Nation

[eoino]

I came accross a topic early on about flags. It seems a lot of people in the UK dont concider themselves as being British, from Britain or reconise their country and the United Kingdom of Britain. In Ireland, its simular, most people when refaring to where they are from say Ireland, no the Republic of Ireland as it is politicly known. We see Northern Ireland just another part of Ireland and concider then Irish not British.

Im just wondering, do many people here believe that the UK should stop and make 3 Indipendent nations, Wales Scotland and England aswell as give up Northern Ireland?...

 

[Ashton]

To be honest if they (scotland, wales and northern ireland) dont class themselves as british then thats fine by me they can p*ss off and become independent, then they can become even more insignificant

 

[St Day 3]

Im a Cornishman, not an Englishman. But i have the good grace to accept that the English, through both millitary and pollitical means have subjugated this island under than banner of "Britain"
Perhaps the rest of our Celtic cousins should wake up to this and take note of what weve all gained from the act of union.

 

[getofmeland]

I feel that on a sporting level it is good to still be united as the united kingdom, as if we split, we would lose some of the rivalry between our Great Nations!!!

 

[Rugby_Cymru]

To be honest if they (scotland, wales and northern ireland) dont class themselves as british then thats fine by me they can p*ss off and become independent, then they can become even more insignificant
[/b]

You're a ******. Enough said.





I'd like it to stay as it is. The Welsh rely heavily on monies from England and we are a much more prosperous nation becuase of it. I've got my flag as Welsh, becuase it's significant on this board. When the Lions play I'm british through and through and proud of it. But they appear once every four years, so i'm Welsh all other times.
I don't see why being associated alongside England is a bad thing.
Except for the minority, whom i believe i quoted at the beginning of this post.

 

[Ashton]

you're welsh, enough said.

Im just sick and tired of all the anti-englishness from the rest of the union. Lets face it most Welsh and Scots dont class themselves as British so lets make it official for them, after all we are in a democracy.

 

[eoino]

Im a Cornishman, not an Englishman. But i have the good grace to accept that the English, through both millitary and pollitical means have subjugated this island under than banner of "Britain"
Perhaps the rest of our Celtic cousins should wake up to this and take note of what weve all gained from the act of union.
[/b]

Funny, Ireland gained very very little. Well England did grant us a famon i supose.. But when Ireland became a Republic, our economy grew and our little Nation is now amongst the richest in Europe and the world (Higher than the UK). All this was gained from parting from the UK. I think if Scotland parted, they could concentrate souly on Scotland itself and become a stronger nation. Wales.. well, they do need to remain part of the UK because they have little resources but a proud nation and respect to them.

But you should all Join our Irish republic and become rich and have a bit of craic and a drink or 7!

 

[DC]

you're welsh, enough said.

Im just sick and tired of all the anti-englishness from the rest of the union. Lets face it most Welsh and Scots dont class themselves as British so lets make it official for them, after all we are in a democracy.
[/b]

wales > england

anyday of the week i'd rather be in wales with their gorgeous babes than the inbred looking english women!

 

[shtove]

Perhaps the rest of our Celtic cousins should wake up to this and take note of what weve all gained from the act of union.
[/b]

You mean the European Union? That's what has made a huge difference to Ireland. Scotland and Wales should have gone for it when it was unpopular but profitable. Too late now, with all the eastern states coming in.

Britain made so many **** mistakes after WWII. Question is: are they still making those mistakes?

 

[edinburgh_gunner]

Well, the SNP are ahead in the polls for the Hollyrood elections so an independant Scotland may come sooner rather than later.

I think that only Scotland would work on it's own. We've got a decent enough industry, plus the oil aswell. We're quite an entrapenurial bunch really and I think we've got enough 'new industry' to support ourselves. Wales is too small just now, but if it was to grow in economy then I could see it happening for them.

Devolution has grown in popularity since the Parliment re-opened in '99 and more and more people are begining to support it. The election in May will go a long way to showing just how popular idea an independant Scotland really is. I'm a nationalist and damn proud of it, so are my parents and I'd be so happy if we were to become independant again. It's really only a matter of time now anway, the English aren't happy we still vote in Westminister on things that don't effect us (which is a fair enough complaint) and a split is the only outcome I can see.

 

[shtove]

But if Scotland stands on its feet, what happens to Norn Irn? That really has nothing to do with the English, who should be spending more face time with the French and Germans, instead of swamp-hopping in Washington.

In twenty years time we'll be obsessed with the threats from Russia and North Africa, while the Spanish speaking president of New England is forced to sign unfavourable trade agreements with the United States of South America.

 

[Rugby_Cymru]

you're welsh, enough said.

Im just sick and tired of all the anti-englishness from the rest of the union. Lets face it most Welsh and Scots dont class themselves as British so lets make it official for them, after all we are in a democracy.
[/b]

I want to see where you're getting your ideas from.
Being that Welsh and Scottish people hold a British passport, it's hard NOT to consider yourself anything else (at least officially).
I think you've had some bitter experiences as an Englishman because i've certainly not grown up in an area where anti-englishness is prevalent. Banter towards the English, our great enemy etc. during sporting events, but i don't personally have one friend or member of family that will judge someone and discriminate against them because they are English. It's petty and I'm offended that you would think that of "most" of my country folk.
Then again, I don't know all the views either.

 

[getofmeland]

Even Lora is not that bad, he hates the english, but not all the people... I hate France and the Scots, but I dont hate the whole population...

 

[O'Rothlain]

Hey...don't slight Wales. America was a wee little group of redneck farmers, and look what we've done with ourselves! We're Number 1 baby...Yeah! We will literally drop a nuke on your head for looking at us wrongly. So, be proud wee Wales, with your Charlotte Church's and your sheep, and Tom Jones...follow in your American cousins path and become the united state of wales! USW, USW, USW!!

Oh, and give Northern Ireland back you shelfish *****!


Now, I'm just going to sit back and let someone tell me how I know nothing of what really goes on in ireland and the whole northern ireland thing blah blah blah....blah.


Fosters, Australian for Beer.

 

[Ashton]

<div class='quotemain'>
Im a Cornishman, not an Englishman. But i have the good grace to accept that the English, through both millitary and pollitical means have subjugated this island under than banner of "Britain"
Perhaps the rest of our Celtic cousins should wake up to this and take note of what weve all gained from the act of union.
[/b]

Funny, Ireland gained very very little. Well England did grant us a famon i supose.. But when Ireland became a Republic, our economy grew and our little Nation is now amongst the richest in Europe and the world (Higher than the UK). All this was gained from parting from the UK. I think if Scotland parted, they could concentrate souly on Scotland itself and become a stronger nation. Wales.. well, they do need to remain part of the UK because they have little resources but a proud nation and respect to them.

But you should all Join our Irish republic and become rich and have a bit of craic and a drink or 7!
[/b][/quote]

Ok you have a higher GDP per capita but your country is not richer than then UK which is the 5th largest economy in the world and significantly higher than Irelands

 

[wigan_rlfc]

Oh, and give Northern Ireland back you shelfish *****!


[/b]

Give it back to whom exactly, I don't recall it ever being a part of the Republic of Ireland. Northren Ireland has been in the UK since 1801, the free state/republic has only been around since the 1920's.

The UK, 4 countries - One Nation.....Forever.

 

[Prestwick]

I am British. I may have been born in England, but I am British. I am a modern Unionist, in that I believe in the Union of three dynamic and diversive nations but that there must eventually be arrangements for the handover of Northern Ireland.

My desire is to eventually see a fully federal Britain with all three nations having full national Parliaments in a system similar to that of Canada. I reject any notion of independence for Scotland and Wales on the simple basis that it would be an illusion.

The main platform of the SNP and Plaid Cymru is that an independent Scotland or Wales would immediately seek entry into the European Union and not only that seek funding equivelent to the bonanza which Ireland experienced when they shrewdly negotiated their entry.

This however is unlikely as currently the only nations supporting new entries to the European Union of any kind are the UK and a couple of the new Eastern European nations. Even if Scotland and Wales are low cost entries, they would still add to the burden of an already creaking European Union.

Furthermore, if they did join, they would merely be swapping one powerbase for another. No not London for Edinburgh or Cardiff, but London for Brussells. They would have less of a say in European affairs than they do now. The prime reason for nations like Norway and Swizerland not joining is that they seem to have more say outside of the big European tent than inside. If Scotland and Wales would want true independence, they would want a future outside of the European Union. Period. The scene of Alec Sammond being laughed out of Brussels is something I do not want to see.

Nor should there be any consession to the relatively "re-discovered" nationalists in say Yorkshire or, ugh Cornwall. Both have only recently (and I stress recently) seen a surge (I'm not going to say "resurgence" because there isn't an original surge in the past to compare this too) as a result of their English identity being surpressed by the liberal inteligensia "my way or the high way" people in London. If the English were allowed to celebrate their culture and their way of life just as much as the Welsh and the Scottish can then we would not have such artificial campaigns springing up in the far corners of England.

Essentially the best path for all concerned to take is to continue with devolution, but agree a new constitutional settlement in which all three nations can continue, working together. With the challenge of China and India on the horizon, we are much better working as one rather than acting as easy pickings for the vultures divided as three.

Yo Ho! A Unionist life for me!

 

[wigan_rlfc]

but that there must eventually be arrangements for the handover of Northern Ireland.


[/b]

Handover to who. Nobody wants it. If Northern Ireland was to leave the Union then it would end up an indedependant state. As far as I know no other countries can legally claim Northern Ireland apart from the UK and no other coutries do.

 

[Ashton]

very good post, with regards to Northern Ireland I think it will one day be given to Ireland but not until there is a clear majority of Northern Ireland folk who want that and that is not going to be in the near future

 

[O'Rothlain]

Hi, my name is Wigan_rlfc, and I have my head up my ass.
[/b]

Well, I'd definitely agree with you on that, sir. But let's not drag out the history books to educate you on, well, the history of western civilization.