Beach Ices at Praa Sands
Ice meeting the sand at the base of the low cliff behind Praa Sands Beach, West Cornwall. 6th January 2009....
Icicles at Trewellard Bottoms
Water seeping through a wall is turned to icicles, ate Trewellard Bottoms, where Geevor Mine meets the sea....
Winter Sunset at Levant
A late afternoon scene, at Levant Mine, West Cornwall. 7th January 2009....
Winter at Levant
The old electricity generator building, at Levant Mine, West Cornwall, during the recent cold snap. 7th Jnauary 2009....
No, but he did recognise the cultural/linguistic difference of Cornwall in making his half-brother, the Breton Earl of Mortain, Earl of Cornwall. Despite this recognition, he did not officially note signifcant domesne land in Cornwall, when compared to the huge areas in all English counties.
The words 'basic protection for historic national minorities' is a key point to this whole thread. Regardless of the position of Cornwall today, it must still be seen by most of being an historic nation: and that is what the framework convention is there to protect.
Well I did put a question mark after "bys vykken" .
Anyway I've been thinking about this...
In my view I don't see why the UK Government should have any problem regarding the implementation of the FCPNM for Cornwall. It's a very well thought-out piece of legislation which makes specific provisions for those who consider themselves to be members of the national minority while also guaranteeing respect for the majority and those who feel part of it. For Cornwall this means people can consider themselves Cornish rather than English, but those who think of themselves as English also have that identity protected.
Can't say fairer than that 8)
The strongest argument I can see for cultural distinction has to be the language, spoken as a vernacular (if not an exclusive one) into the modern era. Numbers of people speaking it nowadays are indeed limited but it's something Kernow has - a specific language of its own, not a dialect of another one - which marks it out from English counties. (I believe some Welsh is still spoken in some border areas of Shropshire but this is an eastward extension of a separate language community, not something specific to Shropshire). The sooner you get a SWF the better.
Politically I believe the case for more autonomy is clear-cut. OK this is true throughout the UK - local authorities have seen their powers progressively stripped away over preceding decades by increasingly autocratic central governments - but Cornwall I believe has a specific problem regarding the SWRDA and its social engineering agenda which would rule out "old economy" activities like mining.
So, in summary, yes go for FCPNM but Kernow will also require greater self-determination. The excesses of the Duchy also need to be challenged, but these can be linked in to a pan-UK reform of the powers of the monarchy, its Duchies and the Crown Estate. Make it part of a bigger issue, widen the context and it may achieve the critical mass necessary to get major improvements (e.g. Duchy of Cornwall income from foreshore rights and bankrupcy being re-invested in Cornwall).
You shouldn't have to pay more than anyone else I agree but I still wonder how far the duchy goes beyond just illustrating the status of Cornish people, being as how tightly people cling to the notion.
It also makes me think that the reason there is interest in this kind of thing is as a result of economic pressures imposed by the state and geography as much as any cultural heritage in itself would do.
Unfortunate, but I'm still not sure it is racial discrimination as such, just people living in a region being (albeit unfairly) just financially worse off.
It took me a whole year on the bbc to convince good ol' FLB that I am not actually some imperialist forum suicide bomber who will self destruct in a hail of monarchistic hyperbole
I just post what I think, what you do with that is up to you of course but you may find it useful to see how someone on the other side sees your situation.
Bad choice of words on my part, I meant any kind of CRE intervention, but I still think that you don't have any analogous groups because the differences are so nebulous between what is southern English and what is Cornish.
Not very sporting, seeing as you demanded the same of me! Bear in mind that nobody ever will come close to undermining anything if you lot simply don’t care about any opinion other than your own vision for Cornwall, will they? :wink:
I’m going to go out on limb here and politely suggest that, as everyone knows the analogy of Animal Farm, you don’t make it quite so easy to draw a comparison; it undermines everything far more than you might realize.
Fortunately? Not really! If it was my choice you would be already devolved, provided you could prove that was the informed preference of the majority of the population.
Which is the entire point of me posting, really; I don’t think the aims of the nationalists, or whatever term you want to use, are a bad thing by any means, I just don’t think that people are going about it in the right fashion in every single instance.
Place names only really show what language the person who named them was speaking, not that the residents of tintagel are culturally separate from those of totnes centuries later.
I'm as yet undecided as to the (current) state supression thing as being anything other than just economic as opposed to stealth hegemony, but if it is the latter then the Duchy should consider selling this winning formula worldwide - would be a hit with loads of regimes (America, for instance)
The Grum reply to my posting is almost too floppy to need an answer but I'm not surprised he begins it by highlighting the word 'historical'. This word, in its full meaning is bound to be problematic to the English.
I sometimes think an analogy can be made between the English understanding of time and history and somebody who is totally tone deaf, has no sense of rhythm and swears blind that music does not exist. Music does not exist for them and they insist it cannot exist for others. It is this with the English in their comprehension of time. In some ways it's a good thing for them, it makes them streamlined because thay lack this dimension. However, to have a life run without the fourth dimension is a bit like having a table with only three legs, it's a recipe for instability.
A phrase I like is 'Time is money, history is wealth'. I believe the English are not able to comprehend this and I believe the Cornish are especially well attuned here.
However, it just goes to show what a mess the UK's policy is in regard to 'race', 'ethnicity', 'national origin' etc. Whereas, officially, recognition in these matters is the responsibility of the courts to determine, under the Race Relations Act, practically it appears that arbitrary political decisions are being made by the Executive, the courts have been left out of the process. The situation is even more confusing when the government does not use legally determined categories for statistical exercises in regard to 'ethnicity' and, instead, employs terminology that is rmore suited to 'racial group' and physical characteristics. The public, as well as the government is, therefore, confused about the meaning of these terms.
In so far as the Cornish are concerned in an ideal World, they are perfectly willing to allow the courts to decide this issue - being as they feel confident in passing the criteria set by the courts on 'ethicity'- if only they were allowed to do so like other analogous groups. However, serious reservations arise, bearing in mind the fact that groups such as the 'Irish Travellers' were facilitated immediate access to the courts under the RRA, in a process in which they did not meet the ethnic criteria (i.e. they had no distinct, seperate language of their own, their 'shared 'history' only extended back for a minimum of 100 years and that they have no distinct geographical area in which they could be said to originate) whereas the Cornish, who feel that they can fully match the same criteria, cannot even get a foot in the door.
Finally, the term, 'racial group' is, in my view for the reasons above, very misplaced in regard to distinctions between the Cornish, Welsh, Scottish and English. Although, with the exception of the Cornish, the others are officially recognised as 'racial groups' under the Act, they qualified for recognition on the basis of their seperate 'national origin'. Although the case for recognising the Cornish under ethnic markers is, for many, compelling, it would probably be far easier to convince a judge that they could satisfy qualification criteria on the grounds of 'national origin'.
What I am trying to say is that the use of the word, 'race' is being used in this discussion only for the purposes of the RRA which uses the general term, 'racial group', a term that could also be applied to the Welsh, Scottish and English, but not in the sense that the Cornish are of a different racial background. To do this would be, of course, quite ridiculous.
In the spirit of fair play, I'll highlight the some part and make myself clearer then: Some of the history of the region is vital to the notion of identity, especially when concerning financial inequalities which shape the foetunes of every resident. Some of the ethno-lingual and cultural history simply is not applicable in the same magnitude to persons who are today, to all intents and purposes, Cornish but have a different ancestry.
I understand the need to have as many eggs in your basket as possible for greater autonomy, but I feel focussing too hard on things that effectively exclude some of the population is shooting yourselves in the foot as far as garnering support goes.
If I, as someone who would fully support greater democratic autonomy in cornwall, see this as an issue then what will those who stand to lose out do with it? All they need do is discredit the nationalist/devolution movement in the eyes of some of the voting populace to hamstring you forever and they don't even need to be fair or right to do it.
Be careful you don't lose sight of your goals in all the excitement is all I'm saying; you need to appear whiter-than-white and inclusive of as many people as possible or you'll get torn to shreds by the establishment. Looking to europe for technicalities will get you exactly nowhere with a ruling body that goes to war illegally based on a lie and won't even appologise afterwards, will it?
Rambled on a bit there but hopefully you get what I was driving at! While we're exchanging pseudo-sage phrases though, how about "know your enemy"? You clearly don't as well as you might think or you wouldn't have replied like you did; I'm only trying to be helpful here.
I reckon the whole thing is being done backwards TBH - it is too tricky to use CRE machinations to satisfactorally define Cornish in any way that would prove useful to you - I think defining the nation first would be easier.
I know it is the people that define the nation, but at he moment you are, to all intents and purposes, part of one which is giving you a raw deal. Once people can subscribe to a notion of Cornish which is more tangeble than just a stronger version of regional pride you'll get more support from the populace and the legal system - the reason Irish Travellers are protected is because you can't really mistake them for anyone else. Once people have 'proof' of being "not English" minority status will be nothing more than a formality.
I understand the reasons for trying to build an (obvious) ethnicity first, to gain more support and recognition for the status of the Cornish public, but you will find this harder than you'd hope. To quote Kerrow 'Time is money, history is wealth' and this is important I feel.
Having lived in Cornwall for years and worked and studied there I can attest to the fact that the people (including myself) have no money and need to work pretty much all the time to stay afloat. There are few things more depreessing than living in one of the most beautiful places in the world and having no time to enjoy it, instead watching those on holiday getting all the benefits when you can't afford to take a week off even to stay at home.
If nobody has a minute to themselves then they are simply not going to have enough time to learn a new language or the necessary history to become as distinct or aware as you need them to be.
I also understand the reticence to fight for a stronger economy in the Duchy without ensuring that the culture is lost, as FLB said to me elsewhere, if cornwall was filled with well off english people then he would have failed. I don't belive that is the case however and that if people were given more time to themselves by needing less hours for earning, as well as having a tangeble (international) definition of cornwall with which they can see a benefit of belonging to, national pride would bloom.
At the moment the holistic approach to reinstating cornwall is taking too long - if you aren't careful you'll spend so much time fighting to make a cornish identity grow in a place starved of benefit for having one, everyone will just turn english around you.
If it is ever going to work it needs to be inclusive and attractive or everyone will spend so much time making money they won't have any left to remember their history - ask a man whether he'd rather damp-proof his family home or learn Kernewek and you'll have your answer.
Give people something to be proud of and it will flourish, turning pride into something is far more difficult and not something I think you have enough time left for
Rise in county's road death toll
The number of people who have died on Cornwall's roads rises in the last year to 35, police say.
Film con man ordered to pay £100K
The man who swindled almost £2m in a film studio scam is ordered to forfeit £100,000 by a judge.
Triplets survive against the odds
A woman from Cornwall who gave birth to triplets 14 weeks early describes their survival as a "miracle".
Call for inquiry into fire centre
Fire chiefs demand a public inquiry into the delayed opening of the regional fire control centre.
Prison sentence for benefit cheat
A man who admitted swindling more than £51,000 in benefits over a six-year period is jailed for 18 months.
Divers face trial over shipwreck
Three Cornish divers accused of plundering a shipwreck off the coast of Spain are to be tried in a Spanish court.
‘NO’ TO NUCLEAR WASTE IN CORNWALL - MPs
Proposals to bring nuclear waste to Cornwall have been described as ‘absurd and irresponsible’ by Cornish MPs.
Route Partnership Plan for Penzance unnecessary
Their plan having been rejected by the public in the final exhibition in Septmber with 90% against the Route Partnership have decided to try again in mid January after a mailout and poster campaign.The Chamber of Commerce has been at the forefront of this campaign.
