[gordon]

Royal position ? - dignified silence if they have any sense....

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I have no problem with English nationalism at all, in fact I think if we'd had a bit more over the years the UK might be a bit more balanced.

The 'powers-that-be' in SE England have been unbelievably unkind to the Colonies / Commonwealth / Empire, to Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, but also to vast chunks of England that are not fortunate enough to be in the south-east. I've seen as much hardship and indutrial dereliction in the north-east of England as I've ever seen in Scotland.

I think unsatisfactory performance by Westminster is one factor that has to be addressed and the fundemental difference in position between Richard and myself is that I'd prefer to be a small part of a large Europe, whereas Richard appears to be more in favour of the whole of the UK being less attached to Europe. I'm not in favour of Scottish MPs voting in Westminster on issues that only involve England, but since most Westminster work affects the whole of the UK I don't see it as a huge problem. Perhaps the answer there would be a similar representative assembly just for England ?

I think we could still agree that the governance in the UK leaves a lot to be desired though, and I might suggest that it compares very unfavourably with most Scandinavian countries, for example.

Gordon

(alledged Dodge owner and Sno-Cat enthusiast, but I like Stollies too, just haven't got enough spanners)