I'm watching the Politics Show and find it utterly depressing that the presenters on there seem to be treating Scotland as if it is a foreign country (even using the term country to describe it and England... they are nations not countries!) and act as if English and Scottish people are simply unable to get along. If you look at just the last months worth of news stories on Google News you'll find most journalists have proclaimed the end is nigh.
I just want to leave this country. It's not the country I was brought up to live in. There is no pride here, just nationalist jingoism. There is no unity, just squabbling over the dying Union.
What with Belgium suffering a similar malaise over it's union, it can't be long before even the mighty Germany might start to find it's regions pulling apart. Then we can all get back to never ending wars again like the good old days of the last millennium. Joy! Now I wonder what the immigration requirements are for Thailand...
Now I wonder what the immigration requirements are for Thailand
ReplyDeleteI don't wish to 'rain on your parade', but Thailand is not entirely free of internal dissension, with Moslem rebels in the southern part of the country and communist rebels in parts of the north (bordering Laos and Burmas), and of course lots of drug smuggling used to finance this. I have spent many holidays there, specially when I lived in the Far East and the Middle East.
Back to our own problems in the UK, yes I agree with you entirely (as I think you know); it's a complete tragedy. I thought at the time that the devolution settlement, ostensibly designed to thwart moves to separation, was a recipe for disaster - unfortunately my premonitions seem to be in process of coming true. However, I still hope (if not entirely believe, unfortunately) that that good sense will prevail and that enoough people in both England and Scotland (and Wales) will see there is more to lose than gain from separation and draw back. Unfortunately Alex Salmond is a really clever fellow who, whilst superficially reasonable, is determined to stir up dissent between London and Edinburgh and the present UK Labour government is so stupid and short-sighted that they fall into most of the traps Salmond lays out for them.
However, I'm partly the product of a former part of the UK, the Republic of Ireland (a grandfather) and if the UK can maintain cordial relations now with that country, after the troubled history we have, then I think that even if the worst comes to the worst I think England and Scotland will still retain a very special relationship going way beyond politics.
Don't worry, the Thailand comment was flippant rather than wishful. Going from here to a recently militarily governed country with a serious insurgency on it's hands is like jumping from the lukewarm pool of water in to the fire!
ReplyDeleteI agree England and Scotland might enjoy cordial relations should they become separate but as I consider myself neither English nor Scottish it'd still not make me feel too good!
TBH, The problem with the whole Scottish / English divide is, imho, completely one sided. I left Scotland when I was 17 and as I spent more time in England I realised that neither it nor its inhabitants were half as bad as I had always been led to believe. And that is the important thing, "led to believe".
ReplyDeleteIts a sad fact that the majority of Scots, who still live there, are Jacobites, at least emotionally. The further North you go, the worse it gets. Even to this day, your surname goes a long way to gaining you respect or disdain, depending on what Clan it is associated with.
You just need to look at the National Mood after the release of Braveheart. To most of us, it was a film. To Scotland it was a Historical Document that inflamed passions and hatred for the English and was one of the key drivers behind devolution. Yes, I know, Sad but true.
http://www.braveheart.info/news/2005/sunday_herald/2007-07-31/51063.html
History is Something that they hold very dear to their hearts and time does not make up for past wrongs.
Scotland is still stuck in the past, and is one of the main reasons why there will never be a proper reconciliation between the nations.