Pedantic hat on for a minute. Catalan situation in Spain is equivalent to Scottish independence. Brexit would be equivalent to Spain leaving the EU.
Stating the obvious but the pedantry charter means I must correct the last sentence in kili's second paragraph. I mean no offence but it had to be done.
PS don't tell the Little Scotlanders in the SNP about your view of nationalism. Certainly not online on some non political websites I frequent. There's a strong Scottish nationalist element online who jump at anyone questioning Scottish independence.
If nationalism is wrong, what about devolution? Division into nations I assume is wrong but what about devolving political decisions of state down to smaller regions, is that considered right or wrong? Localism vs whatever you'd call large population sized decision making.
As long as UK parliament is London-centric in its actions, legislation, funding etc then devolution to the English regions is essential to redress that balance. Why should 5.5 million Scots, 3 million Welsh and less than 2 million Northern Irish have more local power than cities such as Manchester and Birmingham or the English regions?
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I personally never thought much about what I believe in regarding nations. At international sporting events I looked to those representing the region or nation closest to where I live if I had to decide. As a kid I said I was British first, American second and European third. I attributed quarter of me to being American and the rest British. That's because I was proud of my American grandad. Or rather proud that I had that American connection.
I got older and discovered that American ancestry came right back to Britain and Bristol. Apart from a married couple in my not too distant ancestry who sailed from Goteborg in Sweden. All became American. Plus some distant Germanic ancestry. Since backed up by DNA testing at least the Swedish bit, apparently a little North of Goteborg.
For me I am proud of good behaviour/performance from people with a connection to a region I have connection to. I don't see that as nationalism because it's as likely to be a Lancastrian or rather someone who lives near a place I know well such as that prominent Olympian cyclist who lived in Chorley area. I support England football team because I think that they are in the midst of a change. There's a responsibility in the team and a unique feel to it compared to previous, laddish England teams. You'll not see any one of these guys wearing fake boobs when they inevitably get a coach top tour of London. I don't however support the football, game or fans.
I don't follow the mixed messages coming from the Gov now. Shapps is on the radio saying you should follow the NHS app and isolate if pinged as Covid is nasty and long Covid etc ...blah,blah. BUT the gov is relaxing lockdown rules when the numbers are going up rapidly. So if Covid is still so nasty, why ease the lockdown when the base is so high? Witty, over the months, has gone to great lengths to explain the exponential nature of the spread and how, even from a small base, numbers become very big, very quickly. So why then ease restrictions when the base is already stupidly high? The infection numbers seem then to me to no longer be a concern to the Gov. Is this just an experiment to see if herd immunity is now the way given 80%+ of adults are/would be showing antibodies?
If my perception of the Gov's attitude is right and infection numbers are now not a driving issue (if they are still an issue, why ease when numbers going up?) - why does the Gov expect people to follow the NHS app and isolate - which was a mechanism to slow/stop the increase in numbers? Why should the people care about the numbers if the Gov doesn't?
Pensions were also mentioned elsewhere. I never worked for companies that had final saiary pensions schemes (some didn't have schemes at all). My workplace pension pot is exceedingly small. Luckily, I was given advise [sic - just to fuel the other thread] to set up a private scheme - so I do have a small personal fund. But stupidly, I always thought it would be me and my wife and had just assumed we'd both get the State pension and then have my small pot to top it up - which worked as both State pensions would have been tax free and only the top up taxed. That was workable for us. Now, my wife's pension isn't there - so I end up with a double whammy - no second State pension, and I pay tax on anything I take from my personal pension over the tax limit. Bit of a bugger really. But then I'm lucky as I have at least got that personal pot. Some people don't have that at all and rely on the Gov's triple lock.
Don't you just think that man is a bit slow? We all tend to forget that 100 years ago we were just coming out of the horse and cart era that had lasted millenia. In 100 years we've gone from that to exploring space. My grandad never had a car. Travelling 20 miles was a chore. I thought nothing of travelling 100 miles a day for work. Man is slow at keeping up with the implications of the changes occurring around him.
Man was bounded by the physical things...the rivers, the mountain ranges, the seas. So man grouped into locations and identified themselves by those tribal groups. All the physical boundaries have evaporated rapidly over a very short period of time. Where travelling to China was for the intrepid explorer, the holidaymaker now jumps on a plane and flies around the globe. Man just hasn't got his head round the implications of this yet. The world is too small for tribal identities being the be all and end all - the world has problems that only the world can solve - as well as having issues local to specific regions. So multi-tier gov has got to work - so keeping regional IDs - fine - but working for the global good.
All that globe trotting and commuting may turn out to have been a very short term blip and we'll soon be back to local holidays and working much closer to home. Progress isn't always forwards
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Posts
Stating the obvious but the pedantry charter means I must correct the last sentence in kili's second paragraph. I mean no offence but it had to be done.
PS don't tell the Little Scotlanders in the SNP about your view of nationalism. Certainly not online on some non political websites I frequent. There's a strong Scottish nationalist element online who jump at anyone questioning Scottish independence.
If nationalism is wrong, what about devolution? Division into nations I assume is wrong but what about devolving political decisions of state down to smaller regions, is that considered right or wrong? Localism vs whatever you'd call large population sized decision making.
I got older and discovered that American ancestry came right back to Britain and Bristol. Apart from a married couple in my not too distant ancestry who sailed from Goteborg in Sweden. All became American. Plus some distant Germanic ancestry. Since backed up by DNA testing at least the Swedish bit, apparently a little North of Goteborg.
For me I am proud of good behaviour/performance from people with a connection to a region I have connection to. I don't see that as nationalism because it's as likely to be a Lancastrian or rather someone who lives near a place I know well such as that prominent Olympian cyclist who lived in Chorley area. I support England football team because I think that they are in the midst of a change. There's a responsibility in the team and a unique feel to it compared to previous, laddish England teams. You'll not see any one of these guys wearing fake boobs when they inevitably get a coach top tour of London. I don't however support the football, game or fans.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”