Linkdump - England and Nukes
30
May
Apart from the posts I linked to yesterday, there’s also a fairly good discussion going on here at the CEP newsblog, and Iain has a suggestion as to the possible boundaries for sub-England adminisitrative units here. Iain? The TV regions? No. Especially given that HTV covers most of Wales and also bits of Devon and Somerset. OK, better than the godawful treasury boundaries, but still. Constructaregion is a nice little tool for comparative analysis - personally, I’d like to live in Lyonnesse.
Also, an interesting collection of quotes culled from the New Statesman on Nuclear Power; some dodgy lefty had a habit of making a big fuss about what a bad idea it all is:
“What is unbelievably depressing about the government’s response, is that they see, in the evidence about greenhouse gases, not an opportunity to promote environmental concern, but a chance to make the case for nuclear power… Having made a big issue of the greenhouse effect, it became clear that energy efficiency was the best way to deal with it, but… the government’s position has been characterised by a malign reluctance to have anything to do with the notion of energy conservation.”
The lefty in question? Anthony Charles Lynton Blair. As Jack puts it:
It’s amazing how selling out on all the principles you once held dear and having a bunch of mates in the nuclear power business can do for your views on the world, even when everything you said about it came true. Ah Mr Blair, you care not for us, our land, the people or the earth but filling the pockets of your friends, you really are the shadow of man devoid of any moral fiber or shred of integrity.
Personally, I’ve gone from the “no, no way, not ever” position to the “do we have a choice, we need to cut emmissions somehow” position, but I’m not, currently, in favour. From what I understand, the concrete and transportation costs are going toemit just as much as yer typical gas or coal fired station. But, it’s not my area to discuss it any further.
Technorati tags: England, Devolution, English Parliament, Constitution, Reform, Tony Blair, Nuclear Power, U-turns
1. Anonymous | May 31st, 2006 at 12:58 pm
Lyonnesse looks an aweful lot like the area covered by the Devon and Cornwall police. However why regions needed? Why not just counties? Counties are already big enough for multi-member constinuencies for STV if that is why, county councils are already there, and they would still be there if we had regions or not. Power can just as well be devoved downwards to existing structures as to brand new ones. In fact by using existing structures it is less likely that power will get sucked upwards out of the counties and into the regions when we want power pushed downwards as far as possible.
Posted by chris
2. Anonymous | May 31st, 2006 at 2:18 pm
At work, so briefly. the Lyonesse thing is an aside, my actual preference is for the “westcountry” to include Somerset and Dorset. There are some functions that need to be determined at a level above county; economic strategic planning, roads, etc.
Counties are effectively too small, the nation too big. An intermediate level is needed. Spanish model is good for that, there are a number of analogous circumstances that we could learn from and build up on.
Only big problem is of course Cornwall. Not sure how to deal with that; it’s viable in some ways, but counties would create too many units. Like I said, nothing ruled in, nothing ruled out. Plus, traditional counties OK for rural areas, but for urban areas in the north and midlands, and of course London itself, the old county structure would be utterly insane.
Posted by MatGB
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