Archivo etiqueta «Escocia»
By Magnus Linklater (THE TIMES, 17/01/07):
A horseman galloping south across the Scottish Border, guarded by troopers, and carrying a small bundle of documents: that is how the Union between Scotland and England really began, 300 years ago last night. The rider was bringing to Westminster the signed articles of the Treaty of Union, which had been approved by the Scottish Parliament the day before. The final vote, on article eight — the duty to be paid on Scottish salt — had been a fractious but lacklustre affair. The opposition had begun to lose heart. They knew the result was … Seguir leyendo
By Jenny Hjul (THE TIMES, 14/01/07):
The English could be forgiven for thinking the Scots an ungrateful bunch. For 300 years they have been joined with England, enjoying the fruits that marriage brings, asking for and receiving generous gifts (home rule, for instance) while not losing their sense of identity.
Yet instead of marking their approaching anniversary with an affirmation of love or a renewal of vows, the Scots seem to be toying with divorce.
The Act of Union of January 16, 1707, brought prosperity to Scotland and pre-empted the intellectual flowering of the Enlightenment. (The English didn’t do too … Seguir leyendo
By Matthew Parris (THE TIMES, 30/12/06):
Catalonia, from where I write, occupies the top-right-hand part of Spain. Abutting France, it includes the Mediterranean end of the Pyrenees and the Costa Brava. Its capital is Barcelona and the country (for it feels itself to be a country) is modern, industrialised and populous — but its heart and soul are still in its wild, empty scenery, rural hinterland, and long and intermittently abused national history.
Catalonia has a lesson for the Tories in their attitude to Scottish nationalism in the year ahead. You will be hearing a lot about Scotland as the … Seguir leyendo
By David Clark, a former Labour government adviser (THE GUARDIAN, 27/12/06):
The union between Scotland and England has a good claim to be the most enduring and successful international partnership in history, yet the atmosphere on the eve of its 300th anniversary is anything but celebratory. If opinion polls are to be believed, a mood of sourness appears to have taken hold, with a majority of voters on both sides of the border willing to entertain the idea that it might be better for Scotland and England to go their separate ways. With the SNP going into the Scottish … Seguir leyendo
By Magnus Linklater (THE TIMES, 06/12/06):
Anyone who is against Tony Blair’s decision on Trident should move briskly north to Scotland, where they can appreciate the incoherence of an anti-nuclear stand. The Scottish National Party, which is leading in the opinion polls, is against giving harbour space to nuclear submarines, and would refuse to allow them to anchor at Faslane on the Clyde. They would, therefore, have to move south to Barrow-in-Furness, depriving Scotland of 11,000 jobs.
It’s an odd manifesto pledge: “We guarantee to lose the country 11,000 jobs.” But there is an even odder one to come. Alex … Seguir leyendo
By TM Devine. TM Devine is Sir William Fraser, a professor of Scottish history and palaeography at the University of Edinburgh, and author of The Scottish Nation: 1700-2007 (THE GUARDIAN, 05/12/06):
On the eve of the 300th anniversary of the 1707 Anglo-Scottish union, perhaps the most remarkable fact is that this union of two historic nations has survived so long. Today it has more critics in Scotland than at any time since the 18th century, a mood that seems to be reflected in the electorate. Nationalists cheered the publication last week of an opinion poll in which 52% of … Seguir leyendo
By Graham Stewart (THE TIMES, 02/12/06):
Scottish independence is now an even more popular cause in England than it is in Scotland, according to the opinion polls. It seems that many Sassenachs do not see why there should be so many Scots running England when they have an expensive Parliament of their own.
This is bad news for Gordon Brown. Certainly, he must hope not to fall victim to the same xenophobic ridicule dished out to Britain’s first Scottish Prime Minister, James Stuart, Earl of Bute.
As Samuel Johnson so frequently deplored, mid-18th-century London was full of Scots on the … Seguir leyendo
By Simon Jenkins (THE GUARDIAN, 29/11/06):
I think the word is panic. Last week the prime minister, chancellor of the exchequer, home secretary, defence secretary, trade secretary and Scots ministerial expatriates galore travelled in a posse north to a Labour conference in Oban, like a bunch of Spanish hidalgos racing back from the fleshpots of Madrid to quell a revolt in their home province.Their objective was to suppress one man, Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National party. An opinion poll had shown support for Salmond’s crusade, an independent Scotland, rising to 52% of the electorate. Those regarding themselves as … Seguir leyendo
By David Aaronovitch (THE TIMES, 28/11/06):
I’ve long had this one, pleasant fantasy: which is that, somehow, people get what they say they want, but it all happens in some kind of parallel existence and I don’t have to suffer from their preferences. Examples might be Osama bin Laden is left in Afghanistan, speed cameras are removed, there’s a Lib Dem government or Ken Livingstone becomes mayor of London.
On Sunday I was thinking about Scotland. A series of weekend polls seemed to be suggesting that the Scottish National Party could come out top in the elections in May, and … Seguir leyendo
By Peter Preston (THE GUARDIAN, 27/11/06):
The current prime minister could hardly have put it more starkly. Nationalism “is … the basest metal of politics, the politics of grievance”. And, for once, the prime minister we are about to get agrees. Sever the ties that bind and “it’s not only bad for economics, but bad for the solidarity that should exist … across countries in the world”.Are they belabouring Sinn Féin, the Daily Mail, some dodgy new government in Warsaw? No: it’s that time of year again – conference season for the Scottish Labour party. And this time there’s an … Seguir leyendo
By Peter Preston (THE GUARDIAN, 30/10/06):
Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make totally inchoate (or, as the Electoral Reform Society would say, a world-beating “test-bed” for voting systems). Yes, it’s Scotland, with the land Ruth Kelly calls England only a few yards away over the border. And yes, it’s a world-beating mess that only mass boredom with the intricacies of democracy, inflicted by too many Liberal Democrat party broadcasts over the years, prevents us from recognising as absurdity. Step back for a moment and contemplate this unmade bed.
Voting systems matter because different systems yield different … Seguir leyendo
By Ben Macintyre (THE TIMES, 27/10/06):
IN THE LONG and grim tradition of alcoholic Scottish brawls, this is one of the oddest: the Scottish Health Minister, Andy Kerr, has squared up to the Benedictine monks in Devon who make Buckfast tonic wine, the powerful concoction of red wine and caffeine that has long been favoured by Scottish drinkers as a swift, cheap path to oblivion.
Buckfast, or “Buckie”, holds a particular place in the affections (and wrecked metabolism) of the Scottish drunk. Among hardened drinkers it is known as “What the Hell are you looking at?”, “Wreck the Hoose Juice” … Seguir leyendo
By Joan McAlpine, a columnist for the Herald newspaper in Scotland (THE GUARDIAN, 11/10/06):
Britishness used to be a concept. Recently it has become more of a campaign, led by the chancellor, Gordon Brown. Most recently he has used the importance of family ties to underline his message. Around 800,000 Scots now live in England and more than half the Scottish population have relatives south of the border. Brown says this means the union between the two countries is solid.But there is a touch of desperation in his optimism. A poll last month showed that more Scots favour full … Seguir leyendo
By Roy Hattersley (THE GUARDIAN, 21/08/06):
What is wrong with the Scots? Why do so many citizens of that noble nation – its cultural and political identity confirmed and its democracy enhanced by devolution – persist in behaving like members of a subject race that is struggling to throw off the yoke of an alien oppressor. Scotland has so much of which it can be proud that Scots have nothing left to prove. But the perverse determination to demonstrate that they are separate from and superior to their English neighbours is beginning to irritate Scotland’s true Sassenach friends. And Scotland’s … Seguir leyendo
By Magnus Linklater (THE TIMES, 25/05/06):
THREE HUNDRED years ago this month a formidable bunch of heavyweights gathered in “the Cockpit” — the Privy Council chambers in the old Palace of Westminster — to thrash out the terms of a Treaty of Union between England and Scotland.
Each side fielded about 25 dukes, earls and a scattering of baronets. Queen Anne dropped in occasionally, as did the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Treasurer and other worthies. It took them just under three months to get it right. By the middle of May they had sorted out the royal succession, the … Seguir leyendo