Not sure I completely agree with you on the last bit, the SNP is in power in Scotland and is hot on the quest of breaking away from the UK. He's gambling on North Sea hydrocarbons bringing in enough money to sustain Scotland though.Jaime wrote:I'm not sure this is true at all. What most Welsh, Scots & N. Irish don't consider themselves as is English. I think the populace of the Celtic provinces actually understand the traditional concept of Britishness far better than their English counterparts, who due to their pre-eminent position in the union have seemed unable to differentiate between Englishness and Britishness. Ironically the rise of English self-awareness as something different from Britishness seems to have occurred very recently with the advent of the forms of devolved 'government' for Wales & Scotland. As a populist illustration of this observation, as a kid I rarely saw a St George's Cross at an England football match - just Union Flags. Further illustrations will predictably draw the 'chip on shoulder' accusation so I will leave it there - boring and all been said before. It will not be Scottish or Welsh nationalists who break up the UK but English nationalists. Most will probably be voting by proxy from their ex-pat ghettos!Rider wrote:The Scots, Welsh and N. Irish rightly consider their roots in their home country of origin rather than as a unionised entity. They generally don't consider themselves Brits primarily. So the British Day thing will (ironically) likely end up being celebrated by the English folk first and foremost!
Although I'm not Scottish I think they should be given their own country back. The only reason they 'joined' England and Wales back in 1700s was because the Scotland was bankrupted by its ambitious panama canal venture. Not a lot of people know that...
The welsh would be mental if they broke away from England / UK as they do not have the 'resources' that Scotland has.
If you ask a Scot what nationality they are they will reply Scottish every time. Welsh, possibly more likely to answer British (some even answer English if they are from the South of Wales!).
The UK is not the power it used to be and people who think it is are just kidding themselves. London may hold clout with the financial world but thats about it.
With no British Empire anymore, an overstretched, undermanned army fighting far from home I think the time has come for a more self-contained country.
The scandinavian countrys understand this totally, they keep themselves to themselves and are very prosperous for it.
Yup don't underestimate the power of the proxy vote!
It is credited with winning the 1994 Tory re-election.