The London Marathon

Former CEP Vice Chairman Tom Waterhouse is running the London Marathon this year to raise money for the Royal British Legion.

A very worthy cause indeed.

Tom was on the CEP's National Council for 3 years and the Vice Chairman for a year. He used to run this blog before me and you might remember him (back in January last year) giving Lord Falconer a run for his money on Radio 5 Live, and for giving Magnus Linklater a battering on BBC News 24!

He also wrote "Answering the English Question"- which you can buy on the left of this page.

So make sure you sponsor him!

Give him your support by visiting www.justgiving.com/tomwaterhouse

There is hope yet

Those of you that have read the post below will know that this blogger has been lucky enough to spend a week in Suffolk recently.

It was just north of Bury St. Edmunds (see post below) that you will find West Stow, home to one of the most remarkable places I have ever been.

The picture on the left here is what it's all about. West Stow was once an Anglo-Saxon village. Archaeologists have been continually excavating the site since 1965, and their discoveries changed how the Anglo-Saxons are perceived (see below).

Since then the Anglo-Saxon buildings have been re-built on the exact places they were excavated. There is a museam hosting all the items found in the village, which is regularly visited by schools and members of the public alike.

Walking around those buildings- with their log fires smouldering, allows you to feel as if you were back in 500AD in a real Anglo-Saxon village. It was remarkable.

Best of all was the museum, which explained that Anglo-Saxons had always been thought of as murderous, brutal savages. Until, that is, excavations like this which proved that, through their pottery, jewellery and artwork, the Anglo-Saxons were cultured and sophisticated people.

The museum told the story of Anglo-Saxon England- ending with this board:


"Norman propaganda denigrated Anglo-Saxon culture and only recently has this been challenged".

All those school children and parents and teachers will read it.

The denigration of Anglo-Saxon culture continues to this day- it's why we can't celebrate our national day or say we're proud to be English without some looney using the word "racist". But this is being challenged. Our cultural ancestors were intelligent, sophisticated people that laid the foundations for what has become one of the finest nations in the world- England.

When you visit places like West Stow, you know that there is hope yet for our young people and for England.

Suffolk

Over the last week Mrs. CEP Oxfordshire and I have been in the fine old English county of Suffolk. Steeped in English history, it was rather nice to go to places such as Southwold, and visit churches dedicated to St. Edmund the Martyr, last Anglo-Saxon king of East Anglia.

Edmund was defeated in battle by the Danes in 869 and, on capture, was ordered to renounce his Christian faith. Being English he would have none of it- it would take more than a slow and painful death to get him to disown his beliefs! The Danes were furious, and so tied him to a tree and executed him. This is thought to have taken place at Hoxne in Suffolk. The Danes hid Edmund's head in the woods so as to prevent his followers finding it and giving him a Christian burial. A wicked thing to do in the very real sense of the word.

However, Edmund's followers returned to look for their fallen king. On searching the woods, a voice called out to them. "Here, here!". Edmund's people followed the calls until they found a wolf- craddling Edmund's head as if it were one of its cubs. When they took Edmund's head from the wild animal and brought it out of the woods, the animal followed them until it knew Edmund was to be laid to rest- and then disappeared back into the woods.

Edmund's holy remains were taken to what is now Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk. A huge Abbey and cathedral were built to honour him, which became one of the most famous pilgrimage sites of the times- the remains of the Abbey stand to this day. However, when the Abbey was disestablished in 1539, the Abbey was stripped of all its valuables. Edmund's holy remains were lost and have still not been found to this day.

Edmund's feast day is 20 November. Last year there was a campaign to have him restored as patron saint of England. Despite how highly I regard St. Edmund- I wouldn't change our St. George for anyone.

Northern Rock- who will really pay?

With the whole fiasco over the last couple of days, this English patriot is left asking- "who will really pay?"

Our (Scottish) Chancellor has been accused of incompetence, with the "taxpayer" currently subsidising the bank in loans and guarantees to other lenders to the tune of about £55bn. Apparently this will rise to £110bn, an equivalent of £3,500 per taxpayer.

Meanwhile our (Scottish) Prime Minister hasn't sacked Darling, nor will Darling resign. Neither are accountable to a single English voter- and yet- were Scotland to leave the UK in the next couple of years, what would Brown, Darling and Salmond decide would happen to this incredible burden?

Brown: What about the North Sea Oil?
Salmond: Scotland will have that.
All: Agreed.
Brown: What about this massive national debt?
Salmond: England can keep that!
All: Agreed!

Berwick wants to join Scotland

Residents in the English town of Berwick-upon-Tweed have voted in a TV poll to"re-join Scotland".

60% of people who voted wanted to the Northumberland town to become part of Scotland again- the main reason being the better public services available in Scotland.

Organisers of the TV programme said the poll turnout was 1,957 votes- compared to some 3,800 in the last local elections.


There has been pro-Scotland and pro-England campaigns to persuade voters, with both campaigns highlighting the situation whereby services in Scotland are far better than in England.

Former school teacher Barbara Herdman campaigned in the town for a pro-English vote and for a change in how public spending is allocated across the UK. She said: "I think that Berwick should stay part of England because it's so unfair what is happening at the moment.

"The Scots are getting more money than we are. I'm not saying that the Scots should not get what they get, but that we should get the same."

***

Should Berwick actually become part of Scotland, it could be a risky move. Scotland may well have better public services thanks to money from England, but if the UK splits up those public services will undoubtedly become a thing of the past.

Then again, the fickle people of Berwick may then decide that the grass is in fact greener in England's pleasant lands.

I say that any official poll on Berwick re-joining Scotland, regardless of the outcome, should be binding for 50 years.

Back in the game...

Sorry for the lack of posts on this site. Heck- the last one was back in September last year!

The reason for this was that our main contributor has now begun a new career and, alas, has not had the time to update this blog. However, he has kindly allowed me to take his place- such a responsibility!

I am someone that loves England, and I'm proud to call myself English. I believe we should be given an English Parliament or leave the Union.

The CEP Oxfordshire blog is now back in the game!

You can live in Scotland, but die in England

The Northern Echo is today highlighting the latest life-saving cancer drug to be freely available on the NHS in Scotland, but unavailable in England.

Tarceva, used to treat lung cancer, has been approved for NHS use north of the border for over a year, but is "effectively banned" in England by NICE, England's independent licensing watchdog.

The Northern Echo highlights the case of Jimmy Jenkyns from South Shields, who is having to pay £1,700 a month to afford Tarceva, which has seen his tumour shrink by a third.

Jimmy's wife, Deanne, said it was "outrageous" that patients in Scotland could get Tarceva on the NHS but not in England.

Joyce Dunlop, director of patient care for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation told the Northern Echo that "There are a fair few people who are buying this drug now and some PCTs are using that against them, which I think is outrageous."

People in England are being denied yet another life-saving cancer drug on the grounds of cost. And yet, with money from the English taxpayer via the Barnett Formula, people in Scotland are being given the drug free on the NHS.

The situation is simply outrageous. And yet our MPs at the UK Parliament of Westminster stay relatively quiet for fear of "damaging the Union".

The English seem to be paying an ever-higher price to save the Union.