A report about Sheffield, A tale of two cities, makes an interesting and important point. A team from Sheffield University looked at life in two different areas of the city, Brightside (Labour MP David Blunkett) and Hallam (Liberal Democrat MP Nick Clegg). We are talking chalk and cheese, about serious inequalities between areas in the same city.

I have said often on this blog that Cornwall is not one uniform place, that life differs very much across the county, that there are Brightsides and Hallams here (see this postand this for example). It does not make sense to talk as though there is one Cornwall, disregarding signal differences, and I have indicated some of the mass of readily available evidence that shows the differences even within towns.

The talk of one Cornwall is entirely political and entirely unrelated to reality for people who live here. People who believe Cornwall is a political and national entity and should therefore have a devolved/independent government stress the oneness and tend to disregard the important differences. Cornish political nationalism totalises varying experiences and views.

What then do people who live here think?

Look at the post on the dispute in Penzance about the ferry terminal(s) there and about the wind turbines at Davidstow. Apparently not for them a one-Cornwall governing their county and lives and deciding local issues affecting them; they see that as Truro-centric. Listen to a meeting at Wadebridge on 30 October 2009 on the future of the town suggesting that people in distant west Cornwall might be indifferent about north Cornwall.

There are many Cornish identities, as there are many English identities. On the ground people rationally and emotionally identify with their immediate locality: Cornish from Padstow, Cornish from Camborne, Cornish from Troon, English from Newcastle, from Kentish Town. They also identify with other things and people, their social class and work and interests and friends, as I shall explore in a forthcoming post about identity in Cornwall. Of course, some people indeed claim a general Cornish identity and see Cornwall as their home county (or country), especially against another large identity; but to understand that properly look again at the messages from Penzance and Davidstow and Wadebridge.

Cornish political nationalism, seeing Cornish identity as a simple, monotone matter, does not sufficiently understand these complexities and lacks any comprehensive theoretical or pragmatic way of handling them.

Beyond the politicking of one Cornwall there are difficult questions of local empowerment within Cornwall. There are also important inequalities across Cornwall communities that should be tackled robustly and with effect; those are what we should focus relentlessly on, targeting the places and people of most need, and by reducing the inequalities thus make one Cornwall less of a slogan and more of a reality. Nationalism does not seem up to that task.

I shall post here continuing good news for Cornwall, developments which will positively help the people of Cornwall and the local economy and everyday lives. Everyone who wants the people of Cornwall to succeed in the modern world will welcome them. This post covers the second half of 2009. Vorsprung Cornwall 1 and 2 cover 2007, Vorsprung Cornwall 3 and 4 cover 2008, and Vorsprung Cornwall 5 covers the first half of 2009.

* The Ofsted inspection of Gwinear primary school describes it as “an outstanding school.” Read the 24 October 2009 report here and note the many outstanding scores. (November 2009)

* The September festival at St Ives is now in full swing, a fortnight of music, guitars aplenty, song, drama, open art studios, and poetry recitals. The festival goes on strongly. Indeed, Cornwall has numerous festivals: for example, Trevithick day in Camborne, Golowan and Mazey day in Penzance, Obby Oss in Padstow, Run to the sun and the music festival in Newquay, the agricultural show in Wadebridge, and next month Lowender Perran in Perranporth, and many more. There is a strong celebratory and varied culture across the county. Art galleries, publicly and privately owned, everywhere in Cornwall are putting on exhibitions throughout the year.

* Business Cornwall reports that the pottery at Lelant in west Cornwall is closing as the owners are retiring but a wine shop and cafe is to open in the premises and that £480 000 is to be spent on improvements at Carn Brea Leisure Centre at Camborne. These are good stories of enterprise and investment in Cornwall when we face economic difficulties. Additionally, three gangmasters have lost their licences after an investigation into the living conditions and wages (and other matters) of some migrant workers. This is positive news that the authorities will act to protect workers and this enhances Cornwall’s reputation and supports the work of decent gangmasters. (September 2009)

* The report by John Mills into the temporary and unplanned closure of Newquay airport as it transformed into a civilian airport has now been published. There are some criticisms about management of risks and the project and some sensible recommendations for the future but nothing alarming. Mills rightly sums up the airport project as having “created a vital and excellent asset for the benefit of the whole county.” It’s important to recognise that. (August 2009)

* A parliamentary answer shows how much unsung outstanding progress has been made in council house standards in Cornwall. Three former districts, Caradon, Carrick, and North Cornwall had council houses; the other districts had disposed of theirs. In 2004 a large 46 percent of these council houses in Cornwall failed to meet the decent homes standard; in 2008 this had fallen to 7 percent. In numbers the fall was from 4964 houses to 767. That is still too many and the 2008 percentage in former Caradon, 14 percent, is much too high but government and local councils have worked well to tackle this in Cornwall and throughout England and make homes decent for people. The new unitary council must continue with this work.

The detailed data is at DEP 2009-2057 here (July 2009).

A dismal recital of three issues in Cornwall.

Health

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published its assessments of the health services in Cornwall for 2008/09. This is the commission that earlier this year took over the regulation and assessment of health services from the former healthcare commission (and social care and mental health commissions).

Once again the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT), which runs three hospitals in Cornwall, at Truro, Penzance, and Hayle, gets a mixed report. The CQC Commission has assessed it as “fair” for financial management but has judged it “weak” on quality of services, as it did for the years from 2005/06. Two questions arise: Why is the RCHT performance on the quality of services weak in assessments for four years running and how can it be turned around? No one seems able or willing to say.

It is not surprising that some staff talk of low morale and pressure.

It is unacceptable for a hospital group to get these repeated “weak” assessments. Next spring all hospitals must register with the CQC, registration will require compliance with new standards, and the CQC will get powers to intervene robustly when trusts do not meet those standards. It should ensure the RCHT, if still judged weak then, improves massively and speedily. Whatever it takes should be done.

There are grounds for hope. RCHT has just produced a five-year plan for 2010-2014: it reads excellently, acknowledging “unacceptable poor performance, particularly over the past four years” and promising “better, safer, good value care.” People in Cornwall are invited to comment on the plan.

(Note that the Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust and the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust have both received acceptable reports from the CQC for 2008/09.)

Children

More very disappointing news about another public service in Cornwall. Read here the Ofsted report of September 2009, Inspection of safeguarding and looked after children services: Cornwall Council.

The council, and government which through Dawn Primarolo said that the report “highlights fundamental weaknesses in Cornwall’s children’s services,” are no doubt working to put things right and there will be a further assessment in a while that should either reassure us or see the service taken over. However, improvements take money and the children’s services are already overspending their revenue budget; that takes me to the third iceberg.

See also Cornwall’s children’s services ‘inadequate’ in the Local government chronicle for 23 October 2009.

Budget

The new Tory leader of Cornwall Council asked for a report on the status of the unitary council’s finances for 2009/10 and thereafter. The report, Cornwall Council financial health check report August 2009, is here.

Achieved unitary savings will probably be less than forecasted; currently there is likely to be significant overspending on the revenue budget, especially on the adult social care and children’s services budgets; and the overspend for the current financial year can be met from the £18.2 million unearmarked reserves accumulated by the previous Liberal Democrat council.

There is no immediate financial crisis but the council has to tackle the issue of overspending: reserves deplete fast. That means more efficiency and productivity, cutting unnecessary spending, and reducing costs. If the intended unitary nett savings can be realised, they will lessen but not remove the difficulties. Cutting costs often turns out to be cutting services and jobs, a sorry thought.

Accompanying the publication of the report there is a media report dated October 2009 from the unitary council here. I do not know why a report made in August is published only in October though I suppose August is a month for holidays not politics.

________________________________________________________________________________

CLICK FOR LATEST ADDED School place appeals in Cornwall

In this ongoing post I shall bring together data about Cornwall from various sources so that they are more readily accessible: other data will be added to this current post and data will also be updated. Much is already posted at scattered places on this blog of course. All the data refers only to Cornwall and its parts (and sometimes includes and sometimes excludes the Isles of Scilly). Sources are given in square brackets; I have also included some website addresses, though these may change, so that you can explore the data for yourself. Explanatory notes with the original data are important for understanding.

__________________________________________________________

CLICK INDEX
Empty dwellings | Second homes | Average pay | Unemployment: JSA claimants | Pupil funding | Free school meals | Deprivation in Cornwall | Civil partnerships | Children born in Cornwall | Population of Cornwall | Pensioners in Cornwall | Land use in Cornwall | Cornwall MPs’ expenses and allowances | Landfill in Cornwall |School place appeals in Cornwall | Miscellaneous

EMPTY DWELLINGS
There were 9012 empty dwellings in Cornwall at 6 October 2008
— Caradon 1588, Carrick 1604, Kerrier 1597, North Cornwall 1746, Penwith 1084, Restormel 1393 [Hansard 14 May 2009 columns 998W-999W].

SECOND HOMES
Cornwall (excluding Scillies) total 13 603 at October 2008
— Caradon 1813, Carrick 1917, Kerrier 1368, North Cornwall 4000, Penwith 2779, Restormel 1726 [House of Commons Library DEP 2009-1230, 27 April 2009, data is given for the five years 2004-2008].

In terms of numbers of second homes, North Cornwall is 7th out of 354 England authorities, Penwith 15th, Carrick 24th, Caradon 26th, Restormel 30th, and Kerrier 47th. These positions represent numbers of second homes not percentages of housing stock. The Isles of Scilly had 212 second homes in 2008.

AVERAGE PAY
£21 004 at April 2008
median, annual, gross, fulltime, all workers, by Cornwall and Scilly residence, at April 2008 [ONS, ASHE 2008, Table 8.7a].

There are various ways of measuring average pay, eg mean and median average, male and female and both, fulltime and part time, by place of work and by place of residence, by local authority and by constituency, weekly pay and annual pay. Figures for median average pay tend to be less than for mean average.

UNEMPLOYMENT: JOBSEEKERS ALLOWANCE CLAIMANTS
September 2009: 8104 (2.6 percent of the resident working-age population of Cornwall and Scillies). This is a rise of thirty seven obver last month. In September 2008 the figure was 4892. The figure peaked in February 2009 at 10 220 (3.3 percent). [ONS]

The contribution-based jobseekers allowance (JSA) is £64.30 a week for people over 25 and £50.95 a week for people under 25. The jobseekers claimant count is not a measure of unemployment but of people claiming the benefit who must be, inter alia, available for work and actively seeking work.

This website gives details of jobseeker claimant counts over time for Cornwall:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1967128581/subreports/jsa_time_series/report.aspx

More data about the claimant count in Cornwall is here:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=15084

These are general labour statistics for Cornwall and Scilly:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1967128581/report.aspx

The latest labour force survey data, a measure of unemployment, is for October 2007-September 2008: http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1967128581/subreports/ea_time_series/report.aspx

PUPIL FUNDING
The per pupil grant from central government for Cornwall school pupils is £3879 for 2009/10; the England average is £4218 (dedicated schools grant: indicative allocations to local education authorities).
[teachernet website of the DCSF]

Earlier funding data is here:
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/schoolfunding/2006-07_funding_arrangements/

The dedicated schools grant (DSG) began in 2006/07 and earlier per pupil allocations are not directly comparable. Before 2006/07 schools were funded largely through the formula grant which, apart from the DSG, is the main grant from central government to local authorities.

FREE SCHOOL MEALS
Eligibility for free school meals is an indication of income deprivation and is an influence on educational achievement.

Percentage of primary and nursery pupils eligible for free school meals, January 2009:
England 16.0 percent
Cornwall 11.0 percent

Percentage of secondary pupils eligible for free school meals, January 2009:
England 13.4 percent
Cornwall 9.3 percent
[DCSF web page Schools, pupils and their characteristics; tables 11a and 11b in 'Local authority tables'.]
The website is www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000843/index.shtml
The eligibility percentages for Tower Hamlets are 47.5 and 55.7.

The relationship of eligibility for free school meals and not gaining any GCSEs above grade D is given in DEP 2009-0918 of 19 March 2009 (Parliamentary Library).

Also see the data for deprivation below.

DEPRIVATION IN CORNWALL
There are several ways of measuring deprivation. The Index of multiple deprivation (IMD) is a major one.

The latest IMD measurements (2007) show Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly at 69th out of 142 ‘counties, cities, and London boroughs’ in England, where 1st is the most deprived. The IMD puts the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly primary care trust (CIOS) area at 74th out of 152 trust areas where 1st is the most deprived.

The IMD 2007 give these results for the former districts of Cornwall out of 354 districts in England, the score 1st is the most deprived: Penwith 36th, Kerrier 86th, Restormel 89th, North Cornwall 96th, Carrick 120th, and Caradon 156th.

IMD deprivation varies vastly across Cornwall and the measurements for 32 482 subwards in England which are available show this clearly.

See the IMD 2007 here.

The Health Observatory website here has some deprivation data for Cornwall too. Also look at the data above for free school meals in Cornwall.

CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS
Civil partnerships became possible in Britain with the coming into force of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 in December 2005. Between that date and the end of last year 307 people entered civil partnerships in Cornwall and Scillies: Table 5 of the Data by area of formation file on this ONS website.

CHILDREN BORN IN CORNWALL
The ONS published in August 2009 the latest details for England and Wales of the numbers of live births to mothers who themselves were born in the United Kingdom or born outside the United Kingdom in each of the eight years 2001-2008. The figures for Cornwall (excluding the Isles of Scilly), with much lower percentages than for England as a whole, for the first and last years of the series are:

2008: 5423 live births, 92.4 percent of which were to mothers born inside the UK
2001: 4463 live births, 94.5 percent of which were to mothers born in the UK.

The data is in tables 3a-3h on this ONS website which also gives separate figures for each of the former districts in Cornwall. [ONS]

POPULATION OF CORNWALL
The population of Cornwall in mid 2008 was 532 200. About 428 000 (80 percent) were aged eighteen or over. The full figures, including analysis for gender, ages, and districts, are in the Mid-2008 UK file on this ONS website . [ONS]

PENSIONERS IN CORNWALL
There are about 133 000 old age pensioners in Cornwall (males aged 65 and over, females 60 and over). The full figures, including for both the county and the former districts, are in the Mid-2008 UK file on this ONS website . [ONS]

LAND USE IN CORNWALL
Details of land use in Cornwall are available for the six former districts and for wards. The categories are given in square metres for domestic buildings, nondomestic buildings, domestic gardens, roads, rail, paths, greenspace, water, other, and unclassified. The tables are at Census ward levels GLUD 2005 tables . GLUD means Generalised land use database. An explanatory document of the GLUD statistics is here .

CORNWALL MPS’ EXPENSES AND ALLOWANCES
These are readily accessible at this Guardian website http://mps-expenses.guardian.co.uk/liberal-democrat/andrew-george. The last name in the url should be changed as appropriate to colin-breed, daniel-rogerson, julia-goldsworthy, or matthew-taylor.

LANDFILL IN CORNWALL
Cornwall 2007/08:
Total municipal waste 324 480 tonnes
Total municipal waste sent to landfill 210 386 tonnes (64.84 percent of total municipal waste)
The average proportion of municipal waste sent to landfill for the 121 unitary and waste disposal authorities in England was 54.42 percent.
[Hansard 26 October 2009 column 50W-54W]

SCHOOL PLACE APPEALS IN CORNWALL
In 2007/08 there were 277 appeals by parents against the non-admission of their child to their preferred primary school in Cornwall; 75 were successful. For secondary schools in Cornwall the figures are 405 and 151.

8183 children were admitted to Cornwall primary schools September 2007-January 2008 and 6514 to secondary schools in the same period.
[Department for children, families, and schools: here (scroll to table 3)]

MISCELLANEOUS
Statistics for Cornish towns is a booklet produced by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). The revised version is dated September 2009. It contains data about deprivation, the number and size of businesses, unemployment, and population. Read it through the South West Observatory here.The South West Observatory website also has other data.

South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) has published in October 2009 Economic profile: issue 8 which discusses Cornwall’s economy in the recession on pages 20-25. Read it here.

__________________________________________________________

General sources

ASHE Annual survey of hours and earnings (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statBase/product.asp?vlnk=13101)

DEP Deposited parliamentary papers (http://deposits.parliament.uk)

Hansard (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtoday/cmdebate/home.htm)

ONS Office for National Statistics

Teachernet (http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/docbank/index.cfm?id=12222)

A useful website for understanding local government language is: http://localgovglossary.wikispaces.com/
_______________________________________________________

See the addendum at the end

ORIGINAL POST 14 October 2009

One of the arguments for a single authority for Cornwall is that Cornwall would then speak more strongly and more effectively with one voice for all the people of Cornwall.

Oh dear, it has gone wrong so quickly. Cornwall unitary council, imposed by an alliance of some local Liberal Democrats and the Labour government, is at odds with people in Penzance. The new council, now run by an alliance of Conservatives and Independents, is accused of not listening to what local people in Penzance want. Forget London-based, London-centric, the perpetual moan of the nationalists; the complaint in west Cornwall is in effect against Truro-based, Truro-centric.

This long-running row, which began when the county council existed, is basically about where the Penzance freight depot and passenger terminal of the Penzance-Scillies sea run should be. Polls have shown about three quarters of respondents in Penzance are opposed to the proposal of the unitary council. There have been vigorous comments from both sides.

Nationalists and others often cry against the centre, London-based decision-making, and urge the devolution of authority to the periphery, Cornwall. But in this dispute west Cornwall cries against Truro, where the unitary council sits, and Truro against west Cornwall. Note that this is not indigenes against adventives but a row between a new centre and a new periphery.

At present it seems not so much One and all as One and all at one another.

This dispute throws up an old question. What principles command us when government and people disagree with each other on a particular issue? It is an issue that localists tend to ignore, naively believing that devolving powers from an old centre to what turns out to be a new one dissolves problems of decision-making. In Cornwall we see it most keenly with proposals for affordable housing: often local people do not want houses that government or council, seeing the larger picture, promotes. We have seen it in the planned moving of UGI cancer surgery to a specialist centre at Plymouth. We should see it if there were to be a Cornish parliament.

In practice what usually happens when there is this disunity, this disagreement between the centre and the peripheries, between one group and another, government and governed? Not usually a referendum in Britain so not decision by numbers. Not usually automatic deference to the centre or the locality so not decision by geography. People argue and with goodwill, and sometimes abuse, an answer is thrashed out which pleases everyone or no one or most or few. Sometimes of course an issue cannot logically or physically be resolved with a compromise and one view eventually prevails, not always the most reasonable one and often, I must say, the view of those with most power or nerve or stamina. That’s how democracy works. Argument, debate, thrashing out, the struggle of reason to be heard, are all part of the process of getting to an imperfect answer. Being positive, that’s what is happening here. It is merely an awakening to the new world of shifting centres and peripheries and the realisation that to listen is not necessarily to agree.

ADDENDUM 26 October 2009

Another difficulty showing that ‘one and all’ Cornwall is problematic. Near Davidstow in north Cornwall a planning application for twenty wind turbines is opposed by many local residents, environmental and other groups, and local councillors. The local planning councillors — the East Sub-Area Planning Committee in the unitary lexicon — rejected it. However, the Cornwall Council strategic planning committee, to which it was referred, has approved it. Short of appeals, that is that.

I am not here discussing the merits of the proposal or those of the ferry terminals: I am pointing out the unsustainability of the idea that one council for all Cornwall would speak unchallenged and democratically for all Cornwall, that a one-Cornwall council would solve decision-making difficulties. There is understandable dismay in north Cornwall about what is seen as the loss of the principle that the people in an immediate area affected should decide rather than people from all over Cornwall deciding, a principle which district councils came nearer to realising and which unitary sub-area planning committees were designed for. I have discussed this in the last two paragraphs of my original Penzance ferry terminals post about who gets to decide in unitary Cornwall.

Those who advocate localism have a hard question to answer. How local is your localism?

Is Truro-centric becoming the new London-centric?

UPDATE 24 October 2009
The bill has run out of time and will not be debated or voted on this parliamentary session.

ORIGINAL POST 15 September 2009
A bill to create a Cornish assembly, similar to the Welsh one, was introduced in the Commons in July 2009 by Dan Rogerson, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall. The bill offers one form of change out of the many possible and it focuses on Cornwall only. Public response to it in Cornwall has been very limited and has ranged from cynicism to support, most people in Cornwall showing no discernible interest. The second reading is on 16 October 2009 but the bill is very unlikely to be reached by the Commons that day and will die. Nevertheless, I should like to look at the ideas and practicalities of the bill, especially as talk of wider change in local government throughout England is in the air.

You can read the text of the bill here.

A greater say
The question of the empowerment of Cornwall has been around for some time and attempts to give direction to these stirrings have been made in the last few years. For example, the case for a regional assembly was pressed by a lobby, the Cornish Constitutional Convention; and in 2000-2001 a petition calling for “a greater say” and an assembly got about 41 000 signatures from Cornwall residents. The question bubbles in the background though most people appear unengaged with it. However, undoubtedly many people in Cornwall want — well, what exactly? I think that different people may well interpret “a greater say” differently, stretching from the strengthening of the current form of local government administration to full independence; and the word “assembly” may well carry similarly diverse meanings for individuals. It is important to put forward all the possibilities and practicalities and be very clear about them so that there is for people in Cornwall an informed debate and genuine consultation.

Democratic deficits
We do not know exactly what form of independence or devolution or decentralisation people in Cornwall might or might not want; we are plagued by the scope for interpretation of people’s views. In 2009 there is a place for an open and thoroughgoing debate for all the people in Cornwall about the different sorts of change that might be had in the governing of Cornwall, a democratic opportunity after the undemocratic imposition of a unitary council. Alas, the bill was introduced into parliament without that; and there is no provision in the bill for the assembly to be ratified by a vote of people in Cornwall. These democratic deficits diminish the bill.

Change throughout England
People in any place would probably say that they want more say in what affects their lives. I think decentralisation, in the sense of local decision-making, is popular everywhere and a case can be made for ‘assemblies’ in every county and city, along with enhanced powers for lesser councils. The debate in England about these possibilities of decentralisation, subdued but not wholly silenced after the defeat of Labour’s regional scheme for the northeast, has now been animated by the input of Conservative party ideas which are discussed here. Of course, Conservative governments have a record of emasculating local government so their present pre-election ideas for strengthening it must be taken with salt and caution. Labour and Libdems, are also broadly in favour of decentralisation, and for all I know the Monster Raving Looney party is too. Indeed, no one seems to be against it in principle and fuzziness. It is, initially at any rate, in this context that any debate in Cornwall should be placed even though the Rogerson bill is about devolution not decentralisation and local government change.

However, these debates have not yet engaged many people in Cornwall or the rest of England: nationalist noise isn’t numbers.

Let me now look at finance, where, I think, the bill is noticeably lacking.

Where will the money come from?
All governments need money; indeed, it is a foundation stone of governments and they cannot effectively exist without it. Section 38 of the bill deals with the funding of a devolved Cornwall; it is very brief — the section dealing with the remuneration of assembly members is twice as long — and says that the Cornish Assembly will get money for its work directly from UK taxpayers through the UK parliament. As far as I can see there is no provision which gives the assembly direct powers to levy or vary income tax in Cornwall.

There seem to be no other sources of money for the assembly other than the UK (and presumably the EU) though, as the assembly would also be a local council, perhaps it will levy, collect, and spend local council tax. I’m not at all clear about council tax as revenue for the assembly because the bill isn’t. There should be much more clarity on the entire financial issue but the basis does seem to be UK taxpayers collectively handing over money, presumably on the basis of the discredited Barnett formula, to the assembly to spend as it wishes.

A reliance on all UK taxpayers to pay for Cornish nationalist schemes undermines them. A bold and confident nationalism would turn away from supplication and look to the assembly’s work being wholly financed by tax raised only in Cornwall.

Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government
Arguments for decentralisation and devolution in England are usually cast in terms of sound governance, that is, more power for local people, more responsiveness to them and their concerns, greater efficiency, better outcomes for people, and the saving of money for taxpayers (as the arguments were for the unitary council though few agreed). A Cornish assembly, it is sometimes claimed without convincing evidence, will revive and develop the economy of Cornwall. No doubt the bill’s supporters advance such arguments for it but the popular emphasis of this bill seems to me to be Libdem nationalism-lite.

Commenting on the bill on his website Rogerson says, “Cornwall is a unique part of the country and this should be reflected in the way it is governed” and he equates Cornwall with Wales and Scotland. In as far as they seek to identify Cornwall as singularly different from the rest of England, those are straightforward and routine political nationalist arguments which remove Cornwall from a general debate about decentralisation within England and take us away from regional devolution for Cornwall as part of England to Cornwall as a separate country within the UK.

Rogerson claims that there is a will in Cornwall “to be recognised as its own nation”. That will is not universal: some people in Cornwall see Cornwall as its own nation, a country separate from England, and wish that recognised, some do not and see Cornwall as a county of England. I think that both views should be candidly acknowledged. Let us remember that explicit Cornish political nationalism has been consistently rejected by much the most voters in election after election and was again rejected by a decisive majority of voters in June’s local and European elections (see here). The last nationalist endeavour, the Cornish Fighting Fund, failed.

Rogerson dives into contested history to say that “constitutionally, Cornwall has the right to a level of self-government”. The feebleness of these words — it begins majestically as a constitutional right and peters out in timid “level of self-government” — does not convince. The Aristotle’s teeth post on this website challenges such attempts to resuscitate a medieval corpse.

People in Cornwall, including those who see themselves as Cornish, know that they can celebrate local culture and achievements and their Cornish identity without being a political nationalist. They know they can support local decision-making without being a nationalist and without wishing to see Cornwall separate from England.

MK says No
The bill does not satisfy the explicit nationalists. The Mebyon Kernow party (MK) has described the bill as “flawed” and insufficiently ambitious. It rightly points out that the bill mixes a country and a local authority; it would leave a rehashed Cornwall Council as a legislative assembly and dealing with refuse collection and routine planning applications. MK would like a bill that gives Cornwall the powers of the parliament of Scotland. That appears clear but perhaps there is an ambiguity: does MK mean the current position or do its aims stretch to the more ambitious independence apparently desired by Scottish nationalists? What is MK’s ultimate vision for Cornwall? The party should be clear with us about this.

Localism has drawbacks
I think an argument can be made for decentralisation to areas of England although there are difficulties in localism that decentralisers tend to ignore. I have outlined some of them here and add that decentralisation and localism in England, and especially the Tory sort, may turn out to be largely privatisation and cuts; the quality of local decision-making is variable; and there are reasonable concerns about the heightened vulnerability of localism to parochial prejudices — for example, think about affordable housing and nimbys.Tory decentralisation ideas include the localisation of benefit rates which will adversely affect the level of payments in Cornwall and I think the minimum wage is hardly safe with localisers as a wage that pays the same rate throughout England. There may even be localising challenges to paying national pay rates in places like Cornwall which would be damaging to people like teachers and nurses here. I have not come across any coherent explication of what should be left to locals and what should be reserved to central government.

The way to do it
It is in the initial context of a general and ongoing program of decentralisation throughout England that the case for Cornwall should be made not on the ‘fly-blown phylacteries’ of an unconvincing political nationalism. The bill will deservedly fail because it fractures the case for coherent decentralisation across England; and in centring its appeal on the particularist sentiments of Cornish political nationalism it excludes many in Cornwall who do not share them.

Indeed, I have indicated that there are several possible forms for local empowerment from full-blown independence outside the UK to an enhanced county or city status within England; and there is variety within those forms. There are different levels of financial independence possible too and different legislatures. Of course, not every area will wish to have the same degree or form of local self-government.

The bill has not gone to parliament with the full-hearted support of all the people of Cornwall. Better to inclusively explore with the whole people of Cornwall the pragmatic arguments for change and the range of options, including those options which keep Cornwall within England and those which take it out of England and perhaps out of the UK. When a consensus or majority view is clear, the case can be taken to parliament. This Libdem shortcut is unacceptable.

Parliamentary support
The Government of Cornwall bill was supported at its introductory first reading by the other Cornwall MPs (all Liberal Democrats) and two Scottish nationalists and one Welsh nationalist, along with a Labour MP (Hansard 14 July 2009 column 174).
________________________________________________________

Strange women…Dennis responding to king Arthur’s talk about the Lady of the Lake and the sword Excalibur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Fly-blown phylacteries: Rosebery’s description of the views of some of the Liberal party, 1901

MK response to the bill

________________________________________________________

The third debate this year in the House of Commons on water and sewerage bills in the south west: in May a Tory MP initiated one, in June a Labour MP, and now a Libdem. You can read the latest debate at Hansard 12 October 2009 column 135.

Anna Walker’s interim report, the Independent reveiw for charging for household water and sewerage services, was published in June. The report discusses intelligently the question of the bills in the southwest and explains there are three options for payment: by the local water customer as at present, by the national water customer, or by the national taxpayer. The Walker review is considering these and will plump for one in the final report this autumn.

The report is firm that water charges should “continue to regionally based” (paragraph 3.6.1). However, in paragraphs 3.3.1-3.3.18 there is an interesting exploration of the arguments for and against nationalising the environmental part of the bills. This is the aspect that the latest Commons debate focused on; no one is suggesting that the whole of the water and sewerage bills should be equalised across England. We are all aware of the argument that southwest customers are paying for an environmental clean up which benefits the many visitors, that people in the southwest are relatively few and the southwest coastline long, and it would be fairer if those costs were shared out nationally. However, there are difficulties in moving to any national payment scheme such as what counts as an environmental aspect to be nationally charged, some environmental benefits are basically private benefits (tourism benefits from clean sea water and beaches), some environmental improvements benefit locals, and nationalising aspects of costs and bills might reduce the pressure on regional water companies to drive down their costs. MPs from other parts of England have also expressed their financially hard-pressed constituents’ concerns about taking on part of southwest bills (Hansard column 140 ).

If we did go to a national scheme for the environmental components it would include other environmental improvements outside the southwest such as the Thames Tideway. Water customers or taxpayers in the southwest would pay a share of those; but I do not expect our local MPs to dwell on that aspect.

In fact the report says that the nett benefit of a shift to a national payment scheme for environmental components would be “limited” (3.6.2), though I think in the southwest any reduction would be welcome. That wording makes it difficult to see the final report recommending such a shift.

There are of course other important aspects of water services that the Walker report looks at: affordability and availability, for example.

This is a complex issue with no easy solution, economically or politically, in 2009. Note that it is being discussed and settled outside the ambit of Cornish nationalism because it does not readily fit the nationalist agenda: the issue is about the southwest not just Cornwall, and indeed about water and sewerage in England as a whole; simultaneously claiming autonomy and a national subsidy for a service lacks credibility; and the arguments about what is a fair solution are as much technical as philosophical or political. It is an issue which reasonably exercises many people in Cornwall and tellingly there is no relevant specific nationalist argument to make.

PREVIOUS POST: Who would pay for devolved Cornish water?

__________________________________________________________

Upper gastro-intestinal cancer surgery, presently at the RCHT hospital in Truro, is being transferred to a single specialist centre at Plymouth. Opposition still continues: see this report, ‘Protesters fight to keep cancer services,’ in today’s Western Morning News.

I’ve looked at this question already; I thought it was entirely settled and settled right.

In response to the latest moves Ann James, the head of the primary care trust in Cornwall, put the substance very well: the transfer is about “improving patients’ chances of survival.”

I have explained the persuasive reasons for the transfer, including the results of an independent review, in this post and this one.

The arguments for transfer are seriously convincing. For the NHS in Cornwall this debate rightly ended months ago.

________________________________________________________
RCHT: Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, an NHS trust running three hospitals in Cornwall

________________________________________________________

We are all aware of the shortcomings and glories of the British NHS.

We had a glimpse of the American system in the recent comments of Democratic member of the House of Representatives, Alan Grayson of Florida. He referred tellingly to this report which says that “the uninsured are more likely to die than are the privately insured “ (page 4). The report quantifies this: each year, every year, there are about 44 789 deaths among Americans aged 18 to 64 due to lack of medical insurance (also page 4): the report says “associated with” lack of insurance.

There are youtube videos on this too: here and here.
________________________________________________________

The report is called: Health insurance and mortality in US adults; it is by Andrew P WILPER et al, published online 17 September 2009, and published in American Journal of Public Health for December 2009.

Addenda 4 October 2009
The Euro health consumer index 2009 was published 28 September 2009.

It measures country performance in several areas such as outcomes and waiting times.
______________________________________________________

Being Cornish does not necessarily or usually mean being a political nationalist

Look at these figures which show how many people describe themselves as Cornish or are so described by their parents.

Whatever reservations there may be about the figures and their meaning, they are markworthy. Let us assume that the current school figures, about three in ten, represent the base of people calling themselves Cornish: extrapolated that suggests that about 130 000 adults living in Cornwall describe themselves as Cornish. If one counts in children, who by and large outside adolescence will not be competent to give an answer about their ethnicity though they are, for example, often counted in the data about religion, the total is around 160 000.

The data in my Cornish numbers post was derived from selected groups but until there is a countywide and compulsory census, or an independent and professional poll, these are the figures we have.

There are rational reservations about these raw figures, apart from their non-universal nature and the range of meanings of the word ethnicity. Let me briefly mention two here (explored more fully in the later post, Who is Cornish?). People are asked to choose only one ethnicity though some people reject such polarisation and actually see themselves as having more than one. The figures therefore represent an imposed unicyclist view of ethnicity which does not necessarily correspond with the individual’s view of his ethnicity. We do not know how many people consider themselves Cornish plus. There is also a risk of taking an ethnic self-description as representing significance for an individual and the community that it may not have: people may see other aspects of their identity, such as their socio-economic group, work, lifestyle, village or town, or interest groups, as equally or more important than ethnicity. Consider, a similar point may persuasively be made about self-descriptions of one’s religion: large numbers in the England national censuses say they are Christians but surveys strongly suggest religion is relatively unimportant for most in everyday life.

Note that there are definitions of Cornish ethnicity which reject the open self-assignment of national and school censuses and look to descendant criteria-based tests and I shall explore these in the later post too. Cornish ethnicity, like many others is an astatic concept.

What do Cornish ethnicity and identity mean in Cornwall today to those who claim them? How do they play out in everyday life? Do they equate to support for political nationalism? This post develops what I wrote here.

Consider public tests of the support for political nationalism. The details of the votes are here.

Mebyon Kernow (MK) is the explicit nationalist party. The MK vote varies considerably in different elections. The party does not contest all possible seats but perhaps the most representative votes are the countywide and parliamentary ones. The recent 2009 unitary elections showed MK, in the constituencies it contested, getting about one in six of the votes cast there. In the last parliamentary elections MK polled around one in sixty votes cast. MK is seen as a party for the local stage not the national one and even there does relatively poorly. It is clear, too, that most people who regard themselves as Cornish do not support the Cornish nationalist party. MK has minimal representation on councils in Cornwall: three unitary council members, proportionately the same as before the council’s creation this year, and very few town and parish councillors. In total votes in Cornwall, including seats it did not contest, MK has embarrassing low support: about 1.4 percent of all votes in the 2005 general election, 3 percent in the 2005 county council elections, 4 percent in the 2007 district council elections, and 4 percent in the 2009 unitary elections.

Nor can the political parties outside MK be described as politically nationalist. Some members are nationalists but not the parties. They certainly support indeterminate localism (as mainstream parties across England do locally) and local culture (as parties across England do locally); but I think this is more accurately seen as local patriotism and support for more powers for elected authorities in Cornwall (and elsewhere in England) than support for political nationalism.

Outside a few initiates there is little or no interest in Cornwall that I can discern in the bill for self-government that Dan Rogerson, Libdem MP for North Cornwall, has introduced into the Commons. The numbers signing the various nationalist petitions have generally been embarrassingly few. In addition to MK, there are some small other political nationalist groups but I think they are unknown to most people here and appear insignificant in their lives.

There is a chasmic dissonance between the numbers describing themselves as Cornish and the numbers voting nationalist or actively belonging to or actively supporting political nationalist groups. Most people describing themselves as Cornish do not back political nationalism; their understanding of their ethnic identity does not necessitate belief in nationalist constitutional positions and that particular interpretation of history; it does not in itself have implications for governance. Why?

No, I do not believe it is because Cornish people have been befogged, deceived, or otherwise misled about political nationalism and their identity. That seems to take a low view of the capacities of people to understand their world and I reject that view outright. I think it is because they have understood political nationalism and have freely chosen to reject it while still being Cornish.

Look at the inadequacies of Cornish political nationalism.

Negative
Nationalism too often comes across as negative, presenting a misconceived victim culture: Cornwall uniquely suffers, is short changed, hard done by, is deceived. Nationalism can be a gloom and doom sect of broken Cornwall, looking back to a prelapsarian Cornarnia where everything was better.

Fog
The wider Cornish nationalist fudge about independence (from England? from the UK? a devolved regional assembly or a national parliament? a souped-up unitary council? more decisions taken locally?) does not win credibility by ambiguity though fog probably magnifies numbers. On the question of the funding of a self-governing Cornwall there is a similar fudge: it appears that Barnett Formula taxpayers and the EU will provide; no one seems to be suggesting that Cornwall will fund itself.

I shall look at the difficulties in nationalist claims about an assembly/parliament in a separate post.

Bread and butter
Cornish nationalism generally does not have any distinct and realistic answers to questions about the creation and distribution of national wealth and services, let alone about the national deficit, or questions of everyday life such as the price of heating the home or filling the car, whether the job seekers allowance scheme works well, by how much we can realistically increase the minimum wage, how we can further reduce waiting times for hospital treatment or make school classes smaller. Constitutional and provulgate issues which engage many nationalists have little appeal to people immersed in the possibilities and problems of life. Of course, some individual nationalists have a genuine and keen interest in the larger and everyday issues. I think MK’s policies are generally naive and unrealistic and, reading off election results, so do most voters.

Thus, a widespread and rational rejection of political nationalism as irrelevant to life as lived today. Cornish people — people who would describe their ethnicity as Cornish rather than only English or anything else — do not see a necessary link between their being Cornish and celebrating that identity on the one hand and political nationalism on the other, a point that some nationalists apparently have difficulty with. I believe people do understand what it means to be Cornish in a new way which does not require old-fashioned political nationalism. Being Cornish is now a personal and cultural identity; it does not necessarily or usually mean being a political nationalist. A Cornishman, confident about who he is, justly proud and happy in his Cornish identity, proud of Cornwall and its past and present achievements, aware of its joys and difficulties, can wave a flag, enjoy a festival, and support his local rugby team and not vote nationalist. It’s clear that is so for most.