Who has the right to self-determination?

Independence referendums are all the rage. After Crimea's internationally condemned plebiscite on leaving Ukraine and joining Russia, and ahead of Scotland's officially sanctioned vote this autumn, comes an unofficial poll in Venice.

In an online vote organised by local activists, 89 per cent of residents backed an independent "Repubblica Veneta" comprising the city and its surrounding region. The ancient Venetian republic was a rich trading power that existed from the seventh century until its fall to Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797. Now residents are aggrieved at their taxes being used to subsidise what they see as the feckless south of Italy.

"Self-determination" for nations lies at the heart of international law and the UN charter, but the issue of who can exercise it, or even what constitutes a nation, is fraught.

Catalonia's regional parliament is pushing for a referendum on independence from Spain, but Madrid has vowed to reject any attempt to hold such a vote on the grounds that it would be unconstitutional.

Now a petition has been lodged with the Scottish parliament calling for residents of Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles to be given a vote on September 25, a week after Scotland's independence referendum. If Scotland voted to leave the British union, 70,000 residents of the three island groups would also be asked in separate ballots whether they wished to remain part of the UK, stay with an independent Scotland or go it alone. Orkney and Shetland, whose waters contain much North Sea oil and gas, were under Norwegian rule from the ninth century until 1468.

Do not expect Alex Salmond's nationalist government in Edinburgh to be any more sympathetic to this than Rome is to Venice's case.

'Osbornegrad'

For the country that gave the world the "garden city", the UK has been in a dither over new ones despite a serious housing shortage. George Osborne, finance minister, last week announced plans for a new town at Ebbsfleet, southeast of London, creating 15,000 homes in old chalk pits, which he described as Britain's first garden city for almost 100 years.

Garden cities were devised by Ebenezer Howard more than a century ago to combine the best of town and country living. They were envisaged as self-contained communities with parks, homes and workplaces. Howard built two north of London at Letchworth (1899) and Welwyn (1920) and eventually the movement spread to countries including the US, Brazil, Czechoslovakia and Australia. After the second world war, the UK built 48 new towns inspired by the garden city movement to relieve slum conditions in the big cities.

They were rarely popular with existing communities. There was fierce resistance to the expansion of Stevenage, for example, nicknamed "Silkingrad" in the 1940s after the planning minister Lewis Silkin. During one visit the tyres of his ministerial car were let down and sand put in the petrol tank.

Britain has built no new towns since the 1960s, mainly because of opposition from rural voters. Annual housing starts last year were about 123,000 in England, up 23 per cent on the previous year but way behind the 240,000 needed each year to meet population growth. In choosing Ebbsfleet, where there is public support, Mr Osborne has chosen a relatively easy target. It may escape being labelled "Osbornegrad".

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In a way it is an odd time to resurrect garden cities. The idea was fashionable when big cities were seen as overcrowded and unhealthy, but the intellectual tide has turned in their favour. Populations are growing again in cities such as London, New York and Manchester. As Edward Glaeser argued in his book Triumph of the City , cities make people richer, smarter, greener, healthier and happier.

The trouble is, even by building skyscrapers the UK's main cities cannot accommodate all who want to live in them and they are constrained from expanding by green belts. Garden cities could be useful but do not expect a rapid spread. Britain finds it hard to build any infrastructure project: look at its failure to expand Heathrow airport.

That's some typo

A postscript to last week's item on Eton College. The Guardian, a newspaper with a glorious history of linguistic slips, surpassed itself with this online headline: "Gove attacks 'ridiculous' number of Old Ethiopians in cabinet."

brian.groom@ft.com

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