"Mait001" wrote in message
...
Ah, that's my problem you see - I feel no loyalty to the Crown
whatsoever.

And that's just the beauty of the relatively hands-off pragmatic British
form
of government. Nobody is suggesting you HAVE to pledge loyalty to the
Crown,
but all those that make the system tick do, and far better that they
pledge
loyalty to an apolitical figurehead than an elected politician who, by his
very
nature, is partisan.

I
feel that democracy and self-determination are the closest we can have to
exrpessions of public interest, so if a majority of Scots want their own
Parliament - or even independence - I believe they should have it.

What if a majority of Yorkshiremen wanted a parliament? What about a
majority
of Muslims? Once you start dividing in that way, where does it end?

What I don't agree with is multiple layers of overlapping government,

I agree absolutely.

or the
abolition of local authorities on the whim of the government of the day
(e.g. the GLC).

I believe in as little government as possible. The G.L.C. was abolished
largely
thanks to Ken, the great survivor!

I'd like to see a legally entrenced federal system of some
sort, which clearly delineates powers.

Our unwritten constiution has served us well for many years. One man's
idea of
a written (entrenched) constitution is another man's idea of oppression.

With the cabal in Strasbourg, there is neither a theoretical nor
practical
prospect of ever removing them, since the majority come from other
countries,
of whose electorate none of us in the U.K. can ever be part.

I agree that the EU suffers from a severe democratic deficit; but I think
we
do need elected international bodies to allow checks on the power of
multinationals or bodies like the WTO.


Yes, but that is not the same thing as a supra-national government which
is
what the E.U. purports to be. In fact it is the genesis of a nation -
ultimately it will fail.

I appreciate that you may not think of yourself as a European; but I
suggest
that there is a significant minority of Scots who wouldn't think of
themselves as British either.

I'd wager that more Scots regard themselves as British than European!

Marc.

Exactly:
1. Scottish
2. British
3. European