Who speaks for England?

[sweetjessicajane]

Since the election has been called, I have heard a number of representatives from the devolved regions, Northern Ireland, Scotland & Wales talking excitedly about a hung UK parliament, and how that would give them power to demand various items for their regions.

Yet I have not heard anyone saying how wonderful a hung UK parliament would be for England and what they would demand. So my question is Who speaks for England?

[aubrey]

I'd imagine that we'd want the same as them.

I saw an English Democrats van going down Westminster Bridge Road last week, playing Jerusalem through rather tinny speakers (they did not go down the road of the bloke who actually wrote the thing - the words anyway; I was going down there and I checked). There is something really unsettling about vans going round playing patriotic music through speakers - like there's going to be a warning, or an order: "GO HOME IMMEDIATELY - DO NOT PANIC - DO NOT STOP TO HELP ANYONE ELSE - THINK ONLY OF YOURSELF."

[pippa]

Apr 20, 2010 15:47:41 GMT aubrey said:

There is something really unsettling about vans going round playing patriotic music through speakers - like there's going to be a warning, or an order: "GO HOME IMMEDIATELY - DO NOT PANIC - DO NOT STOP TO HELP ANYONE ELSE - THINK ONLY OF YOURSELF."

i would have objected too with the exception of this version which i think puts a different edge on the song.

[alanseago]

Those were Blake's original words, ca. 1820

[pippa]

quite right Alan although i think John Otway has a unique way of getting those words across -- its the way he sings the song and his pronounciation of certain words that makes them sound far more down to earth, pithy, and humble even. i hear it here as a claim for the working man against commerce and imperialism rather than the lofty, pompous, war-like, patriotic air in which it often comes accross and which has always made this song a bit of an anathema to me. just the way it is sung by John Otway makes those words sound different and perhaps/possibly more as Blake had intended them? i love listening to this particular rendition.