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The Old Homeland
Sep. 18th, 2014 12:21 pmToday, Scotland is voting on independence. Polls say it's too close to call.
My family claims Scottish ancestry; one of our menfolk, a few generations back, married a woman named Stuart, who claimed descent from the unfortunate Queen Mary. I have my doubts, but it's part of the family legend. When I was - what, sixteen? - I threw a party for some of my friends, on the occasion of Robert the Bruce's birthday. There was a cake with blue and white frosting (but the baker screwed up the placement of the cross), and a little ceremony commemorating Scotland's monarchs from Robert I to Anne. (I extinguished the last candle on the cake while naming her, as having signed the Act of Union ending Scotland's independence.)
I am of two minds. My romantic side wants "Yes" to win. So does the part of me that loves the appearance of new (or "new") nations. But pragmatically, an independent Scotland would face severe economic problems, short-term (trying to get back into the EU, with increased trade barriers until it does) and long-term (when the North Sea oil begins to run out, as it probably will in the next twenty-five years or so). (Economic problems, related to the Little Ice Age, prompted Scotland's acquiescence in the Act of Union in the first place.) The knock-on effects of Scottish independence on other restive minorities - Catalans, Basques, Lombards, Corsicans - could also be troublesome (although appealing, again, to my novelty-seeking side). Yet further: Scottish secession, by removing one of Labour's strongest bulwarks, would likely leave the Tories in the political ascendant in the rump UK for the foreseeable future.
We shall see, though it may take a few days to count the ballots. We shall see.
My family claims Scottish ancestry; one of our menfolk, a few generations back, married a woman named Stuart, who claimed descent from the unfortunate Queen Mary. I have my doubts, but it's part of the family legend. When I was - what, sixteen? - I threw a party for some of my friends, on the occasion of Robert the Bruce's birthday. There was a cake with blue and white frosting (but the baker screwed up the placement of the cross), and a little ceremony commemorating Scotland's monarchs from Robert I to Anne. (I extinguished the last candle on the cake while naming her, as having signed the Act of Union ending Scotland's independence.)
I am of two minds. My romantic side wants "Yes" to win. So does the part of me that loves the appearance of new (or "new") nations. But pragmatically, an independent Scotland would face severe economic problems, short-term (trying to get back into the EU, with increased trade barriers until it does) and long-term (when the North Sea oil begins to run out, as it probably will in the next twenty-five years or so). (Economic problems, related to the Little Ice Age, prompted Scotland's acquiescence in the Act of Union in the first place.) The knock-on effects of Scottish independence on other restive minorities - Catalans, Basques, Lombards, Corsicans - could also be troublesome (although appealing, again, to my novelty-seeking side). Yet further: Scottish secession, by removing one of Labour's strongest bulwarks, would likely leave the Tories in the political ascendant in the rump UK for the foreseeable future.
We shall see, though it may take a few days to count the ballots. We shall see.
