BBC

The new look BBC website predictably regionalises England into arbitrary and artificial regions.

But what's interesting is the fact that the BBC has ditched the Government and EU's arbitrary regions in favour of it's own arbitrary regions. More sensibly London is now a part of the South East and Oxfordshire has been ejected. Oxfordshire never really had any real relationship with counties like Sussex, Essex and Kent; Oxfordshire sits far more comfortably with the likes of Warwickshire and Gloucestershire, at least to those of us with any sense of place and appreciation of English landscape and culture. But surprisingly the BBC have chosen to lump Oxfordshire in with Dorset and Hampshire.

What would make real sense would be for the BBC to forget about regions altogether and just use English counties. If Northern Ireland (population 1,775,000) can have its own BBC, then why can't Kent (population 1,406,600) or Yorkshire (3,978,484) or Sussex (population 1,392,737)? I don't have any objection to counties being lumped together where there's a good marriage (East & West Sussex, Hereford and Worcester, Norfolk and Suffolk, Devon and Cornwall), but I fail to see the point or purpose of these fake regions, whether governmental or BBC.

She's Claire. She's from Lewes. She makes stunning jewellery. And last night she was on the BBC's High Street Dreams.

She's also a friend of mine. It's a shame that the programme was on opposite England's game against Mexico, so in case you missed it there's a link below to watch again.

Website: Claire English
Watch Again: High Street Dreams on BBC iPlayer

I just watched The People's Politician on the BBC:

After a shocking year for relations between people and politicians, two retiring MPs, Ann Widdecombe and Richard Caborn, are challenged to heal the rift between them and us. Could giving us more of a say over our MPs - using the internet, for example - help bring back any of the 17 million who didn't vote at the last election?

Richard Caborn, the affable MP for Sheffield, confronted a room full of politically apathetic young men in an attempt to light a political fire in their bellies, the old union firebrand was sure he could awaken their inner Scargill. In fact, he'd stake his reputation on it.

He didn't. It was a disaster because he could not even convince one listless youth that he or the British political process had anything to offer them. They met him with blank stares. It was painful to watch. They still wouldn't be voting because it was pointless, they informed him. Caborn was crest-fallen, slightly humiliated; he couldn't understand why youngsters these days thought that politicians were a bunch of unprincipled, thieving, lying bastards - he took that personally. Why wouldn't they engage?

I'm a young person passionate about politics, or at least I was a young person when I began campaigning for an English parliament. Almost every MP I contacted fobbed me off and told me that my concerns were trivial or not salient. Some even said that the problem that I saw with England's democracy wasn't actually a problem, it was simply an anomaly. I was stonewalled or ignored, and often they did the exact opposite of what I was wanting them to do, usually by concentrating solely on Britishness, forgetting England completely.

Richard Caborn was one of those MPs who ignored me. I wrote to him several times in 2004 about the Government's abolition of the English Tourism Council to create VisitBritain. He never answered and had one of his wonks at the DCMS fob me off with non-answers. I was passionate about something, I tried to engage, he fobbed me off.

Ultimately I feel vindicated because in 2009 Caborn's policy was reversed and Visit England - a stand alone English Tourism Council - was recreated, presumably because 2009 was the year that regional assemblies died (not that they'd ever admit that regionalism had anything to do with their original decision). All of which just goes to show that Richard Caborn is a daft beardy twat (seen in the programme drinking bitter out of a half-pint glass) who shouldn't complain too much that people can't be bothered to engage with him. Good riddance, Richard.

This is a pretty good distillation of the English Question by the BBC.

A campaign for an English parliament has grown and is backed by some opposition Conservative MPs, but has not yet entered the political mainstream. The Labour government maintains that an English parliament would overshadow the rest of the United Kingdom. Cornwall, an English county with a separate Celtic identity, has seen a campaign for its own assembly, backed by all five of the county's Liberal Democrat MPs.

According to the most recent census data, about 95% of the population of Scotland and Wales identify as White British, rising to 99% in Northern Ireland. The comparable figure for England is just under 85%. Therefore most of the British debate about ethnic diversity, immigration and national identity in fact applies to England.

This sensitive political question is further complicated by two factors.

First, British and English institutions and national identifiers such as flag, language, anthem and popular culture largely overlap. As a result, markers of specific English identity, such as the flag of St George, tend to be unofficial, while similar signs of Scottish and Welsh nationhood are sanctioned by the separate institutions of those countries.

Second, Scottish and Welsh nationalist movements have long been part of the political mainstream, and are seen as champions of legitimate historical national identities. English nationalism, on the other hand, is more often portrayed as a reaction to non-white immigration and the exclusive province of the neo-fascist right.

This makes public discussion of English identity politics difficult, as politicians on the left and right have discovered, as accusations of racism and appeasement of minorities are exchanged.

The one area where English identity is able to develop without political controversy is the realm of culture, and sporting teams are often the most comfortable focus for national loyalty.

The BBC is getting better at differentiating between English and British, as this landmark article shows, but it still unfortunately apes the UK Government in its discrimination against England. The BBC as much as our political classes are to blame for the 'political controversy' surrounding English identity. There is no BBC England, no English channel (see iPlayer), and the BBC would never commission a season of programmes celebrating English history, culture and nationhood, as it does for Scotland. The best we English can hope for is a costume drama or two, or a non-commital speculative look at Englishness like Made-in-England.

You can enjoy a Scottish, Welsh and British history portal on the BBC, but there's nothing for England.

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/history/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/history/

And if you're looking forward to the Proms, then this is how the BBC advertises that multi-national celebration of Britishness.

Still, I suppose it's for the best. The BBC would want to be accused of being racist.

A few years ago the BBC's Radio Times advertised the Proms with this advert (which I took the liberty of scanning).

It looks innocuous enough until you notice that they have included all the national flags of the UK except the St George's Cross.

Yesterday Aunty Beeb cocked up again:

Again it seems innocuous enough until you read the Audit Commision report and realise that it is English farmers, rather than 'UK farmers', that have incurred costs of between £18 million and £22.5 million in additional interest and arrangement fees on loans due to the ineptitude of DEFRA and negligence of the UK government.

As the Telegraph reported back in March:

While farmers in Scotland and Wales have already received their annual payments and at least one EU country paid their farmers in December, most English farmers will wait to be paid until a meltdown at the Rural Payments Agency is sorted out.

Not only is it time for an English government, it is also time for a BBC England.

See Waking Hereward.

The Lord Chancellor, Charlie Falconer's, remarks that there is 'absolutely no need' for an English parliament; that 'there is no demand at all' for English-only votes, and; that 'there's no evidence that they [the English] resent the fact that there is no English parliament', have stirred up something of a shitstorm.

This particularly obnoxious member of the Scottish Raj has demonstrated that he lacks any understanding of the English psyche - tell an Englishman that he can't have something and he will try to take it.

Even the BBC, who have for so long ignored the English Question are now running a poll on their website asking the English whether they want an English parliament (click on the image to cast your vote).

Not content with that they are even asking for your comments on the matter. This would have been unthinkable for the staunchly unionist BBC even a year ago, but the BBC have responded to English public pressure and anger at Falconer's arrogance.

The Beeb's webpage has been changed to include quotes from English nationalists and the Lib Dem's spokesman on Constitutional Affairs. It is quite different to the original page that they displayed.

In ruling out an English parliament Lord Falconer has signalled the beginning of the end for the Scottish Raj in England. He has done more in five minutes to rouse the slumbering English giant than the Campaign for an English Parliament could do in a month. We will have our parliament and no amount of lies and denial from Falconer and his minions at the Department of Constitutional Affairs will stop us.

The very fact that Falconer feels the need to rule out an English parliament is the signal that it is on its way. Three of my favourite quotes on this topic have come not from politicians but from bloggers (always quicker and more insightful) commenting on the story:

• Tom Griffin - I'm reminded of the old saying by Gandhi: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." From the tone of Lord Falconer's comments, I'd say he's had to go to stage three.
• Alfie - Charlie, if no one wants one - what are you going on about..... He reminds me of Chicken Licken telling everyone that the sky is falling down...
• Paul Linford - the real significance of today's comments is that Falconer felt it necessary to make them at all. It means the idea of an English Parliament is, finally, on the mainstream political agenda.

And there you have it. That is the take home message from Falconer's outburst.

The Act of Union abolished the Scottish and English parliaments and created a single parliament to rule both nations. It was a political pact between two nations - albeit without the consent of their people. In 1998 the Scottish parliament emerged from the vault of history, in a slightly emasculated form, but nevertheless a national parliament for Scotland. England has been left buried. It is time to renegotiate the Act of Union. The Union either stands as a partnership between consenting nations or it fails; equality or nothing; if the principle of self-determination is good for Scotland then the same arguments hold true for England; constitutional parity or independence.

Any scheme that is devised by well-intentioned unionists to try and patch-up the Union will only increase nationalist demands. The Scots will not countenance having a Scottish parliament that is subordinate to what is largely an English parliament at Westminster, and the English will never accept that Scottish MPs should be allowed to overturn English democracy by voting in the UK parliament on matters that they are democratically unnaccountable on.

What we have is a right fucking mess and it's going to take more than a right fucking idiot like Lord Falconer to sort it out.

I'll leave the last word to Paul Linford:

"I wouldn't worry about Charlie Falconer. He's only in the Government because he's Tony's ex-flatmate and when Gordon takes over he'll be out on his arse quicker than you can say English Constitutional Convention."