Celtic nationalism and anti England

Last night the Scottish Nationalists were at it again- this time forcing parliamentary votes on matters that wouldn't normally be forced by divisions, so much so the official Labour opposition didn't bother to turn up. Yet the SNP forced votes on each of these 'estimates' for spending (as Parliament officially controls the purse strings) . Why did they do that? The reason is of course that England were playing a crucial football match and thus the SNP wanted to force Conservative MPs to be around and deprive them of watching the match. Which they did for 66 minutes.

Would the SNP be that petty? Well yes they would. The more I encounter Scottish Nationalists and for that matter the other Celtic nationalists in Wales and Ireland, the more I'm convinced 80% of that nationalism is born, not out of some sense of being Scottish or Welsh, but born out of a deep hate for the English, even over events hundreds of years ago, events which the English have either forgotten or feel that it has 'nothing to do' with them today. As a Jew I don't hate contemporary Germany, even though it was Germany which dragged the world into two bitter world wars and which in one led to the genocide of my people : I don't hate contemporary Spain or Russia because of years gone by and in time, maybe a thousand or so years,  I look forward to a period in which Israel and Arab states have reconciled or at least accept each other. Yet ask the Irish about Cromwell and they will look at you as if you are talking about Hitler. Likewise the Scottish Nationalist who seems to think that the film' Braveheart'  was a real life documentary, rather than a one sided load of biased piffle- as was his film about the American Revolution which might have just had the  British characters saying ' throw another child on the fire, Lord Bastard'  -  by 'it's the Jews' Mel. 

Brexit is another case in point. Why do the Scottish Nationalists want Scotland  to become an independent state, only to then join up to the EU? To my mind this has nothing to do with patriotic nationalism, but everything to do with hating whatever it is the English do, a sort of synthetic nationalism. Thus England voted for Brexit. So Scotland has to vote the other way . Then Scotland has to be independent. But one only needs to look at the Irish Republic- despite the EU currently saying they are acting how they are acting because of Irish concerns- and how she was treated during the Irish banking crisis when the Irish Republic was nothing other than a protectorate or tributary state of Brussels. If the English had acted like that then they'd have been rioting on the streets. But because it wasn't the hated foe of synthetic Irish nationalism then it was ok to be treated like a banking colony. Incidentally the whole matter of the Irish border. The newsflash is that the UK more or less gave up on  the Northern Ireland Union 20 years ago under Tony Blair and that's why it is a problem today.

Yet unless Scotland or Wales wish to arm themselves to the extent that Israel does (should they become independent ) , then they will be forever reliant on the largest state on the British isles i.e. England as the republic of Ireland has been . I said in the previous article for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The nationalism of the Celtic fringe in this context will eventually stir an English form of nationalism and not incidentally of the UKIP form. There's already a very popular demand for an English Parliament and not the ludicrous situation we have at the moment with Parliaments and assemblies for Ulster, Scotland and Wales, but not one for England , but a Westminster Parliament were SNP and other nationalist MPs can vote on English matters, but because of devolution English MPs cannot vote on the same for Scotland et al.  There's already quiet resentment at Scottish Nationalists and their whinging and blaming every problem , real or imagined on the English. I can tell you that English people turn the air blue every time Nicola Sturgeon comes onto the tv, a reaction worse than that given to Alex Salmond.

This is not to say that my observations lead me to conclude the English hate the Scots, but rather they are bewildered and resentful at what they see as the 'childish', 'petty' and 'vindictive'  SNP.  To the English, Scotland is the romance of the Lowlands and Highlands, the bagpipes, whiskey, glens and lochs, the stotic canny ally, the tough Glaswegian  and the  conservative banking establishment of Edinbrugh, the thinkers of the enlightenment ( which happened after the Union), with its own legal , educational and religious system. Therefore they cannot understand the likes of the SNP and their claims of how beastly the English actually are. Indeed compared to how Spain has recently dealt with Catalan nationalists, then England is a model of liberalism and restraint . But push England too far and one day you could up in a similar situation to Spain . Let us hope that this doesn't happen and that the Union which has served all nations of the United Kingdom extremely well isn't brought down by nationalism and for that matter the EU and its attempts to divide Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.

Vive le Union!

Vive le United Kingdom.