english parliament

[Newt]

chesters1 - about $0.30 per gallon higher for the super stuff.

 

BTW - 1 US Gallon = 3.785 liters

 

And I was very young in 1775 so no one paid much attention to my opinion.

[OregonDave]

Newt - It won't work...the Brits drive on the wrong side of the road, and will just confuse us.

 

Of course, their Mr. Blair must be doing OK, since the Brits think he's a Yank, and Americans think he's a Euro. Perfect!

[phonebush]

My longtime partner in business thought like companies should swap employees every so often. Maybe such an arrangement would work for Nations.

Phone

How would we ever teach them to speak english?

[davidP]

phonebush:

I would like a history lesson.

What is the difference between those areas Dragonbat refers to and Canada or Bermuda?

 

Phone

OK - this could get long so be prepared!

 

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is made up of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland & Wales. The Queen is the Constitutional head of the UK and Parliament is the legal body that runs it all. I don't propose to go into how it got to this state as most of it happened 100's of years ago and involved wars, murder, marriages and god knows what. Suffice to say that the English get the blame for it, whether truthful or not!

 

The situation in Northern Ireland you'll be aware of (or at least as aware as the somewhat rose-tinted and Irish dominated view that the US media allows). In recent years however Nationalism has become stronger particulrly in Scotland. This grew particularly during Mrs Thatchers time because Scotland has always been a traditionally socialist voting area and Mrs T did an awful lot to break down socialist bastions like the Unions etc. As a result Scotland felt somewhat under-represented in Parliamant because their MPs always got voted down.

Once Mr Blair (a Scot) got into power he had to grant Scotland & Wales a certain amount of independance because the Labour Party (top heavy with Scots) had been promising that's what they'd do in an effort to buy votes and stop people voting for local Nationalist parties. They held a referendum in both Scotland and Wales asking if people wanted ther own parliaments and both voted Yes (although the Welsh vote was so close they had to fiddle the result to get the Yes they wanted!).

Neither parliament has tax raising powers, but both have a large budget to spend as they wish, although the Welsh one has considerably less power and money than the Scottish one.

 

Since coming into being both Parliaments have been subject to various political & sexual 'scandals' none of which have shown them in very good light. Scottish politicians have voted themselves large amounts of money, the Parliament building has gone hugely over budget and, if the press is to be believed, various contracts have been somewhat dubiously awarded.

 

They have had the desired effect though - they've quietened down a lot of the calls for Scotland & Wales to become independant countries. Wales of course could never afford to become independant. It simply does not have the population or businesses from which to raise enough cash. Scotland on the other hand, led by such noted Scots as Sean Connery (celebrated actor, wife beater and non-Scotland resident), firmly believes that they could go it alone. They believe that the income from the oil and gas in the North Sea would subsidise the country enough for it to survive. Now I cannot profess to have gone into this too deeply, but all the articles I've ever seen seem to dispel this as a myth and state that the income would in no way cover the amount they think it would, but that doesn't stop the demands for an independant Scottish state.

 

So we are now in a position where Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are effectively ruled by ther own elected parliaments, but hugely subsidised by Central Government in London which still retains overal control. Yet all three countries still have the same representation in the UK Parliament in London as they did previously. England however has no separate parliament. All decisions relating to England are made in the UK Parliament and the MPs from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales all get to vote on them. England, and particularly the South East and the City Of London subsidises Northern Ireland, Scotland & Wales to the tune of billions whilst areas of England like Cornwall are left as poor relations. Thus in the last few years there has been a rise in English Nationlism, as demonstrated by the original post by Big Al. Of course the chances of it happening in the near future are remote as so many of the Labour Party's top officials are Scottish, and one feels that they're enjoying taking their revenge on the English Bastards for all the years of perceived injustice.

 

For may part, I don't have any strong feelings either way. I do however think it would be a huge pity to split the country up into small bits on the basis of things that happened 100's of years ago!

[Zinky]

DavidP Good stuff but what about all the in breeding the Royal's did back in the dark ages and that our Royal's may be Germans

 

[big al]

david spot on ,but the scots and the welsh are spending our money on things like.

free nursing home care for the elderly,the welsh free prescribtions.both very wothwhile things but why not the english as well it,s our cash do we really not care where it goes?

as for joining with our brothers in the states that,s the best idea iv'e heard for ages .after all even the pizza is bigger over there .cheers big al

[Zinky]

Pizza that's a poor mans Italian meal "crap food" hate the things

 

[ 07 May 2002, 05:17 PM: Message edited by: Dragonbat ]

[chesters1]

i hate the things as well (i had an anchovie one in 1970 when they were new) is there a pizza patrol that frequents the outsides of pubs and clubs early in the mornings scraping up the toppings from the pavement or is it a maliciouse rumour i`m propogating ,err so i`ve heard ,allegedly

[Norrie]

Newt:

51st state.

 

Gasoline for 87 octane regular (unleaded) is around $1.30 - $1.40 per US gallon (£0.88-0.95 or 1.41-1.52 euros).

 

And we would be right proud to have you join us.

[Dave Hill]

I think the English should have their own parliament, seperate from the 'London' parliament that the rest of England currently has to put up with

 

But where would we put it....

 

Birmingham ( The countries second city )

 

or maybe

 

Manchester ( The countries second city )

 

or even

 

Coventry (After all they have probably already got planning permission )