And so it is, the Celt and I, in our own union of Scotland and England wonder and worry as we stand at yet another brink – the possible dissolution of a Union three hundred years old. Heartbreaking, if it happens.
A photograph I took in the Victoria and Albert Museum of a Putto holding the Crown and Coat of Arms of Scotland circa 1686. Marble, perhaps from a Roman Catholic Chapel in Whitehall Palace, and probably carved by Arnold Quellin, 1653-86 and Grinling Gibbons 1648-1721.
Update: Scotland remains in the Union.
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Sentiment aside, it will wreak havoc on Europe if it happens. (You and the Celt, I trust, are more solid than that.)
ReplyDeletegésbi, thank you. The Celt and I are solid. I fear you are right about Europe and it that happens then God help us all. There are always demagogues awaiting their chance and it is never for the good of the people whatever they say.
ReplyDeleteOur media are presenting the question as a contest between pride and risk, a stillborn misconception. If this perspective is widely held, the referendum's ghastliest consequence is already achieved. Pride of this nature is misconceived, and the essence of recklessness. Carter
ReplyDeleteAnonymous (Carter) thank you and my apologies. I wrote a response to you and it hasn't appeared. I think you are right about the ghastliest consequence and the demagoguery will live on whatever the outcome.
DeleteI rise in the support of the opposition. In my blood is the mix of all of the UK and my great grandmother who was Cherokee. Most of my ancestors came to America as the direct result of the ghastly effect of primogeniture and the drive for more land which was not England's: colonialism. We all know how that Cherokee land situation worked out. Let's just say I am more of a braveheart kind of girl than a royalist. My rational husband is the chief investment officer for a foundation. He knows whatever happens, ripples of the decision will affect the markets. His initial questions were always about the currency of Scotland.
ReplyDeleteMy response is much more visceral. In my heart of hearts I feel that England has no right to Scotland, Wales or Ireland. The UK is a union, but the union is not, never has been, never will be equal. Success based on the enslavement—I use that term to describe subordination of any kind—of others can never be a moral success.
home before dark, thank you. The Union was ever a union of choice – admittedly not of the people for that concept came into being a lot later in the Enlightenment and the American Revolution. The monarchs wore two crowns before the union of the nations and the Scots signed theirs a year before the English who were hesitant if I remember rightly. I may be wrong. Scotland had its own set of laws separate from those of England – so yes, you are right, the union was perhaps never equal but I question on whose side.
ReplyDeleteAs to "enslavement" as you use the term – it is visible in all parts of the western hemisphere but we just call it capitalism.
The sign that seemed to survive on the banks of the M9/A9 was "Proud to be Scottish, delighted to be united". About 15 minutes to go until the poll closes.
ReplyDeleteWe shall see. Whatever the outcome, this is a watershed.
columnist, thank you. What you saw written on the sign besides the road is precisely how the Celt would put it – and his family, too. For three hundred years there has been a mechanism for change for the better and it is called Parliament.
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