English Ed Discovers His Heart of Oak

In an article entitled "Selling England's forests tears at our heart of oak", Ed Miliband is the Sunday Times' voice of England:

What sort of cheapskate nation are we now, that we cannot agree to spend 30p a year for each person in this country to preserve its ancient oaks, ash and beech? The Liberal Democrats agree with us. Or at least, they did. On the Scottish Lib Dem website is a campaign against privatisation in Scotland, called Save our Forest! "The Liberal Democrats working with environmental organisations have won the case," it boasts beneath a picture of Nick Clegg. Which principle is there that applies in Scotland but not England?

Free prescriptions, free personal care, no bridge tolls, free tertiary education and self-governance are some principles that - thanks to Labour - apply in Scotland but not in England. It really is rather amusing that people like Ed Miliband and Bob Piper are now batting for England. Why have Labour only just latched onto this issue when I was writing about it back in mid-November? Was there a focus group or something?

English Ed continues:

This is not the big society, it is just a big sale. It is the sale of the physical heart of England, of irreplaceable national assets, enjoyed by communities for generations....The sign of a good society - big or small - is what it is prepared to protect, be that universal benefits, health or ancient woodland; public goods for the benefit of the whole nation and future generations. Unrestrained free market ideology has no place running rampant through ancient English woodlands.
Jerusalem is a song we all sing. The next time that David Cameron stands up to sing it, I hope he spares a thought for what his government is doing to England's green and pleasant land.

Pardon my cynicism, but if Labour were that concerned about England's green and pleasant land they would not have invited in 2.5M immigrants, proposed to build ten new towns in England (but none in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland) and set regional house-building targets whilst failing to protect green-belt.