Class war could swing it for Miliband

ARISE, Cornwall. Until now it has been just another English county. But now its people are recognised under something called the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. I have no idea how many Cornish people, if any, voted for this or what the long-term effects will be. But if Wales is any guide, the erection of confusing bilingual roadsigns will become a growth industry.

ANYWAY, good luck to the folk of Cornwall as they begin the task of creating a proud Cornish homeland founded on Cornish culture, Cornish traditions, Cornish language, Cornish values, Cornish identity and English money.

THE Cornish activists are doubtless encouraged by the example of Wales whose demands for separate radio and television channels and the Welsh language in every school have been met over the past 50 years. The puzzle is that, for all the official encouragement, the number of Welsh speakers is steadily falling, down to just 19 per cent in the 2011 Census.

POT and kettle department. On his recent visit to Ukraine, the US vice-president Joe Biden declared: "No nation has the right to simply grab land from another nation." I bet that raised a few eyebrows in the Great Sioux Nation.

THE United States is a land built entirely by grabbing land from other people. New Worlds (C4), last week's mini-series clearly written to suit American audiences, drew a clear distinction between "English settlers" (boo, hiss) who wickedly oppressed and drove out the Indian tribes, and heroic, freedom-loving Americans (hooray) who threw off the English yoke to defy tyrants and embrace liberty. Actually, they were the same people. In fact, life for the Native Americans was no worse under British rule than it became under the United States. In 1830 it was Washington, not Whitehall, which passed the charmingly-named Indian Removal Act.

A SUDDEN cyber-nightmare. On Monday I had about 500 messages in my BT email inbox. By Tuesday only 51 remained. The rest, including bills, addresses, contacts and many, many columns, have vanished. I contacted BT who sent the fairly scary response: "Due to complex nature of the issue, we have to speak to level 2BT Yahoo desk for further help." Some hours later Level 1 phoned back on a crackly line from India, and said they were transferring me to Level 2. The phone rang and rang. And rang some more. A recorded message occasionally interrupted with: "We are very busy at the moment." After five minutes I hung up. BT - customer service at its finest.

SENIOR Labour MPs are warning that Ed Miliband's focus on the "cost of living crisis" could make it a one-trick pony in next year's General Election. It has always struck me as a dodgy slogan. Surely a cost of living crisis is the inevitable result of the worst financial collapse since the Second World War. The economic wasteland left behind by Gordon Brown and Ed Balls was hardly going to flower overnight. Yet while other EU nations plunged into the abyss, the UK avoided a double-dip recession and today is growing healthily. I still believe Labour will win the next General Election but it won't be because of the economy. It will be because the Great British Public does not like the Tories who are perceived as posh and privileged with too many friends in the City. Class hatred still runs deep in Britain and inverted snobbery could well swing it for Miliband.

TWO little tremors in quick succession in the East Midlands are a reminder that England will have mini earthquakes whether we go fracking for gas or not. The UK gets about 200 tremors a year. We are, in several senses, an unstable nation.