5 ms·

Independence from what? Should England be an Independent state? London? The City of London?

• mpweiher 10y ago
  Kensington and Chelsea. Definitely!
  • louisswiss 10y ago
    Kensington High Street for the inhabitants of Kensington High Street!
    • mpweiher 10y ago
      You can keep your stinkin' High Street. We Chesterton Roadies don't want any part of it!
      • g_k_chesterton 10y ago
        "Do you really mean that you are -- God help me! -- a Notting Hill patriot; that you are --?" from The Napoleon of Notting Hill https://books.google.com/books?id=KajPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA111 https://books.google.com/books?id=KajPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA111
• skylan_q 10y ago
  It is a serious question worth asking. To just discard the desire for independence as backwards and stupid is to go too far.
• stuaxo 10y ago
  There should probably autonomous regions, the West and the North are neglected, they could have their own governments (but still be part of England).
• dalore 10y ago
  Each British homeowner should be independent. A man's house is his castle. The could all be lords of their own empire but band together when needed to fight common enemies. Perhaps they could all group together money to help pay for common services like roads etc.
  • matt4077 10y ago
    I had to check your history to see if this is satire. Since it's not: this is a completely misguided view of human nature. Humans are among the most social of all animals, and our successes and failures have always been a function of our ability to work together. Humans everywhere, and at any time, have created groups held together by a lot more than transactional opportunities. And even if you were right, and it is our fundamental nature to be lone wolfs, plundering the lesser lords and raping their ladies: the actual overarching feature of humanity is our unique ability to overcome base instincts with reason and morality. And both reason and experience tell us that cooperation is much more successful as a strategy for anything you could possibly desire than the alternatives.
    • dalore 10y ago
      Why wouldn't you think it was satire?
  • prodmerc 10y ago
    > Perhaps they could all group together money to help pay for common services like roads etc. Could, but won't. Everyone would rather get 4x4's than pay a small fee for maintaining the roads.
• Chaebixi 10y ago
  Do those things have identities as independent nations/cultures?
  • fredley 10y ago
    England / The City of London, yes.
  • vidarh 10y ago
    The better question to ask is: Does Britain have identity as a nation? Various surveys indicates that a lot of people in the UK - across all the constituents parts - see themselves as more English/Welsh/Scottish/Irish than British. Many don't see themselves as British at all (ironically immigrants who have become citizens are far more likely to see themselves as British first than people born here). The British identity as a single nation is weak and fractured. Keep in mind that the modern nation state and national identities are barely two centuries old and was largely an artificial construct to begin with, created as part of the romantic nationalism movement, and it has had various degrees of success in different places. In the UK a lot of that identity got built around and tied up in the Empire, and has fractured and gone into decline with the fall of the British Empire. On top of that, I'd argue that London in many ways does have a distinct culture from the surrounding area. London - especially the centre - is a Labour stronghold in a sea of conservative areas. It voted far more for Remain than the surrounding area, despite a large proportion of the residents of London being unable to vote (seeing as London has a high proportion of non-citizen residents). It's far more immigration friendly, far more multicultural than the surrounding areas. After the Brexit there has been proposals - some serious, and some not so much - for an independence movement for London. I know some concrete planning has been done. There was real and seething anger in London over the vote - in many areas it was seen as outright betrayal, and evidence that London does not really fit in with most of England. People joked about building a wall around the M25 (freeway circling London). Now, there's no way there's any sizeable real support for an independent London, but the Brexit vote did plant a seed. We'll see if it grows - if the terms we leave the EU on are bad, and especially if they hit London hard, it very well might start growing. I genuinely think that while it won't get much support, ther likely will be a registered political party arguing for an independent London within the next decade.
• Keyframe 10y ago
  You're saying that like The City is not already independent.