Among the voices calling for various changes to the state structure of the UK are those which compare and contrast Germany with the UK and with England. These voices are replying to the oft-repeated mantra that "regionalism works in Germany". To counter that, they say "Germany has a national parliament above its regions, and therefore why shouldn't England?"
In my view, England should have a national parliament and indeed it would be better off independent, as would the other countries hamstrung by the continuing UK (Scotland and Wales). (Northern Ireland must surely, one day, re-join the Republic?). In arguing for an English parliament or for an independent England, however, I would not use Germany (or Germany + Austria) as a model.
The closest model to the idea of England, over recent centuries, is Prussia. Prussia (= approximately "North Germany") industrialised, militarised and centralised early - not far behind England. By 1870 it created the equivalent of the UK by creating the ("second") German Empire with the King of Prussia (a descendent of Queen Victoria) becoming simultaneously the Emperor of Germany. Prussia was not, however, able to convince or force Austria into full union. This is similar to the situation in which we have the UK but a separate Ireland - an Ireland which would never have chosen to join the union, which was forced into it for a century before breaking free again.
For Germany, then, read the UK and for Prussia, read England.
What happened to Prussia? Why does the UK still have a distinct element called England whilst the idea and existence of Prussia have been all but erased from maps and constitutions? The easy answer is "military defeat". In the aftermath of 1918 and 1945 there were abdication, bloodbaths, revolutions, upheavals, and then what would nowadays be called "regime change" led by the US and ably abetted by France and the UK. Arguably, the regime which was implemented in 1945 was a well-structured federal republic.
Could the UK have managed its way to a more balanced, republican constitution so that we would now have a British Republic of Scotland, Wales and England in which each country had near-total control over its own affairs whilst enjoying a strategic symbiosis in the shape of a light and benevolent federal centre? Almost certainly - but it probably would have taken military defeat to smash the control of our establishment most of which inhabits an invisible country all of its own, increasingly to be found in the globalised military-industrial ether. The defeat was staved off and the establishment kept their hands on the levers of power and indeed of empire for a while longer.
When we point to Germany's federal centre, that is analogous to the UK's central government; NOT to England's (currently non-existent) central government.
Do we want to engineer a better Britain, along the lines of what might have been? Or do we conclude that it is too late; that few in Wales or Scotland would ever trust such an idea? If the latter (which is what I believe), then the English, Scots and Welsh should now be helping eachother in a joint escape from the UK establishment into a new future as three separate nations.
In my view, England should have a national parliament and indeed it would be better off independent, as would the other countries hamstrung by the continuing UK (Scotland and Wales). (Northern Ireland must surely, one day, re-join the Republic?). In arguing for an English parliament or for an independent England, however, I would not use Germany (or Germany + Austria) as a model.
The closest model to the idea of England, over recent centuries, is Prussia. Prussia (= approximately "North Germany") industrialised, militarised and centralised early - not far behind England. By 1870 it created the equivalent of the UK by creating the ("second") German Empire with the King of Prussia (a descendent of Queen Victoria) becoming simultaneously the Emperor of Germany. Prussia was not, however, able to convince or force Austria into full union. This is similar to the situation in which we have the UK but a separate Ireland - an Ireland which would never have chosen to join the union, which was forced into it for a century before breaking free again.
For Germany, then, read the UK and for Prussia, read England.
What happened to Prussia? Why does the UK still have a distinct element called England whilst the idea and existence of Prussia have been all but erased from maps and constitutions? The easy answer is "military defeat". In the aftermath of 1918 and 1945 there were abdication, bloodbaths, revolutions, upheavals, and then what would nowadays be called "regime change" led by the US and ably abetted by France and the UK. Arguably, the regime which was implemented in 1945 was a well-structured federal republic.
Could the UK have managed its way to a more balanced, republican constitution so that we would now have a British Republic of Scotland, Wales and England in which each country had near-total control over its own affairs whilst enjoying a strategic symbiosis in the shape of a light and benevolent federal centre? Almost certainly - but it probably would have taken military defeat to smash the control of our establishment most of which inhabits an invisible country all of its own, increasingly to be found in the globalised military-industrial ether. The defeat was staved off and the establishment kept their hands on the levers of power and indeed of empire for a while longer.
When we point to Germany's federal centre, that is analogous to the UK's central government; NOT to England's (currently non-existent) central government.
Do we want to engineer a better Britain, along the lines of what might have been? Or do we conclude that it is too late; that few in Wales or Scotland would ever trust such an idea? If the latter (which is what I believe), then the English, Scots and Welsh should now be helping eachother in a joint escape from the UK establishment into a new future as three separate nations.