Whither the Scots? (Independence on the near horizon?)

National Post - Canada ^ | Monday, January 08, 2007 | John O' Sullivan

[wideawake]

Historians estimate that the free population of Athens in the 5th century BC was about 15-20 thousand. Maybe 40,000 for Renaissance Florence.

The population of England during the Elizabethan Age was probably 1.5-2 million with a London population of 150,000.

[wideawake]

It's currently about 55/45 Protestant, and the Catholic birthrate is dropping - but not as quickly as the Protestant birthrate.

In 20 years there will likely be a Catholic majority.

[Shadowstrike]

And the Scots today bear little resemblance to William Wallace, since the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish National Party are aggressively socialist and believe in coercively disarming the people.

And lets not forget how they just seem to be kissing Muslim Butt left and right either

[wideawake]

The interesting thing about Scotland is that in the century following the Act Of Union there was a Scottish Renaissance that produced its finest poet (Burns), one of the world's greatest economists (Adam Smith), one of history's key engineers (James Watt), one of the world's finest biographers (James Boswell), and some of the most influential philosophers (Francis Hutcheson, David Hume).

All of this intellectual ferment happened in and around Edinburgh and Glasgow, cities of maybe 50,000 people each.

[ConservativeDude]

Don't forget Thomas Reid!

Without Reid...(perhaps) no Witherspoon...without Witherspoon...(perhaps) no Madison...without Madison...(perhaps) no Constitution.

Yes, you are right. The Scottish Renaissance is very important, indeed.

[Borges]

Reese Witherspoon is a descendant of that particular Signer.

[familyop]

It's not right for the elite in one country to block attempts of people in another country to start businesses then to blame them for taking more tax revenues for survival.

[Prodigal Son]

The Scots would still be living in huts and sh*tting in holes if it weren't for the Brits.

I quite like sh*tting in a hole.

[Cogadh na Sith]

It would be the worst thing that ever happened to Scotland since the Battle of Flodden

They would immediately try to tax themselves into prosperity!

An independent Scotland without the North Sea oil revenue would last about 10 minutes. There is no indigenous industry and not much for resources.

Scotland's people were its greatest export....

[curmudgeonII]

Someplace I have read that the first English dictionary defined oats as a cereal which is fed to men in Scotland and to horses in England.
After reading this some Scottish parson exclaimed, that's why England is noted for the quality of its horses; and Scotland is noted for the quality of its men.

[GMMAC]

I'll stand by my openly credited source, Duncan A. Bruce, since given the esteemed view Burke's Peerage takes of his scholarship, it will surely take considerably more than your mere nay-saying to refute it.

[ConservativeDude]

He may be a good historian of Scotland. But he doesn't know squat about American history. I'll stand by my facts. Your source can have his opinions.

[GMMAC]

In yet another move positively worthy of Karl Rove, Harper simultaneously thoroughly out maneuvered the separatist Bloc Quebecois & compelled the Liberals & NDP to support the Conservative government's stated policy with respect to Quebec.
There's a good summary here & you can easily find out more by Googling 'news: Harper + Quebec + nation'.

[Pyro7480]

LOL!

[GMMAC]

Bruce is actually an American historian of Scots descent and you seem to have your so far unsubstantiated opinions confused with facts he's established through his well recognized scholarship.

[decal]

Do you know "The Lament for the Union of Scotland and England"?

It's a piobaireachd but I've taken out some of the grace notes and play it as a slow air - very pretty.

http://www.musicaviva.com/midi/music.tpl?filnavn=lament-union-bpe2

[the scotsman]

I sincerely hope that you are joking....

Firstly Britain is England,Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland.So like most Americans,when you bang on about 'the Brits' it is clear you havent got a clue what you are talking about....England and Britain are not the same,got that?.

Oh as for our 'barbarity'....just remember that the Celts and Picts were creating art and literature when England's Anglo-Saxon forebears didnt even have a written language....

[cicero's_son]

touchy, touchy.

you sound like one of the cavemen in the Geico commercials. Lighten up.

[the scotsman]

Wideawake:

1--The English did not 'conquer' Scotland in 1290,in fact that year the two nations signed the Treaty of Birham which specifically states that England had no legal right to claim overlordship of Scotland.

2--The physical occupation of Scotland took place only in 1296,not 1290.

3--Not only did the Scots expel the English in 1314 from Scotland after Bannockburn,BUT you are amazingly ignoring the 1328 Treaty of Northampton where England legally recognised Scotland's existance as an independent nation.

[the scotsman]

Touchy I may be,but mate,I make it a habit to know my stuff before I post....

Perhaps you should too.

Confusing England and Britain is schoolboy stuff and plays right into our stereotype of the geographically and historically ignorant 'Yank'.