Home rule for Yorkshire?
Sir: Yorkshire in Britain has sometimes been compared with Texas in America. There is, I think; some truth in the comparison, though scenically our largest county is much prefer- able. Proof of their:similarity perhaps lies more in human terms than elsewhere, and here it is not unprofitable to consider the attributes and characters of our own Prime Minister and Presi- dent Johnson. One was nurtured in the hard- living West Riding, the other has an almost prairie character-forming background. It is said that once they had had a chance of weighing each other up as a result of their early contacts they got bn well together. It is, of course, most -unusual for Yorkshiremen, among whom I count myself as a born and bred Dalesman, any more, I am told, than it is for a Texan to wear his heart on his sleeve. Each is cautious and believes in the importance of pride; each keeps every option open which does not conflict with principle; each knows something of the worship of will; each shares a respect for stubbornness and 'guts' once a decision has been made; each can be outspokenly courageous, allied at times with a liking for hurt—a quality fairly obvious in Mr Johnson but not to be found linked in this way in Mr Wilson. I believe this delineation of the Yorkshire and Texan character as found in two of the most prominent political figures of today to be accurate.. It certainly shows that independence is one of the main elements in the make-up of the two people I have compared, and neither is, I am sure, untypical of a majority of the people of each area. Home Rule, though perhaps logical for departments which could be more economically self-supporting than, say, Scotland or Wales, is regarded as merely a silly ambition by level- headed Yorkshiremen and Texans. Your correspondents Messrs Cumberbirch and Campbell Kay (Letters, 8 November) can therefore sleep quietly in their beds, even though, as I think foolishly, the first of them disassociates himself from our Prime Minister's political outlook! I feel sure that both feel sorry for me as an expatriate living down here. They are right if they have this outlook, but I hasten to assure them that I return to my native heath whenever opportunity offers and to what- ever part of the huge acreage that is Yorkshire lean descend on.
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