the whole is bigger than the parts

    We were discussing Scottish independence over dinner and trying to explain to my daughter why I felt it was wrong and quite sad to delete three hundred years of history. She has seen Scotland reject the Thatcherite image of England and understands why the Scots want to break away from right wing southern state. When I was younger the Scot Nats were known at he Tartan Tories and I think that deep down they still are. They are still are it is just that the Tories in England, under Thatcher, have become the nasty party in a way they weren't under the earlier regime

   However that does not answer why I think a separation of England from Scotland would be sad and dangerous. deep down the sum of all the bits is much stronger than the individual bits. Examine the failures of the sports teams, especially soccer. basically the only member of the United Kingdom which can seriously compete at an international level is England. Occasionally one of the other minor nations gets through to a final but then fails even more disastrously than England. Even in rugby, played by very few countries world wide, the British Lions are more successful the the four individual countries, and that includes the whole of Ireland!

  We had a brief flourishing of Ireland as a Celtic Tiger, some of which probably inspired the Scots, but it was quite short lived. It is odd to think that overall Scotland and the people living in Scotland will be stronger as an independent nation nor will England. It is also somewhat curious that only people living in Scotland can vote, presumably irrespective of their nationality. Any Scot who lives abroad is disenfranchised so what is the concept of Scottish nationalism being espoused. If Scotland becomes independent what will be the criteria for holding a Scottish passport? Will it just be living in Scotland at the time of independence, having been born there and will it be automatic if you move there.