Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
Lately I find myself feeling newly hopeful for the United Kingdom--or, rather, for all that soon may be left of the United Kingdom. Below, my thoughts.
Brother Delingpole, if you consider them sound, when would you like to get together to pop the cork on a bottle of Bolly?
Item: At the big euro summit late last year, Prime Minister David Cameron vetoed the new treaty that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy were proposing. The treaty would have transferred to Brussels still more sovereignty from each of the member nations of the European Union, in particular the power to decide fiscal and economic policy independently. Cameron, I repeat, said "Nothing doing." Cameron may be, as James insists, a weak and befuddled prime minister. Yet even if he is, so to speak, the wrong man acting on the wrong reasons, he did the right thing.
Item: As best I can tell, nearly the entire political class in Britain now recognizes that Cameron's decision set in motion a dynamic. Britain cannot now stand still. Either it must reverse Cameron's decision, crawling back to Merkel and Sarkozy, or it must ratify Cameron's decision by regaining a sense of Britain's distinctive place in the world as a great trading nation and one of the leading centers of finance. It must cease the long slow dribble of sovereignty from Westminster to Brussels, in other words, beginning to act once again like a proud and free nation.
Item: In 2014, Scotland will hold a referendum on independence from the rest of the United Kingdom. Polls indicate that the Scots nationalists might very well win. If they did so, it would prove only a matter of time--and not much time, at that--before the people of England and Wales asked why Scottish MPs continued to sit in Parliament. And it would prove only a matter of time after that before said Scottish MPs were asked to leave.
Item: As the nearby chart indicates, what remained of the United Kingdom would prove overwhelmingly Conservative. (In the chart, which shows parliamentary constituencies, blue represents the Conservative, or Tory, party; red, Labour; orange, the Liberal Democrats; and, yellow, the Scottish Nationalists.) In effect, a new country would have been created--a country dedicated to low taxes, economic dynamism, close ties to the United States and the Commonwealth, and renewed pride in the ancient British tradition of liberty.
What say, James? Shall you and I get together in the Albert Hall for proms in the spring of, say, 2015, and sing at the top of our lungs?
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Comments :
Mar '11
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
Peter: I'm glad that your physical recovery seems to have brought with it the return of your good humor and a sunnier tone in your posts. If Britain has hope, surely the United States is not on its last legs and the myth of decline is just that.
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
Five words, Peter:
The grass is always greener...
Item 1. Europe. Even now, there is an entire mandarin/diplomat class striving to undo what Cameron "achieved" with his veto (which wasn't actually a veto of anything at all, by the way). Cameron did what he did because he could not do otherwise. But this was not a sign of principled Euroscepticism or cojones. And we remain bound by the terms of the Lisbon Treaty (ie the European Constitution).
Item 2. What will really happen is this: we'll get the worst of both worlds. The Scots can't afford to withdraw from the Union (almost the entire country is dependent on welfare, provided by us hated Sassenachs) so they'll inflict on us the ugly Devo Max compromise - more power for Scotland, more of our money, nothing for England as a quid pro quo
Item 3. So item 3 ain't going to happen.
Happy any time to have a drink with you, though I prefer Krug or Mumm Cremant de crament to Bolly, but would rather drink say a Chassagne Montrachet or a decent red Burgundy or claret to any of those. Or G & T.
Nov '10
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
I go from frantic to resigned and back to frantic again over the prospect of American decline, and I've always looked to the UK as the weather vane... I don't see much hope, given the extremes to which their politically correct class has gone, the NHS's crushing burden on the economy, and especially the inroads of radical Islam has made.
However on rare occasions a glimmer of hope flickers and I can cross the line into hopefulness...
God Bless America and God Save the Queen.
May '10
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
Brother Robinson, let me fix that graphic for you...
RULE THATCHERANNIA!
Feb '11
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
Peter Robinson
Item: In 2014, Scotland will hold a referendum on independence from the rest of the United Kingdom. Polls indicate that the Scots nationalists might very well win. If they did so, it would prove only a matter of time--and not much time, at that--before the people of England and Wales asked why Scottish MPs continued to sit in Parliament. And it would prove only a matter of time after that before said Scottish MPs were asked to leave.
Item - Would an independent Scotland be a part of NATO? Would Britain have to put troops along her northern border? Perhaps both?
Aug '10
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
Wouldn't a federalist United Kingdom help to make this debate somewhat moot?
Give England its own regional parliament (in York!) and also clearly define the separation of powers between the regional parliaments and Westminster.
Jun '10
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
"Jerusalem" at Westminster Abbey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yIWBO_7nio
Aug '10
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
England 5 - Germany 1 by The Business
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZWE4thApfE
Aug '10
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
This is rather embarrassing. First, Canada shakes off the tattered rags of socialist tinkering and now England has a chance to be a Tory nation ?
The United States will soon fall behind other Commonwealth nations and find itself warming the global bench sitting next to Tuvalu.
Doubt if there's much chance to apply for readmission with this president after what happened in Kenya . Maybe if we tell him it would appear to the United Nations to be a surrender, he'd be all in.
Edited on Jan 19 at 12:04pmMar '11
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
As a resident of England I would have hope if Peter was correct. However, after 23 years in this country there is not a discourse where Peter's hopes are able to be discussed. I would fear a realignment of the parties to the muddled middle, Socialism with a capitalist engine, which is doomed for failure. The National Health Service (NHS) is as close to a national religion as you can get. When I venture the proposition that it is an immoral system which kills its citizens through planned incompetence one gets a look of utter incomprehension and I am discounted as a typical evil hard hearted right wing American. When civilization is defined as the NHS, Peter's hopes will never come true.
Aug '10
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
See, now, this is where federalism could help break the ice. If health care was made a responsibility of the regional governments, it could mean that the NHS wouldn't have a stranglehold over the entire country. Each regional parliament would be able to come up with their own health systems, with their own strengths and weaknesses.
May '10
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
Scotland isn't leaving. At least not of its own accord.
Alex Salmond the leader of the SNP, will try to force the issue with a referendum question phrased so broadly as to be meaningless. But when Scots do the true calculus of independence, I believe they will not take the risk.
Why? Scotland and England were united for over a century before parliamentary union in 1707 driven by the fact that Scotland had bankrupted itself by betting the country's capital on an attempt to build an overland route across Isthmus of Darien (now Panama). This is known in Scottish history as The Darien Disaster. Ironically, William Paterson, the man behind it, went on to found the Bank of England. This 18th century version of the Greek meltdown made union absolutely necessary for Scottish survival. Believe me, not much has changed.
The worst case scenario is Canadian/Quebec-style limbo wherein Quebec uses the threat of secession to extort ever greater financial concessions from the Federal government. In the UK the Barnett Formula already gives Scotland a 20% differential in funding allocation over England so the greater danger may be that England demands that the Scots leave.
Mar '11
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
I'm in England at the moment, so I can see both the reasons for Peter's optimism and James' pessimism.
As I am English by birth, I lean more towards pessimism, but the one thing I can say for sure is that the UK is in better shape than California (other than the weather). And certainly in better shape than the US, if Mr Obama is returned to power.
It's all relative.
Aug '10
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
If Scotland were to leave it would not be nearly as disastrous for Britain, geographically-speaking, as it would be for Canada if Quebec seceded. Canada simply could not survive as a country if the Atlantic provinces were geographically cut off from the rest of the country by an independent Quebec.
In that way, Scotland doesn't have nearly as many cards to play against Britain as Quebec has against Canada.
On the other hand, the big conflict would be over who gets the petroleum resources in the North Sea.
Aug '10
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
"Britannia waives the rules"
The above is not entirely relevant, perhaps not as true as it once was, but it always gives me a laugh. Actually my attitude to England and its people has evolved markedly over the last 30 years or so and in a thoroughly benign direction. But I have never fully understood why a proud Celtic country would be happy to be ruled or dominated by a neighbour whose people in general have a very different culture and outlook. So when I felt a shiver down my spine listening to the proud rendition of "Flower of Scotland" by the crowd at a rugby international at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh I also wondered why that pride stopped short of craving independence (no need to point out that Ireland in its current condition is not exactly a great advertisement for breaking free from the UK, but no way would I want to go back to the way we were-might look at being the 51st State though!).
Edited on Jan 19 at 3:34pmAug '10
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
English taxpayers covering the cost of Scots' health care and welfare system might have a little to do with it.
Aug '10
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
Indeed Misthiocracy, not much pride in that.
Dec '10
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
Peter and James,
What I like about England is that the World's foremost Historian resides at Cambridge, Dr. Richard J. Evans. Even at the risk of embarrassing him or even just annoying him, I will recommend two works of his as a MUST READ!!!
In Defense of History
Lying About Hitler: History, Holocaust And The David Irving Trial
In Defense of History is a review of the entire profession of History world wide. If you want to know what makes an academic profession tick, read this book.
Lying About Hitler is about English Chivalry. A fair young maiden American Historian (Debrorah E. Lipstadt)runs afoul of the Black Hearted Ogre of English History (David Irving). Then Sir Galahad himself (Dr. Richard E. Evans) and a team of brave Historical Knights rescue the maiden from his evil clutches. If you want to know what History is all about and you really enjoy it when the "Good Guys" win. READ THIS BOOK.
May '10
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
Tony C. Smith is a friend of mine who hosts the StarShipSofa podcast. He was my first introduction to the Geordie accent of Newcastle. For those who don't know, that's getting close to the northern edge of England. His accent has a number of elements that sound pure Scottish to me; for example, he always says "me" when he means "my" ("I put on me coat and got in me car. . .").
When I mentioned this to him, he was dumbfounded, and more than a little offended. Scottish? He couldn't believe it. To him, the Scots are the barbarians from the other side of the Wall. In his mind, there's a very bright line indeed between where he's from and Scotland.
It's an anecdote, but maybe we can safely extrapolate from it.
Jan '12
Re: Britons Never, Never, Never Shall Be Slaves!
Keith McMillan
Keith Join the United Reformed Church quickly as a few of us are quite aware of the mess the NHS is in.
Last week an American member of our congregation was exhibitinga her sebaceous cyst which was causing her eyelid to be large and inflammed. She recounted how the she had had many misdiagnoses (guesses) from various nurses and is now trying to find someone who will take some ownership. I remarked "That's the NHS for you" and she said "You said it" and other members in earshot were groaning in agreement.
I guess the dice were loaded as the said members were all 50+ and probably all suffering from some chronic condition which the NHS pretends to be treating.
Keep up the good work of making your points about the NHS and perhaps the system will change but not quickly I fear.
In the bigger picture we need the US to enlarge their health debate away from it's the standard narrative of optional private health insurance contra Obamacare.