Thanks Leah. Very interesting, if rage inducing. The sods down that road succeeded in what we might now call cancelling Scotland. The history, culture and language all but finished off, except for a bit of tartan tat touristy remnants. It really angers me when my older Scottish neighbours still deny Scotland should be anything other than a vassal state of Engerland, one of them used to teach 'English' in Scotland, saying the kids 'didn't want to learn, they had nothing to look forward to' once they were of school leaving age! Sigh.
Scotland take back your country for christs sake. SNP need to be clever about how they frame things, because the Brit state sure is expert at how they frame things.
My experience (1947-1960) of the teaching of Scottish History in Scotland’s schools was decidedly sketchy: Bannockburn, Mary Queen of Scots, the Jacobite Uprising etc were taught, but there was much more about English and British Empire history. We heard about the Peterloo Massacre at Manchester, but not about the parallel uprising in Scotland (I only learned about the Scottish Weavers’ 1820 uprising in pursuit of democracy when I came across a book about it in my late 70’s; indeed much of my retirement has been spent in reading my country’s history and filling the knowledge gaps). We also heard about the English Wars of the Roses but not about the Covenanters’ uprising in Scotland. Likewise the use of Lallans Scots in the classroom was forbidden apart from one day per year - Rabbie Burns’ birthday – when it was tolerated (if only because otherwise his poetry couldn’t be heard).
The contempt of the English Elite for other peoples’ cultures and democratic rights is evident throughout the centuries of Empire; in its role in setting the maps of India and the Middle East (now being continued in the Chagos Archipelago); in the aftermath of Brexit where Gibraltar’s 96% Remain vote has still to be addressed (not to mention Scotland’s 62%); in their assumption that England’s unwritten so-called constitution takes precedence over the Acts of Union and indeed Scots Law. And let’s not forget the cavalier abandonment of promises made ahead of the 2014 Independence Referendum, the subsequent abandonment of the Sewell Convention and the roles of the UK Supreme Court and UK Government in blocking Holyrood legislation.
Take the UK Gov rejections of perfectly legitimate intra vires Holyrood legislation on Gender Reform and Recycling of Waste. The latter defies all logic: both Scotland and Wales wanted Waste Recycling to include glass, partly because of the dangers of broken glass to refuse collectors, walkers, and animals (domestic and wild). Westminster demanded that glass be excluded, but I’ve yet to see any reason why (logical or otherwise), so I’m left concluding it’s a crude way of signifying that England is in charge of everything and that in reality the devolved nations can do nothing about it. If that’s not colonialism at its crudest, I don’t know what is.
Keep an ear to the ground regarding Gibraltar, it won't be shouted from the rooftops, or anywhere that the Scottish electorate will hear. I reckon a deal has been done with Gibraltar, Spain and EU. Westminster will be working on what's to be public, they need to include sufficient strategic ambiguities in the wording that doesn't let on that HM's gov has capitulated, or that Gibraltar has been abandoned. Only MHO mind.
Thanks Leah. Very interesting, if rage inducing. The sods down that road succeeded in what we might now call cancelling Scotland. The history, culture and language all but finished off, except for a bit of tartan tat touristy remnants. It really angers me when my older Scottish neighbours still deny Scotland should be anything other than a vassal state of Engerland, one of them used to teach 'English' in Scotland, saying the kids 'didn't want to learn, they had nothing to look forward to' once they were of school leaving age! Sigh.
Scotland take back your country for christs sake. SNP need to be clever about how they frame things, because the Brit state sure is expert at how they frame things.
My experience (1947-1960) of the teaching of Scottish History in Scotland’s schools was decidedly sketchy: Bannockburn, Mary Queen of Scots, the Jacobite Uprising etc were taught, but there was much more about English and British Empire history. We heard about the Peterloo Massacre at Manchester, but not about the parallel uprising in Scotland (I only learned about the Scottish Weavers’ 1820 uprising in pursuit of democracy when I came across a book about it in my late 70’s; indeed much of my retirement has been spent in reading my country’s history and filling the knowledge gaps). We also heard about the English Wars of the Roses but not about the Covenanters’ uprising in Scotland. Likewise the use of Lallans Scots in the classroom was forbidden apart from one day per year - Rabbie Burns’ birthday – when it was tolerated (if only because otherwise his poetry couldn’t be heard).
The contempt of the English Elite for other peoples’ cultures and democratic rights is evident throughout the centuries of Empire; in its role in setting the maps of India and the Middle East (now being continued in the Chagos Archipelago); in the aftermath of Brexit where Gibraltar’s 96% Remain vote has still to be addressed (not to mention Scotland’s 62%); in their assumption that England’s unwritten so-called constitution takes precedence over the Acts of Union and indeed Scots Law. And let’s not forget the cavalier abandonment of promises made ahead of the 2014 Independence Referendum, the subsequent abandonment of the Sewell Convention and the roles of the UK Supreme Court and UK Government in blocking Holyrood legislation.
Take the UK Gov rejections of perfectly legitimate intra vires Holyrood legislation on Gender Reform and Recycling of Waste. The latter defies all logic: both Scotland and Wales wanted Waste Recycling to include glass, partly because of the dangers of broken glass to refuse collectors, walkers, and animals (domestic and wild). Westminster demanded that glass be excluded, but I’ve yet to see any reason why (logical or otherwise), so I’m left concluding it’s a crude way of signifying that England is in charge of everything and that in reality the devolved nations can do nothing about it. If that’s not colonialism at its crudest, I don’t know what is.
Keep an ear to the ground regarding Gibraltar, it won't be shouted from the rooftops, or anywhere that the Scottish electorate will hear. I reckon a deal has been done with Gibraltar, Spain and EU. Westminster will be working on what's to be public, they need to include sufficient strategic ambiguities in the wording that doesn't let on that HM's gov has capitulated, or that Gibraltar has been abandoned. Only MHO mind.
I was looking up vassal state and came across this. Not sure if relevant.
The Nobility and the Absolutist State in Scotland, 1584-1638.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24421676
Not available to read online it seems.
The author has published a lot about Scotland.
https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/julian-goodare