Are the people doon sooth waking up to the implications of Scotland becoming a nation again? There are various signs in the media of an exploration of how these islands' future might look. My lightweight contribution is to set up a Facebook paged named" Scots for English Independence". I am a total Anglophile and supporter of Scottish Independence so it is natural I take an interest in England's future, although, despite my grandfather being born in London, I do not take the view that I should be entitled to a vote in English elections including the upcoming mayoral one ( unlike some ex-pat Scots, a group becoming, more and more, to those Scots who actually live here as irritating as some kilt wearing American- Scots). Of course seals have no natural territories other than what nature affords us but I hope, one day, to swim to an England reborn.
Hi Steven. One of the things I've been meaning to say for a while now is that I'm a full supporter of 'English independence', but the focus of my support is for civic autonomy, not so much the nation. I.e. I believe in greater autonomy for cities, and thereby for regions. England itself I'm not so fussed about. London was made a 'city state' when New Labour created the Greater London Assembly (and the Mayoralty), along with those for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. I believe that greater fiscal and political autonomy should be granted to the likes of Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, etc., as a sure way of enabling some sort of renaissance of those cities. This article outlines some of the ideas that mirror my thinking:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2011/dec/13/wheres-real-freedom-for-cities
Anyway, there's probably two Englands: the England of the Anglo-Saxons to the south, and the England of the Danelaw to the North. One amusing manifestation of this I recall was when cycling across Denmark with a friend from Yorkshire, but now living in Hackney. Many of the colloquial words from his native county he used was readily understood by Danes, but not by me. Still, we were both terribly amused by the Danish sign we saw for 'Badfart' (meaning 'boat trip'). I guess humour as much as anything is a a way of defining which culture you belong to. Who needs Shakespeare to define us when we have 'Carry On Camping'?
Bit disappointed in this one dear Phil. Fully understand the Danish angle- have visited there( to Amira around 20 times ) and the language situation is obvious in Scots- Lift, Kirk, Keek etc etc. However the city state comments are not realistic, if EU had developed I can see the possibility but we have nations and your support for English Independence is masked by this. The glory of England is her diversity, it weill make a wonderful addition to the family of nations ..ps Am at one though wth the Carry on theme- another glory of England, infamy. infamy, they've all got it..
ReplyDeleteHi Steven. Disappointed?! What about? It's not so much that I think people should push for 'city states' as a genuine political entity instead of the nation state (we are no longer in Ancient Greece after all), just that my political feelings are strongest regarding municipal autonomy, whatever the wider political context. I guess for you, it's about the status of Scotland vis-a-vis its relationship with England. But for me, in England, it's more about the hegemony of Westminster over the town hall.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, wow, you've visited Amira 20 times? I hadn't realised you were still in touch. Have you heard from any of the SVS ladies since our time in St Andrews?
Sorry Phil, just saying that city state thing a bit of a diversion really. Not really interested in in relationship with England but the fact Scotland cannot fully participate in the wider world as held back as currently not independent. Afraid not heard from SVS people- Fiona's mother ran a cookery scholl down the road but that was many years ago.Amira has two lovely children, Sofia and Adam.
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