Tuesday, May 01, 2007
01/05/07 – WALES IS TOO SMALL TO GO IT ALONE…
…but apparently Guernsey is just the right size.
Guernsey, a country which considerably smaller than Anglesey, is deciding this week whether it will sever its’ final link to Great Britain. Guernsey which is a crown dependency rather than a full constitutional nation of Great Britain (and therefore is not represented at Westminster) is to decide whether to cut the links to Britain which have existed since king John lost his French territories in 1207 – 1209.
Now this move, although I’ll accentuate that it is only being discussed by the channel island’s parliament is a long way to be ratified by the populous of the island, normally, I would only mentioned this as a passing folly, however the coincidence of this event occurring at the time of the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament. Two institutions that host nationalist parties, both of which advocate, with varying degrees of insistence, independence – separation from Britain - Freedom. So what is most interesting about this story is that the British Labour party has not said (anywhere that I can see) that Guernsey is too small to be economically viable.
So Messer Hain, Morgan, Brown, Blair and [insert name of Scottish labour party leader] who are all adamant that Wales will become obsolete on the world stage, or Scotland’s economy would collapse, I’m sure that you have heard all the wranglings on the news particularly vehement between Labour and the SNP are mute on Guernsey’s economic prospects. Why is there not a similar outcry from these politicians regarding Guernsey, is it because the people of Guernsey are some how more sovereign than the Scots or us Welsh? The answer to this has got to be no, since all people, in democratic theory, are equally sovereign. Is it perhaps that the people of Guernsey are more productive? Probably not. So why then do the aforementioned gentlemen refuse to condemn Guernsey’s actions as economic suicide, where is all the rhetoric about Britain being stronger when united, surely this extends to its most strenuously attached outposts of Britain as well as the most immediately attached. Yet there is silence from these men.
So, if there arguments regarding Welsh and Scottish independence is not based on economics, and Guernsey has shown, sentimentality has no influence on this argument; why is there such vehement suppression of these ideas? I’m afraid to say it is all real politik. We must assume that self-interest is forbidding them from even considering the disintegration of the union.
1) Peter Hain, he is the one that said that Wales would become obsolete on the world stage – most people wouldn’t mind that as the inference is that we wouldn’t be sending troops half-way around the world to interfere in affairs that are not our concern. However, Hain seems to desire a global spot-light he was renowned for leading the anti-apartheid demonstrations and his ambitions to become labour’s deputy leader (and therefore deputy prime-minister) so perhaps he is concerned, not that Wales would be too small an actor, but that Wales would be too small a stage for him.
2) Gordon Brown, well his opposition to Scottish independence should be self-evident, he’s been waiting for an opportunity to assume power for over a decade, to move into Number 10 just in time to ratify Scottish independence (assuming that SNP are able to push through a bill proposing Scottish independence) would be a tragedy on a Shakespearean level for him – and a farce in the true B’stard tradition (I went to see ‘The New Statesman’ absolutely fantastic – I’ll comment on that later).
3) As for Messer Blair, Morgan, and [insert name of Scottish labour party leader] Blair can be dealt with by an assumption that he doesn’t want his legacy to read “dissolved Great Britain” as for the motives of the leaders of the Welsh and Scottish labour governments I can’t fathom their reasons, if Wales was independent, Morgan could probably be first minister until he dies, not quite true in Scotland. However, the real value of Wales to labour is that the Welsh constituencies are more likely to vote labour than any others, similarly Scotland. It is widely known that if all the Scottish and Welsh MPs are removed from Westminster then the Conservatives would have won the last election, so perhaps labour in the ‘Celtic fringe’ are not permitted to do what is best for their constituents because this would leave the English labour party in the wilderness.
Before I am bombarded with numerous comments, I’ll point out that there are no economic statistics that can back up whether or not independence is economically viable for Wales and Scotland, because there is no separate figures for tax collected from corporations and businesses, use of natural resources, tourism, income tax etc… the only figures there are is those paid per head of population for services under the Barnett formula. If Wales was independent then Welsh tax payers wouldn’t have to contribute to maintaining nuclear weapons, Welsh tax payers wouldn’t have to contribute to maintaining armed forces that are mainly based in the south of England or for the interventionist policy that they enforce. Finally, Welsh tax payers wouldn’t have to pay their share for PFI projects that are pouring hundreds of millions of pounds into the pockets of private companies just so that Gordon Brown can keep the cost of building new schools and hospitals off the national debt, so he can maintain his ‘Prudent’ image.
There is no economic argument against the disintegration of the United Kingdom because the figures which are necessary are not collected, and vice-versa, there is no economic argument for the disintegration of the United Kingdom because the figures which are necessary are not collected. However, if it is possible for countries like Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania etc... and now possibly Guernsey to exist as small but prosperous nations how then can you justify dogmatic arguments against independence. However, as I have said before, it is all a mute point without the figures inform the argument.
¶ 7:10 PM Guernsey, a country which considerably smaller than Anglesey, is deciding this week whether it will sever its’ final link to Great Britain. Guernsey which is a crown dependency rather than a full constitutional nation of Great Britain (and therefore is not represented at Westminster) is to decide whether to cut the links to Britain which have existed since king John lost his French territories in 1207 – 1209.
Now this move, although I’ll accentuate that it is only being discussed by the channel island’s parliament is a long way to be ratified by the populous of the island, normally, I would only mentioned this as a passing folly, however the coincidence of this event occurring at the time of the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament. Two institutions that host nationalist parties, both of which advocate, with varying degrees of insistence, independence – separation from Britain - Freedom. So what is most interesting about this story is that the British Labour party has not said (anywhere that I can see) that Guernsey is too small to be economically viable.
So Messer Hain, Morgan, Brown, Blair and [insert name of Scottish labour party leader] who are all adamant that Wales will become obsolete on the world stage, or Scotland’s economy would collapse, I’m sure that you have heard all the wranglings on the news particularly vehement between Labour and the SNP are mute on Guernsey’s economic prospects. Why is there not a similar outcry from these politicians regarding Guernsey, is it because the people of Guernsey are some how more sovereign than the Scots or us Welsh? The answer to this has got to be no, since all people, in democratic theory, are equally sovereign. Is it perhaps that the people of Guernsey are more productive? Probably not. So why then do the aforementioned gentlemen refuse to condemn Guernsey’s actions as economic suicide, where is all the rhetoric about Britain being stronger when united, surely this extends to its most strenuously attached outposts of Britain as well as the most immediately attached. Yet there is silence from these men.
So, if there arguments regarding Welsh and Scottish independence is not based on economics, and Guernsey has shown, sentimentality has no influence on this argument; why is there such vehement suppression of these ideas? I’m afraid to say it is all real politik. We must assume that self-interest is forbidding them from even considering the disintegration of the union.
1) Peter Hain, he is the one that said that Wales would become obsolete on the world stage – most people wouldn’t mind that as the inference is that we wouldn’t be sending troops half-way around the world to interfere in affairs that are not our concern. However, Hain seems to desire a global spot-light he was renowned for leading the anti-apartheid demonstrations and his ambitions to become labour’s deputy leader (and therefore deputy prime-minister) so perhaps he is concerned, not that Wales would be too small an actor, but that Wales would be too small a stage for him.
2) Gordon Brown, well his opposition to Scottish independence should be self-evident, he’s been waiting for an opportunity to assume power for over a decade, to move into Number 10 just in time to ratify Scottish independence (assuming that SNP are able to push through a bill proposing Scottish independence) would be a tragedy on a Shakespearean level for him – and a farce in the true B’stard tradition (I went to see ‘The New Statesman’ absolutely fantastic – I’ll comment on that later).
3) As for Messer Blair, Morgan, and [insert name of Scottish labour party leader] Blair can be dealt with by an assumption that he doesn’t want his legacy to read “dissolved Great Britain” as for the motives of the leaders of the Welsh and Scottish labour governments I can’t fathom their reasons, if Wales was independent, Morgan could probably be first minister until he dies, not quite true in Scotland. However, the real value of Wales to labour is that the Welsh constituencies are more likely to vote labour than any others, similarly Scotland. It is widely known that if all the Scottish and Welsh MPs are removed from Westminster then the Conservatives would have won the last election, so perhaps labour in the ‘Celtic fringe’ are not permitted to do what is best for their constituents because this would leave the English labour party in the wilderness.
Before I am bombarded with numerous comments, I’ll point out that there are no economic statistics that can back up whether or not independence is economically viable for Wales and Scotland, because there is no separate figures for tax collected from corporations and businesses, use of natural resources, tourism, income tax etc… the only figures there are is those paid per head of population for services under the Barnett formula. If Wales was independent then Welsh tax payers wouldn’t have to contribute to maintaining nuclear weapons, Welsh tax payers wouldn’t have to contribute to maintaining armed forces that are mainly based in the south of England or for the interventionist policy that they enforce. Finally, Welsh tax payers wouldn’t have to pay their share for PFI projects that are pouring hundreds of millions of pounds into the pockets of private companies just so that Gordon Brown can keep the cost of building new schools and hospitals off the national debt, so he can maintain his ‘Prudent’ image.
There is no economic argument against the disintegration of the United Kingdom because the figures which are necessary are not collected, and vice-versa, there is no economic argument for the disintegration of the United Kingdom because the figures which are necessary are not collected. However, if it is possible for countries like Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania etc... and now possibly Guernsey to exist as small but prosperous nations how then can you justify dogmatic arguments against independence. However, as I have said before, it is all a mute point without the figures inform the argument.
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