There should be an HMS Duke of Edinburgh!

I had the letter below published in the Western Daily Press on June 3.

Name frigate after Duke of Edinburgh.

The Royal Navy’s new Type 31 frigates will be known as the Inspiration Class.

The Duke of Edinburgh was an inspiration in peace and war. I suggest it would be especially appropriate to name one of these vessels after him.

Steve Wright, Somerset.

I was flattered to see that my letter brought forth this interesting response from Chris Cope, published in the Western Daily Press on June 8.

Navy has already chosen frigate names.

Whereas I agree with Steve Wright (June 3) that one of the type 31 frigates should be named after Prince Philip, unfortunately, the Navy has already selected the names, which have been approved by the Queen.

And apart from the last two, a very uninspiring selection of names they are: Active, Venturer, Cambeltown, Bulldog and Formidable.

However, seeing that these £400million frigates will be lightly armed – not much reassurance if you are serving on board and find you have been despatched to the Persian Gulf – even Bulldog and Formidable hardly seem appropriate.  As for HMS Duke of Edinburgh, the 7 type 26 frigate will be HMS Edinburgh.

Chris Cope, Political Correspondent, Warship World Magazine.

 

I did know that the type 31 frigates had already been named, and that a type 26 frigate is to be named HMS Edinburgh, but it is not unknown for the RN to change the name of a ship before, and sometimes after, launch.

Be that as it may, Mr Cope’s comments on their names and designed armament are interesting – and illuminating!

Incidentally, both these letters were also published in the Western Morning News.

Brexit came too late for the Cadburys factory at Keynsham in North East Somerset. A letter in the WDP.

A letter in the Western Daily Press on February 6.

Cadbury move too late for SW factory.

It has been reported that Cadburys is bringing Dairy Milk chocolate bar production back from Germany and other sites in Europe to its Bournville site in Birmingham.  Very good news for workers in the Midlands, but we should spare a thought for those who were employed at the Cadburys factory in Keynsham near Bristol who lost their jobs in 2011 when the factory was closed and the machinery shipped to Poland.  Brexit came too late for them.

S.W.

Ilminster, Somerset.

Parliamentarians flummoxed by the possibility of a post-Brexit traffic jam at the Port of Dover.

I had a letter published in the Western Daily Press on September 19th.  The editor gave it a rather odd title, but otherwise it was un-edited.

Brexit needs help of our world war heroes.


After over two years of slaughter World War One had reached a stalemate when David Lloyd George became Prime Minister in December 1916.  With ministers of the calibre of Winston Churchill, Arthur Balfour, Andrew Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin serving in his Coalition Government he refocused the nation’s efforts and set Britain on the road to a victory achieved less than two years later. 

Today, nearly three and a half years after the people voted for Brexit, with modern communications and other technologies Lloyd George and his Government could not have dreamed of, our politicians seem totally flummoxed by the possibility of having to deal with a post-Brexit traffic jam at the Port of Dover. 

Thank goodness none of our present crop of shallow parliamentarians was in office when this country was involved in a World War.

S.W.
Ilminster, Somerset.

After 46 years in the European Union the United Kingdom is no longer a bastion of democracy.

My  letter in the Western Daily Press September 16th.

UK no longer a bastion of democracy.


What nation has a Parliament which refuses to uphold a referendum result, does not allow a General Election, passes a law which could see a Prime Minister sent to prison, and votes to intercept the private communications of political staff? 

Communist China or perhaps Putin’s Russia?  Maybe a failed Third World state or a despotic Middle Eastern regime?


No - the United Kingdom.  It is obviously no longer a shining example of democracy or a bastion of personal privacy.  Being a member of the European Union for 46 years has brought the nation to this.

S.W.
Ilminster. 

Update 29 September. 

Apparently this letter also appeared in the Bath Chronicle on September 19.

The EU Referendum, Brexit and the broken promises of Labour and Conservative politicians.

After some considerable time I have resumed writing letters to the press.  I had the one below published in the Western Daily Press today, September 12th.

Promise not worth paper it's written on.

It’s now over three years since people voted to leave the European Union, and over two years since a General Election in which both the Labour and Conservative parties pledged that they would uphold the 2016 referendum.  Events have proved that party manifestos and leaflets containing such promises were not worth the paper they were written on.
With the Battle of Britain Day approaching perhaps I might take the liberty of saying, in the style of Churchill: “Never in the field of democratic politics have so many been deceived by so few”.  

S.W. 
Ilminster, Somerset

Brexit Party MEPs turning their backs on the EU anthem was crass, but comparing them to Nazis is preposterous.

The act by Brexit Party MEPs of turning their backs as the EU anthem was played at the opening ceremony of the European Parliament was crass, but comparing it to how the Nazis behaved in the Reichstag is preposterous.

One moment Brexiteers are accused of being “Little Englanders”, the next Nazis.  However, I doubt Nigel Farage and his Brexit Party want to invade Poland and France, march on Moscow, conquer the world and build concentration camps on Dartmoor!

Gavin Esler, former BBC Newsnight presenter and EU Parliamentary candidate for Change UK, said the Brexit Party had ‘shamelessly copied the Nazi Party’, on the basis that the Nazis once turned their backs on a Jewish speaker in the Reichstag in 1930.

Mr Esler is a member of the Remainer elite that are absolutely committed to stopping Brexit, even if the EU Referendum result of 2016 has to be set aside and faith in democracy shattered as a result.

Be that as it may, I sent the letter below to the Western Daily Press, I haven’t seen it published yet!

Dear Sir,

Brexit Party MEPs turning their backs as the EU anthem was played at the opening ceremony of the European Parliament was a boorish act, but not as boorish as Liberal Democrat MEPs wearing yellow vests emblazoned with “Bollocks to Brexit".  MEPs, whether Brexiteers or Remainers, should set high standards of civility, and not exhibit such oafish behaviour. 


Update September 9th.

It seems the above letter found its way into the Western Morning News on July 8th!  

No-Deal Brexit. Keep calm and carry on!

Since the EU Referendum vote the Remainiacs in the British Political and Media Establishments have promoted apocalyptic forecasts that there will be food, water, fuel and medicine shortages if Britain leaves the European Union without a “deal”.  Now I read that the government is considering imposing martial law and a curfew if there is a no-deal Brexit.   I can only assume that such extreme measures will be in order to protect the population from 650 hysterical and frenzied MPs running amok?

Incidentally, the British Army has been reduced in numbers until it is now considerably smaller than the Police Force.  That being the case I doubt we shall see an army checkpoint on every street corner!

When the politicians panic the vast majority of the population will keep calm and carry on!

Update 16th February.
I am pleased to report that a slightly modified version of the above post was published on the 2nd of February in the letters column of the Western Daily Press. 

Speeding through a tunnel at Stonehenge, but crawling through South Somerset. The future on the A303?

The consequences of building a tunnel at Stonehenge and a garden town between Yeovilton and Babcary.

The £1.6 billion plan to bury a new dual carriage way section of the A303 in a tunnel at Stonehenge (Western Daily Press, February 8) may or may not come to fruition, but if it does I doubt it will improve journey times to and from the south west.  I suspect any time saved by a road tunnel at Stonehenge will be lost due the proposed new “garden town” of 15,000 homes straddling the A303 between Yeovilton and Babcary.  It will bring with it thousands of additional car owners many of whom will, of necessity, need to use the A303. 

If both plans are realised road traffic will hurtle westward past Stonehenge only to come to a crawl 40 miles down the road as citizens of South Somerset’s new “garden town” join the A303 while going about their daily affairs. 

Meanwhile, according to the 2017 Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance Survey from the Road Surface Treatments Association there is a national backlog of pothole repairs costing £12.6 billion.  Furthermore, the RAC Foundation reports almost 3,500 council maintained road bridges are sub-standard and £934 million would need to be spent restoring them.  Rather than use £1.6 billion trying to “reconnect the World Heritage landscape” at Stonehenge, surely it would be a better use of taxpayers’ money to spend it on helping maintain existing roads.

Palace of Westminster should be given to The National Trust suggests Darren Jones, Bristol North West MP.

On January 10th an article appeared in the Western Daily Press entitled "MP suggests Parliament is for visitors".  Here are the first two paragraphs:

"MPs should move out of Parliament for good so it can be turned into National Trust visitor attraction, a West Country MP has suggested.  Labour's Darren Jones, the Bristol North west MP, says the country's politicians should swap the ornate 19th century Palace of Westminster for a building that can meet modern demands - while also pub-free.

The Government has a difficult decision to make over how the multi-billion-pound refurbishment of the Houses of Parliament is carried out, with a temporary "decant" for MPs being suggested while the work takes place."

The article prompted me to pen the following letter which was published in the Western Daily Press on January 17th. 

"I agree with Darren Jones, Labour MP for Bristol North West, when he suggests that MPs should abandon the Palace of Westminster for a building that could meet modern standards (Western Daily Press, January 10).  However, I am not so sure his proposal to hand the old building to the National Trust as a visitor attraction would be welcomed by that organisation.  The multi-billion-pound cost of refurbishment and subsequent maintenance might well be too much for the National Trust to bear.

Would it not be just as well to allow the Palace of Westminster to gracefully fall into a state of picturesque ruin on the banks of the River Thames?  Let it become a monument to those politicians whose decisions created and then lost the 'empire on which the sun never set'."

S.W., Ilminster, Somerset.

NHS car parking charges in England. A tax on the sick?

I had this letter published in the Western Daily Press on January 3rd.  The editor gave it the headline "English patients face unfair 'tax on sick'."

"We supposedly live in a United Kingdom where one would assume all its citizens are treated equally, but that appears not to be the case.  NHS hospitals in England made a record £174million last year from charging for car parking, but such charges are not the same across the UK.  While car parking charges have been largely abolished in Scotland and Wales this "tax on the sick" is still levied in England.  The same situation exists with regard to NHS prescriptions; only the English have to pay. 

Since Devolution, MPs representing English constituencies seem to have entered a fog of indifference at Westminster, making them either unwilling or unable to recognise and remedy these and other inequalities.  Create a Parliament for England and its members could no doubt be just as vigorous and successful in obtaining rights, benefits and opportunities for their constituents as those sitting in the Scottish Parliament, Welsh and Northern Irish Assemblies are for theirs."  

S,W.
Ilminster, Somerset.

Funding setback for Somerset's Wellington Monument. The National Trust should take advice from Scotland.

Take funding advice from Scotland.

"You have to admire the way our Scottish neighbours manage to extract finance from British institutions.  The Barnett formula enables the Scots to obtain more funds, per head, from the British Treasury than is given to the English.  That situation is mirrored by the Big Lottery Fund as the Scots receive £14.04 per head, the English £9.32.

In such circumstances it is hardly surprising that the National Trust failed, for the second time, in their application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the £2 million required to initiate much needed repairs to the Wellington Monument, that striking landmark on the Blackdown Hills (“Fund setback for West monument”, Western Daily Press, Oct 4) .  Perhaps the National Trust in England should ask its counterpart in Scotland for advice.  The Scots certainly seem to have the knack for obtaining money from British national institutions."

S.W., Ilminster, Somerset

The letter above was published in the Western Daily Press on October 13th.  Reading it and the Daily Mail article below (see link) illustrates how our neighbours in Scotland manage to extract what could be said to be more than their fair share of UK finance.  It seems that England always comes last in the queue, behind Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as Scotland.  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4867000/Scots-win-lotto-English-charities-50-head.html

Paul Mason, Labour supporter and former BBC journalist, warns the first six months of a Corbyn government would be "like Stalingrad".

This is an extract from an article entitled "Jeremy Corbyn: Its right to plan for a run on the pound" published on the BBC News website on 26th September.

"Labour's last election manifesto contained pledges to bring rail and water companies and Royal Mail back into public ownership as well as a number of other large spending commitments - to be funded by borrowing and higher taxes on business and the better-off.
Speaking on Monday, Mr McDonnell said a future Labour administration would not be "traditional" and "people want to know we're ready, and they want to know we've got a response to anything that could happen".
Labour, he argued, must "scenario-plan" for all kinds of potential challenges it might face in government "bringing the relevant expertise together at every level to talk through what happens if there is such and such a reaction".
"What if there is a run on the pound? What happens if there is this concept of capital flight? I don't think there will be, but you never know.
"We've got to start work now… how exactly are we going to manage these industries when we take them back into public ownership? And let's start doing the detailed work now. Let's start doing the consultations with consumers or passengers or whoever and also with local authorities and local councils or whoever."
A Labour spokesman said: "This was an exercise not done by us but by members. The scenarios were to deal with numerous events such as national disasters and acts of terror that could occur under any government."
Speaking at the same conference fringe event as Mr McDonnell, former broadcaster Paul Mason warned the first six months of a Corbyn government would be "like Stalingrad", with attacks from the establishment." 

I had this letter commenting on the views of Mr McDonnell and Mr Mason published in the Western Daily Press on October 10th.


Would Corbyn be a Nazi or a Communist?
During the recent Labour party conference John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said that a future Labour administration should have contingency plans for capital flight and a run on the pound.  I admire his honesty and forward planning in preparing for such an economic future under Labour.

Speaking at the same event as Mr McDonnell, Paul Mason, Labour supporter and former BBC journalist, painted a near apocalyptic picture of life with Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister.  He said the first six months would be “like Stalingrad”.  In Mr Mason’s scenario I wonder which role Mr Corbyn’s Labour would be playing, Hitler’s Nazis or Stalin’s Communists?

S.W.,

Ilminster, Somerset

I would have thought Leningrad a better analogy for a Labour government under siege, but who am I to question someone with such left-wing credentials as Mr Mason? 
Incidentally, the title for my letter was not mine. It was chosen by the WDP's letters editor.

   

Rural crime rockets. We are at "tipping point" say Avon and Somerset Police Chiefs.

Last month the front page headline of the Western Daily Press (August 14) informed us that “Rural crime rockets” in Somerset and Gloucestershire.  Next I read Martin Hesp’s column (Western Daily Press, September 6) in which he reveals that one of his farming friends told him: “There seems to be a wave of rural crime going on . . .".  Now the Western Daily Press (September 19), reports that Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens and Chief Constable Andy Marsh warn that Avon and Somerset Police are at “tipping point” as a result of having 655 fewer officers than in 2010.  They say that resources cannot be stretched any further.

The reduction in manpower has gone hand in hand with the closure of rural police stations.  In such circumstances it is hardly surprising that rural crime has rocketed. 

In Ilminster the former police station is being converted into 7 apartments.  The building will be named, appropriately, Peel Court.  Regrettably there will no longer be any “peelers” on the premises. 

The former police station in Ilminster, South Somerset is being converted into 7 apartments.  The building will be named, appropriately, Peel Court.   

'New £1.6 billion tunnel plan to bury the A303 at Stonehenge.' states the Western Daily Press front page.

The Western Daily Press front page headline on the 12th September announced the £1.6 billion plan to bury the A303 40 metres below ground in a 1.8 mile long tunnel at Stonehenge.

The WDP reported that The National Trust, Historic England and English Heritage said in a joint statement:
"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reunite this ancient landscape which is currently severed by a huge volume of road traffic.  We welcome the amended route and believe it can, if designed and located with the utmost care, deliver a lasting legacy for the world heritage site and restore peace and tranquillity to the Stonehenge landscape."

Roads minister Jesse Norman said it would provide an economic boost to the entire South West by improving traffic flow between London and the region.

I am not convinced it is worth spending £1.6 billion, the cost of 3 NHS hospitals, in order to cut 15 or 20 minutes off the journey times of those in London and the South East who wish to hurtle through Wiltshire and Somerset on their way to and from their holiday destinations in Devonshire and Cornwall.

Furthermore, it does not seem fair to deprive travellers on the A303 of a glimpse of England's most historic monument.

I had this brief letter, written only partly in jest, published in the Western Daily Press on the 14th September.

It may be cheaper to move Stonehenge!

The cost of building a 1.8 mile tunnel to bury the A303 out of sight of Stonehenge is reported to be an eye watering £1.6 billion – almost £1 billion per mile.  I wonder if it may be less expensive to dig up and move Stonehenge instead?

S.W., Ilminster. 

"Britain braced for post Brexit food shortage" says front page headline of Western Daily Press. A reader responds!

The alarmist front page headline “Britain braced for post Brexit food shortage” in the Western Daily Press on July 17 was followed up on page 2 by the main article, by Adam Bennett, with an equally scaremongering title “Food chaos predicted in new report”.  Apparently “prices for imported fruit, vegetables, meat and fish will rise by up to 22 per cent.”  The authors of the report also suggest “. . . even if Britain opts for a soft Brexit food supply, agriculture and even the environment will be adversely affected”.  One of them was also quoted as saying: “There is solid evidence about vulnerabilities ranging from diet-related ill-health to ecosystems stress.”

So where did this doom-laden report come from?  It was produced by professors from the universities of Sussex, London and Cardiff - hardly establishments bursting at the seams with enthusiastic Brexiteers – and published by the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex.

As for the political climate at the University of Sussex, this article in The Telegraph is revealing: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2017/02/21/right-wing-student-sussex-professors-think-problem-needs-dealing/

Be that as it may, this letter appeared in the Western Daily Press on July 26.  It suggests even a post Brexit food shortage could have beneficial consequences.

Brexit could be the answer to obesity.

Earlier this year a House of Commons briefing paper stated that 27 percent of adults in England are obese and a further 36 percent are overweight.  The NHS UK website tells us that Britain is “the fat man of Europe” and “more than half the population could be obese by 2050”.  Furthermore, the Obesity Health Alliance, which represents healthcare professionals and public health specialists, stated in a recent letter to The Guardian that: “The evidence is clear that obesity racks up a staggering bill: at least £5 billion to the NHS and tens of billions to society every year.”

So when I read the alarmist front page headline “Britain braced for post Brexit food shortage” (Western Daily Press, July 17), although it initially conjured up visions of queues and ration books, I began to wonder if such a shortage might actually be beneficial.  After all, in World War Two when food was in short supply, unhealthy foods were reduced or simply not available and everyone, rich and poor alike, ate a much better balanced diet.  People lost weight and were healthier because of it.

If leaving the EU means having to tighten our belts and eat a little more frugally is that such a bad thing?  Brexit could well prove good for the nation’s health, the NHS and our finances.

S.W.

Ilminster, Somerset

Labour's policy on writing off student debt. Clive Lavelle of the English Democrats gives his view.

Clive Lavelle of the English Democrats comments on the Labour Party's change of tune on university tuition fees and student debt, apparently an election promise has now become an "ambition".  The letter below was published in the Western Daily Press on July 12th.

Labour changes tune on university tuition.

I heard the Labour Party’s shadow education minister going on about her party’s “ambition” to write off student debt.  A few weeks ago, during the election campaign, this was going to happen.  Now they’ve discovered that their “ambition” will cost £100 billion and they don’t know where they can find such an eye-watering sum.

She also alluded to a student debt “crisis”, claiming that this was “unacceptable”.  How short these people’s memories (conveniently) are.

University tuition fees were foisted on to English students by Tony Blair’s Labour government.  Despite many of his own MPs voting against it, the measure was railroaded through, thanks to the votes of Scottish Labour MPs who knew that their compatriots would be accessing free university places, paid for by the English taxpayer, through the Barnett Formula.

Clive Lavelle

Weston-super-Mare English Democrats

Temple Meads to Bristol Airport rail link project "would not be straightforward".

As a former Bristolian I was interested to read the article “Airport rail link would boost West economy” (Western Daily Press, June 25).  Bristol Airport chief executive Robert Sinclair was quoted as saying: “such a project would not be straightforward”.  I think that is putting it mildly!

Building a railway from sea level at Temple Meads to Bristol Airport, which at 623ft is the second highest civil airport in the UK, would be a huge feat of engineering and enormously expensive.  Barrow Hill and Backwell Hill are formidable natural obstacles to overcome even before reaching the Lulsgate massif itself.

It is worth remembering that Brunel chose to avoid this barrier of hills when building the Bristol to Exeter railway.  If today’s railway engineers and administrators find reopening  the Portishead to Bristol railway for passenger trains a difficult and lengthy process, building a rail link up to Bristol Airport would, I suspect, be quite beyond them.

Now that the South Bristol Link Road meets the A38 it might be wise to put aside ambitious schemes for a Temple Meads/Airport rail link.  Travellers heading for the Airport are just as well served by hopping off their train and jumping on a coach.
  

This view from Winters Lane, which runs alongside the western end of Bristol Airport's runway, illustrates how high up the Airport actually is.  One can see Clevedon, the Severn Estuary and the Welsh Hills beyond.

Willow Man near Bridgwater in Somerset - and other 'carbuncles' and 'blots' on the West of England's landscape.

I wrote a letter in response to the article 'Battle to stop 'carbuncle' at author's isle' by Tom Bevan in the Western Daily Press on June 17th.  The article begins: "Thousands of people have signed a petition to stop a 'concrete carbuncle' being built on an island made famous by writer Agatha Christie. 
The owners of the luxury hotel on Burgh Island - where rooms cost from £500 a night - want to build a pool house on a rocky outcrop.
It will be linked by a bridge spanning the water in between, known as Mermaid Pool.
The controversial design - the result of an architectural completion - was approved last month by planners on South Hams District Council in South Devon.
But the project has appalled opponents who say it will "desecrate" an area of outstanding natural beauty and a protest petition has already received 2,000 signatures." 

My letter was published on June 21st.

Many carbuncles throughout the West.

I sympathise with those campaigners who are trying to prevent a ‘carbuncle’ being built on the picturesque Burgh Island (Western Daily Press, June 17).  Unfortunately such ‘carbuncles’ have been known to pass through the planning system.

Further east along the Devonshire coast planners have allowed a new development of luxury apartments on The Esplanade in Seaton.  Its modern style appears entirely out of keeping with the rest of the sea front.

However, the proposed structure on Burgh Island is modest compared to Verity, the grotesque 66ft high, 25 tonne bronze monstrosity which dominates the charming harbour at Ilfracombe.

Somerset has its own ‘carbuncle’, or should that be ‘blot on the landscape’, in the form of Willow Man on the eastern fringe of Bridgwater.  At twilight this spectral figure appears malevolently poised as if to leap the M5 and hunt the ghosts of Monmouth’s rebel army across Sedgemoor.

I am sure there are many who see beauty and grace in these examples of modern art and architecture, but I am obviously not one of them.

Photographs to follow!

Update 3rd September 2017

Willow man looms phantom-like above the tree-line alongside the M5.

Robin Tilbrook, English Democrats Chairman and General Election Candidate, appears on The Sunday Politics.

Robin Tilbrook, Chairman of the English Democrats and candidate for Clacton in the General Election, was on the BBC's Sunday Politics East last weekend.  He appeared with four of the other candidates and, when he was allowed to speak, made some very good points on Brexit, immigration and the aftermath of the dreadful bombing in Manchester.

Here is a link to the programme.  The relevant piece is 39 minutes in.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08rn7kc/sunday-politics-east-28052017

I particularly liked his comment on the Prime Minister having discussions with the leaders of the devolved nations on Brexit while England, being under British direct rule, is unrepresented.

I had this letter  on the subject published last year in the Western Daily Press.

 “The Prime Minister has just hosted a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Council in London.  It was the first of what will be regular talks on the Brexit process.

Representing the Scots was their First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.  Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns  together with Carwyn Jones the First Minister of the Welsh Government were there to stand up for Wales.  The Northern Irish had the luxury of both their Assembly Leader Arlene Foster and her deputy Martin McGuinness to represent them.

I wonder who spoke on behalf of the people of England”

Veronica Newman of the Campaign for an English Parliament suggests size is no impediment to the case for an English Parliament.

Veronica Newman of the Campaign for an English Parliament had an excellent letter in the Western Daily Press on April 29th.  It was a rebuttal of a previous correspondent’s claim that due to the size and population of England an English Parliament would lead to an unstable United Kingdom.  The letter contains pertinent and illuminating facts about some of the states making up the federal systems of other major nations.

Below is Veronica Newman’s letter as published in the Western Daily Press.

Size not important in democracy fight.

In his letter of April 21, Robert Craig asserts that there will never be an English Parliament as England would need to become independent from the UK and due to the size of England’s population a federation would be unstable.

I would like to draw Robert Craig’s attention to some countries which currently have federal systems that function perfectly well even with states of very different sized populations:

USA – Largest state California population 39,250,017, smallest state Alaska population 739,828

Canada – Largest state Ontario population 13,448,494, smallest state Yukon population 35,874

Germany – Largest state North-Rhine Westphalia population 17,904,65, smallest state Saarland population 1,027,700

I venture to suggest that size does not matter in the case of a parliament for England, in a federation it would be unable to dictate to the other states and there is no prerequisite for independence.

Veronica Newman
The Campaign for an English Parliament
Trowbridge, Wiltshire

As a further example I would add Australia to Veronica Newman’s list.  Of its six States, New South Wales has the largest population at 7,757,800, which is 32% of the nation’s population while Tasmania, the smallest, has a population of 519,800 making up only 2% of the total.