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cassie · 08-05-2008, 11:32 AM

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Full marks to you Richard for initiating this thread, especially in the way you have. I only hope the contributions to it will be thoughtful and informative, rather than mere sloganising.

My response is to say [lest anyone could possibly be in any doubt] is YES to the core question of "should we English demand our say too?"

As you know, I am not opposed to the continuance of the UK albeit in a constitutionally modified form, but I am opposed to being a category of citizen in a state which is singled out for adverse discrimination in a variety of ways, not least the restriction on being able to express opinions via the ballot box.

Being dahn sarf, you may not be as conscious of the discrimination against voters in England meted out during the 2004 elections for the EU Parliament. In the north of England, we had our longstanding right of voting in person in a Polling Booth arbitrarily removed by this nasty, Scots dominated government! We could only cast our votes by the dubious method of the Postal Vote. I can just see the 'heads of households' in places such as Bradford, Bury, Bolton etc gathering up all the Postal Votes for the female members of their households and kindly saving them the effort of completing and posting the documentation! Voters in the rest of England, Northern Ireland, Wales and, of course, Scotland were permitted to cast THEIR votes in the established way!

Controversially, it might also be argued that Scots are not fit to be allowed to pronounce upon such issues by themselves. Just look at the way Douglas Alexander cocked-up last year's elections in Scotland with thousands, if not tens of thousands, of ballot papers declared spoilt! More recently, Scots have presided over the Northern Rock fiasco made worse by putting political considerations above national interest instead of taking the decisive action they were driven to months later! I refer of course to Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling, Sir Callum McCarthy (Chairman of the Financial Services Board) and the Rt Hon John McFall MP (Chairman of the Commons Treasury Committee).

One could also cite the unbalanced way in which Scots in office have used their positions to make decisions in favour of Scottish interests whilst making other decisions adversely affecting England: the outcome of tram schemes proposed for Leeds and Edinburgh are an obvious case which springs to mind!

I have not forgotten the way in which the English as an ethnic group were the one group singled out to prevent them from recording their ethnic English origins in the 2001 Census! Of course if you wish to eradicate a nation, contemporary records of that nation should also be minimised, if not entirely eliminated!

Yes, the 85% of voters in England will ensure that the Scots arrive at a suitable answer!

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08-05-2008, 11:32 AM	#2 (permalink)
cassie Uber Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 2,618	-------------------------------------- Full marks to you Richard for initiating this thread, especially in the way you have. I only hope the contributions to it will be thoughtful and informative, rather than mere sloganising. My response is to say [lest anyone could possibly be in any doubt] is YES to the core question of "should we English demand our say too?" As you know, I am not opposed to the continuance of the UK albeit in a constitutionally modified form, but I am opposed to being a category of citizen in a state which is singled out for adverse discrimination in a variety of ways, not least the restriction on being able to express opinions via the ballot box. Being dahn sarf, you may not be as conscious of the discrimination against voters in England meted out during the 2004 elections for the EU Parliament. In the north of England, we had our longstanding right of voting in person in a Polling Booth arbitrarily removed by this nasty, Scots dominated government! We could only cast our votes by the dubious method of the Postal Vote. I can just see the 'heads of households' in places such as Bradford, Bury, Bolton etc gathering up all the Postal Votes for the female members of their households and kindly saving them the effort of completing and posting the documentation! Voters in the rest of England, Northern Ireland, Wales and, of course, Scotland were permitted to cast THEIR votes in the established way! Controversially, it might also be argued that Scots are not fit to be allowed to pronounce upon such issues by themselves. Just look at the way Douglas Alexander cocked-up last year's elections in Scotland with thousands, if not tens of thousands, of ballot papers declared spoilt! More recently, Scots have presided over the Northern Rock fiasco made worse by putting political considerations above national interest instead of taking the decisive action they were driven to months later! I refer of course to Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling, Sir Callum McCarthy (Chairman of the Financial Services Board) and the Rt Hon John McFall MP (Chairman of the Commons Treasury Committee). One could also cite the unbalanced way in which Scots in office have used their positions to make decisions in favour of Scottish interests whilst making other decisions adversely affecting England: the outcome of tram schemes proposed for Leeds and Edinburgh are an obvious case which springs to mind! I have not forgotten the way in which the English as an ethnic group were the one group singled out to prevent them from recording their ethnic English origins in the 2001 Census! Of course if you wish to eradicate a nation, contemporary records of that nation should also be minimised, if not entirely eliminated! Yes, the 85% of voters in England will ensure that the Scots arrive at a suitable answer! ------------------------- Last edited by cassie; 08-05-2008 at 11:36 AM.