From today's Guardian: Scots and English would pay dearly for ending the union
This article expresses a number of my own concerns about the prospect of Scotland becoming independent from the UK, or rather, the UK simply ending with the secession of Scotland. There are a whole lot of unanswered questions not mentioned in this article - such as the status of Northern Ireland, which according to David Clark "might not relish the idea of being a mere appendage", but the situation is more complex than that. The Protestant population there is loyal to Britain, not England, and are mostly Presbyterians of Scottish origin. There is also the thorny situation of Scots living in England and English in Scotland - it's possible that a situation like that of Ireland might emerge, but it cannot be taken for granted.
A better solution would be to establish a proper federal power structure with England gaining its own parliament (and the same for Wales) with powers similar to those of Scotland's parliament. This is unlikely to be implemented under Blair, however, because of fears of permanent Tory government in England, which I think are ungrounded because a party cannot remain in power forever when it does a bad job. When the Tories were riding high in the mid to late 1980s, I'm sure nobody imagined that ten years later, they would be wiped out in Wales and Scotland and lose seats previously considered safe, to say nothing of their record over the next eight years.
Another point that I mentioned in an e-mail to Osama Saeed (who's a supporter of Scottish independence) is that the breakup of the UK (a multinational state) into its component nations may make racist volkisch nationalism look more plausible in Britain (especially England, as Scottish separatists tend to be left-leaning).
As I said in that e-mail, "the British National Party is a joke because there is no such thing as a British nation".
Some left-leaning Scots have become separatists, but the original Scots Nats were "tartan Tories".
Salaam Yusuf, you say "better solution" but you don't what it's a better solution for.
Certainly, the gains that a majority of Scots now believe that independence will bring will not be assuaged by problems do to with Northern Ireland, or George's fears regarding English racists.
I'm interested in knowing what do Muslims think of the Union. Do they support it or would they prefer to see the end of it? Is it an issue that concerns them considering that over 90% of Muslims in Britain live in England and most have never had a need to even visit Scotland, Wales, or Ulster? Do Muslims consider the Union Flag a racist symbol like certain liberals and blacks do?
"the gains that a majority of Scots now believe that independence will bring will not be assuaged by problems do to with Northern Ireland"
Actually, Northern Ireland geogaphically, religiously, historically, and racially has much closer connections with Scotland than with England or Wales and would be handed over to an independent Scotland.
wil it mean we can get rid of our scottish rulers in england like blair , brown and reid? the cabinet is so biased in favour of the scots it's untrue
I suspect Muslims are more likely to have a problem with the English flag, which they may find uncomfortably similar to a Crusader emblem...