Monday, 9 May 2011

Wha'd Be King?

I have been banging on for years that the United Kingdom was my country which no one had the right to take away from me, and that, simply as a matter of fact, no state other than the United Kingdom existed in the United Kingdom.

As a Scottish independence referendum looks more and more likely, both that feeling and that fact have gone mainstream, or have at least become the sort of thing that is articulated on Radio Four. And yet, are we to be idealists about this, or are we to be realists? An independence referendum held purely in Scotland would certainly deliver a No vote.

It is quite a conundrum.
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4 comments:

  1. Czarny Kot10 May 2011 at 05:16

    There was talk of Mr. Salmond becoming the first Prime Minister of Scotland, which implies that an independent Scotland would still have a monarch.

    2 crowns for the Windsors or would the Stuarts make an unlikely comeback?

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  2. Don Roberto10 May 2011 at 14:53

    That an independence will happen - that is extremely likely - particularly as apart from the 69 SNP MSPs there are also the two independence Greens and of course Margo.

    Will the SNP lose the referendum - probably yes. I think Salmond knows this and that is why he is pressuring the UK government to give more concessions on autonomy.

    For practical reasons he probably has to be Andrassy-Deak in his head even if he is Kossuth in his heart.

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  3. Anonymous10 May 2011 at 17:12

    Would it? About 25-30% probably won't vote at all. About 30-35% are currently in favour. That leaves the No camp all of about 10% ahead, less than the ground made up by the SNP in the recent election. With three years of cuts, rising oil prices (due to limited post-violence Arab supplies)and arguments over who gets to profit from renewables still to go, it's all to play for.

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  4. David Lindsay10 May 2011 at 18:08

    Czarny Kot, just a seventeenth to add to the sixteen that they already have. And they already own a large private estate there, where they spend a large part of every year.

    Don Roberto, there is still the question of whether Holyrood can actually legislate for this. But Cameron would let taht one go, because there is going to be a No vote, so why bother making a fuss? Bring it on.

    Anonymous, you know perfectly well that the numerical is the only resemblance between those two. Don't hold your breath for Salmond, he will call this referendum only when he realises (or, rather, when the lower members of his party realise) that it is never going to be won, so they might as well get it over with.

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