Category: England
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Is Johnny Mercer actually a non-exec at Crucial Academy?
The Conservative MP for Plymouth Moor View has been in the news a lot lately as a key backbench hold-out on Theresa May's Withdrawal Agreement, one who has accused the Tory whips of seeking to dig up dirt on him in order to secure his vote. However, a BBC story on Wednesday suggests that he…
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Tuition fees rebellion sparks coalition crisis
Out of idle curiosity as much as anything I have been taking a look at how individual Lib Dem MPs are likely to vote on tuition fees next Thursday. A full list follows at the end of this post. The best source on this is the blog of Tim Starkey, a Lib Dem councillor who…
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What England Means to Me
Perhaps no group of people have been more ambivalent about their English identity than those of us born in England of Irish descent. It is no secret that the history of Anglo-Irish relations is in large measure a story of conflict. At different times, each nation has defined itself in opposition to the other, leaving…
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Stormont tax review foreshadows Scottish Debate
Sir David Varney published his long-awaited review of tax policy in Northern Ireland this week. As most observers expected, Varney rejected the case for a corporation tax cut to match levels in the Republic. What was more surprising was that that was all he did. His original remit was to consider ‘how current and future…
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Goldie’s devolutionist shift belies Cameron’s unionist talk
The Telegraph has launched a major campaign in favour of Britishness today. It carries a poll on English attitudes to the union that has been well analysed by Gareth Young and Jon Bright. It also features an interesting interview with David Cameron, full of staunch unionist soundbites, which I think add up to less than…
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Beyond Brown’s Britain
One of the most striking indications of the sense of crisis currently engulfing Gordon Brown’s government is Jackie Ashley’s suggestion that Brown could step down before the next election. There is still plenty of time for Brown to turn things round, and it is probably too early for talk of ‘Black Wednesday’ moments. That said,…
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Preserving the Kingdom
OurKingdom points us to a very valuable essay on the future of the UK by Richard Wyn Jones, translated from the Welsh at Ordovicious. So far, only the nationalists have offered a sensible way to ensure cohabitation between the Kingdom’s nations, namely friendship based on independence. Of course, this is hardly a way out that…
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DUP back an English Parliament
Gareth Young points us to an interesting statement from the DUP’s Sammy Wilson: The House of Commons makes up part of our National Parliament, and I believe that every MP should have the ability to speak and vote on any matter. If England wants to have powers devolved to its own parliament or assembly then…
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Upping the ante over devolution
The Conservatives plans for an English Grand Committee are all over the news today, although The Sunday Times seems to have backtracked on a report that David Cameron had made Malcolm Rifkind’s proposals official party policy. Rifkind has written a paper and submitted it to Kenneth Clarke, the chairman of the party’s democracy task force.…
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A New Agreement of the People
Given that this blog takes it’s name from the sea-green ribbon of the Levellers, I ought to note that we are currently going through the 360th anniversary of the Putney Debates. Gordon Brown’s speech on liberty gave a brief mention to the Seventeenth Century radical tradition, but passed over this first attempt to give England…