Friday 13 January 2012

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: ENGLAND

There is a great piece in the Independent from Steve Richards about referendums and how they tend to reflect not the issue at hand but the politics surrounding them. If Scots get the vote in 2014 they will vote based on recent headlines and arguments, not over the perception of hundreds of years of manufactured grievance, regardless of what people will say.

My anger is increasing by the hour as the debate continues as, even someone with the political antennae of Steve Richards is ignoring the grey thing with a long nose standing behind the antagonists - what happens to England. England is uniquely disadvantaged in the UK already as the only entity with no separate representation, as well as the continued injustice of Scottish MPs in particular having power over England while English MPs have no reciprocal powers in many areas.

I have never been enthusiastic about an English parliament as England is pretty big and, frankly, the common ground between Carlisle and Dover is limited in many areas. Unfortunately the Scottish nationalists are thrusting a stick into the nest and it can only be a matter of time before there is a reaction.

And that's the crux of my problem with Scottish nationalism: not the desire of Scots to bake shortbread under their own flag but the fact that the corrosion of nationalism does not stop at Berwick upon Tweed (and that one's gonna be a mare to resolve...), it will spread far and wide, not only destroying Scotland's economy but also affecting ours. And that's why we need political equality and a say on this ticking bomb before it is too late.

Well done Pandora Salmond. Well done.

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