Jack Straw, the British Minister for Justice and dead-ringer for the Demon Headmaster, has accused the Tories of trying to make English people jealous of Scotland.
Earlier in the week Jack Straw told English MPs to show restraint on the English question in an unintended admission that English MPs are getting considerable flack from their constituents on the subject.
Once again, by trying to shrug off or ignore the West Lothian Question, Jack Straw admits that it is a problem.
So what is there for English people to be jealous about? How about we all pay the same taxes put the Scots get £1,500 per head more in public spending than we do in England? What about the free care for the eldery, free cancer drugs that we can’t have in England, free alzheimers drugs that we can’t have in England, free central heating for the elderly and free travel for the elderly on public transport any time of the day anywhere in Scotland paid for by the English taxpayer? How about having legal and constitutional recognition of their nation instead of having it broken up into artificial regions and called “the regions of Britain”? What about having your own government with politicians elected just to look after your country. How about being able to elect an MP that can completely balls up education, health, housing, environment and transport in another country but who can’t do the same in your own country? What about having your own representation in Federal Europe as well as being represented by the British government? I could go on for another few pages but I won’t.
Can’t see any reason why we’d be jealous, can you?
And to think that Blunkett came out all favourable about the growing english national identity a mere two years ago, claiming it was an achievement of New Labour. Well, he was right, in a way…
The only reason why Scotland and Wales are afforded a fuller welfare state is that though they’d like to do away with it completely, keeping bits of it and expanding provision in the smaller nations of the UK is a way of keeping the whole together. They might have to backpeddle on some of this if they want to hold the union together…
I sincerely hope that nursing staff in England are offered the same deal as their colleagues in Wales and Scotland and that all will be afforded a pay increase above the rate of inflation…
So Mr John Piss/Whitaker Straw is now saying that we are jealous, as well as potentially ‘very violent’. Just who may I ask, are the prats in Blackburn who voted for him?
“Can’t see any reason why we’d be jealous, can you?”
I don’t suppose the nurses in England can either.
Quote: “It comes as Wales follows the lead of Scotland by paying the 2.5% in full.
Nurses in England are threatening industrial action after getting 1.5% now and an extra 1% in the autumn.”
See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6277450.stm
It looks as if nursing staff will be taking action — but not any action that will harm patients, I must add. I think that if England had a devolved government and a fair voting system, at the very least, then the nurses would not have to go this far — and nor would other public sector workers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6896369.stm has more details, but I will say that it is a good sign that Wales and Scotland have been forced to break Brown’s attempts to impose below 2% “increases” on public sector workers. The nurses ammount in England is really 1.9%, and Unison in Scotland could strike over the 2.5% rise — because even that is well below the level of infation.