Posted by Laura
In the 1980s, before budget airlines, before the birth of the gap-year generation, and before the world became a lot smaller, the prospect of exploring Britain was an immense, exciting adventure. Holidays abroad involved the military-precision rigmarole of painting car lights yellow, affixing a GB sticker to the bumper and a roof-rack to the top, and embarking on an epic mission by motorway, ferry, and then the perilous French autoroutes. With the added burden of seasick children, left-hand side driving (in a right-hand-drive vehicle), and car boredom that no amount of eye-spy rounds and replays of Now That’s What I Call Music (vol 1) can ever appease, it’s no wonder holidays in Britain were considered the most family-friendly option.
And for those seeking a little bit of other-worldliness, good weather and sublime beaches, the destination of choice was obvious: Cornwall. Set apart from the rest of the country on its own dragon’s tail peninsula, it was far enough away from the urban sprawl to be considered ‘foreign’ (some of the children in my class at school thought Cornwall was abroad up until they were more than old enough to have been told otherwise), it had good weather (except when Hurricane Charley whirled in in 1986) and it had a charm that was all its own.
Fast forward two decades, throw in a couple of celebrity chefs and hordes of second-home city interlopers, and the county has been a victim of its own beauty. Many of the native Cornish folk are now getting a little tired of the regular gastronomic pilgrimages to Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurant in Padstow. They are also, understandably, worried that their heritage and quaint towns are being eroded by city folk greedily snapping up their houses as their London escape retreats, which in turn is pushng up property prices.
Whereas it is difficult to determine the actual severity or purpose of threats against celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Rick Stein by the group calling itself Cornish National Liberation Army, one can sympathise with the sentiments of the Cornish people. They are fiercely proud of their identity and their fears over the cost of living rise are not without foundation.
So what is the answer? The more militant of the Cornish campaigners believe the county should declare its independence. It has a history of rebellion, with the region’s hero Michael An Gof being one of a group to be hung, drawn and quartered in the 15th century for marching in London to protest against taxes. Elements of this fighting spirit still remain, and the native quest for a free Cornwall lives on, albeit in a more diluted form.
Cornwall already has its own language, which, though minor, is supported by its county council, and an enigmatic character like no other place. Why, then, shouldn’t it be a state in its own right? Would Britain’s south-westerly ‘foreign’ oasis be better left to its own devices, or would it just be the beginning of devolution that knows no bounds?
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what on earth are you going on about, what are they going to live on……….. silly me, we\’ll be subsidising them til the year dot
I ask that if you come to Cornwall please don\’t try to change it. We are here because we like it. We like to chat to the supermarket cashier, we like to walk the dog without being run off the road, we like to be able to walk down the street without being forced off the pavement. We do not like rude people, caravans blocking all other transport, litter or dog poo.
my brother in law is cornish and he has lived in yorkshire for the past ten years or so, for the sole reason that there is no work there unless you want to pick fruit for six months of the year.
so why do cornish people want to further segregate them selves from the rest of england?
admittedly cornwall is one of the most beautiful places in england .. but it is part of england and to my knowledge always has been so when they talk of devolutoion and the likes, they must remmember they arent a seperate country like wales or scotland. do they think england would really give up all its countys? my god we`d be like the ussr within 50 years grow up cornwall and be proud to be english RULE BRITTANIA!!!
What has Jamie Oliver done to upset these militants? Okay he has been the inspiration for another flash restaurant BUT its purpose is to train unemployed and under-privileged youths from Cornwall, it uses locally produced meat, vegetables and fish, championing the quality of these. Perhaps once the tourists try these they can go home and seek the produce out there.
A nation can be defined by it\’s langauge, a language that gives a cultural identity.
Cornwall is a Celtic nation, with an ancient Brythonic language. Cornwall, as with the remaining Celtic Nations, they have struggled to survice under the continous oppression of the English / Anglo-Saxons. But despite their struggle, these Nations have maintained their identity. Cornwall should be free, to be granted it rightful status of a Nation within it\’s own right.
The Cornish National Liberation Army doesn\’t stand a chance! it is ultimately a terrorist organisation and one with a weak cause and for these reasons alone it is doomed to failure. We have spent the last ten years under a prime minister who firmly believes in fighting any form of terrorism and openly states \’we won\’t back down from the fight against terrorism\’, to do so now would be a blaitant disregard to the Iraq war. every county in england has its quibles, get over it CNLA, your just like the rest of us, be proud of it!!!!
Seems to me if Wales and Scotland can have their ownm assemblies and parliaments then why not Kernow. I\’m proud of my namesake standing up for Cornish rights in 1497
yes, free cornwall, let the celts rule!!!! cornwall is so different from the rest of britain, which is a good thing! Land of beauty and legend. Freedom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
let the celts be free, mar pleg…..
I think the Cornish people have way too much time on their hands……
Cornwall has its own language, supported by its county council, and a character like no other place. It should be a state in its own right. We are facing dilution and insiduous expulsion of the native English and wider British elements and Cornwall would be better left to its own devices.
Does anybody in that disaster we call the Home Office know how many British Citizens resident in the UKhave Briish blood in their veins?(I mean those of us expatriates who were fomerly called CUKCs). Does anybody realise that small countries seek good relations and do not start wars unless they have been bouight out by polynational enterprises
KERNOW BYS VYKEN!!! Cornwall should be freed from the rest of the country, most definatly. Being Corninsh through and through i believe we should be "let go" and left to it. With all the emits that come down each year and the grocels that never go away there isn\’t much of our beautiful country side left. With building developments popping up all over the place because people from up country want somewhere to live we locals have to move away to find somewhere to live as house prices as stupidly high due to everyone moving down. As the poorest region of the country i personally feel we would benifit from being cut off and made indepentant. When my class mates and i were growing up we believed that if you got rid of the tamar bridge and all the little brigdes that run along the river tamar we would float away from the rest of the country. If only it was true.
As much as I sympathise with the plea of the Cornish people, beautiful County and lovely people….
Perhaps they can understand how we as English people feel being swamped by foreigners.. at a time when Europe and Britain in particular is being targeted by people all over as \’the promised land\’.. I urge the Cornish to think carefully about the consequences of independence at this time, without the protection of the English system, you could be flooded by more than just the English… fancy 10\’s of thousands of Sub Saharan Africans?
I have lived in Cornwall all my life and love it.. however, we are the lowest paid wages in the country but the highest living expense bar a couple places in London. Im not sure if I want it to become seperate from the rest of England but I do like it the way it is.
So, RICK, you gonna be \’KING\’ of Kernow, and preside over a load of absent second home owners, retired octagenerians and general population of \’doleites\’ and professinal claimants? Are you going to nationalise GINSTERS and live on the profits to finance your grandiose plans. Get real!!!
why is it ok for people from cornwall to move to other parts of the country,but god help anyone who dares to move to cornwall they give you the silent treatment and call you behind your back.it\’s one rule for them and a different rule for everyone else,cut them free and they will soon coming running back.
Just another European Union trick to split up Britain into "regions" so it can rule us more effectively! Those who foolishly talk of "independence" should remember the old adage UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL" !!!!
Its tiring to keep hearing utter nonsense from Nationalist morons in this country. First the Irish, then the Scots and Welsh and now the Cornish. I personally love Cornwall. I\’ll be going there next Saturday in fact, to Perranporth. My display picture was taken on Perranporth beach a few years ago.
Nevertheless, devolved government to Cornwall is nothing short of idiocy. It is too small and insignificant to be a country in its own right, and it would open the floodgates, setting a precedent for other counties. Back when the Scots got their devolved government there was talk of a devolved government for the North of England. I am from Yorkshire, Sheffield to be precise. Why? Why the bloody hell do we need to keep devolving power? We all get tired of listening to the Londoners and other toffee nosed South-Eastern pillocks, and have to put up with them and their strange and almost insulting ways, but that doesn\’t mean we should all go about campaigning for Lancastrian or Yorkshire independent nations (and our dialects could almost be classified as languages ;)).
YOU GOTTA BE JOKING WAT THEY GONNA EXPORT TIDDY OGGIES
GET REAL
kernow kensa, Although most of the cornish people dont mind the visitors to our beautiful country, we do ask for you to respect our identity and our nations history, the language is not a dialect of the anglo saxon, but its own brythonic language simialr to the languages of other celtic nations, just because other counties of england dont have an identity does not mean we should not celebrate ours.
I love cornwall as a place and always found the natives friendly, however, what exactly do you expect to gain by independence? The best thing that cornwall has to offer is it\’s attraction for tourists, it\’s such a beautiful county not country. i appreciate the feelings of people who don\’t particularly like an influx of outsiders, I myself grew up living in Edinburgh and I used to get very irate as I tried to go about my every day life dodging tourists, they do bring in a lot of revenue for the city as they do for Cornwall. I\’m sorry to say that you will all have to grin and bear it. Good luck to you if you prove me wrong.
I support the view that Cornwall should devolve itself from England and that historically the evidence suggests that ir never was part of the UK.
Let\’s do ourselves a favour and allow these whingers to be "free"…. That means no grants from the UK or the EEC (Which they don\’t want to belong to).
No tax credits … No unemployment benefit etc. etc…..
All "Foreign" businesses should withdraw immediately and the Home Office should list Cornwall as a "High risk" holiday destination.
And of course we should set up border patrols to protect ourselves from the terrorist threats.
No-one should holiday in Cornwall or buy any property or start a business there because it is apparently a terrorist state populated by very stupid people.
All joking aside…. I have taken holidays in Cornwall most years and was attracted by celebrity resturants too…… Now that I know how the Cornish people really feel about me, I won\’t be visiting again.
I lived in that county many years ago and enjoyed every moment i also worked with the people, they treated me like one of thier own so if they want thier independence give it to them ,they earnt that by thier right and hard work over the years and please do not change the way of life in the county .15June 22,00hrs.
OK… So I am Cornish…. My main income comes from tourism.
But I am not very smart
Even if Cornwall was granted a devolved assembly, it would still be a part of the EU. In that case, there would still be no mechanism for denying entry, and therefore "immigration", to EU citizens (from London, for example?). There is nothing stopping me from buying a house in France, Greece, or anywhere else in the EU. Cornwall would be the same. So, "independence" would not stop people buying holiday homes.
Similarly, as "refugees" are supposed to stay in the first country in which they make landfall, there would be nothing, certainly not the CNLA, stopping boat-loads from arriving in Cornwall and setting up camp.
On economic grounds, there\’s little tin left in the mines, and the little bit that is left is too expensive to get out. In the unlikely event that The Democratic Republic of Kernow was allowed to opt out of the EU, that would mean being cut off from the power, gas and water UK National Grids. So, you\’d have to sort that little lot out, for a start, in addition to buying the telephone infra-structure off BT – they\’re not going to give it away, you know. The hospitals would have to be bought from the NHS as well. I suppose that going back to the Dark Ages might be attractive to some but the tourism, which is what keeps Cornwall solvent at present, would dry up in a heart-beat.
Come to that, open hostility towards emits and grockles will have an adverse effect on tourism in any case. In that event, Cornwall will be a poorer place in every sense. It has been worked out that every pound spent directly goes through about 7 more people\’s hands before the Chancellor gets his thieving paws on it all. If I go into a shop in Truro and buy something, the person who made it gets paid, as does the shop owner and all his/her staff. They pay tax on a proportion of those earnings, but the rest is for them to spend in shops as well, and so on and so on. So, every pound brought in from outside is "free money" for people in Cornwall. Take it away and businesses will fail, more people on the dole, etc.
How on Earth are you planning to pay for all this? Assuming you want to put up a brick wall all along the border – sorry, you\’ve got no brick works – maybe make it out of China Clay, then… So, once you\’ve erected the China Clay Curtain, you\’ll have no imports, no exports, no electricity or gas, no telephone system and no hospitals… by no means an exhaustive list, but it\’ll do for now. Oh, and you won\’t have a China Clay industry either, because you\’ll have used it all.
So, smile nicely at the tourists, fleece them for every penny you can get, but not too much, or they won\’t come back next year.
There are some really strange people in Cornwall, scroll down and read some of the manic comments before you make comment!
I agree with others Cornwall is no longer a safe place to holiday
I ain\’t going there any more
Hey Mike!
Agreed with your message but surely Cornwall (As a new country) would have to apply to become a member of the EU like any other new state. However as a terrorist threat membership would be unlikely.
Cornwall is not a County, despite having a "County Council" it is a Duchy and has been so since before the reign of Henry VII, hence the reason we have a Duke of Cornwall!! It was always referred to separately in state documents and the rebels, led by An Gof and Flamank were killed on Blackheath, London following a march to protest about being taxed by the English to pay for the war on the Scots. Any englishman who says the Cornish are just like the rest of "us" really doesn\’t have a clue about his national history, Kernow bys Vyken, Trelawney\’s Army will march again.
Having said that, none of us down here have heard of the CNLA until it was announced on breakfast telly yesterday, personally, I support Mebyon Kernow and would quite happily see the Stannary Parliament in power.
I am sick of the fact that, as a lawyer, I earn some 15, 000 below the national average yet have the second highest house prices in the UK, due almost entirely to pillocks from the South East buying their "holiday homes" and destroying our communities with their BMW X5s. I live here and cope perfectly well with a Ford Focus, muppets!
What a load of stupid bigoted people, The sane ones in Cornwall understand much of what has been said below. But as for the idiots that dont/wont visit again then bye and i hope you have a nice time in an English holiday resort being fleeced by someone from Eastern Europe who dont care about you just how much the can make from you,
I have a holiday cottage in Cornwall which cost me far more than it was really worth given local prices. I let it to local people on a rent free basis during the winter and they do a bit of maintenance in return.
I have always treated local people with respect but recognised now that maybe there was some irritation on their part.
The revelations of late have convinced me that i now need to sell up as I am sure many other unwanted visitors will.
I think that it is interesting that the lunatic fringe in Cornwall have teamed up with the Welsh lunatics that destroyed thousands of jobs in Wales.
Those welsh radicals are now hated by normal people…….. think
Denzil says it all doesn\’t he?
The Cornish attitude….
"But as for the idiots that dont/wont visit again then bye"
Yes… Goodbye to you too….. By the way sensible people avoid terrorist regions.
Idiots are the people who think they can bite the hand that feeds them.
Wow…… We even have a parasitic lawyer involved in this chat room.
Is he a Cornish person?
Nah!…. I doubt it
And if Danny is unhappy about his wages then maybe he should do what we all have to do and move to somewhere that he can get the salary that allowed him to buy his cornish home…… or maybe he did that already?
The chances of Cornwall getting independence are virtually nil. The majority of the population in Cornwall are non-Cornish. Since 2001 the population of Cornwall has grown by 50% from 1/2 million to 3/4 million.
wrth gwrs mae chernyw yn heuddu bod yn annibynnol, mae Chymru wedi cael y cyfle a dan ni\’n siarad yr un iaith wedi\’r cwbl.
No Name is right!
They talk gibberish!
We are the mothers of invention ,we have stanary rights , retrospevtive repatriation is required for those who seek to infiltrate us ! Try to change us & you will find the toughest nail you ever steped on .Tourists are ok as they are just that , we say no to psudo/cornish firms ,they are not here to dish out charity ! its profit profit our greatest export ? . Even the most sane of us have had enough , did you not exspect us to protect our sons & daughters futures ? More has been taken out of celtic nations tha the english ever put back .We are legion in the world . M/K has lost its way years ago ,we cornish are unique & fear no one ! We have invited many & many we have not ! Walls come in many forms as do bridges .
a son of angof….. thanks for the confirmation
This is crazy.
I won\’t be taking my family there again.
I may be from London but I never noticed anyone feeling abused when they took my money.
I think Staffordshire should be set free we have be under the yoke of oppresion long enough..these scots who run our fair nation should be sent packing back over the border asap then Staffordshire can shake off this oppresive regime( freedom for Staffordshire ( I say
It is now un patriotic to have any dealings with the renegade state called Cornwall.
Indeed…. they clearly despise the English people who inflated house prices in that region.
However, it would be good to remember that the the house prices rose as cornish people sold them for the best price.
My late uncle had a great line in leg pullingI\’m either half Cornish, or not at all, having missed being born there by 2 years. Beautiful country, wild and free, but the people are as insular as the land is. I know how to make a proper pasty (and no, a Ginster\’s isn\’t one – Trevorrows was always the best, but the last time I was there it was an art gallery/shop). It was not just emits who brought in the tourists, but the bad blood goes back further than the English taxes on imports "smuggled" in. A lot of Cornish story has been lost, but the good stuff, the leg pulling, the gentle subverting humour and nouse has been soured by jealousy, anger and unfullfilled righteousness (another import with Wesley). It is not through anger that it will be regained. The United Kingdom has, since the Romans invaded, been a mix of tribes, with the celts pushed to the edges of the land (the Cornish were already traders, respected for their tin, and were left more alone than the other tribes pushed by war into Wales and Scotland). There is a resonance of pride with the loss of the British empire, there is a despair that resonates with first-rungers priced out of the housing market in London. We are more the same, under the skin, than perhaps we feel in our hearts.Wales and Scotland now have their own parliaments, but are still part of the UK. Is there any reason why the Stannary parliament should not be revived (other than cost)?
I demand independence for Steep Holm…..
nobody here in cornwall wants independence from the UK, it\’s pretty obvious we wouldn\’t survive long. What we actually want is independence from england, to have a cornish assembly like the ones in wales and scotland, but remain a part of the UK, as a fifth home nation
Yes nobody in Cornwall wants to be detached from the giro\’s
Cornwall wants to be free from everything apart from pay outs!
I would also be happy to let cornwall be independant….. But I agree that all finance from the hated UK should be withdrawn
I think Cornwall should be free. Us welsh people are sick and tired of England, and I think Cornwall should be the same. And as for Carol M, the welsh lunatics did wales a load of good. They got rid of the English and got a lnguage act. Time Britain woke up and realise we are not a united nation- we want freedom.
\’O bydded i\’r hen iaith barhau!\’
Never, ever, start a paragraph with "And"
You call yourself professionals…pshh.
"And for those seeking a little bit of other-worldliness…..blah, blah, blah…."
I live i n Newquay and have disovered that the greatest export we give is manpower because for most of us there is no real work, its mostly part time jobs and limited hours, things are not as they once were, my kids cannot and will probably never be able to afford a house in the town where they were born and grew up. its a bit like the potato famine in ireland except with us its money, many many young people (who are the lifeblood of the town) spend about 2/3 of their income on just rent!!!!!!! wheres the justice in that, all they did was to be born in the best area of the UK and will be penalised for it for the rest of their days unless they move,or until we get some structure in the county.
FREEDOM IS A QUESTIONABLE POINT.
When you do not have it you want it with all your heart.
When you have it you must be prepared to stand alone with resolve, courage and determined answers to questions that will be surely asked.
I think that KERNOW (Cornwall) does not have the attitude and resolve for this endevour as yet but if it is really wanted then a serious case should be put forward to the people of the county and a poll taken to see the attitude and if it is confimed that this would be the way ahead then do something about it NO MORE TALK TALK TALK positive and definative action.
That means political action not terrorism and threats which may or may not be harmful and imflmmatory to a good cause,
Oh Yeah until we get the independance and affordable housing: keep on coming down in the summer we love your visits and our piratical nature helps us relieve you of you hard earned cash my hansome. But please don\’t buy anymore of our houses.
You see thr funny thing is when i go on holiday i go home to everything you travel away for! it is on my doorstep so if you dont want to come to Cornwall anymore stay at home in the inner cities and urban sprawl and we can then have our beaches and towns back for 7 more months of the year. You then can have the joy of living in a place that you created or are in for no fault of your own, but seriously i would prefer to be in Newquay rather than an inner city.
Freedom if we can get it, YES!!!!
just one more point the Stannary Parliament was never actually dissolved or so i am told cornwall is still a kingdom in its own right the only hting is the english king invaded and put many people to the sword at the battle of Exeter and from then on resolutely ignored the fact it was a kingdom and treated it as a peice of property taken to do with as he wished.
you can check the truth of this at cornish history site: there are many of them.
so now i close and hope this blog finds you all well, happy and healthy in true cornish tradition
Hmm I wonder as there is a nice river up on the north coast and another on the south, both just about on the border.
We remove the 6 or so bridges and put a toll / customs post on the A38 ? Might just pay for the Stannary (see GreenLady)
Well. I have lived in Cornwall for 13 years and am married to a Cornishman. I have found that there are a few sensible Cornish folk that talk a good talk about being recognised as separate from England. With these people you can have a good debate about the merits and pitfalls of independence. Then you get the Cornish folk that just want to rant FREE CORNWALL. They have no interest in anything apart from being anti-English. A bit like football hooligans. The Cornish say, "come to Cornwall but fit in with us, don\’t expect us to change" which is a view I totally agree with. However, the minute your opinion differs to theirs, you are told to shut up because you are English, not Cornish. As far as job pay goes, if you look on the govenment job seeker website, you will find that wages in Cornwall are the same as wages in Cumbria and Yorkshire. All the Cornish do is compare their wages to London and say they are low paid. Yes there is a lack of high paying jobs but for the jobs that are available down here, the wages do not differ that much. Same with house prices. People in Cumbria have been priced out by second home owners, so this is not a problem unique to Cornwall. Now my honest opinion … if I could move out of Cornwall I would. Yes they do moan about the tourists all of the time. They think that Cornwall is the centre of the universe. Before moving down here I worked in Travel and Tourism for 10 years, in a call centre, so spoke with customers from all over the UK. You would probably be surprised to learn that there are a hell of a lot of UK residents that haven\’t even heard of CORNWALL, let alone Newquay ! Dear Cornwall. You are not as important as you think you are.
Having moved to Kernow from near London nearly 9 years ago and spent all of the time working down I find it staggering that a small splinter group, without any genuine reason believe Cornwall should severve its links wi the rest of the UK. Most cornish people are smart, articulate and realistic. This is something that will never happen. There is not the industry to support a country all year round as tourism only really is there for 3 months of the year. The transport network is shambolic and does not support existing commerce, let alone a propsed increase, which would be opposed by the locals when they are told their homes will need to be bull dozed to add the roads. What next? booby trapping the Tamar bridge with high explosive pastys to keep out those villainous foreigners with their money
I think most us \’Southerners\’ have no idea about the day-to-day existence of Brits in other parts of England. Your clarification serves to highlight the problem, but it\’s not us that you need to convince, it\’s the the government. Maybe our part to play will be in the future will be in the form of a \’Holiday Taxation\’, similar to that which we pay for going abroad. I am sure most of us would willingly pay extra to ensure that we can visit and share in the uniqueness that makes Cornwall such a beautiful place.
As for devolution, Scotland and Wales have successfully made that transition. Attitudes do change it\’s a question of allowing change to take place, with understanding and support.
The way I see it Cornwall could not fare much worse by having their own Parliament and policy making powers, in fact recent research suggests that the benefits will outweigh any disadvantages. As part of our nation, Cornwall has largely been ignored and forgotton. This wonderful United Kingdom, this title bestowed on our green land is anything but united in my opinion, isn\’t it about time us \’Softie Southerners\’ took notice of this fact!
this all makes me feel sick! we are part of the greatest contry in the world and the sum cornish and scots think that they should get indepentence its just sick!!!!!!
United we stand, divided we fall. I am against all forms of devolution and feel that we should in fact unite as one europe, if not as one planet. Spain is a separate country but still suffers from the same problems as cornwall. It is intolerably selfish to have two houses, but it can be fought with taxes and regulations.
I have been going to Cornwall now for nearly 5 Years. I feel some what spirtually connected to the place. As an Irish person and being brought up in a Celtic society I totally understand the Cornish peoples beliefs. Cornish beliefs are very similar to Irish beliefs, as we are both a Celtic domain. Ireland has had its own share of these so called flash in the pan actors and actress\’s, coming to Ireland and buying property and then only coming once a year to stay. Look at Dublin for example it has now become a commerical city, promoting cheap weekend flights and promoting stag weekends. I personally feel that this is very damaging to the local culture and feel that the majority of local people are sucked in to this normal persona. So as a visitor to Cornwall and have to emphasise as a visitor I totally agree with the C.N.L.A. Because they can see from other nations what has gone wrong and foresee the future. I believe any way that the Celts should stick together and cleanse there society of these foreign bacteria.
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