Nor Shall My Sword: Reinvention of England Book

There is a gap in the debate about constitutional change in the United Kingdom and that gap is England-shaped. New parliaments and assemblies are evolving on the Celtic Fringe but the largest nation in the British Isles has been left behind. While some might carp and seek to uphold the status quo it is maybe time that England woke up to the fact that it might be better off without Scotland. England might even be better demanding independence for itself. Simon Heffer is a political journalist with a pedigree in The Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail and he has written a number of acclaimed biographies. As the first serious attempt to define an English nationalism devoid of the jackboot and the football crowd, Nor Shall My Sword deserves attention. It is a starting point for a real debate, though there would be many who would contend that there is little of depth and little new in these ideas which are ultimately a nostalgic tribute to the Thatcherism of the mid-1980s. Nevertheless, Heffer writes engagingly and, even if this reader was not entirely convinced, it was certainly food for thought. --Douglas PretsellRead More