Crown Jewels for Sale
One of the contentious issues between Westminster and Holyrood of latehas been the future of the Crown Estate in Scotland. UK-wide, the portfolio of property and other investments brings in…
The Plantation of Wessex
Last April, one of Eric Pickles’ Planning Inspectors opened a public inquiry in the Oxfordshire village of Bloxham. The Coalition promised localism – local decisions made by local folk, without…
Fighting On The Beaches
Sussex isn’t Wessex. We don’t claim it and the Saxon chronicles, read attentively, back up us on that. Nevertheless, it’s fascinating to glance east at present.At Balcombe, environmental protestors are…
Times of Tension
It was good to hear Nick Clegg last week distancing himself from the PM. We’re all Thatcherites now, claimed Cameron. Oh no, we’re not, insisted Clegg. Any reminder that the…
All At Sea
Cornwall is bigger than Wessex. Yes or no? It depends on definitions. Land area is one thing, but there are some rights of sovereignty that extend out to the 200-mile…
Rights & Wrongs
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticise.”VoltaireThe London regime has invited comments on a UK Bill of Rights. But where do…
Cradle of the Crown
“Whereas the liberties of England, its laws, statutes, system of justice and administration, had their beginnings in the Kingdom of Wessex;Whereas that Kingdom in its heyday was at once the…
Embracing All
A frequent objection to decentralisation is that small-scale jurisdictions are prone to takeover by well-organised, highly motivated bands of fanatics. History furnishes examples, from Savonarola in Florence to the Anabaptists…
The Land is Whose?
The Forestry Commission is a big player in Wessex. Within our borders we have two of the great royal hunting forests, the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire and the New…