I think that Scottish independence is probable within the next decade that will be because of devolution. The Holyrood Parliament gave the SNP the perfect platform to campaign and massively reinforced the notion of Scotland as a separate nation. To put it bluntly, having their own parliament made the Scots feel more Scottish and less British. The 2014 referendum and the 2015 General Election showed the momentum towards independence growing apace long before Brexit.

And actually I think that Scottish independence should be welcomed by the English: I don’t want to feel like a citizen of an imperial power (which is how the SNP would have me feel); as a Democrat, I want to see sovereignty and self-government as close to the people as possible (which is why I supported Brexit).

And what many commentators and politicians miss is that those views are increasingly the mainstream in England; it’s really only the fact that the Tories are by tradition the Conservative and Unionist Party and that Labour needs Scottish MPs (whether Labour or SNP coalition partners) to have any chance of forming a government that stops them being heard. I really think that the attitude of most English voters to both Scotland (and Ireland) is that if the Nationalists can persuade their voters to back independence, good luck to them; we’ll genuinely wish them well and be quietly relieved not to have to listen to Blackford, Sturgeon et al quite so much.

EVEL is undeniably a good thing and creates opportunities.

However the only solutions for the constitutional mess created by devolution are its reversal and a return to a single unitary UK parliament with real local government across the four nations (this is an impossibility in the present climate) or the end of the UK.

The Conservative Party should end it attachment to Unionism and ensure a fair deal for England: that means independence for the other UK nations.

HS2 won't 'regenerate' the North: it will simply encourage people to live in the North and work in London, which isn't going to help much.

Investing in infrastructure that makes it easier to move around the North would have far greater economic and social benefits.

A very wise article: the important thing is that we get out of the EU and fulfil the expressed view of the people. Once we are out, we can amend any deal to make it cleaner and better for the country.

The EU will need us more than we need them as the crisis in Italy (and the next crisis in Greece, and the forthcoming Catalan crisis, and the disillusionment of the Eastern states) unfolds.

I would guess that the landing cards were destroyed for data protection/privacy reasons: the default position across the public sector now is that personal information should not be retained without a very clear justification. And I'd also guess that landing cards for white european people were destroyed at the same time.

I'd suggest that this is an example of bureaucratic ineptitude rather than racism; and look at the people condeming it and speaking up for victims. They come from across the political spectrum.

The coverage of the speech (particularly the Beeb's) has studiously avoided one crucial fact about the 'Rivers of Blood' speech: it cost Powell his career and resulted in his being politically ostracised by his own Party and the political establishment.

The importance of that fact is that it demonstrates that as early as the late 1960s, the establishment already opposed racism and that the Tories were already an anti-racist party.

Which undermines the liberal narrative that Britain and the Tories in particular have always been irredeemably and institutionally racist.

Against that you have to balance the cost of treating someone who doesn't smoke for the age-related illness they will eventually suffer from.

Over their lifetime, smokers and the obese cost the NHS less than non-smokers who are not overweight.

On that basis, motor cars and planes should also be banned except for business use.

Lots of things are harmful: driving, flying, almost every sport.

Does anyone ever count the cost to the NHS of all those chronic knee, back and hip complaints that exercise fanatics suffer from?

I thought conservatism was about individual liberty and freedom of choice: smoking tobacco should be legal in dedicated rooms in licensed premises, as of course should vaping.

The anti-smoking/vaping lobby studiously ignore the effects of pollution from cars and planes and actually the evidence that 'passive smoking' is dangerous is pitifully thin.

Public Health in this country is a disgrace: taxpayer-funded lobbying and evangelism. The fact that ASH is publically funded should make every conservative despair.

Congratulations to the author for pointing out this wasteful zealotry.