(Almost) Everything I think about the Scottish referendum

I've resisted saying anything about the Scottish referendum, or at least putting anything in writing,  until now so this is a bit of an info-dump / omnibus collection of everything I think about the whole situation. Apologies if it's a little disjointed.

A bit of background, I was born in England but my father is from Scotland and therefore I've always thought of myself as half and half. There's apparently some Welsh in there as well on my mother's side though so far back that nobody can remember the exact fraction. Nevertheless, my dad has always expressed pride in the fact that the Scottish portion of each of his children is a plurality if not an absolute majority. Like countless people I have family in both nations and it feels personal whenever nationalists on either side talk of separation.

The most disturbing feeling is that the nationalists have been allowed to define "we" in a way that invalidates the national identity that I and millions of others feel. It is by nature exclusive rather than inclusive and divisive rather than unifying. The nationalists don't want to separate "their" family from "ours", they want a portion of the family we all share to declare itself separate from the rest. Those who disagree with this are told that they have no right to an opinion because they are in the 'other' group, you're not Scottish, nobody cares what you think because you're not one of those who gets to vote.

Alex Salmond says that nobody is better able to govern Scotland than the people who live there. An argument that you can apply to any geographic location. Nobody is better able to govern Britain than the people who live there, nobody is better able to govern Europe, Aberdeen, Kirkcaldy etcetera etcetera. It all depends on where the "demos" is and, while there is most definitely a Scottish demos, there is a British one as well and these are in no way mutually exclusive.


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