As an English person living in Scotland, there are times when I feel a little... awkward. I'm fairly lucky that people are lovely to me due to my being from the North of England (apparently this makes you more Scottish - personally I think that's a load of pish, but never mind) and due to my Dad being Scots. Now, Gordon Brown (British PM) has announced that although all public buildings in the UK are to fly the Union Flag (flag of Great Britain), Scotland are exempt and are only expected to fly this on special days such as the Queen's Birthday. To me, this is dumb as hell. It would make sense in Northern Ireland, where people can die for hanging the "wrong" flag, but Scotland? It just reeks of petty Nationalism. Alex Salmond (Scotland's First Minister and leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party) has said that this ruling is sensibles as the sense of Britishness in Scotland died a long time ago. Really? I wonder if his political agenda of an independent Scotland has anything to do about it... Oil won't last forever, and currentl;y Scots receive £1.20 in public spending for every £1 spent on the rest of the UK paid for... by the rest of the UK. Independence won't work without serious economic development (a la Celtic Tiger in Eire) and if the only way to get people onside is to be anti-GB and anti-English, then these voters probably aren't the type of people with whom I'd like to share a country!
