For Britain: good news, bad news
First the good news: Kate is pregnant again.
Now the bad, which seems potentially a lot bigger than the good: is Scotland about to leave the fold?
We are on the verge of trashing our global name and brand in an act of self-mutilation that will leave our international rivals stunned, gleeful and discreetly scornful…
What we are fighting to protect is not so much the Act of Union of 1707, or even the United Kingdom. The Government has decided that in the event of the Scots voting to break away, the “UK” will simply refer in future to England, Wales and Northern Ireland; though no one seems to have a clue exactly what this truncated state will be called. No: the entity under mortal threat next week is Britain itself. You cannot refer to a state called “Britain” unless you include Scotland, because it is a basic fact of geography that Britain comprises everything from Land’s End to John o’Groats…
Take Scotland away from England and you are losing a critical part of our political nomenclature. There was no British government before the union with Scotland; there was no British electorate; there were no British interests. There was England and Wales, and there was Scotland. Take away Scotland, and we destroy Britain.
The sun is slowly setting—or maybe not so slowly.
More here:
The prospective victor, the uncrowned king or future president, looks to be Alex Salmond. He has persuaded fellow Scots that the English do them down. His is the usual nationalism built on grievance and self-pity. A socialist on top of that, he keeps promising equality and justice and prosperity, none of which he can deliver. Nationalists and socialists are proven carriers of disease, not doctors. Currency, debt repayment, banking, defense, membership in the EU, are among the unknowns. Expropriation of Scottish estates seems quite likely. The English will have to live through the malign consequences to the pound, the flight of the disillusioned away from Scotland, and all the economic, social, and psychological consequences of rejection.
And to think that this creepy and outmoded manipulator could well go down in history for doing what Philip of Spain, Napoleon, and Hitler couldn’t do: bring down Great Britain.
England’s flag would certainly look odd; hope they don’t get into a legal fight with the Red Cross.
Or the Japanese!
Saw an Irish group in concert. They introduced the song “Caledonia” by saying that if Scotland goes independent, “they’ll be drunk out of their heads, they’ll be broke, and they’ll be singing Caledonia.”
I’ve heard Scotland’s dole outlays are substantially above any possible revenue scheme.
Richard Aubrey
A preview of our future perhaps? How long before a majority hispanic Arizona or California will demand independence?
Social suicide seems to be a constant goal of the Left. Scotland is far left and will not fare well away from England. Too bad for them, but they are asking for it. On the other hand, England may do better without so many Labour voters in Scotland packing Parliament with quasi-Marxists.
Great Britain ceased to be ‘Great’ a long time ago. It’s major problem now is how to get free of the EU and also avoid becoming a part of the Caliphate. Last time I saw flocks of burkas in London I thought the place was on the road to disaster.
I agree with Rachelle, England would do better without the drag the Scots cause to the UK economy and would have a much greater chance to turn to the right without all those Scottish liberal MPs.
Scotland leaving the UK will be a case of addition by subtraction. I suspect that several centuries of emigration emptied Scotland of its enterprising sorts. What remains is a too large group of drunken whingers on the dole.
I may be harsh, but my judgment is based on some experience. When I was in grad school the Dean of the school, an immigrant from Scotland, sat in on a class presentation. I informed him that some years ago I had worked in the oil field in Venezuela with a bunch of Scotsmen. The Dean: “Bunch of drunks, weren’t they.” Gringo: “Well, yes.”
This book gives some perspective on the Scots: How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe’s Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It.
From one of the Amazon reviews:
How far Scotland has fallen. [As the Dean got out of Scotland, he supports my case.]
Scotland, the home of Adam Smith, David Hume, William Wallace, Benjamin Rush, Robert Burns, and many more great men has fallen for the prophecy of socialism. They may believe freedom from England, Wales and Northern Ireland will allow them to keep more of the oil/gas revenues, but they will soon find it will not support all their socialist desires.
Well, they’re headed back to the poverty from whence they came. Scotland was a very poor country when it was independent. Maybe the cold shower of reality will bring forth more men such as Adams and Hume. I can only hope. It’s the homeland of my ancestors and I cannot wish it ill.
On the economics: Wales and Scotland are NET bleeders of the Crown’s budget. (Wales, rather remarkably so — yet Scotland is not far behind.) The money spinner for the Crown is the City of London. It’s neatly tucked inside that nation’s capital city — and not likely to leave England any time soon.
So, the irony is that Scotland, once independent, will be an economic basket case.
Hawaii has similar sentiments to those of the Scots. It’s even MORE dependent than Scotland. This does not stop radicals from agitating for Hawaiian independence.
I once sobered up a local Polynesian: Hawaii is TOO important to ever be permitted independence from great powers.
North Sea oil revenues are headed lower, much lower. The exaction taxes are generally prohibitive. So no firm has big expansion ideas.
One result is that Brent isn’t Brent anymore. You can’t trade what you can’t pump.
Given the queen mothers desire not to be the last of her line who held scotland… she plans an invasion… 🙂
I have to disagree with Neo and the posters preceding me. Let the Scots have their way. Great (harrumph) Britain has not exactly been a State of virtuous, enlightened government for the past sixty years, the starburst flash of Thatcher notwithstanding. Pretty soon it will be a colony of Pakistan’s. The GB crime rate is five-fold that of the US; each British domicile is burgled once a year, on average. The NHS was a (!) sponsor of the Olympics. The tax-eater authorities in Rotherham do not want to hear about muzzies raping 13 year-old white girls.
How can a Free Scotland do worse?
The folks arguing against Scots independence are also likely to argue against secession by any American State. Not me.
I was surprised to see that Scotland might actually go ahead and break away from the UK. In the late 1960’s I was on a train from London to Edinburgh and the man across from me was reading a paper about the Queen’s upcoming visit to Scotland.
I asked him what he thought about that and he told me that he was a Scot and his observation was that the people in Scotland talked independence most of the year but when the Queen came to visit they would fall all over each other kissing her backside.
During the time I was there I watched them do that and it was great having the military reviews up at the castle and all of the pomp and stuff for the Queen.
I guess times have changed and now the royal crew does not mean as much and both England and Scotland have continued to lose a lot of what made them great when they stood up to Axis powers in WWII.
Maybe they can build a wall across the island to keep the other side on the other side and live happily ever after, maybe not.
The difference between DC and London is that London with not roll tanks and drop napalm if Scotland secedes.
LOL Cross of Saint George. It will be interesting to see the English Flag flying, if it does. However, there is still Wales and Ulster, so I suppose the UK continues to exist, if not Great Britain.
At least the prime ministers of England may be free to stop jabbering on about British values and the like.
I have a certain amount of feeling for the Scotch, but in reading interviews and arguments, it largely seems that the pro-independence crowd is more concerned with closing the gate on “neo-liberalism” and the creeping nastiness of the free market. Of course with a declining population, something must be done in order to keep the pensioners comfortable, so the pro-independence party has a solution: import foreigners to repopulate Scotland, That way the Scots can die off in cozy comfort as import workers keep the social safety net well knit.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/aug/23/scottish-independence-vote-pits-family-members-against-one-another
DNW: They are Scots, not Scotch; Scotsmen not Scotchmen. Men, not a tape or a fermented spirit..
Artfldgr
Given the queen mothers desire not to be the last of her line who held scotland… she plans an invasion…
As the most recent Queen Mother, who is defined as the mother of the reigning monarch, died over 10 years ago, that would be most interesting. 🙂
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_mother
Yeah, so I heard from various sources – Dom Louis Gougaud’s famous work for one, John Morris’s “Age of Arthur”, flawed as it is, for another. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7456240&fileId=S0038713400049137
And even directly from some Scotch people themselves. “Scot” itself, originally meant something like reaver or tory, or so I have read.
But, we call it maize anyway.
I’m not sure I would want to be united with a country where they eat haggis.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/haggis-recipe.html
But the Scots make up for haggis by producing the wonderful Scotch Whiskies which are whisky without the e.
How can an island cut in two be a ‘United’ Kingdom?
The Scots are cutting their own throats and, given that the most popular boys name in both the UK and in Oslo is now some version of Muhammad, Scotland’s inescapable poverty is merely a preview of Europe’s fate.
“Nine in ten Scots ‘living off state’s patronage'”
“Almost nine out of 10 Scottish households take more from the public purse than they contribute in taxes thanks to a “rotten system” of state patronage, the Tory party conference will hear on Monday.”
But perhaps the most telling sign of the UK’s having already gone off the cliff’s edge is the following;
“Paul Weston, the chairman of a new political party in the United Kingdom called Liberty GB, was making a speech Saturday outside the Winchester Guildhall in Hampshire when he quoted a notorious Islamophobe. Police were called, and Weston was duly arrested.
The Islamophobe in question was named Winston Churchill. Weston quoted him saying:
“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property — either as a child, a wife, or a concubine — must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the faith: all know how to die but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith.”
Weston now faces two years in prison for this quotation.
How long would the Cameron government lock away Churchill himself for? After all, a man walking around talking like that could hardly be “conducive to the public good,” now, could he?
Nothing could be more emblematic of Britain’s imminent demise than the arrest of one of its contemporary politicians for quoting words spoken by its foremost defender against tyranny. There is little left for David Cameron to do other than to hand over the keys to 10 Downing Street to Anjem Chaudary and head for the nearest mosque to proclaim the shahada.”
As I say, England and the UK have already fallen off the cliff’s edge, they simply haven’t reached the ‘sudden stop’ at the bottom yet.
Perhaps this will finally answer the burning American question about Southern independence and what would have happened if, if things went otherwise.
During the time I was there I watched them do that and it was great having the military reviews up at the castle and all of the pomp and stuff for the Queen.
I guess times have changed and now the royal crew does not mean as much and both England and Scotland have continued to lose a lot of what made them great when they stood up to Axis powers in WWII.
The Queen is not their ruler, the EU and British MPs are.
Which makes a significant difference, the authorities lines don’t transfer.
It’d be nice if the love of the people would go to the duly authorized political and military leaders, but even in America that doesn’t usually happen.
About the rot in the momentarily united United Kingdom:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/09/the-real-enemy-within.php
We have some Common Purpose groups here. Gramsci lives!
Parker at 2:45PM:
How right you are…
Friends, lots of soldiers in the UK went lots of places and fought for Queen and country and the pipers and the men in skirts were there most of the time. Soldiers are never about political power but they fight for men next to them in their unit.
And Kipling had it right when he spoke of soldiers of many nations fighting all over the world.
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-white-man-s-burden/
Is it just my imagination, or did Scottish independence take an uptick in the polls following the Pakistani child rape scandal? (I can’t remember the name of the town involved). I don’t think the referendum will be decided on rational economic grounds. An independent Scotland would be n economic basket case run by clueless Leftists, but at least they would control their own immigration policy. (And what’s left of their oil for however long it lasts.) I’m not saying that immigration will be the decisive issue, but that whole business made England look incompetent, useless, and and pathetic at the worst possible moment.
As for the Sun setting on England well…That happened a while back, really. For a lot of countries, there’s the leader that they never recover from. For England that was John Major. (Who paved the way for Blair) England as we knew it was more or less abolished by New Labour, with the Cameron joining in late.
I still predict the referendum loses 55-45. But it won’t be the last vote, either.
I know a couple that have been trying to emigrate to the US from Scotland for years-they come over on visas and when the Visa runs out they fly back to Scotland for a while till they get a new Visa-unlike the Mexicans! They were telling me that there was a breed of potatoes the Scottish had that they liked but it didn’t meet “EU” standards- so it became illegal-even for people to grow for their own use!! There was some law- dont know if it was EU or not- where one industry-think it was farmers-had to hire not Scots first before they could hire the locals. And then there was the banning of the sugar beat factories- some other country got that option!
The EU will dissolve as nationalism returns. Its happening in France and of course Scotland. The EU was an experiment doomed to fail. Nigel Farage and UKIP are turning the tide in Britain. Greece, Spain, Portugal, and perhaps others will realize they need to drop the euro and revert to a national currency. A new world order is taking shape. Meanwhile, we have the messiah, the Reids and Pelosis, the msm, and millions of zombies that are clueless. And, they seek to hope and change America via the southern border.
So many plates are spinning its hard to keep track of apocalypse now.
You think the turning Euro tide will wash out the muzzies, parker? Same issue applies here….
Not in my lifetime.
No, Don Carlos I do not think so… ultimately it will come down to metaphorically shooting rabid dogs on Main Street. I reload, do you? If not you should learn. 😉 There is no such thing as too much ammo; seriously. 5,000 per caliber or you are not a player.
DC,
8mm, 7.62×39, 357 mag, 38 spl, and 1250 12 gauge, plus 5k 22 lr. I am ready to take down targets from 400 yards to 1 inch. Read Unintended Consequences by John Ross. Silence is golden.
This, as recently as 2007: they have been such Men.
OUTNUMBERED British soldiers killed 35 Iraqi attackers in the Army’s first bayonet charge since the Falklands War 22 years ago.
The fearless Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders stormed rebel positions after being ambushed and pinned down.
Despite being outnumbered five to one, they suffered only three minor wounds in the hand-to-hand fighting near the city of Amara. The battle erupted after Land Rovers carrying 20 Argylls came under attack on a highway.
After radioing for back-up, they fixed bayonets and charged at 100 rebels using tactics learned in drills.
When the fighting ended, bodies lay all over the highway – and more were floating in a nearby river. Nine rebels were captured. An Army spokesman said: “This was an intense engagement.”
The last bayonet charge was by the Scots Guards and the Paras against Argentinian positions.# # #
The Scots don’t like the English because we don’t care whether they like us or not!
Great empires break apart from within, not without. How far behind are we?
If Scotland leaves, it will be England’s fault for mismanaging their own country. They ushered in the decline, and that weakness has invited dissent.
I do agree that the loss of so many on the dole will be a boon for England, though.
Gringo
HA! thanks!!! that slipped by me!!!
too funny…
but then again, with the zombie culture…
you never know.
TOUCHE!
a hit, a very palpable hit – Shakespeare
[now THAT’s the way to refute me!!!! (its fun too))
From what I’ve read the Labor party gets a majority/plurality of its votes from Scotland, so no Scotland means that UKIP and the conservatives have a leg up on winning consistently in the future.
parker:
I’m with you. But I’m a shotgunner at heart, recreationally.
Beverly – bayonet charges. The US Army decided a few years ago that they didn’t need to teach bayonet drill in basic anymore, and then got an earful from Real Soldiers. I do believe that they backed down. And were not the Thin Red Line at Balaclava also the Highlanders?
Surellin
the reason is that there are womens present
and since not one has made it through the basic obstical course, things like bayonet drills will be even MORE comedic
(if you ever see them on the obstical course, it IS comedic… of course when in battle it will be a horror, but in training its comedic… makes private benjuman look very competent)
the women are allowed to help each other
notice where the barrel is when she helps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U41Rm5hJ1_E
art…
What’s with the blonde squad?
Are they using a calendar to time them?
I work closely with a bunch of Scottish engineers – expats looking to become citizens for the most part. The banter and differences of opinion on this one had me laughing so hard I was wiping tears out of my eyes. Funny, funny people.
DON CARLOS: “DNW: They are Scots, not Scotch; Scotsmen not Scotchmen. Men, not a tape or a fermented spirit.”
Read David Hume’s ‘History of England’ and Thm Bab. MacAulay’s work of the same name. Both use the term ‘Scotch’ and ‘Scotchman’ when referring to people in Scotland. They should know since they were Scots (or Scotchman).
Right now they are looking like Idiotmen.
Rachelle, You cite “History of England” as sources on Scotland. QED
From today’s WSJ Op-Ed page:
“The Scottish “yes” campaign may be led by leftists, but it has a founding prejudice that many American conservatives might admire: It is a conscious protest against the over-centralization of British power in Westminster. Much of the Scottish National Party’s rhetoric against London sounds like the tea party’s fury at Washington.”
Along the lines of what I said.
C.S. Lewis used the term “Scotch” as well, if memory serves.
Yet as she reminds us, Hume was ‘Scotch’ himself.
I called my cousin’s husband on this, and asked him what his parents had called themselves. After informing me that he too was born there, he make the same old joke about an alcoholic beverage.
I didn’t bother to ask what alcoholic beverage. Which would be of course “whisky”. But what kind of whisky? Canadian? Irish?
What kind of person? (and maybe therein, lies some small part of the grammatical rub)
His answer to my question: “Scotch or Scots?” was “Scottish”.
Bloody Glaswegians: probably just outlier Welsh anyway.
Or Cymry, I guess.
Don Carlos- along those lines the Scots historically did a lot of the heavy lifting on the front lines of British colonial expansion. AKA the cannon fodder.
My boss commented that “the $&@/ing hammer heads will $&@/ it up if they get what they want”. I answered with “they said that about us too”.
Well at least it’s taken longer than expected.