This article was published on the Cross of St George website, in support of English Independence. It is not quite as catchy (or pronounceable) as the Balkanisation of Britain, but the Scandinaviaisation of Britain has some good examples:
Scandinavia, a region of five countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland), has seen its constituent countries form different unions with each other from the Middle Ages to 1918, until Iceland became the last independent nation. They share similar cultures and similar languages, but have remained separate sovereign nations ever since.
So for a lot of people, a possible break-up to the United Kingdom is something they fear, believing this would cause many problems and challenges. The prospect of this raises many questions. However, one only has to look towards Scandinavia to realise all these questions have already been answered:
Would the home nations be economically viable?
The Scandinavian nations top all tables on average wealth per person. Size of country has no bearing on economic success. No reason why the home nations can’t be economically successful too.
Isn’t Britain stronger together? Wouldn’t England, for example, have a lower standing in the world than Britain?
If enjoying a high standing in the world means participating in numerous foreign wars, who needs that? Does a Swede, who lives in a wealthy nation, and has not seen his country fight a war for 200 years, envy our status? I seriously doubt it.
Perhaps countries like the USA, Russia and China dominate world markets, but their citizens don’t enjoy the same wealth per person as in the Scandinavian countries.
And if a lower world standing also means not sending men into space or topping an Olympic medals table – then I can live with that.
Would there be passport/border controls between the home nations?
No. There are no border controls between the Nordic countries.
Many Scottish people have relatives in England and vice versa. Doesn’t this make independence difficult?
Not when there’s free movement of people between nations as per Scandinavia.
What would be the constitutional position with the monarchy?
In Scandinavia, some countries are kingdoms, some are republics. It’s up to each home nation to decide their constitutional position.
Wouldn’t there be problems if England was a member of the EU, but Scotland and Wales weren’t?
Denmark and Sweden are in the EU, but Norway isn’t, and there are no problems.
And wouldn’t it be difficult for Scotland and Wales economically, when they have a much larger economic neighbour in England?
Hasn’t affected Denmark, who share their border with Germany.
Would the break-up of Britain lead to problems with security? Especially if England has an independent Scotland on its northern border?
Why? Is there a problem with security in Scandinavia? Is England likely to do something that will prompt an invasion of a foreign army? If Scotland did, would that automatically mean this army would move onto England? Even in the dark days of WW2, when Germany invaded Norway and Denmark, this didn’t spread to Sweden.
But on a small island, there must be issues where there needs to be co-operation?
Indeed, and this is true in Scandinavia. However, these issues are dealt with by the Nordic Council, without impairing any of the nations’ sovereignty.
I don’t know if I’ve listed all of the questions regarding this issue, but I’m sure if you need an answer – look to Scandinavia.
Showing posts with label balkanisation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label balkanisation. Show all posts
Sunday 4 November 2007
Monday 22 January 2007
Babytalk breeds spoon-fed nation
"Independence will lead to the Balkanisation of Britain" - Wales and Northern Ireland Secretary, 'Governor' Peter Hain.
We talk to our children in a language we assume reflects their comprehension of the world around them. What we tell them is what they believe, amd they believe what we tell them.
This kind of babytalk is what the Welsh nation is spoon-fed by the Labour administration on a daily basis. Inherent in such language as that used by Governor Hain above is the notion that we Welsh are little children who have no capability for an independent comprehension of our own.
That we are expected to believe that Britain will become an ethnic warzone if the Union is dismantled is both patronising, arrogant and insulting. But it is just the kind of spoon-fed propaganda that breeds both an apathetic, negative and defeatist attitude to our own capabilities, and a blind acceptance of the lie that we could never make it alone. While small sovereign nations across the world govern their own affairs, and prosper, here in Wales 'Mummy knows best.'
Last week, as the findings of the BBC's opinion poll on independence were published, BBC Wales' 'news' programme, Wales Today, 'went out and about in the country to ask the nation what they thought of independence.' As usual, they never found their way further north than a stone's throw from the M4 corridor. And so it was, in Pontypridd - an Unionist Labour Party stonghold - that they went 'out and about to ask the nation' if they supported independence.
And it was here, in Pontypridd, that one street respondent's reaction clearly demonstarted the end result of decades of spoon-fed Labour babytalk. A local lady was asked if she thought independence would be a good thing for Wales. Pointing to the run-down street behind her she replied "No, we couldn't survive without London could we? What would we do without Britain - I mean, just look at the place, look how bad it is, it's all run-down!"
No, she wasn't being sarcastic, and the irony of what she said wasn't pointed out to her.
If this would be the woman's view, and the streets around her still rundown, after a few decades of an independent Welsh state, her reply would make some reasonable sense. But being that the place is rundown and economically deprived because of centuries of British rule, her response was typically irrational, and demonstrated the subservient, childish mentality of a spoon-fed nation; a perfect example of the perverse comprehension of our position, surroundings and status.
It is not too absurd to surmise that this person and thousands like her, do indeed swallow everything that Mother Hain and Uncle Rhodri feed them. No wonder Hain feels he can get away with such hysterics as his 'Balkanisation of Britain' blurb.
We talk to our children in a language we assume reflects their comprehension of the world around them. What we tell them is what they believe, amd they believe what we tell them.This kind of babytalk is what the Welsh nation is spoon-fed by the Labour administration on a daily basis. Inherent in such language as that used by Governor Hain above is the notion that we Welsh are little children who have no capability for an independent comprehension of our own.
That we are expected to believe that Britain will become an ethnic warzone if the Union is dismantled is both patronising, arrogant and insulting. But it is just the kind of spoon-fed propaganda that breeds both an apathetic, negative and defeatist attitude to our own capabilities, and a blind acceptance of the lie that we could never make it alone. While small sovereign nations across the world govern their own affairs, and prosper, here in Wales 'Mummy knows best.'
Last week, as the findings of the BBC's opinion poll on independence were published, BBC Wales' 'news' programme, Wales Today, 'went out and about in the country to ask the nation what they thought of independence.' As usual, they never found their way further north than a stone's throw from the M4 corridor. And so it was, in Pontypridd - an Unionist Labour Party stonghold - that they went 'out and about to ask the nation' if they supported independence.
And it was here, in Pontypridd, that one street respondent's reaction clearly demonstarted the end result of decades of spoon-fed Labour babytalk. A local lady was asked if she thought independence would be a good thing for Wales. Pointing to the run-down street behind her she replied "No, we couldn't survive without London could we? What would we do without Britain - I mean, just look at the place, look how bad it is, it's all run-down!"
No, she wasn't being sarcastic, and the irony of what she said wasn't pointed out to her.
If this would be the woman's view, and the streets around her still rundown, after a few decades of an independent Welsh state, her reply would make some reasonable sense. But being that the place is rundown and economically deprived because of centuries of British rule, her response was typically irrational, and demonstrated the subservient, childish mentality of a spoon-fed nation; a perfect example of the perverse comprehension of our position, surroundings and status.
It is not too absurd to surmise that this person and thousands like her, do indeed swallow everything that Mother Hain and Uncle Rhodri feed them. No wonder Hain feels he can get away with such hysterics as his 'Balkanisation of Britain' blurb.
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