THE MOST BITTER DIVORCE IN HISTORY

As a nation, or, perhaps soon to be former nation, it really does rather look as if we're about to get ourselves involved in the most bitter divorce in history in a week or so’s time, a divorce, I might add, that few of the ninety two percent of the population living south of the border were really looking for.

Now, I’ve avoided, for the most part, commenting upon the forthcoming referendum, not least because it tends to get you a whole load of abuse, but also because the one time I did make a public comment about it, I was pretty much told that it had nothing to do with me anyway, and it was for the people living in Scotland to decide the future of Scotland, no matter, it seems how actually Scottish they are.

And that’s a perfectly valid point…

Of course it is.

The difficulty is that it ought not to be up to just the people of Scotland to decide the future of the rest of the nation as well.

At least not in my humble opinion.

The funny thing is that the rest of the union doesn’t even get a say on the matter… despite the fact that they are affected, whether you like to admit it or not. Yes, Scotland should decide Scotland’s fate, but it appears to have a disproportionate amount of influence over the rest of our destinies, too…

This is not the same as independence for  Rhodesia, or Hong Kong, dammit, we are (or at least were) a Union and, whether we like it or not, a lot of our destinies and the way we are viewed by the wider world, are rather bound together by history if nothing else, and it’s not really for one generation to kick sand in the face of history, and, even if some of that history is very suspect when it comes to a moral standpoint, nobody alive today had a great deal to to with any of that.

And I suspect that in the cold light of day, once the “bugger off” joviality is done with, most ordinary Britons wouldn't want Scotland to go, because the poorest of both countries will be the ones who bear the brunt of the suffering.

As ever…

And, as a Northerner, it’s hard not to imagine that most Scots, seething at their resentment at what the government have done to their country over the past several decades, seem to equate the whole of England with those numpties in Westminster, and fail to reason that quite a lot of us didn’t want them running our lives either.

Of course, quite predictably, the people most concerned about the divorce appear to be the economists. Now most of us don’t really think all that much about the economy until we have to pay more for our Dollars or Euros, or if our house price collapses, but the Stock Markets have no such worries, and when the pound collapses, which it inevitably will due to all of the unknown post-devolution issues still to be addressed, nobody’s life is likely to get any better unless they’re a banker or a stockbroker or a politician.

The poorer people of both nations will suffer, and maybe simply because of the ire being thrown towards the few in Westminster… but you can guarantee that it'll be the savings and pensions which are yours and mine that'll be getting clobbered, not those of the complacent idiots who claim to run these countries.

Nelson… (ironically)

Also RUK might have to renegotiate its position in Europe and what benefit is there from the “Har! Har!” groups on both sides of the border if everyone gets stuffed?

Still, the “Yes” campaign seem very motivated and obviously believe that everything will be fine, so that’s okay then, but the BBC News has now started resembling the old “one of these things is not like the others” song from “Sesame Street” as it pops up the pictures of the “Big Four” players in this sorry saga.

Alex, Alex, Alex... don’t you realise that all of this petty point scoring makes you appear and sound just as smug as all of the other gits, making it seem as if Holyrood politics would look just the same as Westminster politics to everyone outside the place after all...? Leaving Scotland merely with one bunch of self-serving gits in suits replacing another bunch of self-serving gits in suits... Still, if the argument is that at least they're “our” self-serving gits in suits, then I suppose that it’s fair enough... as long as your personal “place in history” is assured.

Is it wrong of me to accept that it’s perfectly okay to let people bugger up their own country, but to resent them buggering up mine... or is that just how it’s felt to be Scottish for several generations…?

I’m not pro-, but I’m not particularly anti- either - I’m far more pragmatic than that - and, even though I know that I would prefer the status quo (because I’m not much of a one for appreciating change), I’m far more concerned at the actions of just one generation meddling with the entire mass of history in something that isn’t just a one-off protest vote which can be rectified by another vote in half a decade or so, but is more of a “forever” thing…

Nothing is forever, of course...

“Because of the unique way that the UK is structured...” as that old BBC ad used to so nearly put it, means that a huge change which also alters the life of the other 92% is being decided by 8%… but then I imagine that's just how much of Scotland felt when all those numpties were getting elected throughout the eighties.

So... it’s payback time...?

Or, as Howard Goodall put it so eloquently recently, “Anyone else find it strange to be a voteless, powerless spectator of the biggest constitutional change in our country’s modern history?”

I know that I shouldn’t really be ranting about this, because it will only get me into trouble... but standing by and saying nothing seems unwise, too...

So here I am, pointlessly ranting as my country crumbles around me…

“Don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone…”

Maybe, by feeling powerless, we’ve got more in common with the Scots than we realised, and it’s only the risk of losing them that has made us realise it.