Thanks, McMadman. Let me know if you get any come-back. There are lots of English nationalists that are of the civic- or cultural-nationalist variety, rather than ethnic nationalists; and we’re well aware of the BNP threat. But there’s no harm in re-emphasising the point from the Scottish perspective.

First up. I am a Scottish Nationalist. I believe and argue for an independent Scotland. But one truly open to all wherever they originate from.

I believe in the powers of peoples to self determinate (and “peoples” means residing in, none of this BNP hogwash about “indigenous” peoples etc). It therefore follows that I do support, genuinely and wholehartedly English Independence.

I actually think that, as independent states, we will mutually cooperate where sensible as a result of our own free choices, and the relationship between our countries, which is growing strained because of inaccurate reportage, will actually become more relaxed. All good.

But I think English nationalism has a bad press, and here’s what we discussed:

“David to me Jun 5

Dear McMadman,

I’ve just approved and responded to your comment on National Conversation for England.

I was wondering what sort of collaboration between Scottish and English nationalists you had in mind. I myself am a blogging nationalist rather than someone who is active in any political party or movement. But it could be useful, as I say on the site, to co-ordinate messages and campaigns; so that, for instance, if the SNP are pushing in one area, English nats can pull in the same direction, so we both get the result we want.

Drop me a line to let me know what you had in mind.”

I said

“McMadman M to Dave Jun 9

Well, and don’t take it the wrong way, but a lot of links to your site take one to sites where, let’s face it, the views expressed are not nationalist per se, but thinly disguised (or indeed not disguised at all) racism.

The first thing you need to do in my view, to develop an English Nationalist independence movement, is disassociate yourselves from this. Trust me, what kept scots nats in the dark for donkey’s years was the lunatic fringe (and I acknowledge there are a small hard core remaining). If you want to succeed you need to take mainstream england with you which you won’t if your members support this sort of comment or are seen to be allowing yourselves to be linked to it.

To succeed, the right mix (as the SNP shows here) is to position as centre left (though they do borrow right wing tory economic and some other policies) and be explicit about being inclusive to all. Whether immigration is a big issue or not in England, fixating on this is as silly as scots fixing on oil, which will be shot in 40 years or less.

I believe in self determination for all within these isles. If you think about this, working together could achieve this for all of us. I’d be delighted to see an independent england for the right reasons and would happily live there again as I did in the past.

But you will get nowhere if you are seen to be associated with extremism, whether this is fair or unfair, reality or perception.

I lost the link to your site, so can’t see your reply. Maybe you could send it to me again, and start a blog thread. I’d be happy to post, see what debate it sparks.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.”

Anyone interested, post here or email me at mcmadman05@googlemail.com. We need to work together to achieve our mutual self determination goals WITHOUT letting the extremists hijack the debate, which is my concern for English Nationalism/Independence; that it gets tarred with this brush, unfairly.

Cheers,

DAVID