An Independent Scotland? Will auld acquaintance be forgot?"

It's hard to know what to say about the upcoming referendum in Scotland. The people there will vote on 18 September whether Scotland should remain part of the United Kingdom or break away to become independent. I can see the "yes to independence" voters' reasoning, with regard to political matters. Scotland leans left, while they see England and Wales (or England anyway) as leaning right, so the Scots majority object strongly to having mainly right-wing policies foisted upon them (join the club!) This might be a piece of propaganda, as it relates to most of England, especially England north of the midlands.

What the Scottish people are using as an English stereotype is the class-conscious, toffee-nosed home counties (a wide area surrounding London), along with a majority of southern and south-western English. Up North it is (or was in my 60+ years there) a different scene.

Fantacising here - instead of Scottish independence, there could have been a vote on Scotland and Northern England together seceding from the south of England. Northerners and the Scottish have much in common, to my way of thinking. They had mining, shipbuilding, fishing trawlers, heavy industry etc. in common; much, or all of that in some cases, now lost.

It's none of my business now, even though I'm still a UK (dual)citizen officially. I'm unlikely to return. The thought of Scotland leaving the UK still hurts in a way. Silly, I guess. What also hurts, and also is silly of me: I get angry at some of the comments thrown around by Americans on this issue. Americans who have Scottish ancestors love to rail on about historical English brutality, but completely forget that the Scots were a very warlike and war-loving breed themselves. In this they quite probably outstripped the English. In any case, what the heck the dubious history of centuries past has to do with this referendum quite escapes me.

Scottish Independence. Wouldn't a better plan have been to vow to start a combined British political mass movement to try to overthrow the southern element which many English dislike as much as the Scots do? Did nobody even consider such a plan? Are Brits as fast asleep as Americans are on this front? We, the ordinary people of all nations, need to stick together, not fall apart. Divide et impera (divide and conquer) - that's exactly what the world's oligarchies are after.

My favourite comment, so far on this topic was a one liner from one "Tralfaz Wizard" (don't recall exactly where):

In the larger scheme of things it seems kind of like switching bridge partners on the Titanic.