Benefit reform

With all this talk of welfare reform the key thing ot note is that there are people who are disabled as well as elderly, some do voluntary work and some can't or becasuse of related illnesses need to remain at home and stable (such as the tagged offenders on addictiomn treatment programmes who aren't a danger anymore but if they drink or start blowing their benefits on drugs might be).

As such by all means keep benefits in line with wages so that those who do work don't get resentful, but ensire that their supportmechanisms don't have their funding cut. Otherwise the longer term costs to the police and the courts and possibly prison is far higher.

I think that teh universal redit is a good idea and clear tax and benefit advice should be readilly availible in all media by all forms of government and in education so that all pupils from teh day that they set their part time wages get state support if their ambitions fail at univeristy or college. However that screws up the way socialists historically get votes on the back of engineered resentments

James Ware

TO: institute@stpaulscathedral.co.uk, umca@aber.ac.uk

Can there be a secular england with an established church

Yesterday I received an email from the Campaign For an English Parliament decrying proposals for two devolved English assemblies, one for northern England and one for southern England.

These two provinces are the ones recognised in the Book of Common prayer as ecclesiastical arch sees of the Church of England, namely York and Canterbury.

So

If the counties of England were abolished in favour of these two regional assemblies

General Synod was abolished and replaced with synods per diocese and province feeding into an Anglican Communion reformed at the next Lambeth conference or sooner.

English votes on English laws delivers an English constituencies only House of Commons and an elected federal senate with tax varying powers in each of the devolved, urban cities and national areas to replace the old Barnett Formular

A written constitution is written for the United kingdom with a right of secession for Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland to dominion status within the Commonwealth, keeping the Queen or monarch as head of state or joining the British Irish council as parliamentary republics within the commonwealth

The church gets an ordinariate bishop per province and an area bishop per diocese paid for by the state in lieu of non return of church estates vested in the crown (the ecclesiastical civil list as it were)

All laws are passed by the state and interpreted by each faith community separately on their own premises, obeying the law as citizens at all times (including the church of England)

Then Imagine thered be

An English parliament giving England a parliament of its own advising the crown with an elected senate and supreme court to govern the internal laws of the UK.

No overmighty subjects

The Queen could retire and give the Prince of wales or duke of Cambridge a good chance of defending her legacy rather than the end years of her reign being kept in recession, saving the realm from the tragedy of the last years of Elizabeth 1sts reign.

Cymru Wales and Northern Ireland could also hold independence referendums

There’d be no need for federal universities

The 39 articles could be restored.

A secular constitution could ensure that England does not discriminate on the basis of christian denomination or faith community

Dioceses could replace counties as the focus for allegiance in England with lord lts being assigned to them and a streamlined military so reformed fitting into this structure.

The honours system could replace the word empire with commonwealth in its systems to reflect the global unity of the English speaking peoples.