Tuesday, January 02, 2007

[dissolution] back to the middle ages

If you are British, which of the above do you want running your life? These are the only realpolitik, the only real choices. All others are pies in the sky. Here is an Australian article, originally from the Guardian, whose motives I suspect.

1] The Union between Scotland and England has a good claim to be the most enduring and successful international partnership in history, yet the atmosphere on its 300th anniversary this month is anything but celebratory.
2] The SNP argues that an independent Scotland would be able to follow Ireland in slashing corporation tax to attract higher levels of inward investment. Rubbish.
3] The SNP argues that cutting corporation tax rates would increase revenue. It is more likely that capital would flee. England will remain Scotland's most important export market by far.
4] Scotland's voice would also be diminished on the international stage.
5] The new nationalism in England in many ways mimics its Scottish counterpart, especially in its capacity for self-pity. The "Scottish raj" in Westminster is a fiction.
6] The idea that the English are an oppressed majority is even more risible than the Braveheart fantasies of the SNP.
7] On any reasonable needs-based assessment, Scotland merits higher public spending because of lower population density and poorer health.
8] England has less to lose from independence than Scotland but England would become more dependent on energy imports.
9] It would have to find somewhere else to base its Trident fleet.
10] The British Army would become more overstretched.
11] Scotland's independence would precipitate the departure of Wales.
12] Even Northern Ireland might not relish the idea of being a mere appendage.
13] UN Security Council implications and the diminishment of the separate parts on the world stage.
14] There is almost nothing that Scotland and England could do separately that they cannot do better together as part of the UK.
15] The real issue is one of political leadership.

I feel there is another issue no one’s looking at. Broken up as a nation, British citizens are then at the mercy first of the EU and then of the World Government which is very much in the pipeline. For this reason and for reasons 13, 14 and 15 above, this blog opposes dissolution and supports the 300 year Union.

4 comments:

  1. I support the Union in the end, too. I think this break-up thing could be really dangerous. I'm not against the EU, by the way; how could I be, as a European languages teacher? Wales is notorious for nepotism and, although at times I have wondered if "home rule" could be an option, I have only to think of the people who would be running the place to realise that it would be much worse! [Will I get Welsh hate mail now?!] I wonder if people who want Britain to come out of the EU realise just how much funding of virtually everything is tied up in it?

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  2. Nationalism is not a rational or a logical thing, though: at heart even the EU is a romantic project for a long awaited unity of Europe and an end to war (principally between France and Germany, but involving others too).

    Hence although I support the Union emotionally - I think Britain is quite good, has done some good things, and is worth continuing - the fact is, it seems hardly anyone else does anymore, and the notions of "British culture" or identity are too controversial to be worthwhile supporting.

    Britain is finished because, a la fin de la jour, no-one wants it to exist enough. Fine. Countries, kingdoms, unions, come and go.

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  3. I have a very selfish view on this. Bugger the union.

    I don't want the UK on the UN security council anyway; it just makes us get involved in policing the world which we are ill-equipped to do. Give our place to Europe or Japan.

    This also solves the British army problem. Let's try using it less and put less people in harms way than we need to.

    The scots have a right to independence if that is what they want. If they vote for it let tthem go. Alex Salmond is an absured figure so if they are mad enough to vote for him I don't want anything to do with them.

    Finally, it would stymie Gordon Brown who is set to be the worst prime minister since Callaghan. If all we have to do it jettison those at the back then so be it.

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  4. Thanks all commenters. Can't agree that the Union should dissolve, not because I love it but because it's one of the last bulwarks. Already they've bludgeoned through the EU constitution with no popular mandate. These people mean business and the break up of the Union is just one part of it.

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