Seeing as how independence is in the air at the moment I thought I'd research the case for Cornish independence - which, I am sure you will agree is a compelling one. 1. They already have a national anthem called ''Trelawny'', or ''Song of the Western Men''. They also have a flag - a white cross against a black background. Thus its withdrawal would not effect the Union Jack. 2. It is very hard to invade - nobody apart from 4 million tourists and buses full of grannies from Bournemouth knowing where it is. 3. Cornish have their own sports: Wrestling (Like Breton wrestling) and medieval football (the pitch is 2 miles long) 4. King Arthur was born there. 5...It has more people than Malta - and a larger area than Andorra. 6. We would have more British teams in the World Cup. 7. The Cornish are the most genetically distinct people on the British mainland. 8. the Cornish language is older than English. Although the last speaker was Dolly Pentreath who died in the 18th century, the language is now experiencing a rebirth through it's use on road signs. 9. There are no UKIP voters there - because they already get more money from Brussels than from London. 10. It is legally owned by a Duke and is,therefore, not a county but actually the same as Luxembourg. 11. The pasties and cider are the best in England (thereby making it potentially self sufficient in food and energy) It is relatively safe in as much as it's neighbours Devon will belong to the new independent region of Wessex. The new pledge of the Wessex regionalists being free cider and morris dancing for all - so, quite harmless really. Wessex will in turn be bordered by the autonomous and sustainable bioregion of Mercia. Which will have freed itself of the imposition of the hereditary absolute monarchy imposed upon it (illegally) by the Norman feudal system and will have become autonomous and based on organic democracy, co-operative community and ecological balance. The case for this is even more compelling - it would contain Walkers Crisps and some of the best breweries in England. Many famous people have been born here including: Offa King of Mercia, Ozzy Osborne, George Elliott, Robert Plant, William Hogarth (Middlesex belongs to it) and Jimmy Page. It would be safe from attack, being bordered by Offa's Dyke. The capital of Mercia would be the ancient Saxon settlement of Waetford - thus preventing this settlement from ever belonging to London. To the north this could be bordered by the Socialist Republic of Scouseland, otherwise know as Liiiiveeeerpooool- if they get up in time to make the independence declaration ! As you will have gathered this is the alternative 'independence' thread if you are fed up with being insulted on the main one. Here you can give your fantasy full reign if you want to make anywhere else independent - or get rid of anywhere.
Nice one Cologne. Spent my honeymoon there before it was fashionable to go to some exotic location. Went back after forty years and found it deeply disappointing. The scenery is still good, but the towns seemed to be left behind in a time warp. Camper vans, I don't have one, were banned from the town car parks and sent three miles away from the centers. Everywhere was rather scruffy and down at heel. The pasties were not made in the county, but mass produced in the midlands somewhere and were horribly over priced. The population seemed to come from Essex in the larger towns, but I didn't actually meet the country gents if they exist. I don't think that apart from a few people who belong to societies for the promotion of Cornish Independence there is much call for it. The people down there are more interested in transport links, extra cost of living and house prices. Maybe however over the years they have returned Liberal MPs should tell us something, although you can simply say they that they don't like mainstream politics. Doubt that you or I will be deeply affected by it.
I propose independence for Luton. They already have an airport, they have a distinct affliction which diferentiates them from the rest of the human race. The town could be encirled by a very big wall and no transit permitted for the occupants except by air. It would remove 99% of terrorists from the UK in one measure, perfect.
Independence for Merseyside - it has its own language, anthem and currency and once the lads have rebuilt Hadrians Wall they'll be available to hacksaw it off the edge and let it float across the Atlantic.
It's very unfortunate that they still have an airport, I was going to try and get there and offer an incentive to the Bomb Disposal team to add a few more sticks to the controlled explosion this afternoon. Could have levelled the dump!
The good folk of Leeds need a People's Republic of Yorkshire so that United can return to the top of the Yorkshire Premier League (provided Bradford City or Halifax don't beat them to it).
Red Rag to a bull up here..... unless you support Leeds..... everyone in Yorks hates them! Sheffield teams may have a better chance.... or York City
My case was a little bit tongue in cheek Frenchie. However - you are right, there are actually very few Cornishmen left down there. Most now living in Plymouth, Bristol or London. To an extent this applies also to many areas of the West Country. Tourists to the West Country do not just go there, leave their money, and then go home - they often buy up local properties as well. House prices on Exmoor, for example, were at one time increasing at a rate of 30% more than the national rate of increase. In an area which has lower wages than the rest of England this can only lead to one result - depopulation (of locals) and loss of infrastructure. Partly because the incomers are older but also because they often don't live in the houses they buy. On Exmoor I lived close to a place called Brendon which had a village school which once had 50 pupils but, at the time of closure, had only 6 left. Such a thing would also be common in Cornwall. The fact that they often vote Liberal has to do with the fact that Labour are essentially a 'town' party - who have historically given little thought to the idea of rural poverty. Devon and Somerset are also relatively good areas for the Liberals - at least compared to rural areas of the South East.
