"The signing of an agreement between the UK and the Scottish governments on the terms of
the independence referendum is a milestone. Both sides appear ready to accept
the outcome. It would feel more historic if the vote were going to happen any
time soon, rather than in 2014. But the vote will be the first time that
Scotland has voted on its national status in the democratic era. It may lead to
the further splintering of the UK. It would change the lives of everyone in
these islands. There is no doubt that the Scottish people voted for this process
to begin. By handing the Scottish Nationalists a majority of seats at Holyrood
last year, they put the future of the union unequivocally in the arena." The Guardian
----------------------------------------------
Would the Stuarts return? My Jacobite ancestors would have been pleased. Are there still Stuart pretenders? The Langs went from the Great Glen to the Pale in Ireland to avoid taking the oath to William of Orange. They were freeholders. After a hundred years they moved on to good agricultural land along the St. Lawrence in New York State and then to Wisconsin in pursuit of more of the same. The far West beckoned. They seemed to have believed that San Francisco was the equivalent of the Grey Havens.
Divide the UK? Why? Is it for a bigger slice of North Sea oil income? Is it the ancient discomfort and dislike of the Sassenach that is the true cause?
From an outsider's point of view it would hardly seem worth doing in terms of material gain. Presumably both countries would remain in the EU customs union and NATO. Border controls have been reduced to nearly nothing. Would the Windsors remain the sovereigns of an independent Scotland. I cannot imagine Scotland as a republic. I cannot.
"All for Scotland's king and lord..." pl
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/15/scottish-independence-editorial
