags about the house, I also have a few English flags, come to think of it I also have two Scottish, a Welsh, Irish, French and German, Austrian, Australian and an American flag, my son collects flags (he also has a jolly roger). Dad’s completely missing the point.
Yesterday another attempt to answer the West Lothian question was talked out of parliament by the labour government, claiming it was flawed and would create a two class system amongst MPs.
It’s blatantly obvious to all that the whole constitution is a complete mess, every time this subject comes up and it is dismissed the English get more pissed, what started a few years back as a campaign for democratic parity with the other nations of the UK is turning into an independence movement. Fed up with taking the blame for all of Britain’s “evils” the English have had enough, anything from the slave trade to the Iraq war seems to be solely our fault. Its as if the rest of Britain had nothing to do with it, and why should I feel guilty for something done hundreds of years ago that as far as I can work out none of my ancestors benefited from, I can trace the peasants in my family back two hundred years and not one was anything but working class (According to some nearly all British will have some black ancestry dating back to the end of the slave trade so maybe they should be apologizing to us, look at Obama).
It was the labour party that took us to war in Iraq and that’s mostly run by Scots, and even if it wasn’t who made up the majority of the anti-war marches in London? The French? Irish? It couldn't have been the English.
The Americans constantly go on about their war of independence against the English, not the British; we take sole blame for what happened in Ireland. We didn’t invade Wales or Ireland it was the Normans. The Battle of Culloden is attributed to the English but look at the make up of the army. I am not saying the English nation’s hands are clean but come on people! IT WASN’T ME.
Should the people of modern day England suffer for the crimes (guilty or not) of the past?
I digress, back to the subject at hand.
If the cost of democracy in England is the end of the union then so be it, why are we not treated equally across the UK, why should we lose out for the sake of a union that nobody seems to care about (except politicos with something to lose), does it matter if England’s voice is diminished on the world stage. Who cares about the oil and energy resources, we don’t get it for free anyway, what are we really going to miss out on if the UK ceases to exist?

Nothing

just a note, why does the spell check not put a capital W on Welsh?

The prison service is making 80 people redundant a...

2007-03-01T04:05:00.000-08:00

The prison service is making 80 people redundant and relocating an office because the town is too “British and white”, there goes another town to the BNP.

e-petition results in usual bollocks

2007-01-18T17:04:00.000-08:00

The prime ministers office response to the e-petition
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Grant The English People A Referendum On Whether They Wish To Have An English Parliament”

There are no plans to establish a separate parliament for England. The four components of the United Kingdom have their own histories and distinct national identities, as well as different administrative structures, size and population.
As a result, the Government believes that different approaches and solutions are appropriate to address the differences that exist between the components that comprise the United Kingdom. The starting point for England is not the same as it was in Scotland and Wales.
The Government believes that the establishment of an English Parliament would not be of real benefit to the people of England. As the population of England accounts for 84 per cent of the UK population, this would mean that an English Parliament would only be slightly smaller than the current UK Parliament.
Such a move would not, therefore, contribute significantly towards bringing people in England closer to the decision making process, which is one of the cornerstones of devolution. The Government therefore has no plans at present to provide for an English Parliament.

This is despite recent opinion polls to the contrary, 61% according to newsnight, 68% from the telegraph, and a mori poll back in July for the English constitutional convention found 41% favoured and English parliament compared to 32% who agreed with the status quo.
Labour still denies anything is wrong, the other parties may be slow on the uptake but they are at least considering options, does Tony not realize that he is the biggest threat to the union?

MacWhirter in the Herald

2007-01-17T20:29:00.000-08:00

The herald has an article completely misunderstanding the views and aims of the CEP. Iain MacWhirter confuses the Tory English votes for English laws and the desire for an English parliament, missing the point that EVOEL is a ploy to stop the people from asking too much, it is most certainly not what the CEP is working towards. MacWhirter then uses the same tired arguments that labour use to put down the concept of EVOEL, not that it matters; it’s not what we want.
He goes on to say that Scottish mps have no impact on English legislation using the 2004 higher education farce as an example, this line is precious “Scots MPs voted, famously, on the 2004 Higher Education Bill, which introduced top-up fees in England, but that didn't stop it becoming law”, that’s because the bastards voted for it, pushing it through against the majority of English votes, if the Scots had abstained then I could still afford to send my kids to university. Labour only managed a majority of 5 .

A list of the Scottish MPs who voted can be found here

2007-01-14T17:16:00.000-08:00

Liberal Democrats, UK

2006-12-13T19:48:00.000-08:00

Applicability: this item refers to England. Due to devolution, detailed policy may be different in other areas of the UK.

says it all