The States We're In
Here's a few shards scattered about the place of the disintegrating States of Britain and France...Over at Our Kingdom Tom Griffin describes a crisis for Labour in Wales. Rhodri Morgan argues that the impression Labour has sometimes given as being reluctant advocates for the Welsh language, reluctant on more powers for the Assembly, and reluctant exponents of Welsh identity have allowed party to be portrayed as 'London-dominated', with the Conservatives, in particular, repositioning themselves as more pro-Welsh than Labour. Sound familiar?
Meanwhile the first soundings of the Calman Commission argues that there is nothing wrong with the devolution settlement other than the nuclear issue. If I was a constitutional acupuncturist, I'd reckon I'd just found the pressure point of the British State.
Over at the Scottish Patient, Kevin W is describing the predicament of his Breton friends Gael Roblin, Kristian Georgeault and Paskal Laize - who will appear in a special court in Paris accused of being implicated in the Breton Revolutionary Army (ARB) and the bombing of a MacDonalds restaurant in Quevert in 2000: "Brittany is a country of 4 million people - a Celtic country roughly comparable in size to Scotland, Ireland or Wales - with its own indigenous Celtic language and culture. The French government are utterly opposed to the break up the French state and routinely attack Breton activists, as well as trying to suppress the Breton language. This is another such attack. One of many."
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