I wonder how long it can go on for. We started a million miles away from where we are today and for much of that time we were branded as a fringe special interest group battling against self created phantasms. All made up. All ridiculous. All crazy nationalists. We were, to all intents and purposes, coming over all unnecessary.
The tactics used by our professional political opponents, the same ones who have been all to eager to offer to the other British nations what we want for ourselves, have ranged from utter contempt through to unfounded and hurtful accusations of racism.
Nevertheless, up the beach we came. Up the beach only to face a vicious and sustained barrage directed at us by the media. Uneducated, reactionary and incendiary ordnance landed all around in a way that can only be directed at the people of England … too busy, too disorganised, too fragmented at the start to do much more than gape in utter astonishment at the sheer volume of nonsense that we were expected to take …. in silence.
But the silence never quite came. Onward we went, picking up momentum and support along the way. Suddenly we were being treated to media on media incidents and politician on politician skirmishes. Of course the media showed more guts and were willing to stick to their guns far longer than the cowardly classes were.
And now we find ourselves on the actual battlefield. And if we look hard enough … there in the distance … we can see their bunker.
Why is there no English parliament? Why do Scottish MPs vote on English issues? Why should Gordon Brown, a Scot from a Scottish constituency, be allowed to rule Britain as Prime Minister?
Graham writes with the following regarding Andy Murray’s reported anti-English sentiments:
I noticed that your blog has been propagating the myth of Andy Murray’s anti-English sentiments. Would you therefore be so kind as to listen to this recent interview with Tim Henman which I hope will put the record straight.
You can listen to the short interview via youtube.com:
It’s suggested that the whole thing started off with a single light hearted interview where the reporters were cheekily baiting Andy regarding the performance of Scotland’s footballers, with Andy’s comments coming in response to the banter.
If this is the case, and I have no reason to believe at present that it is not, then an apology is required and given.
My appetite for science fiction novels knows no bounds and over the years I’ve seen quite a bit that was bizarre and futuristic come from the pages of one novel or another into the real world. From hard science to social nightmares, some has been simply fantastic and a benefit to humanity in general, while others a reminder of the ultimate corruption of power.
With a quick hat tip to the nightwatch from Babylon 5 comes this:
All “accredited persons” must wear on their chest a red, white and black badge which reads “Community Safety Scheme Accredited”.
Keep an eye out for these peeps, soon to feature in a pub based power struggle near you.
Well, it was a long time coming. Far longer than I expected but just check out the comment by Sara on my What England means to me article:
Just face it England is a terrible place to live. never have i been to a country that is more concerned about immigrants than its own people. What happened to Great Britian, i see nothing great anymore. I hope England and the UK can pull themselves out of this rut. You were once such a powerful country, but now, the whole world is laughing at you.
Shame Shame Shame
I’ve responded in the comments and I am sure that the response will appear soon.
Hi all, just a quick update on how the new photography business is going. As you can probably tell by the lack of postings on theenglandproject.net I am rather busy but this is mainly the kind of busy related to running a business. Lots of equipment is being bought and I have my eye on a lot more.
The business is currently a commercial photography venture. Interiors, product photography, corporate and other events but I plan to move into the portrait photography market soon. With this in mind I have another set of studio lights and some rather spiffing backdrops on order to arrive some time early next week.
My main problem is space to shoot portraiture. A studio would be just lovely but there is not much chance of that happening too soon so it’s going to have to be home and customer premises. If any readers own studio sized spaces in the Hertfordshire region and would be willing to offer that space up on occasion I would love to hear from you.
Just to fill in on a bit of history, I’ve been a semi-pro photographer for a number of years and this year saw me take the leap into professional photography. I’m up on the game regarding techniques and equipment and have been for some considerable time and doing it full time has, in recent years, been an ambition of mine.
I recently won a large contract to shoot interiors for a commercial organization based in Hertfordshire. This saw me embark upon a whirlwind month of shooting, taking in 26 commercial properties throughout the county over a period of a month. The images were just what the company were looking for and will feature in their marketing material and their online web site. It was a very enjoyable job which turned out to be more than just a photography gig. Lots of set dressing was involved and a huge amount of furniture was moved over the month to get the best possible shots for the client.
On the technical front I’ve been getting an online shopping facility working on my photography business site which took a couple of days to set up correctly. It’s not activated yet and when to do so is a decision I’ll have to make soon I think.
So there it is. I’ve been thinking about the future of theenglandproject.net recently and good sense tells me that it should stay. Having said that I am not entirely sure what direction I should take it in. Certainly I am less time rich than I used to be and I have to prioritise where I spend my time, particularly if it is not business related. In recent times I have been toying with trying to come up with some synergy between the business and this site but how to do that is not entirely clear.
One part of me really wants to turn theenglandproject.net into a photographic expose of England. That would mean spending a great deal of time on the road and I’m not sure how that would fit in right now.
I’ve been blessed with great readers, particularly those who have regularly commented on and linked to articles over the years. I’ve been impressed generally with the thoughtful and measured way in which conversations have progressed and delighted at the way the blogosphere has advanced England’s cause. Remember folks, we were way ahead of the game. Yay for us!
So remember, if you are relatively local to me (Harpenden near St. Albans in Hertfordshire) and you or you business is in need of a photographer or some image work, please do contact me. If you have any suggestions for theenglandproject.net don’t be fearful. The comments are at your disposal.
The English Regions are a political construct. They are also an unpopular one with no direct democratic mandate. Yet look how seamlessly the BBC slips into the language.
Well, my mum’s Italian and I’m English so I guess Matthew Parris must mean me:
Are Italians the rudest people on the planet? Three times this year, trying to alight from a Tube train, I’ve been shoved back by stylishly dressed people pushing in to board before the alighting passengers are off: and every time they’ve been yabbering in Italian. How do we reconcile modern Italy - consumerism, junk television, brand addiction and mindless celebrity worship - with the Italy of Venice, da Vinci, Verdi and the Medicis? Say what you like about our rowdy, beer-swilling English mob but, tattoos and all, they’d have seen through Berlusconi in an instant.
Actually, I’ll tell you who the rudest people on the planet are; certain employees of the London Underground. I’ve never had trouble with a passenger but on two occasions I have been treated very poorly by Underground staff.
In what otherwise seems a reasonable article, Geoffrey Wheatcroft writes in the Guardian:
No one wants an English parliament…
I guessing that by no one he means no one that matters.
But hey, we’re happy being nobodies. We’re used to being on the edge. Fringe loonies. Raging Internet bloggers with nothing worthwhile to say. Nutters.
Funny though, how the press is now full of the stuff we’ve been talking about for so long. Bit late though, seeing as how the train wreck started all those years back by New Labour’s devolution mess is so far along the track.
I’m so happy. In many ways this is an example of New Labour being devoured by the monster that they created. The SNP have been in government long enough in Scotland to indicate that they are at the very least as capable as the usual bunch at governing. It all puts me in mind of a song:
The runaway train came down the track and she blew,
The runaway train came down the track and she blew,
The runaway train came down the track, her whistle wide and her throttle back,
And she blew, blew, blew, blew, blew.
There seems to be a common theme running through British politics these days. It goes something like this: “How can we answer the English Question while avoiding an answer that gives the English equality with the rest of the Union?”. It’s this fundamental approach that leads to quarter baked ideas like this one proposed by Ken Clarke and his Tory taskforce.
It would be wonderful to be a fly on the wall in one of these tortured closed door debates. Just to be witness to all the hoops that must be jumped through, all the traps and pitfalls that must be avoided, all the quicksand that has to be sidestepped. A brilliant lesson in political dexterity, a dreadful one in political democracy.
How often must we be witness to the birth of such farcical solutions to a question that has only one answer? How many times must we be told that the English Question is best avoided? For how long must we be denied an equal place in the Union. What indeed is the frequency?
Wow, I can access theenglandproject.net. Before access vanishes again I’d just like to say sorry to anyone who has frequented theenglandproject.net over they years. My hosting providers and myself have been unable to track down the issue that was preventing me from accessing the site and I have been rushed off my feet with my photography business so have not been able to seek out alternatives.
The news has been very exciting with respect to the English Question and it’s been very frustrating for me not being able to comment. Mind you, would I have had the time? I’ve been on a pretty punishing photography schedule which looks set to continue for the next month or so.
Fingers crossed that access to this site remains….
By the way, does it not strike you as odd that the government has recently quoted public opinion with respect to the detention limit and the David Davis campaign on civil liberties while refusing to quote public opinion when forcing through their EU treaty ratification agenda?
Who do they think they are, this BBC lot? How intimidating are they intending to get? I keep seeing the following graphic on their news web site and it really grinds my gears:
I pay my license fee by direct debit and I consider it state sanctioned theft. I understand the idea and what the state and the BBC say they are trying to achieve but the reality gives rise to two problems; firstly, and principally, the idea is incompatible with my ideas of liberty and choice, and secondly the output of the BBC is such that it isn’t even my secondary viewing choice. Nor is it my third. It is way, way down the list.
So, I wonder what exactly they mean in the above threat when they say “It’s all in the database”. What is “it”? How much of “it” have they recorded? What exactly is in this database and how secure is it?
I think a few million of us should ask them the question and ask for full disclosure on how much of “it” that relates to us they actually have recorded in this “all” powerful database.
