Blog

  • Wes Streeting on Nationalism vs Patriotism

    Wes Streeting on Nationalism vs Patriotism

    Earlier today Wes Streeting delivered his resignation speech in Parliament. His thoughts on nationalism and patriotism are worth noting. I left the Government because we are in the fight of our lives against nationalism, and it is a fight that we are currently losing. Unless we change course, we risk handing the keys of No.…

  • Clarity of geographic scope in messaging

    Clarity of geographic scope in messaging

    The UK Covid-19 Inquiry found that UK Government announcements frequently failed to clarify whether lockdown rules and health measures applied across all four nations or were restricted to England alone. This lack of geographic clarity caused widespread public confusion throughout the pandemic. The UK Covid Inquiry had a section on Clarity of Geographic Scope in…

  • Andy Burnham, King in the North

    Andy Burnham, King in the North

    He’s running! Or at least jogging. So perhaps we should remind ourselves of Andy Burnham’s views on England. One of Burnham’s arguments against an English parliament is that his heritage isn’t 100% English. Seriously! No I wouldn’t have an English parliament. I’m born in Liverpool of Irish ancestry, Scottish links in the past, and close…

  • England, the Stateless Nation.

    England, the Stateless Nation.

    A great bit of writing from Elliot Bulmer explaining the annual St George’s Day doom loop of agonising over English national identity. Like Kashmiris, Kurds and Uyghurs, the English must debate the nature of their existence because England is – to borrow the term used by Austrian Chancellor Metternich to refer to pre-unification Italy –…

  • Mayors from across ‘the country’

    Mayors from across ‘the country’

    On the 12th Dec Rachel Reeves headed up to Darlington to meet with regional mayors to talk about their plans to make every part of Britain better off, and to visit Darlington Economic Campus (DEC) which was hosting the first Growth Mission Board to be held outside London. The people in this photo are not…