300 years British?

[matgb]

Interesting discussion at publicansdecoy's about the anniversay of the Act of Union and the creation of Great Britain. David's concentrating on the West Lothian question, which I've done to death in the past, so instead I thought I'd discuss celebrating the anniversay. Any ideas, feel free to contribute either at voting_taktix or here because, y'know, comments=good.

On the subject of V-TX, kick starting it again; draxar transferred his article on hypothecated taxation, we've had a 'chat' about Europe (again) and I went through an article of Prof Fred Halliday's, who if I recall correctly taught David Armstrong, who was my Head of Department at Exeter. They're both a little dull and dry, unless you're an IR wonk, but we end up talking on the post about condoms, as always...

Oh yeah; I'd like more writers, either occasionally or regularly, the more people writing, the better it gets I think, there are two more coming on board soon, but there are loads of people reading this that write about politics sometimes; I'll start harassing people or sending invites soon...

Comments

[matgb]

See, I didn't even know it had landed anywhere else (or another one), didn't get covered.

But yes, living in the westcountry gives you in many ways the worst of everything; you get ignored, the north thinks you're south, the SE thinks you're quaint and the jobs think to go somewhere with infrastructure.

Meanwhile rich gits retire there and no bugger can afford to live...

I'd actually give it less than 20 years, but more than ten, not sure beyond that. It'll happen, demographics and momentum I suspect, but this current govt won't be the ones to do it.

[caramel-betty.livejournal.com]

Another whale, about ten days after the one in That London died.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/4681046.stm

But yes, living in the westcountry gives you in many ways the worst of everything; you get ignored, the north thinks you're south, the SE thinks you're quaint and the jobs think to go somewhere with infrastructure.

More or less. Devon is crap for roads. Cornwall is even worse. Actually, I find much of the south coast is. Say you want to go from Plymouth/Exeter to somewhere on the south coast further east, you have to go well inland and back out again for a lot of the sensible routes.

Somerset is fine, though. It doesn't need roads, it has cider.


As an aside, when my employer was looking, some years ago, to establish an office outside London, the major criteria were being near a proper airport and decent rail/road links. Which wipes out most of the southwest, unless you count "Bristol" airport (which you couldn't really at the time) or Plymouth (which isn't usually worth counting). Ex's father used to try to fly into Plymouth after a long-haul flight to Heathrow. It was never once running, and he always got a (paid for by BA) taxi.

[matgb]

Ah, see, had no idea.

But yeah, getting up here from Devon is always a pain. Leaving Torquay to get anywhere is a pain. 120,000 people living the wrong end of a road not wide enough for two tractors, and frequently blocked by one. Because that makes sense. Then you have to either take a back road or go to Bristol to cut back across country. Yup, thanks.

As for airport transfers? Just got out of that business thankee muchly, never again...