The man from the government, he say "Yes".

[Workingman]

Which part of "No" do they not understand?

In 2004 we dumped John Prescott's regional assembly idea. We said "No".

In 2012 we dumped David Cameron's idea for Boris type Mayors. We said "No", all except Bristol, and Doncaster, which voted to retain its version.

We now have Goerge Osborne imposing an elected mayor for the Manchester city region. He put a lot of sweeteners on the table, now where has that happened before, and the leaders of the councils couldn't resist. Without any call to the electorate the deal has been done: democracy anyone?

The vote will probably take place at the same time as council elections to make it look as though there is some sort of turnout. If this charade does get the go ahead it will be imposed on the other city regions. Leeds, with a similar population and infrastructure and the nearness of other cities and large towns will be next. Then Birmingham. Then Sheffield/Rotherham, Then Derby/Nottingham.

[Kaz]

The Mayor of Bristol is a complete arse TBH Our local news comes form either Bristol or Birmingham so we hear about him quite a lot, and all he is interested in is self-publicity

[Suff]

If at first you don't succeed, connive until you get the result you want. Then stuff it down their throats.

Politics 101.

[TheOstrich]

I fully agree. This is not a debate about the future for the English constitution, it's a flamin' imposition from Westminster.

Now - will the English just sit back and meekly take what they're given, with the usual dull grumbling, or will they have the guts to stand up to Westminster like the Scots? (I'm not confident .....)

What we need is a true English-based political party with a vision for England at its heart (i.e the equivalent of the SNP) - which puts UKIP in a little bit of a difficult position, because it's not that at present ..... but it could be if they seize the moment. I think Farage has spoken in favour of English devolution in general terms, but he needs to get stuck into the debate and the options.

[Suff]

Actually the history of Scots putting up with stuff V English putting up with stuff is the opposite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_riots#1980s

Search for Scotland.
Search for England

You get a different view north of the border. Also, remember, the Scots didn't stand up to Westminster. In the end they caved. Again. Only the SNP stand up to Westminster and that comes with a price internally...

[KateLMead]

The Mayor of Bristol is a complete arse TBH Our local news comes form either Bristol or Birmingham so we hear about him quite a lot, and all he is interested in is self-publicity

Tell me any of the chancers who aren't Kaz

[Kaz]

Quite so, and these Lord Mayor-ships do seem to have a particularly big draw to the big egos

[Suff]

We have a new class today. The political class. Above everyone and a great consumer. Of money. And Power.

[cromwell]

That's very true Suff.

If you go back far enough, the argument for not having an absolute monarch was (among other things) that nobody else had any say in matters. So we got magna carta, the civil war and the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

We seem to have come full circle because essentially the political class is the new absolute monarch. How much influence has the ordinary person, or any number of ordinary people, in the running of their country? Our opinions count as much with the political class as did the opinion of the peasants with King John.

[Workingman]

I see the PR wing of the Establishment has held a poll. This BBC poll, according to the headline, shows support for English Devolution..... Yet of the 11 questions only two were remotely about devolution, the rest were about Scotland and London.

Or, as Prof John Curtice, from Strathclyde University, put it 'the question asked in the poll needed to be more specific.'

He might have added that the evaluation of the results of the poor questions 'could also be better.'