The end of the United Kingdom?
David Goodhart, founder and editor of Prospect magazine, the London-based current affairs monthly, fears that one of the world's most successful multinational states, and a key ally of the United States, could in a few months time start to unravel.
Read the rest of his comment here. The Prospect carries the story on its December cover here.
The idea of the UK breaking up because the Scots wish to exercise greater control over their domestic affairs is spectacularly unlikely.
Still, as Scots prepare for the May 2007 referendum on the question of increased local control through its national parliament, reintroduced in 1997 after nearly 300 years, the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church is reminding all Brits of the historic ties of affection binding Scotland and England.
In Independence or Union, The Most Rev Dr Idris Jones says,
"I mean, of course, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The process will be set in motion if the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) ends up the largest party in the Scottish parliament after elections next May. This is a distinct possibility. The break up of the UK will not be inevitable even if the SNP do dominate the parliament, but it will certainly make the political classes of Britain -- and perhaps of the U.S. and the main EU states too -- think hard about the point and value of the union to them. (Ironically, the elections will come just a matter of days after the 300th anniversary of the creation of modern Britain when the Scottish and English parliaments were merged in 1707.)"
Read the rest of his comment here. The Prospect carries the story on its December cover here.
The idea of the UK breaking up because the Scots wish to exercise greater control over their domestic affairs is spectacularly unlikely.
Still, as Scots prepare for the May 2007 referendum on the question of increased local control through its national parliament, reintroduced in 1997 after nearly 300 years, the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church is reminding all Brits of the historic ties of affection binding Scotland and England.
In Independence or Union, The Most Rev Dr Idris Jones says,
“The future for Scotland lies in the development of inter-dependence. The world’s peace is not best served by having everyone living with a sense of separateness - we are debating now about how to promote integration within our own nation. Nor is the world’s health served without being able to sustain and harness distinctiveness of cultures and nations as well. The way forward is not by opposing Union to Independence but by working towards inter-dependence based on mutual respect and trust."
posted by The AoM at 11/29/2006 06:11:00 PM
1 Comments:
Because the Scots like to make out that they are victims of the nasty English, many people don't realise that it was the Scottish Parliament that begged the English Parliament to form the Union. The reason for this was that they wanted the money that came with the Union because they were broke. The Scottish aren't daft and everytime they are given the opportunity of independence they say "no thank you" because they still know that the Union is financially to their advantage not ours - and especially now American oil companies have extracted all their oil from the North Sea.
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