Posted on 05/30/2011 12:22:50 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
The Queen has indicated her concern the United Kingdom will be broken up in the wake of Alex Salmond’s landslide election victory in Scotland.
The monarch is understood to have expressed her anxiety about the Scottish National Party’s plan for an independence referendum during her weekly meeting with David Cameron at Buckingham Palace.
Palace officials have asked Downing Street to provide a constitutional expert to advise on how the referendum will be staged and the dismantling of the UK in the event of a ‘yes’ vote.
Mr Salmond, the SNP party leader, has previously moved to reassure the Royal Family and sceptical Scots by arguing that the Queen would remain head of state in Scotland following separation.
But a source close to Mr Cameron told a Sunday newspaper the monarch’s commitment to the 304-year-old Union between England and Scotland remained strong.
Although she cannot be seen to express a personal opinion, she is said to be concerned at the prospect of Britain being broken up during her reign.
“She has always been very clear about the United Kingdom and you just have to look at the way the Royal Family are committed to Scotland to see that,” the source said.
As far back as 1977, when the Labour Government was proposing Scottish devolution, she appeared to suggest she was concerned about the ramifications for the Union.
In a remark interpreted as criticism of home rule, she told MPs: “I cannot forget I was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom.”
A senior Buckingham Palace source confirmed the monarch discussed with Mr Cameron the ramifications of this month’s Scottish Parliament election. “Regardless of Her Majesty’s personal views, it is the job of her private secretary to take these issues seriously and to investigate them, and that’s precisely
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
1—The Scots by and large are socialists.
Older people may be so, but are socially conservative and believe in morals and family and detest a lot of modern policy and PC-ism. Younger people have sadly grown up in the PC/entitlement culture and mindset.
Ironically Scotland has only been leftist since the 60’s, until then and even well into the 60’s we used to vote Conservative. And working men and women were the core of that vote.
2—No, sorry, I have to disagree.
Scottish people are NOT antiamerican. In fact, the Scots are generally fond of you. Yes, you will meet leftist antiamericans, student types etc, but we like America and Americans.
DONT make the mistake of equating cynicism about some aspects of your nation and people with dislike.
Most Scots dont want independance, as they believe Scotland (as I do) to be better off in the UK rather than out. And are happy with more powers to Scotland withour breaking away.
SNP victories are by and large tactical votes and/or a warning shot to esp. Labour. Many Scots who may vote SNP in a Scottish or British election or Euro elections will NOT vote
Me?. Scotland can certainly go it alone, but the question is whats best, and imo Scotland is more powerful for both Scotland and the UK as a whole staying in.
We dont have the psyche of the Irish or Welsh nationalists, we JOINED the UK unlike them, so we have a psychological, cultural and political power that the English recognise. The latter couldnt ‘take us’, so we had to be sweet-talked into the UK.
It's just taken a long time to expire.
Most Scots dont want independance, as they believe Scotland (as I do) to be better off in the UK rather than out. And are happy with more powers to Scotland withour breaking away.
SNP victories are by and large tactical votes and/or a warning shot to esp. Labour. Many Scots who may vote SNP in a Scottish or British election or Euro elections will NOT vote for a complete breakaway.
Me?. Scotland can certainly go it alone, but the question is whats best, and imo Scotland is more powerful for both Scotland and the UK as a whole staying in.
We dont have the psyche of the Irish or Welsh nationalists, we JOINED the UK unlike them, so we have a psychological, cultural and political power that the English recognise. The latter couldnt ‘take us’, so we had to be sweet-talked into the UK
Is that anything like the Ivy League?
Welsh was banned because Wales was annexed into England Proper by Henry VIII--good old Welshman Henry Tudur himself! Also, the crowns were united under the Scottish King James VI.
You must remember also that not all the Scots are Celtic. Some are descended from the Scots who came from Ulster and others from the original Brythonic Celts (especially in the southwest), but many were Angles (the southeast) who never spoke a Celtic language. In act, the Angles were in Scotland every bit as long as the Scots were! (It's all very confusing because today the "Scots language" refers to the English of the Lowland Angles and not to any Celtic language.)
The banning of Gaelic, bagpipes, tartans, etc., in the eighteenth century was due to the Highlanders support of the Stewarts over the Hanoverians. This was not, as some seem to think, a war for Scottish independence but a war to place a Stewart back on the throne of the United Kingdom.
England is now 80%+ of the population and my guess is that there are more "Scots" in England than in Scotland. Ditto for the Welsh. The perils of Empire -- the first English Empire was in the British Isles before spreading to the rest of the world.
This point is well taken.
Sorry, but your history is wrong.
The English did not conquer Scotland. Nor was Scottish banned. Scots was and is the dialect of the south of Scotland, and the south of Scotland almost en masse opposed the Jacobite uprisings of 1715 and 1745. And Scots is a dialect of English, not a language and as a dialect of English, its therefore not Celtic.
Gaelic WAS banned in the Highlands after the last uprising, but your dates are well out. The ban came from 1746 onwards, not the late 1800’s.
I agree with you. Had a Welsh professor at university in London who made a point of telling everyone English was his 2nd language, and he was Welsh, Not English. Several English friends in the UK told me "the closest to us (meaning English) foreigners are Scottish" (I was totally surprised). As for the Irish, well, only Northern Ireland is part of the UK. There is a separate country called the Republic of Ireland.
Frankly, I find the whole political & social landscape in "the UK" rather bizarre.
Thanks for your post.
Most British people, like myself, manage to have an identity as both Scots/English etc and British. Its bizarre I suppose, but fascinating and complex.
As to 1707, I was perhaps kind to Scotland when I said sweet-talked. Scotland was bankrupt after the failed colony in Darien, and we NEEDED the chance to join the UK. We got financial security, the opening to a then English empire and trade, and the rest of the UK got our genius, hard work, our soldiers and navy.
Yes, I spent most of my time in the cities — mostly in Edinburgh (which is among my fav cities — very beautiful)
I did not know that -- any idea why the change?
and thank you for correcting the latter statement of mine
True.
Thank you for the correction.
Thanks also for the Darien information — I didn’t know that!
Well, not all Conservative.
Whilst much of rural Scotland and some towns and cities were Tory, there have always been working class areas, esp around Glasgow, that have been socialist. Glasgow was famous in the 20’s/30’s as ‘Red Clydeside’. It was a Scotsman from Ayrshire who founded the Labour Party after all. Albeit the older socialism was a more responsible socialism and not the entitlement mindset of today.
As to why, simply the cultural/political change, as society became more liberal through the 50’s and into the 60’s.
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