My England by the English Pet Portraits and Landscape Artist, Isabel Clark

- Gilbert K. Chesterton -

A few of my English Landscape Scenes

Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland, England 2001 Watercolours	Kenilworth Castle, Kenilworth, England 1990 - Watercolours
Engine House, Sutton Stop Canal Basin, England 1987 - Oils	Summer in Duggin's Lane, England 1989 - Oils
Lane near Coventry, England 1990 - Watercolours	Brandon Village, England 1992 Watercolours

The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was founded on 1 January 1801 when the Act of Union was signed. The Act was accompanied by the unveiling of the modern Union Flag.  The first sketch for a Union Flat was produced in 1606 by James I, but it was another 200 years before the modern design was completed in time for the Act of Union in 1801.

Until the 19th century, the Union Flag had just been a combination of the red-on-white vertical cross of St George (England's national flag) and the diagonal white-cross-on-blue of St Andrew's (Scotland's National Flag - the Saltire). 

With the Act of Union in 1801, a new design was required, incorporating the thin red-on-white diagonal cross of St Patrick (Ireland's National Flag).  The Welsh Dragon (Wales National Flag) was not incorporated into the new design because, at that time, Wales was considered to be part of England.  Today, since the Independence of Eire, the Union consists of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

It is only when the Union flag is flown from the jack mast on British ships that it should be called the Union Jack, however, most people today know it as the Union Jack. The flag should also only be flown with the broad white cross band at the top on the mast side.  Flown upside down it is a sign of distress.

I believe the UK can be a force for good and believe the Union can still be of great benefit for all the nations who belong to it.  However, every country in this Union should be treated equally and fairly to prevent bitterness and resentment.

In contrast to the enthusiastic celebrations of the Australians' Centenary on the same day - 1st January, 2001, the British Government did nothing to mark the United Kingdom's Bi-Centenary.  This shows the contempt in which this Government holds, not just England, but the United Kingdom too.  The Government appears to have been hoping the day would slip by without anyone realising.  The antagonism they show against any display of patriotic pride, especially if the patriot is English, is disgraceful.  I also believe there is some political expediency involved, regarding the peace process in Northern Ireland.

The year 2001 also marks the 300th Anniversary of the Act of Settlement, the 465th Anniversary of the Act of Union between England and Wales and the 294th Anniversary of the Act of Union which created the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

What other Government would have purposely ignored these historical anniversaries? 

Can anybody imagine the French ignoring Bastille Day?

A few years ago the USA celebrated the 200th Anniversary of their Independence from the UK, with much enjoyment, and that is as it should be.  Can anybody imagine the President of the USA trying to ignore the anniversary?

In 2001, the Australians also celebrated the 100th Anniversary of 1st January 1901, when the Australian colonies combined into the single Commonwealth of Australia.  There was no way the Australians were going to ignore their birthday.

"We must be free or die, who
speak the tongue
That Shakespeare spake,
the faith and morals hold,
Which Milton held......"

Wordsworth

England

There is no justice in the UK while England alone is denied her OWN national parliament.

Why is England the ONLY Nation in the UK that does not have its OWN National Body to represent the interests of its people?

Why are the politicians trying to erase all traces of Englishness?

Just ask yourselves why to the above questions.  There is no reasonable or fair reason for either but this is the situation in England today. And why do British politicians in the UK Westminster Parliament, consider it not nice to be patriotic and love your Country and some Marxist left-wingers go even further and suggest it is even racist? What warped minds they do have.

England is not considered a Nation in its own right by the European Union.  They just consider us a Region of the EU and Labour politicians are trying to break England up into even smaller bite-size pieces called English Regions.  I believe, that this is to weaken the bond of the whole of England, to enable politicians to better manipulate the people.  Many left-wing politicians appear to hate the English, our culture, history and everything about us and this destruction of England is music to their ears. The politicians responsible for this treacherous betrayal of our heritage and culture should be brought to justice.  Their destruction of our status as a free and proud Country, which many generations of our English forefathers who fought and died for, is a disgraceful and shameful act.

Dilution of the Original Population of the UK

One of the really nasty little tricks pulled by Tony Blair and his cronies in his Labour Government, was to use immigrants and immigration to pull a spiteful stunt on the Conservative Party whose leadership appears, in the main, to be made up of a more patriotically minded people.

Labour decided to absolutely flood our Country with immigrants so the Conservative Party's ability to control the numbers of people coming to our Country etc would be diminished and the racial makeup of this Country changed forever.   This is actually against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. However, Blair and his poisonous toadies did not seem to care how they were misusing people in this way, betraying OUR Country, abusing the indigenous English and indeed the whole British population.  His actions have, caused the social cohesion, in many parts of this Country, to break down, especially in inner city areas where new immigrants congregate. Even long-settled immigrants see the dangers in this swamping of the Country by foreign nationals. Immigrants are now coming here in droves and they have no intention of integrating with the host population.  People have now become aware of this abuse by the Labour Government and they are increasingly angry about it.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Article 6
Every indigenous individual has the right to a nationality of their own.

Article 8
1. Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right not to be subjected to forced assimilation or destruction of their culture.
2. States shall provide effective mechanisms for prevention of, and redress for:
        (a) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities;
        (b) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources;
        (c) Any form of forced population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights;
        (d) Any form of forced assimilation or integration;
        (e) Any form of propaganda designed to promote or incite racial or ethnic discrimination directed against them.

England's National Flag

England's National Flag is the red-on-white vertical cross of St George. See small flag image at top of this page.

England's Patron Saint

England's Patron Saint is St George.  St George's day is on 23rd April.  Coincidentally, this is also the date of both the birth and death of William Shakespeare. 

Tales of St. George seem to have been circulating in England since the eighth century.  It is generally accepted that St. George of the dragon fame, actually existed but there are a number of versions of the legend, one claiming that he was born in Cappadocia in the 3rd century and died in Palestine as a martyr.  In that story, Coventry would not have come into existence yet. But, as I am English and St. George is my Patron Saint, I prefer the legend of the English St. George.

St. George, the Patron Saint of England was, according to one legend, born at Caludon Castle in Coventry and also lain to rest there. 'Guy, Earl of Warwick, has also been said to have been one of St. George's three sons. This Coventry St. George died in 303 AD in Palestine.

The English Rose

England's National Flower is the Rose. Initially a gold rose became the symbol of England when Henry III married Eleanor of Provence. The golden rose of Provence was adopted by England as its new floral symbol. From this golden rose came the red rose of the House of Lancaster and the white rose of the House of York.

The Three Royal Lions of England

The lion is the oldest device known in heraldry and, as "king of beasts", was adopted by kings of Leon, Norway and Denmark as their emblem. However, the origin of the three royal lions of England still remains a mystery.

In the 11th century, Henry I, known as "The Lion of Justice", may have been the first English king to use a lion. It is not known for sure why or when a second lion suddenly appeared. However, when Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose family emblem was also a lion, he is believed to have added the third lion. When he led his English troops in the Crusades, Richard I, "the Lion-Heart" carried a shield emblazoned with three golden lions on a red background. These are still the royal symbol of England.

England's National Bird

England's National Bird is the Wren - a tiny brown bird and the smallest in England.

England - Part of the United Kingdom

England is NOT the United Kingdom.  England is not Great Britain. England is one of the countries in the United Kingdom. Great Britain or the UK is all the countries of the United Kingdom - Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England.

Three countries of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, now have their own devolved governments, with National Parliaments or a National Assembly to look after the interests of their own people. It appears that the aim of politicians of most colours, is for one UK Nation, England, NEVER to govern itself.

Unlike in the British Parliament at Westminster, where all the countries of the UK send MPs to represent their own constituents from whichever country of the British Isles, English MPs are prohibited from having any say in matters devolved to those three countries' Parliament or National Body. However, MPs from these devolved countries National Bodies have duel mandates.  They can vote on purely English affairs and affect what laws are passed for the English as well as voting in their own countries Parliament or Assembly. The injustice of this has already been demonstrated in the bills to ban hunting and the ancient rights of citizens of this country to trial by their peers.  There is nothing to stop dual mandate MPs voting for one action in England and another in their own country if it suits their country's interests.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland's MPs can, illogically and unfairly, have their say in matters involving only the English. The English cannot have any matters decided by their OWN people in their OWN national parliament as they are being denied the right to have a Parliament of their own. So, matters concerning only the English can only be debated in the UK Parliament and can be debated and decided by MPs from all the other UK countries, against the wishes of the English MPs.  This is just wrong and if this was happening to any of the other UK countries, there would be outrage in the House of Commons and steps would be taken to remedy the situation. Even if this present House of Commons does not react with outrage, an outrage it most certainly is.

The United Kingdom Government at Westminster, acting in an undemocratic, discriminatory and unfair way, will not give equal independence to the remaining country of the UK  -  England.

This refusal by Blair's Government to give equal treatment to the English appears mainly to be their fear that, because England is the largest member of the UK,  by giving England her own Parliament,  the break-up of the UK will follow.  However, it is my belief (and the belief of a growing number of people) that if England continues to be unfairly discriminated against in this way it will do more damage to the UK than equality of treatment with the rest of Great Britain would ever do.  That sounds pretty obvious to me. Why should  England be held in an unfair political system, without national representation,  to sustain the impression of a United Kingdom? Such cynical and unjust treatment will never work in the long term and cannot and should not be sustained.

Examples of the Unfair & Biased Treatment of England

Representation - Ministers of the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are entitled to represent the whole of the UK at the European Union Headquarters in Brussels.  England, alone in these islands, cannot and neither can any of this Labour government's proposed regions of England. So the largest Country of the UK is not allowed to represent the other Countries in the EU, unlike the smaller UK countries.

The people of England are overtaxed to pay for benefits enjoyed by others countries of the UK but not itself and not represented at all as a nation in its own right.  Even some of the drugs available to sick people in Scotland are not made available to the people of England and the people of England get less spent on them per person than the Scots, the Welsh and the Northern Irish.  Why?  Each person should be treated equally.  Are the politicians TRYING to stir up hatred and bitterness among the UK Nations?  How do they think an English cancer patient and their family feel when they are denied vital drugs a Scottish person would be given as a matter of course?  Should they just accept that, in England, their family member must be allowed to die earlier than they would have if they had been Scottish?

Then their was the call for a third runway at Heathrow Airport.  An ENGLISH matter. The majority of English MPs rejected the call for a third runway but the vote was won for the UK Government by MPs elected from outside England. A group of Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish MPs obediently trooped through the lobby to help the Labour UK Government win the vote. The democratic will of the people of England was, therefore overturned by people from outside England.  This is not right and is not fair or just.  In fact, the UK Government under Blair had many Scots in it who were not elected to English constituencies but Scottish ones.  These politicians could vote for what they wanted in the UK Parliament at Westminster even if the only people affected would be the English.  They would not be thrown out by their Scottish constituents for going against the English will on an English matter such as Heathrow.  Not allowing England to have her own Parliament is an egregious denial of our right to representation for the people of this Land.

The English are required to pay taxes to the UK government but receive much less back in benefits than Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and there are so many other unfair practices against the English.  The following are just a few.

Government Finance - July 2010

Official figures now show that every Scot receives £10,083 each year from the UK Government at Westminster, whereas each person in English only receives £8,559 per year.

The English receive £1,500 less than the Scots.  This unfair gap has widened since last year so is growing.

In Northern Ireland every person has £10,662 spent on him or her, which is great if you live in Northern Ireland. 

The English receive £2,103 less than the Northern Irish.  

All this funding comes from taxpayers who all pay their taxes to the UK Government in Westminster.  English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish taxpayers pay into the kitty, with the much larger England paying most, so why are the English so discriminated against when the money is paid out again by the UK Government?

This year, £443.5billion will be spent in England and £52.3billion in Scotland. But because of Scotland’s relatively small population – of just five million - the Scots get far more spent on them per head than the English although, also because of England's larger population, more of the tax money for these benefits is taken from English taxpayers.

Health Care - Within the Four countries of the UK, government health spending per head sees England at the bottom of the pile again. Of the four countries England is given the least per head in health spending. Scotland has 20% extra health benefit spent per than England – This becomes apparent when they can afford new drug treatments like the breast cancer drug ‘Herceptin’. Scottish patients have this drug routinely prescribed by their doctors although it is not yet licensed. In England the Primary Care Trusts use the excuse that it is not yet licensed to deny it to English patients.  This is a disgusting and callous cop-out.  They are trying to save money at the expense of the English patients health and indeed lives.

Even in English hospitals, this discrimination and unequal treatment continues and Scottish and indeed Welsh patients can receive more favourable treatment.  There was one example where a Welsh lady and an English lady were in beds next to each other in an English hospital.  However, the Welsh lady was on the expensive course of Herceptin to treat her breast cancer while the English lady was denied the same treatment because her own English Primary Care Trust could not or would not afford the drug.  This is disgusting treatment!!!!

Then there are the eye treatments. The Scottish Executive recently made eye tests free for everyone in Scotland. At about the same time, the UK Government Health Minister, Ms Rosie Winterton announced that she was imposing a charge of £15 per eye test for the English.  (To pay for the Scots free prescriptions?) In Scotland 92% of prescriptions are free and in 2011, everyone in Wales will be able to have free prescriptions.  In England there are price increases. The English are not going to get free prescriptions although their tax money is going to fund free prescriptions in the other countries of the UK.  In England the price of each prescription item will soon reach £7.00p.  This is truly an unfair system for the English and is not sustainable in the long term.

July 2010 - We now hear that English children with the most severe form of asthma are going to be denied a new drug, Xolair, on the NHS.  Whereas Scottish youngsters are already being treated with this drug and will continue to receive this drug.  The National Health favourably permits children in Scotland to be prescribed Xolair and treated from the age of six years.  So, the English children are left to suffer or even die!!!

There are so many examples of this unfair and biased attitude against the English that I could not put them all here.  However, just think, if it was the English receiving this preferential treatment and Scottish and Welsh people were dying because of the denial of vital drugs to them and their children instead of the English, wouldn't there be cries of racism. MPs from all Parties would be up-in-arms about it.  Well, turn it back around to what the facts actually are - the English are being treated unfairly and in a nasty biased way because they are English.  Now isn't THAT racism?

Education

2010 - College tuition fee legislation was voted through Westminster Parliament by a group of Scottish Labour MPs.  Disgracefully, although they imposed these fees on English students, the Scottish MPs threw  it out in their own Scottish Parliament.  They were not going to have THEIR students paying college fees. Scottish students, therefore, have no fees to pay but the fees paid by English students are reaching horrendous heights. 

Besides having no fees to pay, Scottish students also get financial help in the form of grants – as do most Welsh students. However, If an English student wishes to study in Scotland, the Scottish Executive has introduced a type of tariff of thousands of pounds extra which is only applied to English students.  I thought that kind of discrimination was racist.

Since the Scottish MPs at Westminster brought in tuition fees for English students, take up rates of English students at Universities has been falling.  Of course, take-up rates for the free college places in Scotland by Scottish students are going through the roof.  This is race discrimination pure and simple.

2008 - School Funding - Figures show that Scottish secondary schools spend nearly 25 per cent more on each Scottish school child than each English school child receives. A comparison of education financing north and south of the Scottish border show this educational divide which is fuelling rightful resentment at the huge sums of English tax money which is being used for services in Scotland more generously than in England. Although Scottish MPs are allowed to vote for or against laws for England, English MPs cannot vote for or against laws in Scotland and Westminster MPs have no say on how Scotland uses the tax money it is given by Westminster.

It seems that the English are being squeezed for more and more money with smaller and smaller benefits and are being trodden on by everybody in authority.  There is absolutely NOBODY to stand up for the English. We really do need our own English Parliament.  That is the only fair way forward.  With no National Parliament to look out for OUR rights we are being constantly trampled underfoot and squeezed for every penny the government can get out of us for the benefit, not of the English, of everybody BUT the English.

Housing - Welsh people receive £106 per head of their population.  In England this is only £53 - exactly half.

Tourism - The British Government at Westminster WAS allocating the following per head of population - Northern Ireland £8.25, Wales £4.99, Scotland £3.63 and in England a derisory 20p, however, it now appears that there is no longer to be an English Tourist Board.  It is being lumped together with the British Tourist Board.  How is that fair?  The British Tourist Board is there for ALL the countries of the UK.  Where is the specific funding for England?  It looks like there is none anymore, not even the pathetic 20p per head of population.  I have only just found this out and am still looking into this matter as it seems so unreasonable.

I love England, my own country, and I believe everybody should be proud of their country and their roots, no matter what part of the world they live in. Every nation has it's own unique beauty, including England. What a far drearier world it would be if we were all the same. Every country should naturally have its own patriots. People who love their Country and want only the best for it.

My best wishes go to the Scots with their new Parliament and the Welsh with their new Assembly. These are both beautiful countries which I have visited a number of times and hope to again. In fact, my mother was Scottish. I sincerely wish them well with their new Parliaments and Assembly. I think the time was long over-due when they should have control over their own countries. Who wants to be run by an elite set down in London, who have no idea how the rest of us in the UK live or want to live, and seem to care even less? If I resent it, then how much more do the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish? No I do not blame the people of these countries for the undemocratic mess that the UK is now in.  I blame Tony Blair's Labour Government.

However, with the devolution of Scotland and Wales, England is now the only nation within the UK without its own National Body to look after it's own people's interests. What England needs now is an English Parliament to represent the interests of the English people. Westminster is the British Parliament, for the whole of the UK.  It is not an English Parliament.

The Barnett Formula - The Barnett Formula, named after a former Chief Secretary Joel (now Lord) Barnett - is used within the course of a public expenditure survey to adjust the spending plans for the three territorial departments (the Scottish Office, Welsh Office and Northern Ireland Office) to reflect changes in comparable programmes in England (or, in the case of Northern Ireland, Great Britain). Following devolution, the formula contributes to the calculation of the budgets for the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly of Wales.

The formula was devised by Joel Barnett, the then Treasury chief secretary, in the 1970s.  It was, however, only meant to provide a temporary solution to how to allocate public spending. Lord Barnett later revealed it was “concocted almost on the back of an envelope” using approximate population figures and was not even a formula.

But Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "The Barnett Formula is outdated and unfair and it has got to go.  "English taxpayers in particular currently bear an excessive burden, and the formula causes unnecessary friction in the Union."

Leftwing/Marxist Agenda - United States of a Socialist Europe

The European Union's agenda seems to be to obliterate loyalty to the nation states of the EU, especially to get rid of Anglo Saxon loyalty to England.  You will notice that England is not named as a nation on EU maps.  The are trying to usurp more and more powers from the elected governments of each nation state of the European Union.  In fact, it is said that 80% of our laws in England now come from Brussels, not Westminster and the European Union has not finished in its power grabbing.

This is the anti-English bigot Jack Straw, a former "Justice Minister, who declared in 2000 that the English are the violent and oppressive scourge of the UK. He spewed out this poisonous bilge in an anti-English diatribe on the BBC.  He said that the others Nations were under the cosh of the English.  Total rubbish!!!  Was he trying to cause trouble between the nations of the UK?

We have NO English Parliament but the Scots, who are only one sixth of our size, have one?  Scotland also has, since 1997, had Scottish First Ministers heading their Scottish Parliament while another Scot sits in Downing Street in charge of the UK Parliament.  (Both Blair and Brown were Scots).  The UK Parliament is the only body which the English can vote for and this is the body for all the UK nations.  The English do not have ANYBODY standing up for the rights of the English.  So, it appears, the English are under the cosh of the Scots.

And the English did not subjugate Scotland.  The Scots and English came to a mutual agreement to unite.  The Scots were not beaten by the English.  In fact, England has been invaded by the Scots more times than the reverse.  I would not take too much notice of the anti-English American film Braveheart.  It is obvious that the film maker knew little of the history of England and Scotland but wanted to batter the English. 

Many politicians, especially those on the far Left, appear to be trying to make us ashamed to call ourselves English rather than British and many of them seem to denigrate England and the English at any and every opportunity.  In fact Jack Straw (the previous British Labour Home Secretary) describes the English as "potentially very aggressive, very violent" .  Imagine an English person saying that against the Jews or Pakistanis or indeed any other nation. An English person would be hauled before the courts for racist crimes. I believe his statements about the English being a race not worth saving, are also racist against the English.  If that is not racist against the English, I don't know what is. This wartime Jewish immigrant to our Country takes no pride, it seems in any aspect of England.  He now also appears to be trying to equate the word British with racism too. His very words seem to be contrived to drive a wedge between the white English and other people in England whose forebears were from non-white nations, which I think is very worrying. Many of these previous immigrants settled into our Country well.  Is it such a crime to be a patriot? In most countries being a patriot and loving one's own country is the most natural thing in the world.

Straw said that after the Scots were given their own Parliament and the Welsh and Northern Irish were also allowed their own National Bodies, the left out English would become violent.  Now I wonder why he said that.  Would it be because what they were doing in leaving ONLY England without a Parliament or National Body was a nasty way to treat any of the nations of the UK.  I tell him now, that if he had done that to Scotland or Wales, some of those would become rather angry and perhaps violent about the discrimination.  Actually, since devolution the English have been too calm and too accepting of the unfair situation.  The majority of the English are not the violent thugs Straw appears to think they are.  Most of us are pretty easy-going and fair-minded.  However, biased and unfair decisions against the English could and should change that.

It is time politicians treated the English fairly instead of leaving them paying for benefits enjoyed by the other UK countries but denied to them, and being unfairly denigrated and besmirched every other time a leftwing politician opens his or her mouth.

Countries need patriots who are willing to work and fight for the values and traditions on which their country has been built and in which they believe.  No country can improve its people's lot without the support of those who love that country.  This indeed, is one reason I believe many immigrants to our Country would have been better building their own countries up.  How can any nation prosper when all its skilled people leave and it has no loyal workers left?  I also think our Government should encourage our own skilled workers to make their careers in THIS Country too.

People of England, you must stand up and be counted.  Write to your MPs and your local and national papers. Make your voices heard. Do not let this Government destroy England as a nation.  We are not just regions - we are a country and our name is England.  We are not a nation of racists any more than any other nation.  Every nation on Earth has its bigots but through the ages the English have welcomed many other nationalities to these island shores and I am sure we will through ages yet to come.  The bigots these days come in the form of anti-English, anti-British racists.

We also, do not have to redefine what makes us British or English.  Nationalities do not change with time, they just ARE, and no Labour Government "Patriotism Minister" will decide what the British are and make them fit their politically correct mould.

We have a democratic right to equality of treatment and representation and to have our voice heard in our own National Parliament, just like the Scots.

At present there is no true democracy for English people in England.  The only way for the English to go now is to break away from the Union and regain its independence with its own Parliament.  The fact that we want our own English Parliament does not mean we cannot be friendly with the other nations of the UK.  With our own Parliament, we would be able to use our own tax payers money for the benefit of them and their children.  We will not have the situation where our taxes pay for Scottish and Welsh people to have medical benefits which are denied to our families.  We will no longer have the unfair situation where English pensioners have to sell their homes when they go into care but, because of the money from English taxpayers, Scottish pensioners do not have to use their homes to pay for their care.   There could be a position for the UK Parliament to oversee certain things which the nations might agree should be combined on such a small island, such as defence.  That is for the future and depends upon what poison the Left stir up just because the English want a Parliament. This desire is just for national representation and should be the right of any person living in a democracy.

What we really need is for a truly patriotic party to get into power.  We need somebody in 10 Downing Street who will make sure the English get their parliament.  We need a Prime Minister who will make us all proud of our roots again.  There were many good things the British Empire did but all you hear these days is the Left  criticising and denigrating the Empire.  Why do we never hear them lambasting the Roman Empire, or the Greeks for their empire? They keep implying we must constantly beg forgiveness for our part in the slave trade.  For goodness sake, we were the first to put an end to the terrible practice of black slaves being imported to the UK, although, unfortunately, some African countries themselves still practise slavery.

In fact the Barbary Corsairs were snatching English people from the south coast of England to sell as slaves in Africa, long before we joined in the trade. These snatched white slaves from Southern England were usually from very poor families who did not have the means to pay any ransom for their stolen family members.  There are no records detailing how many English and European white slaves were captured but there are estimates that about 8,000 to 9,000 new slaves were required each year.  These were needed to replace those who died, escaped, who were ransomed back by their families or any who converted to Islam, the religion of that area.  More than 3/4 million slaves would have been captured between 1580 and 1680.

"He that wishes to see his country robbed of its rights cannot be a patriot."

Samuel Johnson

Campaign for an English Parliament

If you are interested in campaigning for an English Parliament or just want to find out more, there is a website which may be of interest to you. It is http://www.thecep.org.uk/wordpress/ - A non-party political organisation, it welcomes support from anybody, whatever their political affiliations or nationality, who agrees that all the nations of the UK should be treated equally, and that in the interests of fairness and democracy England must be given a Parliament of it's own.  Also, check out the iniquitous Barnett Formula on the CEP Website.  The temporary formula which is still in place many years after the author meant it to be and which unfairly penalises England with regard to the amount of money allocated to it from taxes collected from the whole of the UK.

We Are The English - Clothing, merchandise, news and views - www.wearetheenglish.com

Coventry - My Home Town (I will be putting more information on this site about Coventry as soon as I get some time).

On 14 November 1940, Coventry suffered a devastating bombing blitz at the hands of the Germans.  Many Coventry people were killed and injured and this was the night where our ancient St Michael's Cathedral was bombed.

On Monday 8 April 1941, the following Spring, our City suffered its second wartime blitz.  One target of the German bombers was the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital and 21 patients, 2 doctors and several nurses lost their lives under the rubble.  In the previous blitz in November, the hospital had already been damaged but after the April attack it was reduced to mainly rubble.

That April night another city landmark, Christchurch was also practically destroyed.  All that was left was the spire.  Coventry is known as the City of Three Spires and Christchurch was the smallest of these ancient spires.

Many lives were lost - civilians, firemen and defence personnel.  One of these brave people who gave their lives, was Fred Matts, the commander of the Special Police.  He had just been made an MBE (Member of the British Empire) to honour him for his bravery during the blitz of the previous November.

Charles Churchill. 1731-1764.The Farewell.

Why not give a pet portrait painting or pet portrait Gift Voucher - A unique and very personal gift

Only 20% deposit which is FULLY refundable if you are not delighted with your painting.

(Card Payments by Pay Pal Accepted)

I also offer Individualized Gift Vouchers which enables the recipient to choose which photo they would like as a painting.

If you send me an image of the pet I can incorporate it into the Gift Voucher, and you can choose your own text for inside.

Pet Portraits of Animals & Landscape Paintings in Oils or Watercolours, from your OWN photos.

See more of my paintings on my other web sites:-