Sixty Joyless De-Britished Uncrowned Commonpoor Years (1949-2009)

Elizabeth II Vice-Regal Saint: Remembering Paul Comtois (1895–1966), Lt.-Governor of Québec
Britannic Inheritance: Britain's proud legacy. What legacy will America leave?
English Debate: Daniel Hannan revels in making mince meat of Gordon Brown
Crazy Canucks: British MP banned from Canada on national security grounds
Happy St. Patrick's: Will Ireland ever return to the Commonwealth?
Voyage Through the Commonwealth: World cruise around the faded bits of pink.
No Queen for the Green: The Green Party of Canada votes to dispense with monarchy.
"Sir Edward Kennedy": The Queen has awarded the senator an honorary Knighthood.
President Obama: Hates Britain, but is keen to meet the Queen?
The Princess Royal: Princess Anne "outstanding" in Australia.
H.M.S. Victory: In 1744, 1000 sailors went down with a cargo of gold.
Queen's Commonwealth: Britain is letting the Commonwealth die.
Justice Kirby: His support for monarchy almost lost him appointment to High Court
Royal Military Academy: Sandhurst abolishes the Apostles' Creed.
Air Marshal Alec Maisner, R.I.P. Half Polish, half German and 100% British.
Cherie Blair: Not a vain, self regarding, shallow thinking viper after all.
Harry Potter: Celebrated rich kid thinks the Royals should not be celebrated
The Royal Jelly: A new king has been coronated, and his subjects are in a merry mood
Victoria Cross: Australian TROOPER MARK DONALDSON awarded the VC
Godless Buses: Royal Navy veteran, Ron Heather, refuses to drive his bus
Labour's Class War: To expunge those with the slightest pretensions to gentility
100 Top English Novels of All Time: The Essential Fictional Library
BIG BEN: Celebrating 150 Years of the Clock Tower

Sunday 14 January 2007

An end to the world's greatest romance?

Tuesday will see the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Union stating that "the two kingdoms of Scotland and England shall, upon the 1st day of May next ensuing the date hereof, and for ever after, be united into one kingdom by the name of Great Britain, and that the ensigns armorial of the said United Kingdom be such as Her Majesty shall appoint, and the crosses of St Andrew and St George be conjoined in such manner as Her Majesty shall think fit, and used in all flags, banners, standards and ensigns, both at sea and land." Now it is becoming questionable whether "for ever" still applies and that everything these two nations accomplished together will be for nought.


It looks likely that the SNP will take power in Scotland, and its leader, Alex Salmond has pledged to hold a referendum on independence when he becomes Scotland's first minister.

Recent polls suggest that in such a referendum Scots would back independence, leading to the start of negotiations between London and Edinburgh on full separation. As today's Sunday Times asks, "is the partnership that founded an empire and defeated Nazism to be consigned to history?"

Just as was the case with Quebec which I remember so well, Scotland is demanding its shares of what it had been happy to amass when Union suited it:

from British embassies abroad to the Parachute Regiment. Naturally these assets would include the North Sea oilfields, which in the next five years alone are expected to produce £75 billion in revenue for the UK Treasury.
Negotiations would begin on the removal of Britain's nuclear missile submarine base from Faslane on the River Clyde.

However, a YouGov poll the paper commissioned provides the following facts to mull over:
When Scots are asked if they want “independence", increasingly a majority say yes — an ICM poll last week had 51% backing independence and just 36% saying no. Our survey asked though: “Do you think the union between Scotland and England is or is not worth maintaining?” To this question 53% said it was worth maintaining and 33% disagreed. This seesawing of opinion in the minds of Scots voters is the result of complex loyalties as Scottishness tussles with Britishness. Many Labour supporters would not dream of voting SNP, but back independence. Many SNP supporters are simply anti-Blair and want to give Labour a bloody nose over the war in Iraq, but would return to the fold if Brown were party leader.

The Times article concludes with a warning Canadians will know all too well:
Even if the independence referendum fails to deliver a positive result, the problem for Brown remains that the process could paralyse political debate in Britain for years to come, in the same way the issue of separatism for the province of Quebec dominated Canadian politics during much of the 1980s and 1990s.

Gordon Brown is using the feelings addressed in this poll to again question the value of what it means to be British. He wrote in the Daily Telegraph yesterday that "It is time to speak up for supporters of the Union. It is time to acknowledge Great Britain for the success it has been and is: a model for the world of how nations cannot only live side by side but are stronger together and weaker apart. Perhaps in the past we could get by with a Britishness that was assumed without being explicitly stated. But when our country is being challenged in Scotland, Wales and now England by secessionists, it is right to be explicit about what we, the British people, share in common and the patriotic vision for our country's future."

5 comments:

Tommy said...

A larger percentage of English want an end to this union than the percentage of Scotch whom wish the same. This call for English independence is not going to go away, it is going to become louder and louder, especially if Brown takes the helm as expected in the summer, he denies England its own parliament whilst his government and Primeminister whom is also Scotch has allowed them theirs, what right does he have to govern the English, he is not one of us nor elected by us! Scotland and England should seperate sooner rather than later, the celtic nations of this present U.K can form their own union whilst England remains sovereign and independent. The union will be gone within 10 years.

Anonymous said...

You mean like the romance England had with Ireland?
(real conservative)

Keir said...

Why on earth would England throw away such a partnership to become a smaller, less-influential entitity? It doesn't say much for multiculturalism when the Scots and English, who together ruled 1/4 of the world, can't manage to work together.
Like Lennon/McCartney post Beatles...
And who gets the Security Council seat?

The Monarchist said...

I support much of what Gordon Brown has written, but let no one be fooled by his subtle jabs at the Tories. He was part of that merry gang of Europeanists who deliberately started to weaken and dismantle Britishness, now he professes to be shocked shocked! about what his European and devolutionist experiments have caused. The current state of UK unity is Labour's fault alone. Nice try, Gordon. Good luck in stuffing your mess back in the bottle from whence it came.

Anonymous said...

I thank God and Our Blessed Mother that more Scots and English are wanting to end the three centuries of bloodshed and tyranny that this "Union" held for all of Celtic blood, as well as those worldwide who suffered at the hands of it.

Now if only Edinburgh and Cardiff can re-establish THEIR old monarchies - and not as figure heads - all the better.

Erin go bragh!
Alba go bragh!
Free Wales!
Free Cornwall!