Starkey

David Starkey is one of these fantastic characters who will moan furiously about a pet gripe in a manner which shows him to be emphatically guilty of the very flaw about which he is complaining. For a man who carries on, and on, about the petty nationalism of the Scots and Welsh he is incapable of talking on the issue without showing himself to be the most preposterous hypocrite and nationalist with his fervent waffling on the glories of England (which was put out of existence by the last monarch of the Scottish Stewarts in 1707) while belittling the 'Celtic' nations.

Now i'm not saying that Scotland and Wales couldn't do with a little belittling - in fact they could do with plenty - but to do so while acclaiming ones own nation when every glory achieved by it came under the rule of Welsh (Tudor) and Scottish (Stewart) monarchs (not to mention the Norman French previously) is, well, daft and evidence of an intellect incapable of maintaining some consistency of thought on a topic when evidence goes against ones preferred reality.

Anyway, moaning on one of my own pet gripes aside his appearance on This Week tonight was well worth seeing. He talked with great sense and passion on the need for reform in the Palace of Westminster and his deep knowledge of the political history of the UK was apparent. It would not surprise me if the changes he proposed - and which have been put forward by others on QT earlier - were implemented gradually over the coming decade.