State of the Union
Andrew Neil presented a piece for the Daily Politics yesterday about the West Lothian question.
I was surprised, and pleased, by the programme's fairness and avoidance of pretending that English Nationalism is anti-Scottish or that the unrest building in England is to do with anything more than democracy.
But I was disappointed that no-one representing the English case mentioned the fundamental problem underlying it all; something that the Labour MP Douglas Alexander pretended is not a problem: England is no longer governed by a democracy. Yes, as Mr Alexander, Menzies Campbell and Paddy Ashdown said, English MPs greatly outnumber non-English MPs, but the fact is laws have been passed by casting votes from Scottish constituency MPs.
This is not democracy and the tendency of English people to be calm and collected when describing injustice is, while admirable, dangerous when it comes to this sort of thing.
The UK is not a democracy and we must shout it at our British government.
I was surprised, and pleased, by the programme's fairness and avoidance of pretending that English Nationalism is anti-Scottish or that the unrest building in England is to do with anything more than democracy.
But I was disappointed that no-one representing the English case mentioned the fundamental problem underlying it all; something that the Labour MP Douglas Alexander pretended is not a problem: England is no longer governed by a democracy. Yes, as Mr Alexander, Menzies Campbell and Paddy Ashdown said, English MPs greatly outnumber non-English MPs, but the fact is laws have been passed by casting votes from Scottish constituency MPs.
This is not democracy and the tendency of English people to be calm and collected when describing injustice is, while admirable, dangerous when it comes to this sort of thing.
The UK is not a democracy and we must shout it at our British government.