Dr Vincent Cable. A compelling case for a smack in the squirrel nutkins.

After a very long wait of over 3 weeks, the good Doctor Cable has managed, at last to wrestle with his inner self and search the lexicons for just the right amount of political puissance and produce a complex, in-depth, high quality and well thought out response to my email.

Sorry, exaggerated a bit there. Vince was probably a bit rushed as Coronation Street had a bumper double episode bundle on the telly last night – so you’d expect a bit of a precis job on the reply, wouldn’t you?

This is the drivel he sent me –

Dear Mr. The-Wake,

Thank you for your letter concerning English nationalism.

I, and the Liberal Democrats, have argued consistently in favour of devolution, in order to distribute governmental power more fairly. We have argued for elected regional government in England.

Nationalism calls for independence, which is not something that I support for England.

I value the collective multiple identity from which we benefit in the UK. Nationalism is not the same as devolution, and it is in no way hypocritical to support one and criticize the other.

I hope I have answered your concerns.

Dr Vincent Cable MP

Well, you haven’t answered anything have you Vinny mate?
And Vincent, you do know don’t you, that this means war.

First thing tomorrow, I shall be ringing a man I have got to know very well over the past few weeks, and a man who I’m sure will be made up to hear from me again. I refer to Mr Gurpreet Dosanjh, Senior Correspondence Secretary, Office of Charles Kennedy MP.

I absolutely demand a bloody apology, and I assert that you ‘Doctor’ are an utter arse who should be struck off. (Preferably with a baseball bat) I have 7 questions which I would like answering, which should be easy for a brain of a planet politician like you – I list them below…..

This letter was originally sent to Charles Kennedy – as I was absolutely assured of a reply by Kennedy’s staff. After 2 weeks, they sent it off to Cable HQ.

Mr Kennedy,
I really must complain in the strongest possible terms at Vincent Cable’s appallingly inaccurate assertion in his piece on ‘Multiculturalism and Britishness’ via the ‘Demos’ website. I enclose the address here so you can view it if you are not aware of it:
http://www.demos.co.uk/media/pressreleases/multipleidentitiesrelease/

In the article Cable states -"The threat to harmonious social relations in Britain comes from those who insist that multiple identity is not possible: white supremacists, English nationalists, Islamic fundamentalists. This is the opposition and they have to be confronted. An important element in that confrontation is the assertion of a sense of Britishness."

I’d like to inform you that I am an English Nationalist – and I object most strongly to being lumped with ‘white supremacists and Islamic fundamentalists’. What a damn cheek! Who on earth does Mr Cable think he is? What an utterly ignorant and nonsensical thing to say by one of your supposed ‘heavy hitters’.

I really do feel that I should receive an apology from you or Mr Cable for such a bizarre and ill-informed statement. He is saying that because I want the same equal rights for my Country that Scotland and Wales have, then I’m some sort of right wing fascist.

Can you answer the following questions please and number your answers to correspond with my questions – that way, I’ll be sure you have considered my questions properly – and hopefully given considered, in-depth answers.

1) Does Mr Cable include Scottish and Welsh Nationalists in the same bracket as white supremacists and Islamic fundamentalism? And if he does, has he told Alex Salmond that he equates him with being akin to a white supremacist?

2) Why has Mr Cable not mentioned Scots and Welsh Nationalists in the article as well?


3) Don’t you think that the rise in ‘English Nationalism’ is as a result of the people of England being short-changed constitutionally and economically when compared to the other home countries? And don’t you think this is an entirely natural reaction to cynical, constitutional favouritism?

4) If Mr Cable really does think English Nationalism is a wicked and flawed prospectus, please can you tell what differences there are between Scottish, Welsh and English Nationalism?

5) Perhaps Mr Cable was really referring to the British National Party and the National Front? But there’s a problem here isn’t there? The BNP and the NF like to foster a British identity – along with their Union Flags and their bizarre ideas of British values. And ‘Britain’ was the very essence of Cable’s speech. Do you think Mr Cable has got mixed up and doesn’t know the difference between Britain and England? (After all, politicians at Westminster seem to do that a lot)


6) Can you tell me of any democratic constitutional advantage of any kind that the nation of England has enjoyed over the past 8 years? Please bear in mind that over that same period, Assembles and Parliaments galore – and the consequent dream of ‘responsive and responsible Government’ have been set up in the other home countries.

7) As a democrat, I want what everyone else has – as of right the same as the rest of the UK gets. No more, no less. We ALL pay the same tax rates, yet people in Scotland, Wales and N.I. get substantially more per head out of the public purse than do the people of England, don’t you agree?

I’m a former life long Labour voter of over 30 years. My politics are left of centre and I’m thoroughly, thoroughly disillusioned. Scotland and Wales have their own Parliaments – England does not. The people in Westminster spend 80% of their time discussing purely English matters – even those with constituencies in the far North of Scotland. Transport, Health, Foundation hospitals, top-up fees, foisted on us by a clack of Scottish Labour MPs. Free prescriptions in Wales next year and free eye tests in Scotland. Free old persons care in Scotland, free central heating systems installed as of right north of the border also.

All these goodies are obviously not available to English people. No Barnett formula dividend for us – the English taxpayer just pays for it all. Consequently, people in England have the least per head spent on them in Health, Education, Transport, etc, etc.

When people in England ask for a Parliament for themselves, we are looked upon as being just a little bit strange. No, Regional Assemblies, one step up from Parish Councils are the way ahead for us apparently. Except that the people of the N.E. hadn’t read the script and kicked it in the bin where it belonged.

Prescott just COULDN’T give US a NATIONAL referendum on whether WE wanted a national Parliament or not. Instead he tried to chip away, using the area of England that feels most ‘independent’ in a sorry and utterly appalling attempt to get a bandwagon movement rolling. He was, of course aided and abetted by the enthusiastic Lib Dems. What very strange bed-fellows you have.

So England is in a sort of limbo. No National democracy for us is there? 85% of the UK population have no representation at national level. England is the ONLY nation in Europe without a National Parliament – and you great pontificating democrats at Westminster presumably think this status quo is perfectly acceptable. How undemocratic, what arrogance!!!

Even Iraq has a Parliament for goodness sake!

In conclusion, statements of utter ignorance by the likes of Mr Cable just reinforce how out of touch Westminster MPs really are. There are huge injustices within the UK and as supposed Democrats, you and your Party should be absolutely ashamed of your support for a patently undemocratic and unfair system that is loaded against the people of England from cradle to grave.

Can you please forward me an explanation of Mr Cable’s ill informed statement, or better still an abject apology on his behalf. Or even better and more honourable, an apology from him to me personally – I don’t appreciate being called a fascist, nazi, etc by someone who is supposedly intelligent. Well, you wouldn’t would you?

Mr Cable’s comments are both foolish and dangerous, he should retract them immediately and perhaps you should severely censure him for such irresponsibility.

I look forward to your prompt response.