Labour leadership candidate Owen Smith to scrap university tuition fees. Clive Lavelle of the English Democrats comments in the Western Daily Press.

The BBC News website reports that Labour leadership candidate Owen Smith has pledged to scrap university tuition fees. The report states;
" Mr Smith has called for the current funding system to be abolished and replaced with a 1%-2% graduate tax.  Under Mr Smith's plan to abolish tuition fees, graduates would pay an additional 1-2% tax on income above £15,000 for a specified period - possibly around 25 years after leaving university."
Here is a link to the full report:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37204996

Clive Lavelle of the English Democrats comments in this letter to the Western Daily Press published on 30th of August.

Students in need of equality through UK.

Owen Smith, Labour Party leadership hopeful, has promised to scrap tuition fees for English students. He intends to replace these with a “graduate tax” of 1 to 2 per cent.

Currently, English students (and only English students) run up a debt of £27,000 over a three-year course, which they pay back, upon graduating and finding work. Under Smith’s proposal, they will pay an extra 2 per cent tax to pay for their university course. In short, Smith will give with the right hand, while he takes with the left.

If this man were worth a single vote, he would be promising to scrap the Barnett Formula, which diverts English taxes to Scotland and Wales to fund free tuition for Scottish students and heavily subsidised tuition for Welsh students. Instead, he promises the same end by a different means. The English pay; the rest don’t.

Clive Lavelle

Weston-super-Mare English Democrats

A tale of two TESCO strawberry punnets, one Scottish and one English. Need they both have to be British?

A letter in the Western Daily Press published on August 31st.

New labelling policy upsets everybody.

It seems that TESCO have stopped labelling punnets of Scottish strawberries with the Saltire as English customers have complained that English strawberries are not labelled with the Cross of St George.  All packaging will now be emblazoned with the Union Flag.  Our neighbours in Scotland are, understandably, annoyed by this.  TESCO have managed to upset both English and Scottish consumers.



As TESCO seem happy to sell milk displayed with the English flag why cannot the company label a punnet of strawberries in the same fashion?



Label produce from Scotland with the Saltire and that from England with the Cross of St George, Welsh and Northern Irish produce should be treated similarly.  Such a policy would, I suggest, leave TESCO with lots of happy customers in whichever part of Britain they happen to do business.

S.W.
Ilminster, Somerset.

A stroll through The Shudrick Valley on the eastern fringe of Ilminster in South Somerset.

One day early in August I decided to go for a stroll along the Shudrick Valley on the eastern fringe of Ilminster.  The footpaths through the valley can be rather muddy underfoot but, as there had been a spell of hot dry weather, the going on this occasion was firm.  I had my camera with me as it was a fine day with some clear blue sky to provide a pleasing background.

The view to the east from the footpath along the floor of the Shudrick Valley.

During my afternoon meander I took some photos of the peaceful agrarian landscape, but was not quick enough to snap the resident wildlife.  I came across dragonflies, rabbits and two deer emerged from Pretwood Copse but quickly darted back into the trees when they spotted me.  There were at least three Buzzards circling high over the valley – too high, unfortunately, for the lens I had with me. I encountered several people along the way, some exercising their dogs, others seemingly just enjoying a brisk walk. 

The view east along the Shudrick Valley from just below Pretwood Copse.

However, it seems that future generations may not get the chance to appreciate the bucolic delights of this particular corner of England’s green and pleasant land.  Planning permission for 220 homes* in the valley was refused by South Somerset District Council in May, but the developers CG Fry & Son Ltd and landowner Lord Cameron of The Dillington Estate have lodged an appeal.  There will now be, in due course, a Public Local Inquiry into the subject matter of the appeal. The Inquiry will consequently decide the fate of this beautiful corner of Somerset.

It will be sad, to put it mildly, if the Shudrick Valley disappears under bricks, mortar and tarmac when, only around a mile and a half away on the western outskirts of Ilminster, an area once home to the Horlicks cheese factory remains derelict and awaiting redevelopment.  The factory ceased production in 2001 and the site’s bolted gates and appearance of neglect does not make Station Road the prettiest of the routes into Ilminster.

Be that as it may, if you want to wander through the picturesque landscape of the Shudrick Valley do not delay too long – it may not be as it is today for much longer.

*For those interested the Planning Application Reference is: 14/02474/OUT.    

Scilla Cullen of the Campaign for an English Parliament calls for an Independent England?

I was surprised but nevertheless delighted to read that Scilla Cullen of the Campaign for an English Parliament, in an article on that organisation's website, appears to be calling for England to be an independent nation.

My immediate thought was to wonder which political party in the Westminster Parliament would consider such a policy. Obviously not a Conservative and Unionist Party with an avowedly Unionist Prime Minister whose first visit to a national leader took her to Scotland.
 
The internationalist stance of the Liberal Democrats and their announced intention to campaign for the UK to rejoin the EU is not likely to lead them into supporting calls for English nationhood.

As for Labour, did not Lord Prescott declare there was no such thing as "the English"?  Moreover, those in command of the Labour Party at present give the impression that they would rather not mention England or the English at all.  They are much more interested in promoting, diversity, multiculturalism and immigration, with an almost religious fervour.

UKIP flirts with English nationalism when it suits them.

It seems the only political party advocating independence for England is the English Democrats Party, a group of English patriots led by Robin Tilbrook.  They have a struggle on their hands, but I suspect the tide of history is in their favour.

Below are some snippets from Scilla Cullen's article taken from the CEP website. 

"The CEP has been campaigning since 1998. We have never campaigned for more recognition than Scotland was granted but at every turn we are assailed with nay-sayers who assert that England is too big for national devolution or as a part of a federal UK. Others state that they do not want another layer of politicians.  We have continually countered these opponents with valid arguments quoting the UN charter of rights for nations and peoples and practical solutions, but it falls on the deaf ears of England haters.

The main objection lies within the British government and can only be based on its unspoken desire to maintain its dominance over the rest of the UK. None-the-less I say again let us now accept that England is too big for any kind of union and so the logical conclusion is that we must have independence.

Let us also consider  how many UK MPs of English constituencies (they should not be called English as that would be an unpardonable assumption on our part) have the wider interests of England at heart? Very few! At best they are conflicted -you cannot serve 2 or even 3 masters. The Party and British interests will always come first.  Let them be put out of their misery and oblige them stand for England alone.

Let us then free ourselves from the yoke of the UK. The game’s afoot: Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George!’ "
Scilla Cullen
Campaign for an English Parliament.

The whole article can be found here:
 http://www.thecep.org.uk/

English Democrats Party have new Wiltshire County Chairman.

In the neighbouring county of Wiltshire the English Democrats have announced Robert Baggs as their new county chairman.  This quote from Mr Baggs appeared in the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald on August 4th:

" I have always been proud to be English and am looking forward to working towards furthering the aims of the English Democrats, the only political party that believes in putting England first rather than allowing it to continue to be the poor relation in Britain.
We challenge all other parties to ensure that England and the English are recognised as an independent country in the same way as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The English Democrats believe that the country's heritage is the bedrock of England's future which is currently being eroded and undermined by legislation that prioritises minority groups in Britain."

Well said Mr Baggs!  In England there should be equal rights for all not special rights for some.

Update 16th February 2018
According to a report in yesterdays Swindon Advertiser it seems that Robert Baggs has left the English Democrats Party and is now the secretary of the Swindon branch of Anne Marie Waters' For Britain party.

Russia - ". . . the most conservative, patriotic and Christian country left in Europe." A potential friend rather than enemy?

I always look forward to Peter Hitchens’s Mail on Sunday column, the latest being particularly interesting especially his suggestion that there is more freedom of speech and thought in today’s Russia than there is in the UK.  As he points out, in Britain it is possible to be driven out of a non-political job as a result of saying something politically incorrect.  Something which as Mr Hitchens writes: “simply isn’t so in Mr Putin’s Russia, now astonishingly the most conservative, patriotic and Christian country left in Europe.”

If Russia is indeed an enemy why on earth has the British Government carried through a program of excoriating defence cuts?  The Royal Navy has aircraft carriers with no aircraft and a fleet of only 19 frigates and destroyers – hardly enough to defend the Bristol Channel.  The Army could easily be seated in Wembley Stadium with room to spare while the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight has more aircraft than any Squadron in the RAF.

In such circumstances are British guarantees of military support to the nations of Eastern Europe worth the paper they are written on?  After all, Britain has 'form' in this area.   

As Poland found out in 1939, when attacked from the west by Germany there was no direct help to come from Great Britain.  Lord Boothby, Conservative MP 1924-1958, could not have described the British Government's response more precisely when he said: "We had gone to war for the defence of Poland.  In the event we did nothing to help Poland at all.  We never lifted a finger."*  When Russia invaded Poland from the east there was no British reaction whatsoever.  Considering such a record no country east of the Rhine should count on the British Government coming to their aid in the event they are attacked by Russia.

Furthermore, Britain, as it exists today, may not be around for much longer.  Brexit has led to the possibility of Northern Ireland joining the Irish State and Scotland ending the Union of 1707 as a result of seeking a second independence referendum. 

Be that as it may, Britain’s enemies today are much more likely to be found within rather than from Northern Eurasia.  Indeed, it may come to pass that England will need to make friends with conservative, patriotic and Christian countries - like Peter Hitchens’s Russia.

Here is a link to Peter Hitchens’s article of the 7^th of August. http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2016/08/silenced-by-our-boot-faced-commissars-of-thought-crime-1.html

*The World at War, Episode 2 (Thames Television Ltd, 1973).