Comments on: What powers would be devolved to an English Parliament?

By: Voice of reason

Voice of reason — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 23:44:23 +0000

This is essentially about the English sense of fair play and loss of imperial power. The English are known for their sense of fairness and good sportsmanship. We hate cheats and liars. That is why BP will probably not hesitate to compensate the Yanks for the oil spill (even though the Yanks have not compensated for their disasters in the past [e.g. Bophal]. It is also why the English handle defeat well, and in 1994, I remember cheering on Scotland, as they had made it to the FIFA World Cup and England hadn’t. You wouldn’t get a Scot cheering England on in any circumstance – they haven’t got the same noble sense of sportsmanship for their close neighbour, and fair play. They’re quite happy to take English taxpayer’s money though! – And that is the crux of it – we hate people who don’t play by the same, fair rules as us. That is basically why there is hostility to asylum seekers – they take our taxes but do not play by fair rules.

It is not fair English people have not had the same opportunity to have a referendum.

We will only let you take the pi$$ for so long!

By: Derek

Derek — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 20:17:57 +0000

confused.com it is not a matter of where devolution ends but where it starts! England is a nation and yet the British want to impose English regional devolution on England. They are missing out a step in the democratic process. That’s why we need an English Parliament!

By: ThomasP

ThomasP — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 18:56:04 +0000

I am disappointed “English Bob”, identity really is a personal matter. You don’t have the authority to dictate who is what unless the person is born outside of England and has no legal status to reside and work in the country.

I plan to live in either England or the USA, I may even settle in one of the two but would my children be American or English? If I brought my wife back to Scotland for their birth, would they be Scottish or American/English? Even though the children will spend most of their life back in either USA or England?

If the English reclaim their identity, I hope the others in your country are open minded and welcoming to those who decided to be apart of England. Being English should be more about then just simply being born in England, to me that identity sounds very cheap.

I will also add to earlier comments that it’s against international law to split up families so Scots and English working in opposite countries can never be legally removed or exchanged without breaking their rights. I feel it’s almost racist to suggest that Scots and English should no longer enjoy the free movement of people and the right to live and work as we have done for years after if we ever become independent. Are our societies not suppose to be open and welcoming? I certainly hope we can still share privilages with one another and continue our relationship on a mature level. I see no need to muddy the waters by introducing very dicriminative policies.

By: confused.com

confused.com — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 11:44:25 +0000

The struggle with devolution is where it ends? Cornwall, Northumberland etc. – they’ll all be next. At the same time there was (is?) this gradual handover of powers to the EU. No-one has yet to resolve the contradition of having both devolution and EU integration. Under the current model I do support an English Parliament. I am loathed to however as it means even more beurocracy. I thought councils were supposed to look after regional and local interests?

The long and short of it is that everyone is trying to carve the country to grab money because the country is almost bankrupt. I fail to see how devolution will really make any part of this country better – all that will happen is that there will be a lot of local policy variations which will actually make the overall administration of the country more difficult, cost more in services as companies will have to take into account petty local issues and generally create a more ‘us and them’ attitude.

Forget devolved governments, we need a truely open government based on real and regular feedback from everyone in the country. We have the technology now to make government at all levels open, accountable and able to capture demographic, geographic and cultural issues. Voting should be a weekly activity on key issues and an active part of life.

Unfortunately a lot of the issues come from control freaks who simply what a piece of power and the financial perks that come with the job.

This country needs a shake-up not a re-arrangement of the status quo.

By: foreigner

foreigner — Tue, 18 May 2010 15:24:59 +0000

I guess you guys don’t really want your great country to be separated into insignificant pieces. You’ve already lost all the colonies, and the only thing left from those glorious times is your monarch. Westminster lets your regions play politics, local politicians – make their living, just to suppress the separatist spirit.

By: Englishbob

Englishbob — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:57:07 +0000

Will…You are not English unless you are born in England. It’s not just a state of mind. You could be born any were in the world and live in England and it wouldn’t make you an Englishman, you may accept the English way of life and that is all. You can’t be what you are not.

By: Bill Bristow

Bill Bristow — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:47:41 +0000

I am an Englishman who enjoys being British, I just wish that when we say we are English that those friends of ours would feel proud to be our friends instead of threatened. Scotland for Scots, Wales for Welsh, Northern Ireland for the Northern Irish. and England for The English. This does sound separatist. Which on the surface is a sad thing. But when you look at it, we do not want to be separate, we enjoy our unity. BUT we do want to be recognised. England has lost recognition. We do not have true representation. WHY IS THAT???

By: Terry

Terry — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:34:59 +0000

Sam, can you be more specific about the “sinister” aspects to this site?

You say we are English “by accident alone”, then call yourself “Scottish”, but don’t qualify this with any reference to chance or “accident”. Do you also believe ” there’s no such thing as society” and therefore any sense of belonging, or collectivism, is “nonsense”?

I agree with you when you say “I also don’t believe that any home nation should have devolved powers, unless decided by a referendum”. Do you agree that every nation should have been offered a referendum, or do you think it is right that England (alone) has not been offered one?

By: wonkotsane

wonkotsane — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 22:12:31 +0000

Sam, there’s nothing confusing about it at all. Celebrating Englishness is no different to celebrating Scottishness, except for the country. You had a referendum in Scotland and you chose devolution. They had referenda in Wales and Northern Ireland as well and they chose devolution as well. We haven’t had a referendum in England because the Brit/Scot government won’t let us.

By: Sam

Sam — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:49:59 +0000

This site confuses me. Why do you people feel the need to “celebrate” your Englishness? You are English by chance alone and this entire site seems like a front for something more sinister than a Campaign for English devolution.

I am Scottish and I don’t believe that we should partition up this very small Island and I also don’t believe that any home nation should have devolved powers, unless decided by a referendum. The bottom line is that there is a certain arrogance involved with any nationalistic notions and the perceived arrogance, on this site at least, is that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland somehow drag England down, and if not for the other home nations then England would be a utopia. This is, of course, nonsense.

Why can’t we all just settle for being human beings and forget the ridiculous ideas of being different based on the very small things which divide the peoples of the home nations.