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I was struck by the starkness and simplicity of the question. ‘Should Scotland be an independent country?’ and a box for yes and a box for no. That was it. A simple question, but what a question.
None of which prevented Jeremy Vine displaying a baffling amount of CGI graphics to display one of two potential outcomes. (No money for racing at the Beeb of course…)
Mike
My testicles are warm, soft, somewhat sweaty and pleasantly malleable: his aren’t
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29314400
Best price laid 1/4
…hey ho..I’m not sure I wanted to know that Drone…lol…
…I see there is a Steward’s Enquiry…presumably placings will remain unaltered…
..but perhaps he’d like to give it back…should they do an ‘Ian Smith’…Just to echo what Corm said (FWIW, I voted yes), this perception of the Scots, in general, being anti-English carries about the same weight as those who when they hear the word ‘bookie’ picture a moustache-twirling fat villain in three-piece-suit with gold fob and Havana cigar.
Granted there are a few knuckledraggers who hate the English – about the same percentage as make up the likes of the BNP among English people.
The picture is clouded come football time, when many more Scots do indeed adopt a more ‘I hope they get stuffed’ approach. But – aside from the ‘draggers’ – that is mostly good-natured anticipation of seeing the English media with egg on their faces.
It’s the frequent ‘We can go and win this tournament now’ attitude by the broadcast and redtop outlets that generates so much ‘schottenfreude’. And that outlook is always cartoonishly turned around when the same media forecasters then dissect their losing team/manager much more brutally than any Scot would.
I like the English in general – many of them more than some Scots I meet. I love many places in England very dearly. I admire much of their history and achievements, especially in exploration. It’s a fine country with fine people.
But Scots are different. We have a different culture, and a different outlook on social issues (I’m generalising). Much of that might well stem from the influx of Irish to Glasgow when things were terrible in their own land (another immigrant port, Liverpool, has left that same social imprint through the generations).
We’re proud and pretty confident – some would say arrogant. Many Scots have made a significant positive mark in history. You’ll still find plenty in top jobs throughout the world (although we are also responsible for the likes of Blair and Brown, God help us).
And the thing that made me proudest in the last few weeks were the teenagers – on both sides. Passionate (a much overused word). articulate, informed, confident, skilled debaters. These are the people who will eventually engineer independence for Scotland. And when it does come, it won’t be a show of tribalism, or anti-union resentment, it will be a majority in a country who want the chance to do things for themselves and for their country and countrymen in a way they believe will be better for them.
That doesn’t mean they want it to be worse for anyone else. You need not wish ill on others to fulfil your own dreams.
I doubt now that it will happen in my lifetime. But happen it will.
Just to echo what Corm said (FWIW, I voted yes), this perception of the Scots, in general, being anti-English carries about the same weight as those who when they hear the word ‘bookie’ picture a moustache-twirling fat villain in three-piece-suit with gold fob and Havana cigar.
The English and the Scots have
rivalry
, that’s all. People who display any form of hatred either way are beneath contempt and well worth avoiding.
The picture is clouded come football time, when many more Scots do indeed adopt a more ‘I hope they get stuffed’ approach. But – aside from the ‘draggers’ – that is mostly good-natured anticipation of seeing the English media with egg on their faces.
It’s the frequent ‘We can go and win this tournament now’ attitude by the broadcast and redtop outlets that generates so much ‘schottenfreude’. And that outlook is always cartoonishly turned around when the same media forecasters then dissect their losing team/manager much more brutally than any Scot would.
Ah, but how soon they forget the irascible and much-lamented Scotland manager, Ally Macleod.
"What do you plan to do after the World Cup, Ally?"
"Retain it!"Ultimately derailed only by some ghastly Irano-Peruvian plot, Mr Macleod’s blithe confidence could be seen in the bands of charmingly optimistic YES voters.
The YES voters at least got further into the ‘tournament’!
Mike
Kelso racecourse have made a big issue of the fact that they would probably have gone out of business if the vote had been Yes. As a member at Kelso it really concerns me that the course apparently lack a robust enough business plan to adapt to changing political circumstances.
Smiling Jim Goldie discussed the referendum on the Morning Line and said "we would just have carried on as before". Nothing phases this man and his appointment as Scottish Minister for Cheerfulness can’t be far away.
I never felt any feeling of anti-Englishness in the campaign bar one comment in the office about my opinion not counting as I was English, a remark swiftly put down. The fact of living in Scotland was way more important than ‘accident of birth’.
My wife and I agreed not to reveal to each other how we voted, though suffice to say I wavering for most of the campaign and from my point of view it was a very tight decision. Seldom has the act of voting been such a relief!
Rob
…hey ho
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