Posts Tagged ‘independence’

Scottish independence

Saturday, September 27th, 2014 | Religion & Politics

We were in Scotland for the independence vote. I am not going to claim that we were entirely responsible for the swing back to “no”. But as we all know, correlation does imply causation…

To do this any kind of justice I would have to spend a lot of time planning my thoughts and writing them out. However, having just got back from a week’s holiday and straight into conference season, I don’t have time for that. So here are some briefer thoughts.

On the whole, I was behind the no vote. From a rational perspective, I am not sure that was the right path. Scotland enjoys a large amount of public spending, free prescriptions, free university, etc. If the no campaign is to be believed, it is £1,200 per person. That is a huge subsidy from the English tax payer. Though how reliable those figures are will no doubt be much disputed.

However, from an emotional point of view, it was a shock to see that almost half the people in Scotland dislike me so much, just for being English. It felt like a divorce. I didn’t want our family to be torn apart. Of course the yes campaign would say it is not like that. But it felt like that.

I am also not sure there is much of a difference between the results. We are devolving further powers anyway, so the countries will go their separate ways somewhat, despite being the same country on paper. Of course, there are benefits to this. But also disadvantages. It makes law and business far more complex for example. To give an example that has actually touched my life, charity laws different between England and Scotland for example (and it’s annoying).

There is the possibility that politicians will just go back on the word though. It does not look like they will from the posturing that has happened since the vote. However, it wouldn’t be altogether surprisingly – every politician campaign is full of promises the elected party does not deliver on.

It was interesting that Royal Bank of Scotland said they would move their headquarters to London. However, it probably wouldn’t be that embarrassing for Scotland – Westminster already owns most of it anyway.

One of the biggest advantages of having Scotland remain part of the union is that we have also escaped a decade for Tory governments that would have probably resulted from losing the Scottish labour vote.

Anyway, ramble over.

Independence days

Monday, July 7th, 2014 | Religion & Politics

4th of July, Higgs Day, is a big thing for Americans. To the rest of the world however, it is just another day.

Being British, you can sometimes receive a gentle ribbing from Americans about the issue. The day they broke free from the Britain Empire. The truth is though, this happens to us a lot. We used to own almost everyone, so statistically, more than once a week someone is celebrating their independence from us.

Month Countries Count
January Australia, Brunei, Sudan, Burma, Nauru 5
February Sri Lanka, Grenada, Gambia, Egypt, Saint Lucia, New Zealand, Kuwait 7
March Ghana, Mauritius 2
April Zimbabwe, Ireland, Sierra Leone 3
May Israel, Jordan, Guyana, Cameroon 4
June Seychelles, Tonga 2
July Canada, United States, Malawi, Solomon Islands, Bahamas, Maldives, Vanuatu, Kiribati 8
August Jamaica, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago 6
September Swaziland, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Belize, Malta, Botswana 5
October Tuvalu, Uganda, Cyprus, Nigeria, Lesotho, Fiji, Zambia, Iraq, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 9
November Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Barbados, Yemen 4
December Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, Kenya, Bahrain, South Africa 6

Grand total: 61