A recent discussion in the media on the forthcoming devolution debates in Scotland prompted a comment from a member of the audience (presumably 'pro' the independence idea), that 'Scotland is the only stateless nation in the world and its time for it to make a decision on it's own as it chooses'. Now obviously there are many Basques and Catalan's, who would argue with this Scots centric view of 'statelessness', as indeed would the dozen of other putative states in the world such as the Palestinians, or Karen land in Burma, Somaliland, the Kurds across the Middle East, and even the Corsicans, who are all crying out for statehood .... there is even an argument for Crete and Cornwall to have their own states!
But putting aside the fact that there is such a long list of peoples, regions and countries wanting 'independence', the fact is that Scotland has its own Parliament, its own laws and courts, its own education system and a large input into supra national bodies such as the United Kingdom and the European Union.
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| We Are The English! |
No, in fact its the English who are the most downtrodden in this UK arrangement ..... England has,
- No Sovereign Parliament,
- No National Broadcaster and
- No elected head of state
... all bodies that represented the English have been subsumed into the greater body of the UK, while the Irish, Scots and Welsh have been allowed to brandish large degrees of 'independence' in the face of the English.
Imagine if these independence siren calls were by the English, wanting to be independent of Scotland and the rest? Who would be shouting 'little Englanders' or even 'racist' the loudest? Why the very same peoples who are currently telling everyone how downtrodden or oppressed they are under the English imperial heel ..... oh and the real architects of Scottish Independence, the Scottish Labour Party.
So by default, if the Scots do leave, then this will provide an opportunity for some of this repressed 'Englishness' to re-emerge .... but our neighbours may not like what develops, these pendulums tend to swing hard when they swing back!
