300 years of Great Britain
I am reminded that this year will mark the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union that created Great Britain. There are those that would like it to also be the last, a subject I’ve written about extensively in the past. Indeed this desire seems to be spreading both North and South of the border:
devolution was supposed to defeat nationalism. That was what George Robertson, the former chief of Nato, famously said would happen: devolution would kill nationalism ’stone dead’. Not so. For England increasingly feels the intrinsic unfairness of devolution. Now John Reid, a Scottish Home Secretary, presides over a department that has limited powers in his own constituency of Airdrie and Shotts. Soon Gordon Brown will move into 10 Downing Street, to make laws on health and education that have no play in North Queensferry, where he lives. Meanwhile, a nation ashamed of the Iraq war tries to shake off culpability by turning to the SNP.
Me? Well, I still stand by the words I wrote in my very first post at teh old site, now to be found here:
Great Britain was founded in 1707, nearly three hundred years ago. The anniversary approaches. Are we doing anything about it? Let’s be proud to be British, and remember that we are also English, Welsh, Scottish or whatever. Let us look to the future and be proud of our heritage, not look to the past and try to bolt the doors.
I’d like to celebrate the foundation of this great nation. Look to the future, a liberal, tolerant, open minded society that truly does live and let live.
Given that this useless Government appears to be doing and planning absolutely nothing, anyone got any ideas?
[…] My ethnicity, like many (most?) people born in England is something of a potpourri. I have Celtic ancestry from Ireland, Scotland and France all stirred up and deposited in England. That makes me English. It is something that, generally, I am content to be. I am what I am and I am happy to rub along with others who are different. Like others, I want the union to continue. However, I want it to continue as a union of equals. That, it is currently not. […]
Pingback by Longrider » That Accursed West Lothian Question | January 14, 2007
Smoke and mirrors, smoke and mirrors. Your all looking the wrong way… behind you…..behind you… gordons coming….
http://tinyurl.com/ycsas5
Comment by IanP | January 15, 2007
There are plenty of opportunities to celebrate a nation’s birthday.
We missed the 200th birthday of the United Kingdom in 2001, we’re missing 300 years of Great Britain in 2007 and no doubt we’ll miss 100 years of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 2021 as well.
Comment by Beano | March 3, 2007
Sorry, I’ve just read around the site and discovered your disregard for the United Kingdom and by extension the British population of Northern Ireland. I apologise for suggesting a celebration of something you so clearly despise, however it seems a bit hypocritical for a “Little Great Britainer” to dismiss Little Englanders though.
Comment by Beano | March 3, 2007
Despise? I have many friends from NI, from many disparate ’sides’ in the debate, I despise none of them. I merely propose a practical solution to a specific issue, and highlight that many of us on this side of the pond don’t necessarily mind one way or another how problems are resolved in the 21st century context.
And I dismiss no one; I take the piss a lot, but taking things too seriously is never a good plan IMHO.
Comment by MatGB | March 3, 2007
I never said (or certinly never meant) that you despised the people, just the creation of the United Kingdom. I realise that most people on the mainland don’t really care one way or the other and I probably wouldn’t either if I’d been fed images of the ranting rev for 30 years or more. Paisley tends to fluctuate between being a source of embarrassment and a source of downright shame.
You say that you don’t mind one way or another and yet deliberately redesign the Union Jack to exclude the cross of St Patrick and basically exclude the (Northern) Irish from your definition of the Britishness you wish to celebrate.
Comment by Beano | March 3, 2007
I probably wouldn’t either if I’d been fed images of the ranting rev for 30 years or more. Paisley tends to fluctuate between being a source of embarrassment and a source of downright shame.
That is a key and specific problem, yes; it’s very much a case that “if he’s ‘British’ then I’m not”, which I know is a generalisation but, well.
Essentially, I don’t see a future for ‘the UK’, so I’m looking for what will follow, there are so many different ways we could go, so I’m trying to figure out what the best of the options would be.
Plus, y’know, UK of GB and I/NI; ergo anyone in Ireland isn’t in Britain; they (you?) might be British, but they’re not of Britain. Semantics, but sometimes that can make a difference (especially when the objective is to prevent full break up, the English island staters can scare me at times…)
Comment by MatGB | March 3, 2007