Toby on Tuesday 

‘This precious stone’

 

In his poem, ‘The Secret People’, G.K. Chesterton wrote, “Smile at us, pay us, pass us; but do not quite forget; For we are the people of England, that have never spoken yet…” Well, on Thursday 7th May the people of England will speak. And last Thursday 23rd April it was both St. George’s Day and the anniversary of the birth in 1564 of William Shakespeare, the poet of England and of all humanity.
St. George himself was a soldier in the Roman army who in the year 303 was martyred for his Christian faith. Yet in England he came to be venerated as a powerful defender against evil, in the form of a dragon, and in 1222 his feast day was declared a national holiday. Then the custom waned and 23rd April was forgotten. Now, just as Ireland celebrates St. Patrick’s Day and Scotland St. Andrew’s Day, so UKIP is calling for St. George’s Day to become a national holiday once more in England and also for St. David’s Day to be a holiday in Wales. Perhaps this will be one more step towards a federal United Kingdom, to which the logic of events is leading.

The current political settlement is certainly unsustainable. Under the so-called Barnett formula, devised by Joel Barnett who later described it as “shamefully unfair”, public spending in Scotland is running at around £1,400 more per head annually than in England. The cost is around £5.5 billion per annum UKIP will ensure that the funding relationship between England and Scotland is put on a fair and balanced basis, even though at the time of last year’s Scottish referendum the Conservatives, Labour and LibDems all committed themselves to maintaining it intact. The formula is increasingly unjust and adds to the divisions between England and Scotland. As for the ScotsNats, they have played their hand brilliantly, sensing the weakness and cowardice of the three old English parties, then holding them to ransom with great skill and cunning.

Equally, the logic of devolution must mean that at every stage of the legislative process, English votes alone must in future be secured for English laws. It is for others to decide whether the House of Commons should become an English Parliament and the House of Lords an elected Senate, but that must be the direction for a federal United Kingdom. So perhaps it is best to leave the last word on this subject to to the immortal bard himself. Born in Stratford-on-Avon on 23rd April, 1564, he now belongs to the world and to humanity itself. And in his ‘Richard II’, the dying John of Gaunt declares,

“This royal throne of kings, this scepter’d isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in a silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England…”

Until next Tuesday!
Toby