"If the Government has the nous..."
Aye, there's the rub!

Our government is stuffed full of used car salesmen desperate to make a sale.
"Independence? Devolution? How about this model Alex, 'Devo Max' we call it. Got all the bells and whistles, plus free fuel and servicing courtesy of the English taxpayer.... "
They act like a bunch of spivs and shysters getting by on other people's money and desperate not to give the taxpayer a say in anything important.

Western Europe signed up for 'the assisted dying programme' when it finally abandoned our Judaeo/Christian beliefs and bought into a shiny new humanistic liberal democracy, in which
"the freedom to be what the heck you want to be"
was enshrined as a right, and all religions and all cultures were deemed as of equal worth.

The political bozos who bought into this never questioned what the outcome might be, never even wondered why if "all religions and cultures were of equal worth," there were far more people heading to Europe than heading to Asia or Africa..

It never occurred to them because they assumed that the rest of the world not only shared the same values that made our culture what it was, but were as willing to work for and legislate to ensure that these values were enshrined in law as we were....

As a consequence our "humanistic, all embracing, all inclusive, diverse and equal before the law society" has allowed our enemies to come and settle amongst us and plot our downfall under the umbrella of freedom and democracy.."

Politicians -especially Labour politicians, rigged this question so that it became an issue of morality rather than belonging.
And thats where the answer lies, in one's sense of 'connection' to the history of this great country of ours. I am English because,
a) I can trace my family back over many generations and I know that they originated in the North East, and are now all over the western world.
b) That I had relatives who fought in both world wars, and on one side of the family "reivers" who raided the English Scottish border, one of whom was hung for sheep stealing..
c) That my heart swells with pride over our national achievements and on hearing certain music
d) That I have the right to vote for whichever bunch of egotistical shysters I think will do least harm to my pocket and my prospects..

I think that people from without can become British, even English, if they have served the country in the forces or in the community, and put this country as a whole before the welfare of their own community.
To serve one's own community in a multicultural society is not necessarily a sign of Britishness, but rather the exercising of freedoms they might not have enjoyed in their country of origin.
Most importantly, you are not British simply because you live in this country. In fact, if you have chosen to live in this country and you actually dislike/disapprove/condemn the culture of this country, then us indigenous Brits are entitled to ask why you remain here..
I would say the same thing to indigenous people in positions of authority, or policemen or even social workers, who seem determined to destroy my country, and are willing to offer little white schoolgirls to evil and frustrated men to rape, defile and terrorise because they are "white British sluts."
And by the way it is an insult to the Sikh and Hindu communities to label these disgusting specimens as "Asian."

I see our 'just out of his wrappings' new Foreign Secretary has said today that,
"The UK government has called for President Assad to be removed as Syrian leader as a result of his actions during the country's civil war. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's The World at One, the foreign secretary said to co-operate with the Syrian regime would "poison" what the UK was trying to achieve."

Phil Baby,
What exactly IS the UK trying to achieve?
The Arab Spring has turned into the Arab Winter, and previously stable nations with strong leadership are now threatened with barbarism and death - and plenty of it..

For Goodness sake man!
Stop pretending you're William Vague and formulate a sensible plan the British people can get behind.
Otherwise we shall see the same events happening in Iraq and Syria happening here, and an awful lot of hat makers will go out of business....

A good post and I agree with you. People like to knock it but Christianity is the faith that undergirds all of Western civilisation and together with mainly Greek philosophy has allowed us to flourish. The only reason Christianity is now under attack is precisely because of what it stands for: freedom, redemption and the dignity of the individual.
Contrast that with every form of totalitarianism, whether religious or political.

My suggestion is that this could be covered by the ArchBishop of Canterbury. After all Christianity is the official religion of our country and the CofE is the State Church.
People choose to come and live here, knowing that it is a Christian country, and that their faith will be tolerated.
I would have thought that this role would come within his remit.

Dave rather reminds me of Gollum. The EU is "his precious" and as much as he craves it, so he is also controlled by it. I fear his destiny lies in the political fires of Mordor's Mount Doom.
I can just see his little face as still grasping his EU membership, he sinks beneath the molten lava..

Nigel Farage (aka Gandalf) nails it in the Telegraph here.. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nigel-fa...

The problem is not so much unemployment benefits as it is the "in work benefits" needed by those in low wage employment where the wages simply aren't sufficient to keep body and souls together. This is where the damage is being done with lorryloads of EU workers flooding the UK and dragging down the wages of the indigenous population.
It might work okay for the Orcs, but us Hobbits demand better.

Michael Howard was a good leader, a man of integrity. That's why some didn't like him. As I recall he was tripped up by the "Immigration is a taboo subject/You're a Wacistt for bringing it up! Brigade" Mostly New Labour of course..

:)

Well said Michael Howard. I emailed my MP on the same subject yesterday.
David Cameron often said that he admired Tony Blair, and sadly his political leadership has borne that out.