tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24408920339786397312024-03-07T05:43:27.418+00:00For an English RepublicBecause we need an English Republic based on the principles of Individual Freedom, Solidarity, Democracy, Collective responsibility, Co-operation, and Openess.William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-12278172261290424302006-12-18T09:37:00.000+00:002006-12-18T10:11:11.180+00:00Who's the daddy?<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1166">This is from Canadian TV </a><br /><br />Now according to the respected medical journal 'The Lancet' anything from 1% of the population to 30% (in Liverpool dirty <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">scousers</span>!) were fathered by someone other than their "father". I only just found this link, I'll do a search of the Lancet in a minute, but it ties in with what I was thinking after watching the recent Channel 4 documentary 100% English, where we saw Garry <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Bushell</span> find out he was actually part <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">African</span> and Carol Thatcher find out she was 25% Middle eastern, the funniest moments were the Woman who said you had to be able to trace your family tree back to Hastings to be classed as English threatening to sue the programme makers for revealing she was half Romany, and the mad old Diana <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Mosley</span> wannabe (who was ranting on about <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">gollywhitewogs</span>, whatever they are) and turned out to be a mixture of East Asian and Red Indian!<br /><br />I think the documentary makers being obvious metropolitan liberals were a bit <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">disappointed</span> to get sensible reactions from <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Bushell</span> and a young squaddie (25% Balkan if I remember right) who took it in their stride, the squaddie in particular making the point that seeing your true origins might make the more racist amongst us think again.<br /><br />An honourable mention must go to the patriotic woman from <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Grimsby</span> who was the most English of all (99% or something) who said that Ian Wright was a true Englishman, unlike some <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Anglo</span>-<span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Saxons</span>.<br /><br />Anyway back to my point, all these people were convinced that their families were English going back generations on all sides, DNA tests proved them wrong, which just goes to make you wonder what their Grandmothers were getting up to... It also makes me think about all this family tree searching people seem to be doing recently, <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">fair play</span> but maybe combining it with a DNA test would help to give a fuller picture.Rob Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04010734648014405167noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-46509905668886481192006-12-18T09:19:00.000+00:002006-12-18T09:27:52.910+00:00Wedding belles<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42362000/jpg/_42362947_elton203_pa.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42362000/jpg/_42362947_elton203_pa.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Matt Lucas from Little Britain has<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6188161.stm"> got married in a panto style ceremony</a><br /><br />The bit that really got me is that Phil and Peggy Mitchell of <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Eastenders</span> turned up as The Demon Prince and Fairy Godmother! That's <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">celebs</span> for you, unfortunately I can't find a pic of them so here's one of Elton and David.<br /><br />(sorry for the Heat magazine style post but my blogging partner has fled to Spain for <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Christmas</span> and won't be back to the middle of next week, I'll be picking up the slack until then)Rob Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04010734648014405167noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-79217931761095082812006-12-18T08:58:00.000+00:002006-12-18T10:43:13.395+00:00Farepack victim's letter to Clive Thompson's wifeI do not like to harp on about a subject; <span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Here is an excerpt from a letter sent to Sir Clive Thompson's wife by the dinner ladies at Taylor High School in <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Motherwell</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">So Mrs Thompson, we wish you, your husband and family no ill will or malice, in fact we hope that you all have a truly wonderful Christmas, as it will at least give us some sense of satisfaction to know that your family is at least reaping the benefits of the values that we had instilled in us as children, that if we wanted something we worked for it, and by us doing so it may not have proved very beneficial for us or our families, but, on Christmas morning, when you turn over in bed, and your husband hands you a gift, beautifully wrapped, and in the moment before you unwrap it, when you are feeling excited, and wondering what it contains, could you just stop a minute, and ask yourself, as a mother, "BY THE SWEAT OF WHO'S BROW WAS THIS GIFT PAID FOR?" and then think about some poor child, not in some third world country, but in Great Britain, who is at this same moment sitting in their not so luxurious home, and wondering why Santa didn't bring them what they had dreamed of, then open your gift and try to feel excited about it. Now tell us, would you like it to happen to your child? If your answer is no, then perhaps you are a caring mother after all, a caring mother does not only care for her own children. But if this letter has left you unaffected by the distress and disappointment caused to lots of families, by a company that your husband is chairman of, then we would say that you and your husband deserve each other, an we hope you never find yourself in this position as people will never forget it nor will they ever let you.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Yours Sincerely<br /><br /></span>More info can be found at;<br /><br />http://www.unfairpak.co.uk/<br /><br />I reckon the <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Farepack</span> victims would have been better off going to Credit Unions, a vastly under used and under rated resource for those on low incomes. There's a good <a href="http://www.liverpooltimes.net/2006/12/09/credit-union-computers-in-kirkby-robbed/">article here</a><br />on the top notch Liverpool Times website, the article on Irish credit unions is especially enlightening.Rob Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04010734648014405167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-50883194159057455742006-12-17T16:39:00.000+00:002006-12-17T16:46:21.710+00:00Don't panic Captain Mainwaring!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.battlefield-site.co.uk/lance_corporal_jones.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.battlefield-site.co.uk/lance_corporal_jones.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I've nicked this from Ken Macleod's<a href="http://kenmacleod.blogspot.com/"> Early days of a Better Nation blog</a><br /><br />I think it's well worth a look if you're interested in the contributions of socialists and anti fascists to the war effort, look beyond the pacifist nuts at the real socialists...<br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><br />'A Popular Front in arms'</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Home Guard Socialism: A vision of a People's Army</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >by Stephen Cullen</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Copyright, Allotment Hut Booklets</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Price:3.00. Available for cash, UK stamps, or sterling cheque made out to the author at 76 Hanworth Road, Warwick, CV34 5DX</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The BBC comedy series Dad's Army has probably done more to shape the popular memory of the Home Guard, Britain's WW2 volunteer defence force, than any other source. Good though the laughs are, this is a shame, because the Home Guard was a serious organization whose history has some significance today and may have more in the future. Stephen Cullen, an anti-militarist with a sound knowledge of military history, here provides a clear, well-documented and non-sectarian introduction to one aspect of the Home Guard's history that deserves to be better known: the key role of a small group of socialists and Spanish Civil War veterans in its initial organization, in the training of thousands of its members, and in the popularization of its ideas and methods to a readership that extended well beyond the Home Guard itself. Tom Wintringham's New Ways of War (1940), and 'Yank' Levy's Guerrilla Warfare (1941), both Penguin Specials, provided their readers with the political rationale and the military tactics of guerrilla warfare as a method of national and popular resistance to mechanized warfare and fascist occupation. Guerrilla Warfare is a severely practical manual: Levy's personal experience ranged from the Royal Fusiliers through the Mexican Revolution and Sandino's struggle in Nicaragua to the British battalion of the International Brigades. He drew also on the contemporary experiences of the Soviet and Chinese partisans. It's a long way from Captain Mainwaring's comical crew.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Stephen Cullen's pamphlet provides a wealth of fascinating information about Wintringham, Levy and their comrades, the 'Osterley Park socialists', and their vision of a People's Army. It leaves its readers to reflect on the curious and unsettling fact that in the national and social crisis of 1940, the one moment in the twentieth century in Britain when an armed people led by socialists was an urgent necessity and was rapidly becoming a practical reality, the great majority of Britain's radical socialists were otherwise engaged.</span>William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-87759759488361217112006-12-17T15:50:00.000+00:002006-12-17T16:12:38.767+00:00Why don't you run for parliament?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.soci.org/SCI/images/groupsection/gs3087.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.soci.org/SCI/images/groupsection/gs3087.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />That's what a mate asked me in the pub last night, when I was expanding on my political views in a Guinness fueled rant. Well first of all it's not likely a pro-English independence socialist candidate would get elected, secondly er it's not likely I'd get elected if I was running for a mainstream party, thirdly if I was democratically elected by a significant section of the local population, I wouldn't be able to take my seat. No, I'm not an undischarged bankrupt or electoral fraudster, I'm a republican and as the<a href="http://www.centreforcitizenship.org/home.html"> Centre for Citizenship say here</a> that disqualifies me from membership of our so called mother of parliaments...<br /><br />Surely if we were a real modern democratic society, <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Members of Parliament</span> would have to take a pledge of <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">allegiance</span> to the people, or <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">some such</span> formulation, not to Mrs Windsor, why should I make any extra effort to defend this woman just because her ancestors robbed more land than mine?<br /><br />Meanwhile<a href="http://www.centreforcitizenship.org/pledge.html"> here </a>is a spoof of the oath of <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">allegiance</span> that immigrants must make before getting British citizenship. Well spoof or just reading between the lines of what the oath really says? Now whatever your views on immigration, why should Liz and her parasitical intellectually sub normal family be first on the list? And why should authority derive from the crown? The only people who can grant authority is us, 'The People'.William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-69390762516026816732006-12-17T06:38:00.000+00:002006-12-17T06:56:26.112+00:00Fourth in the table!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42332000/jpg/_42332461_blindcricket203.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42332000/jpg/_42332461_blindcricket203.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.saintschat.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=130816">Fans' eye view</a> on Saints getting to fourth in the table (that's self indulgent footie news for you nonsporting types ;-) ), Ugly Inside have <a href="http://southampton.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=895&p=2&stid=8415303">this article on the possibilities of promotion</a><br /><br />Meanwhile to keep with the England theme of the blog, our blind cricketers could probably show the so called able bodied team a thing or two,<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/disability_sport/6180675.stm"> we've just lost out in the semis of the world cup</a><br /><br />I'm a bit worried about that "Proud to Patronise" banner behind them...William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-41391304842880103782006-12-16T07:48:00.000+00:002006-12-16T07:52:49.939+00:00What sort of nationalism?Another plug for toque, <a href="http://www.toque.co.uk/blog/archives/2006/06/it_was_with_hel.php">a post on what we should be aiming</a> for in English nationalism, while <a href="https://beta.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=32168152&postID=7543024940825071529">here</a> newera has a perhaps more idealistic (but no less valid) conception of what he means by it. I'd say my own view falls somewhere between the two.William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-71438853830227997402006-12-15T18:46:00.000+00:002006-12-15T18:47:50.554+00:00Oliver Postgate, blogging<a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/200612120002">For the staggers </a><br /><br />it's not just about blue string soup but that's got to be in there somewhereWilliam Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-27782156849348596062006-12-15T17:58:00.000+00:002006-12-15T18:05:08.670+00:00MP's views on the campaign for an English national anthem<a href="http://anthem4england.co.uk/modules/wordpress/">here </a><br /><br />Dear oh dear, talk about mealy mouthed politicans.<br /><a href="http://www.toque.co.uk/blog/"><br />Thanks to Little Man Toque</a> for drawing my attention to it in his reply to<a href="http://englishrepublican.blogspot.com/2006/12/english-national-anthem.html"> this post</a><br /><br />Not being convinced by the choice of words is not an excuse to not support the motion, lets establish the principle of a national anthem then argue over it's content.William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-89350503989929717702006-12-15T17:34:00.000+00:002006-12-15T17:36:54.643+00:00I'm a little angeltarget="new"><img src="http://home.att.net/%7Eslugbutter/evil/angelic.jpg" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://home.att.net/%7Eslugbutter/evil/" target="new">How evil are <i>you</i>?</a><br /><br />According to this anyway, thanks to <a href="http://notsaussure.wordpress.com/">Not Saussure for this</a><br /><br />I don't see how a gun would make me more angelicWilliam Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-18956106874729394332006-12-15T14:40:00.000+00:002006-12-15T14:44:56.177+00:00Farepack update<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/6182739.stm">Well, at least they're getting something </a><br /><br />Well done to everyone who has donated something to the victims. Still it's a shame to see the scum who stole the money in the first place (the company's owners) getting away with it.Rob Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04010734648014405167noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-73002672876950377902006-12-15T14:16:00.000+00:002006-12-15T14:21:20.493+00:00This is what I want for Christmas<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bookreporter.com/art/authorphotos/140w/lahaye-tim.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.bookreporter.com/art/authorphotos/140w/lahaye-tim.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/12/MNG8TMU1KQ1.DTL">Hey forget the bad taste </a><br /><br />You do get the chance to play for the anti christ's team, but they can't win.<br /><br />As based on the books by this bloke. No one mention transvestite serial killer lookalikes please!William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-29316418028854730122006-12-15T14:11:00.000+00:002006-12-15T14:13:22.573+00:00What a picture!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.flickr.com/144/322548293_3acd904601.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/144/322548293_3acd904601.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I don't normally go in for purile trot leftism, but this one is class.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.leninology.blogspot.com/">From here</a>William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-83587728272093741432006-12-15T13:11:00.000+00:002006-12-15T13:19:05.998+00:00Morning after pill "controversy"Frankly unlike Bel <a href="http://www.beltoday.com/200612deluded-charity-wants-unrestricted-morning-after-pill#comment-380">over here </a><br /><br />I can't see what all the fuss is about, morning after pills should be available for free when required like any other medication, subject to the same health considerations of course.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Call me ignorant, but I thought that the general aim of a charity was to benefit society."</span><br /><br />I'm not sure about ignorant, but you are wrong. Charities are supposed to benefit who or whatever they say they want to benefit, or push whatever line they say they want to push. As it happens I think they are benefiting society by putting these ideas forward.Rob Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04010734648014405167noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-688648292604054132006-12-15T11:27:00.000+00:002006-12-15T12:21:45.234+00:00Serious fraud probe dropped<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41987000/jpg/_41987580_eurofighter203ap.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41987000/jpg/_41987580_eurofighter203ap.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6181977.stm">What a surprise the government and the Serious Fraud Office have dropped the corruption probe into BAE's dealings with the Saudis </a><br /><br />The only surprising thing was that they were probing it in the first place. And to claim they are dictching the probe on grounds of 'national security' is a laugh.<br /><br />It just goes to show that where cash is concerned principles go out the window. Another issue of course is all the fuss about muslim women and the veil, the government seems to be happy to jump on the hysterical bandwagon over that, complete with one of their MPs (Jack Straw) demanding muslim women strip before he will see them in his office - and yet they are quite happy to take the money and run when it comes to dealing with a vile Islamo-fascist regime, that happens to have a lot of oil money.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.chickyog.net/2006/12/15/the-pariah-sketch/#more-1261">The excellent Chicken Yoghurt looks into the issue in more depth here, and raises some other points</a>William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-57215771246066440092006-12-15T11:18:00.000+00:002006-12-15T11:20:43.154+00:00Blogging to peak next yearAccording to <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6178611.stm">this report on the BBC </a><br /><br />It will reach a peak of around 100 million bloggers, with 200 million having already stopped.<br /><br />I wonder how long I'll keep this one up.William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-63208251233563698452006-12-15T10:33:00.000+00:002006-12-15T10:39:24.737+00:00"68% of English want own Parliament"This is from the Telegraph, cut and pasted so we don't lose it.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Britain wants UK break up, poll shows</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">By Patrick Hennessy and Melissa Kite, Sunday Telegraph, 26/11/2006</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The United Kingdom should be broken up and Scotland and England set free as independent nations, according to a huge number of voters on both sides of the border.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">A clear majority of people in both England and Scotland are in favour of full independence for Scotland, an ICM opinion poll for The Sunday Telegraph has found. Independence is backed by 52 per cent of Scots while an astonishing 59 per cent of English voters want Scotland to go it alone.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">There is also further evidence of rising English nationalism with support for the establishment of an English parliament hitting an historic high of 68 per cent amongst English voters. Almost half – 48 per cent – also want complete independence for England, divorcing itself from Wales and Northern Ireland as well. Scottish voters also back an English breakaway with 58 per cent supporting an English parliament with similar powers to the Scottish one.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The poll comes only months before the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union between England and Scotland and will worry all three main political parties. None of them favours Scottish independence, but all have begun internal debates on the future of the constitution.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The dramatic findings came as Gordon Brown, the favourite to succeed Tony Blair as Prime Minister, delivered an impassioned defence of the Union at Labour's Scottish conference in Oban yesterday.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">In an attack on the Scottish National Party, against whom Labour will fight a bitter battle for control of the Edinburgh-based parliament next May, the Chancellor claimed: "We should never let the Nationalists deceive people into believing that you can break up the United Kingdom."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The ICM poll told a very different story, however, with 60 per cent of English voters complaining that higher levels of public spending per head of the population in Scotland were "unjustified", compared to 28 per cent claiming they were justified. Even among Scots, 36 per cent said the system was unfair, with only 51 per cent supporting it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Voters also had serious concerns about the so-called West Lothian Question, the ability of Scottish MPs at Westminster to vote on solely English matters while many purely Scottish issues are decided in Edinburgh. Sixty-two per cent of English voters want Scottish MPs stripped of this right and even 46 per cent of Scots agreed. The poll showed that the English are more likely to think of themselves as British than the Scots are. Only 16 per cent of English people said they were "English, not British", compared to 26 per cent of Scots who said they were "Scottish, not British."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">In the sporting arena, 70 per cent of English people said they would support a Scottish team playing football or rugby against a nation other than England. But, when the question was put to Scots, only 48 per cent said they would back England with 34 per cent supporting their opponents, no matter which country it was.<br /></span><br />While I certainly don't agree with all the reasons given in the article why English people want independence or a parliament, I can't disagree with the conclusions. We want our own government, we want to be recognised as a nation in our own right - and the only people trying to stop us are the political establishment.<br /><br />This isn't about England Vs Scotland, but about the people Vs the politicans.<br /><br />Apologies for the old news, I'll make sure my second post is more upto date.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span>Rob Singhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04010734648014405167noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-30839336221009340732006-12-15T08:27:00.000+00:002006-12-15T08:31:05.718+00:00I'm a geek I admit itThanks to the Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe for <a href="http://adelaidegreenporridgecafe.blogspot.com/2006/12/supertrooper-transporter-things-with.html">this </a><br /><br />Words fail me...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.merzo.net/index.html">Direct link here</a>William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-16855945551780364632006-12-15T07:44:00.000+00:002006-12-15T07:51:25.828+00:00Border issue barrier to split?<a href="http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1861322006">Scaremongering in the 'Scotsman' today</a><br /><br />What a load of cobblers, as Alex Salmond points out border controls and migration between the UK and the Irish Republic have hardly been strictly enforced even during the height of the troubles. All Scotland would have to do is remain part of the 'Common Travel Area' that involves Britain and Ireland. My wife's family are Irish catholics with members living on both sides of the border, most of them don't even bother with dual citizenship it's just not an issue for them, and I don't see why it would be between to other independent states.William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-68483132078594967482006-12-15T07:26:00.000+00:002006-12-15T07:33:50.316+00:00Bumper crop of blueberries found on Mars<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://space.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn10802/dn10802-1_250.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://space.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn10802/dn10802-1_250.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />According to <a href="http://space.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn10802&feedId=online-news_rss20">New Scientist here </a><br /><br />Alright so not quite as exciting as the headline made it sound, like everything when it comes to Mars exploration, hey we've found canals - no, sorry they're giant cracks, hey there's green vegetation - sorry it was a stain on the telescope or something, hey we've found a giant face - oops no sorry shadow and crater, hey we've found a rock in Antarctica that's from Mars and got fossilised microbes - ha! I'm not falling for that again, the microbes could from Earth right?<br /><br />You've cried wolf too many times Mars experts...William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-71576975362486649912006-12-14T20:33:00.000+00:002006-12-14T20:43:40.657+00:00Blogpower and the end of futurism...<a href="http://www.blather.net/zeitgeist/archives/2006/12/bruce_sterling_the_end_of_futu.html">I found this on blather, the excellent Dublin site </a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Blather interviewee Bruce Sterling pens his last wired.com article:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> "The future of the Internet lies not with institutions but with individuals. Low-cost connections will proliferate, encouraging creativity, collaboration, and telecommuting. The Net itself will recede into the background. If you're under 21, you likely don't care much about any supposed difference between virtual and actual, online and off. That's because the two realms are penetrating each other; Google Earth mingles with Google Maps, and daily life shows up on Flickr. Like the real world, the Net will be increasingly international and decreasingly reliant on English. It will be wrapped in a Chinese kung fu outfit, intoned in an Indian accent, oozing Brazilian sex appeal."<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.12/posts.html?pg=6"><span>Here's the full article</span></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /></span><span>This seems to tie in to some of the ideas <a href="http://defendingtheblog.blogspot.com/">expressed here by James Higham and friends...</a><br /><br />the idea of co-operation between a loose network of small blogs...<br /><br />I'd even go as far as wondering whether the internet itself is "dead" - do people actually still spend hours browsing randomly like they used to? I know that for the last couple of years I've pretty much only gone to sites I already know, or on the recomendations of others.<br /></span>William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-319450746285664712006-12-14T16:32:00.000+00:002006-12-14T16:33:51.840+00:00Our jolly scottish cousins<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/2090/4140/223/gse_multipart32091.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/2090/4140/223/gse_multipart32091.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>This picture shows what fun it must be attending socialist rallys in Scotland... Hmmm... OKWilliam Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-43257733698431250002006-12-14T15:44:00.000+00:002006-12-14T18:53:25.571+00:00Why choose that flag then?Just in case anyone is wondering what that green and red flag with a white dragon is all about... The honest answer is that I like designing flags. The political answer is that while I don't have a problem with the English flag, I've got a sticker on my car after all - I reckon the ideal of English Republicanism needs another symbol, one that can be exclusively associated with it.<br /><br />Well the White dragon allegedly comes from King Alfred's battle standard and is an excepted symbol of ango-saxon England, also white is the colour of peace, not surrender contrary to popular belief - and a white dragon could symbolise a peaceful nation that is prepared to defend itself.<br /><br />Pictures in books show 17th century revolutionaries like the diggers and levellers with green flags - green was the colour of 18th century radicals because it was the "commoners' colour" and therefore seen as democratic. There's also all the images and descriptions of 'A green and pleasant land' of course.<br /><br />Red needs no introduction as the colour of the international working class and labour movement.<br /><br />Also Red and White are the colours of the English flag, and the Welsh flag has a similar design.<br /><br />I propose that any lefties or democrats that support the campaigns for an English parliament or for outright independence print off copies of this design, for stickers, posters or leaflets.<br /><br />If you want - and stick the picture on your blogs and websites. Maybe it'll catch on.William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-58931868774809663342006-12-14T15:32:00.000+00:002006-12-14T18:52:13.379+00:00Transistria's president returned to office<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ce/Igorsmirnov.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ce/Igorsmirnov.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistrian_presidential_election%2C_2006">Wikipedia article here </a><br /><br />The happy chappie is Igor Smirnov of the Respublika party. He has been the President of this internationally unrecognised 'democracy' since 1990.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /></span>According to Wikipedia, this little nation despite not really existing has more names than most 'real' countries!<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />"Other names in use</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">In Russian, the names used for Transnistria are always consistently either Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica or Pridnestrovie (the two official names, long- and short- respectively). However, in English a wide variety of names have been used to describe the region, among them: Trans-Dniester, Transdnistria, Transdniestria, Transdniestr, Trans-Dniestria, Transdniester, Transniestria, Transdnestr, also Trans-Dnjestr and Trans-Dnjester.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The government of Moldova refers to the region Stînga Nistrului, which means "Left Bank of the Nistru" although in in the Moldovan Latin script, the official name is Republica Moldovenească Nistreană (which translates to English as "Nistrian Moldovan Republic"). The European Court of Human Rights used the name Moldavian Republic of Transdniestria or Moldovan Republic of Transnistria (MRT), while OSCE and others sometimes refer to it as the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic (TMR). Author Charles King, in his book The Moldovans, uses the names Dnestr Republic and Dnestr Moldovan Republic (DMR)."</span>William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2440892033978639731.post-3946958289907085082006-12-14T13:19:00.000+00:002006-12-14T13:21:08.666+00:00Worlds tallest man saves dolphins<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42351000/jpg/_42351709_arm2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42351000/jpg/_42351709_arm2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6178659.stm">Good lad </a><br /><br />I wouldn't want to be accused of parochialism!William Lovetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428339080349900508noreply@blogger.com0