and so i ended up in Scotland, again. this was not supposed to be, look you see, but it is done now. made it back, evidently, so one could suggest that there was no lasting harm or damage. except for them who would have preferred me not to.
on this trip i was (at the least) able to tick an item off of my peculiar bucket list, which is more things what come to mind to do than a list, and it's not kept in a bucket. actually not sure i even have a bucket, in truth, and anyway the term only came about off of that film of same name. moving on, and that ambition, if i may call it so, was to get an edition or two (actually just 2) of The National.
for those of you unaware, and perhaps if you gone done google that's why you are here, it is so that this newspaper, as i believe it is legally defined, The National, is something of a print mouthpiece for those seeking what they term "Scottish independence". quite like this movement, and the main political party pushing for it, it's rather right wing leaning, yet somehow (clever marketing, i suppose) manages to masquerade as being to the left, or socialist. having seen only a few front pages of it, ones circulated for absurd levels of anti-English statements, i was curious as to how the whole paper looked. so, i found out.
perhaps it's semantics (or being pedantic) but i've not ever quite understood how the nationals, be it of the newspaper, the politicians or what have you, have been allowed to get away with calling what they seek as being "independence". this implies they believe Scotland to be a sort of colony, which it most decidedly isn't. saying that they wish to breakaway from a union just isn't as catchy, i suppose. besides, in those pre-Brexit days, the vision was that Scotland, as a lone nation, would somehow retain the British Pound (meaning control of it would remain with the Bank of England) and the British monarch as head of state. where is the independence there? post-Brexit it has of course changed, with the plan being to immediately (at least this seems to be their hope) join the EU, which would mean adopting the Euro as their currency and being subject to all laws, rules, requirements, regulations and what have you of that ostensible trade body. neither appear to be "independent" changes, but what do i know.
indeed that last part does lead rather nicely onto this (above) first section off of the paper. by sidestepping things like all them in Scotland who voted to leave the EU, the SNP absolutely not caring about EU membership at the time of the referendum and no indication at all that they would come close to qualifying to join, apparently an "independent" Scotland would immediately join the EU, where they would be embraced and they would embrace in return. rather secretive documents which the SNP claim exist, and who(m)ever heard of a politician being dishonest, apparently prove that Scotland would be a "net contributor" to the EU, and not just a financially draining economic basket-case like, say Greece.
the logic of if is pretty easy to understand here. by "demanding" a deal be brokered with the EU right now, even though Scotland cannot engage in such talks and the EU, by their own rigid rules and regulations, cannot, the plan is to have an oven ready deal all lined up to take to voters as and when another referendum on the matter is held. one cannot fault the hope and ambition, no matter what level of desperation underlines it.
baffling, that above one is. again, this mostly relates to the point that the "national" movement by default is right wing, no matter how much they dress it up or try and pass it off as some sort of socialist concern. it is remarkable that so much print was given over to Scotland "needing" a national anthem and then explaining what it should be. as far as i am aware, as and when Scotland has a reason to play what one would term a national anthem (sporting events, mostly), it is indeed already Flower Of Scotland which is used. surely this is not as preposterous as either The National or other such nationalists seeking to take credit for something already pretty much in place? i mean, presumably, if they did break away from the union they are in, they wouldn't play the UK anthem anyhow?
yeah, go on then, a selfie. so far as i am aware this is (possibly) the first such one i have taken with my new phone what has a camera welded to it. unlikely to be the last, but you never know.
certainly that is moi by the big sign (or what have you) which warns that you are about to go into Scotland. it's not really practical to turn around and go back at this point, but to be fair if you see the big billboard then you have every option to perform a perfectly legal u-turn as soon as possible thereafter.
how about a nice bit of video? indeed yes, we have got a video. and it's something different from the usual on here. very much certainly this is the first instance of me using this kind of video.
should that look like i filmed it with an 80s (or quite early 90s) video camera, then excellent, as that is the general idea. for some reason when i got this new phone with a camera welded to it i was of a mind, or wish, to get something "a bit VHS" on it. just (ever so slightly) south of £5 i paid for the "app" what turns my high powered camera thing into this. money well spent.
right, then, back to the joys of The National, if you wish. should you not, well, please, feel free to look at that there video above a few more times, then move on.
a particularly curious trait of the Scottish nationals is to "Scottish" pretty much everything in the world. for some reason they are convinced with the idea that all and sundry across the entire planet just simply love all things Scottish, to the extent that they will do what they can to emulate what i suppose one could call the Scottish way of doing things. i am not sure this is true.
for some reason, then, The National elected to declare no less than Sunderland as the "most Scottish club" to be found in England. why they would worry about such a status needing to be in place is not a question i care to ask. off the top of my head, if i (absolutely) had to name the "most Scottish" football team in England then it probably would be either Manchester United or Liverpool, due to the sheer number of immensely talented Scottish players and, of course, managers either club has had. yes, i did show the above article to a couple of people i know off of (or out of) Sunderland, and i am afraid that i cannot repeat their comments.
just whipping up a rather jingoistic national sentiment isn't enough, of course. it is so that The National absolutely welcomes contributions from readers. this must be a delight for some, as it lets them take a break from posting anonymously online whilst giving them the immense pleasure of seeing their name in print.
i would suggest letters (or "think pieces") like the one above see all of this moving to a whole new dangerous level. well, not really. perhaps one or two people, as ignorant as they are extreme, might try and do something silly, but there's no real chance of a "Scottish IRA" developing. for a start far too many factions within Scotland simply hate each other. also, who would bankroll such a thing? the IRA had foolish Americans ready to bankroll their illicit activities. probably the only person stupid enough to fund some anti-English dissident campaign is Putin, and that he has not done so speaks volumes.
last one above, then, and that's rather precious. apparently the SNP are losing support not because of the general incompetence shown in the job, but via being nowhere near extreme enough. see all of the above bits really. it's possible to box off such thinking as being the warped thoughts of one individual, but then a newspaper has gone done publish it. not sure encouraging such thinking is wise, but what do i know.
yes, Scotland is a lovely place. but it is a troubled one. just about all of these troubles are entirely self inflicted, but they pass the blame on instead of addressing it. mostly, then, Scotland is kind of a nice tourist place for Americans who have found it's no longer trendy to claim Irish heritage and this all works as a perfectly serviceable replacement.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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