England/Talk

HomePage | Recent changes | View source | Discuss this page | Page history | Log in |

Printable version | Disclaimers | Privacy policy

OK, we need to talk about what is a county. I'm prepared to agree that the IOW is not a county, it is a unitary authority. But Cornwall claims to have a county council. How can it have a county council if it is not a county? Bob Waller

Cornwall is a Duchy; moreover it is technically not part of England, despite the patently misguided view of many English people that they own everything.

Look, I'm sorry you have to keep hearing this, but whatever the rights and wrongs of history, at this moment Cornwall is in England. GWO
The fact that you, as a Cornish nationalist, don't believe it is neither here or there.
Its not even true about the bulk of the Cornish not believing it: heres some evidence:

Well, you get my point -- GWO

No I don't. Cornwall still isn't in England. It is in the United Kingdom. The fact that a few tourist-oriented web sites put Cornwall in England is quite irrelevant to the unique legal, historical and administrative status of Cornwall. The fact is nobody knows exactly what the legal status of Cornwall is despite the de facto misappropriation which went on in the 15th century. That doesn't mean it belongs to England other than by force majeure.

For the record I am not a Cornish nationalist, I am a Cornishman. I also know the score with regards to the English: a parcel of rogues in a nation, to paraphrase the Jacobites. I can cite you any number of websites to refute this accommodation for the seaside tourist trade with:

http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/british_isles/
http://www2.whidbey.com/kernow/cornwall.html
http://www.dalla.kernow.eu.org
http://members.tripodnet.nl/siteklj/KDG/index.htm
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kernow/
http://pages.zdnet.com/bleydh/bleydhkernow/
http://www.kernowek.com/pages/histcorn.html 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_298000/298391.stm
http://www.senedhkernow.freeuk.com/documents/BarnettFormulav0x1a.pdf
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/kernow_tgg/TGGhome.html

etc, etc, etc. all of which have as much or as little going for them as the lot you put up. sjc


We have done this to death in previous articles; tell a Cornishman he is English and you will definitely have a row on your hands.

Except for all those mentioned above, who quite happily say "Cornwall, England", obviously -- GWO I won't dignify you with an intelligent response, however, you won't find many Cornish people who say that in Cornwall. Or elsewhere. You might find a few (Google returns hundreds. Whereas you, when challenged, could find exactly one supporting your position, and that an archive of an email list. Well done.) iffy (in what sense?) websites to justify your dubious position, though, but these are usually put up by English (evidence? Clue: you have none, you just made it up) (supply your own adjective) (do you mean noun? Are do you think nouns have always been adjectives. Cretin.). sjc

How amusing. You seem to have invented the "No true Cornishman" fallacy. -- Bob Mellish It was there waiting for me all the time... But actually, most Cornish people know they aren't living in England (you can tell that from the numbers of English desparate to move down here...) whilst a few keep up a polite fiction for the benefit of the historically challenged, tourists, and other assorted riff-raff. sjc

IoW is not a county, as you say, it is a unitary authority, just like Plymouth is a unitary authority. The political administration and confusion surrounding it is but one of the myriad of delightful facets of contemporary life in Britain. :-) sjc

My understanding is that being a unitary authority is an administrative idea, while being a county is a geographical idea, though these two may sometimes overlap. So Solihull is a unitary authority, but that doesn't stop it being part of the West Midlands as a county. Similarly I think Leeds is a unitary authority (could be wrong), but it's still in West Yorkshire (or is it the West Riding? :) ) Verloren

IIRC, a few decades back they completely reformed the system of local government in England. Counties ceased to exist as administrative subdivisions, and were replaced with other entities. But they continued to exist as geographic subdivisions. -- SJK


I removed the reference to an Act of Parliament in 1908 approving names for the Union Jack, as I don't believe there has ever been such an Act. If there was such an Act, then what was it called? --Zundark, 2001 Oct 17

See: http://www.flaginst.demon.co.uk/fiunionflag.htm
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb.html

Neither of these mentions an Act of Parliament. As far as I can tell, they refer to a parliamentary answer (see under "Use and status of the flag" in the second of your links). --Zundark, 2001 Oct 17