In no particular order here are the issues I think are dividing Scotland and England
- The manufacture of a false Scottish identity based on the fiction of “Celticness”.
- EU policies designed to undermine the UK union, so that people could seriously argue that they wanted out of “The Union” – by which they meant “Out of the UK union – but deeper in bed with the even worse European Union”.
- Public policy designed to benefit those south of the Oxbridge line and particularly London – which unfairly spends UK money pumping up the economy in this area to the serious detriment of the population north of the Oxbridge line and particularly Scotland.
- All British institutions being located outside Scotland (as far as I know). For example, if politicians were serious about the Union then one in 10 “British” institutions would be moved to Scotland. That would mean for example that something like MI5, MI6 or GCHQ would be moved wholesale to Scotland bringing with it all the jobs and because the head office would be in Scotland, it would massively favour local companies. But Scotland isn’t allowed to get any of these benefits from “British” institutions.
- A transport network focussed on London. Why e.g. is there no road link from Scotland to Ireland? Why is there no motorway north of Perth? Why is there no dual carriageway up the west coast of Scotland? Why do road taxes so penalise us in Scotland where the population centres are so far from each other? (And please don’t repeat the lie that motorways are a form of local travel getting people into and out of London and are not for long distance transport links)
- The stupidity of devolution with no fiscal responsibility. The stupidity of politicians who allow Scotland to be turned into a wind-estate for EU anti-science climate policy. The stupidity of giving the English parliament all responsibility for the costs of SNP policy and giving the SNP all the credit.
- An uncritical Scottish media – and a biased English media who are not trusted in Scotland.
Reality of Scottish Independence
Whilst I don’t support the SNP and certainly not labour, what this election has revealed is blatant English racism in that many in England – or at least many in the chatterarti class – could not tolerate the idea that a Scottish party might be part of a UK government.
This contrasts sharply with the lack of interest in the fact that the “UNIONIST” party of England-in-Scotland (known in England as Tories – but revealed in its true colours in Scotland as the Unionist and conservative party) has effectively run Scotland much of the last century.
So if it’s OK for little Englanders to run Scotland with almost no comment, but apparently it is beyond the pale for little Scotlanders to have even a part in a UK government. This clearly shows that MUCH OF THE ENGLISH ESTABLISHMENT ARE STILL ANTI-SCOTTISH RACISTS. It still seems the attitude in England is that of the English national Anthem says: to repress the rebellious Scots.
Practically, I can’t see the English establishment either caring or wanting to doing anything I think that needs doing to keep Scotland in the Union. That means we in Scotland really have no choice because public opinion will inevitably drift toward independence more by default than intention. So that when the next referendum takes place – and it may well be sooner than later – Scotland will be more or less forced to vote for independence largely because of the English racism this election has highlighted, rather than any benefit to us in Scotland.
The reason the English were scared of the SNP had nothing to do with race and everything to do with socialism. Some flirted with the idea that they could stand an old fashioned socialist government but even Miliband was pushing the limits till they squeaked (remember Blair got in by not being Labour). However The SNP were seen as a step even further and the gloating about it played up to that image. They could see Salmond and Stugeon taking a blank cheque to a would be PM and maybe the Lib Dems and greens and every small party bar UKIP in a rainbow alliance nightmare
Sure, there is some animosity towards the Scots but it almost all stems from the trend to support any team bar the English and even though the Scots voted ‘NO’, they only just avoided the opposite. Basicly half of the Scottish said ‘you’re all horrible, we want a divorce and we’re taking everything’, Voting en masse for the SNP might have been a desire for a strong eadership by Scotland but by the English it was a second chance to say piss off, only this time it was louder.
The problem with London, is it’s a capital city, and one with an ecomony bigger than many countries. It doesn’t hate the rest of the country (because it’s not just Scotland) it just doesn’t think about us at all. When it goes after something, it doesn’t think ‘perhaps we should share this’ it just goes after it with the selfishness and singlemindedness you see in many sucessful people. It thinks it does its bit by paying maintenance.
What it can’t and won’t do is make it right for the rest of us. Sure, certain things can be devolved from the city (and there’s a huge tax office at Cumbernauld and the DVLA at Swindon etc) but that’s like the house keeping or gardening jobs in a household, it’s not chairman of the company. Osbourne has been doing stuff on trying to duplicate London’s success in places like Manchester/Liverpoor and Endinburgh/Glasgow but it’s a little like a cargo cult, just because you put similar things in place it doesn’t mean it is the real thing.
Both the Scottish and the non greater London places need to ask ‘how will we get rich?’ It won’t happen because London gives it to us but because we take it. It might be oil but oil is ephemeral and by the time it runs out we need to have something else. We’ve got cheaper work forces than London but we’ve also got the same problem that Greece has got. We’ve awarded ourselves all the nice trappings of a very wealthy country (high wages, health service, social support, etc) without necessarily being able to afford it. We cherry pick all the good bits from toehr countries and moan that we’re not the best.
We are at a turning point. We can ontinue to blame London for all our woes or we can work out how to mirror its success. The alternative is being like Zimbabwe, blaming the English for problems that could have been solved decades ago.
…. well that’s my opinion 😉
Sorry but my dyslexia is particularly bad today.
You are probably better informed than me as I intentionally avoided listening or watching the BBC commentary on the election.
However, what I do know is that when I was campaigning for a no vote, I found I had to say “yes the English have been really bad to Scotland and the union is unfair – but economically independence would be a disaster”.
I don’t think I could do that a second time. Because rather than addressing the real structural problems which so penalises Scotland, we’ve seen a rise of racist anti-Scottish views in England and that has bolstered the SNP anti-English view.
I can’t see the necessary changes – even something as simple as one of the big “British” institutions moving in its entirety Scotland would be heavily opposed by the clear anti-Scottish views that “they aren’t good enough – that we aren’t fit to be part of the UK government”. Realistically, I know the English still don’t believe they are being unfair to Scotland (let alone the north) so I can’t see any change to the present spending pattern where the vast bulk of public spending is “south of the Oxbridge line”.
And realistically it would take around 30 years to see structural changes beginning to make noticeable impacts to Scotland. And with another referendum likely in 10 years it seems highly unlikely that anyone will even try to make the necessary structural changes that might keen the Union together.
But then I always though Scotland should go. It would be make or break time. Unfortunately if they stayed staunchly socialist, it would be break.
I’ve lived in Warrington, Bury, Burnley, Bradford and Coventry, trust me I know about bits of the UK that are being neglected by the south and are victims of rules carelessly made by a bunch of posh blokes, but each has made different choices with the rough hands they were dealt. Compared to those places, Edinburgh and Glasgow have much to recommend them. Instead of faffing about with wind, Scotland should be demanding to use coal. Wind is electricity for rich luvvies. Instead of making prissy ethical choices about nuclear they should be saying ‘build power stations here and we’ve got valet parkng for nuclear subs’. Instead of demanding more money for benefits they should be making choices that lure businesses in to the wonderful cheap labour and red tape light government. London does it. It does it with a continuous stream of immigrants and fortune seekers who want to get on the ladder so much they do stuff that the rest of us would turn our nose up at and for a wage we think is scandalous but eventually they’re the ones with a London business and property.
When Osbourne started talking about Northern business power houses, my first thought was ‘doing what?’ Which is the 64 billion pound question.
You hit the nail on the head when you say Scotland should be using coal. The obsession with CO2 is as far as I can see, started as a south of England obsession for three simple reasons:
1. Scotland is heavily penalised by policies against heavy energy users
2. Scotland has not benefited from the investment in “new” industries which are not heavy energy users
3. It’s colder in Scotland and the population is more spread out – both of which means anti-energy policies hit us in Scotland far harder than England.
In other words, if Scotland had been an independent country, we would never have seen the growth of global warming obsession we saw.
Likewise, if we look at the which Universities get the preferential treatment – it’s Oxford and Cambridge just outside London – in areas focussing on light industry. And so the attitudes of Oxford and Cambridge from which so many MPs come – is that pro-English light industry and de facto anti-Scottish industry and commerce.
They don’t need to be intentionally biased in order that the Oxbridge education creates a massive pro-oxbridge area type industry and anti-Scottish/North of England industries.
So, to be utterly frank – if you transported Oxford University to Carlisle – within a decade we would see the wholesale change of UK industrial policy suddenly starting to favour the kinds of industries in the North of England.
But you can’t artificially transplant those things. Like the BBC found, people won’t go and unlike the BBC, much of Oxford and Cambridge are self financing so you can’t make it move. However Scottish Universities are competative and often feature highly on lists of best Unis. Most would say Scotland’s education was superior to England’s. So are the degrees offered the right sort? Do the best go south for jobs? Are students upbeat and enthusiastic or miserable and sullen? Are business owners and their southern employees welcomed or treated with suspicious reserve at best or open hostility at worst? The independence threat would make most southerners think twice before moving north lest they be trapped on the wrong side of the border and the cyber nats will have made some reject Scotland for good. A place that most of us would have seen as a home from home, now feels very much a foreign destination.
If I was in charge of Universities I’d only offer free courses for people doing saleable subjects. Want to do something difficult and in demand? Come on in. Want to gaze at your navel for three years, then pay for the priviledge. And most important of all, stop rubbing your hands at how much tax you’re going to extract before they’ve even made a profit.
I wasn’t seriously suggesting it – at least not beyond the concept.
But what I think is key is that many of those in power in the UK went to Oxford and Cambridge and didn’t go to Universities in “traditional” industry areas.
And so the Oxbridge view that these “traditional” industries are outdated and “uncouth northern things” … is the view that predominates in government.
So, what I seriously saying is that if e.g. half the MPs went to University in Stirling – miraculously Stirling would see a economic boom. Not because of a direct “payout”, but because the views and examples quoted by the academics would naturally be relevant to the area of Stirling, and so the students going to Stirling would be taught to accept the type of industry around Stirling as being “modern” and “good” … and so they would naturally create policies to promote these kinds of industry throughout the UK (which by a miracle would tend to benefit the companies around Stirling).
No, what you’d see was increased recruitment from Stirling to London and a few initiatives stuck on like a plaster. After the MPs have been in London for a while they turn into every other Londoner who remembers their home with fondness but only plan to move back when they retire… maybe. Remember, although you didn’t have 56 SNP MPs, you did have 59 Scottish MPs, including and PM. You can’t blame Westminster if those people turned into Londoners.
For a start the Scots, after all these years of mistreatment are not in the least anti English.The Scottish exstablishment treated the Scottish worse than anyone: there always dressed as Highlanders with giant feathers in their bonnets, as Scottish as a camels turd, but to cut to chase we Scottish need to get the union of 1707 rescinded and stand on our own two feet and stop blaming the English for our decreptitude.