The news that a pub called
"The Saxon Shore" in Herne Bay down in Kent is at the centre of a row
because it used the Union Jack instead of the flag of St. George on 23 April,
St. George's Day, is another cobblestone on the road to the Scottish Referendum.
The whole issue is now
into the realm of a Neverland of fantasy, imaginative storytelling and a world
far removed from reality. Alex Salmond
decided to reprise his role as the Tinker Bell fairy of politics by venturing
south to Carlisle while David Cameron was off somewhere being a less than
convincing Peter Pan.
For those uncertain of the
meaning of Neverland, Tinker and Peter go to Wikipedia. All this was once the stuff of childhood in
the days when we all needed to be removed from reality as often as
possible. Those days may be about to
return.
After decades of stoking
up resentments, picking fights and indulging in quasi racism against anything
English and taking as his model the dynastic and
tribal atrocities of the past Salmond has suddenly turned coat.
He now proclaims, mindful
of the marginal voters, that all will be well on the divorce and we will be a
happy couple, friends and neighbours, living in the same social housing in a
sharing new relationship.
The Union was born in 1603
in a political and economic shambles with the accession of King James VI of
Scotland to the throne of England during a plague epidemic; the previous monarchs
of England having slaughtered many of the other possible candidates.
A century of upheaval and
strife in Europe and Britain led in 1707 to the union of the parliaments with
the Scottish elite essentially buying into the expanding English empire,
renamed British. Again it was a time of political
and economic shambles. Broadly, it was
religion, money and Empire that kept the show on the road.
If anyone thinks that this
separation or divorce is going to be friendly, easy and all done and dusted in
a couple of years or so then it will not.
There are all the makings of a long, nasty, dispute ridden, costly and
dangerous continuing political crisis.
This is not because it is
a purely local matter. It is of interest
to too many others with interests and with a stake in the eventual
outcomes. To expect to be free of
outside interference or complications is to be both naive and very stupid.
To add to that it will all
happen in an uncertain world riddled with economic and financial weaknesses as
well many locales at risk of flaring up into violence and conflict. Because we are now prisoners in a globalised world
where the money flows are out of our control.
Our politicians would all
do a lot better to tell us what could be coming and the costs. This is because we are not just going into
one Neverland, there are too many parallel ones. The EU is one, the United Nations another and
there are many of them that we are connected to.
What happens if we cannot borrow our way out of the consequences? Will we find ourselves being ruled directly by Commissioners from Brussels, or the UN and the cohorts of the IMF?
What happens if we cannot borrow our way out of the consequences? Will we find ourselves being ruled directly by Commissioners from Brussels, or the UN and the cohorts of the IMF?
"All this was once the stuff of childhood in the days when we all needed to be removed from reality as often as possible. Those days may be about to return."
ReplyDeleteEarlier today I was moaning about the way museums and historic sites have a growing tendency to cater for the childish mind.
Maybe they simply want to attract children in order to bring in their parents and grandparents, but I'm not so sure. I think the adults prefer a simple story too.
Stop with the Comic Sans font!!! It's 2014.
ReplyDeleteStop with the Comic cod history!!!! It's 2014 and long past your bedtime.
ReplyDeleteYou're usually quite sensible Demetrius, with well researched articles.
ReplyDeleteThis is just a rant.