A date which will live in infamy...

Most people associate the title of this post with Pres. Roosevelt's speech following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. While this is historically accurate and will assure a passing grade on most 4th grade American History exams, we here at the Mister Speaks prefer to use this statement in reference to January 16, 1707. Why would we do such a thing? Quite simply, three hundred years ago today the traitorous Scottish Parliament accepted the English blood money offered to it and voted itself out of existence.

Of course, this was merely a formality as the crown had already been usurped by William of Orange 19 years earlier. The Scots, by 1707, could still claim to rule the land as Queen Anne, daughter of the deposed King James II, sat on the throne, but the country was only 7 years away from passing into the hands of the first of the German Georges. Granted, this turn of events would eventually prove beneficial to everyone reading this blog, as the third George would prove both massively incompetent as well as periodically insane - a combination of traits that would cause/allow the American colonies to gain their independence. On the other hand, this did nothing for the Scots, who continued for some time to be little more than an internal colony of the British empire (Michael Hechter has a wonderful book addressing this very topic). By 1800, the Union had certainly not brought the promised economic benefits to Scotland (especially the Highlands, see my thesis for some more on this).

Why this extended history lesson? Several polls released by various agencies in Britain have suggested that many in Scotland (in many of the polls, a majority) want to end the Union. Other polls suggest that the Scottish National Party, which has as one of its stated aims a referendum on the future of the Union, is set to capture a majority in the devolved Scottish Parliamentary elections set for May. An independent Scotland should be economically viable based on revenue from tourism and North Sea oil, although it may never become a second "Celtic tiger" like Ireland. Anyway, all this boring stuff aside, it'd sure be nice to see the saltire flying freely over Scotland again. The hard part, I suspect, would be figuring out who the legitimate "king over the water" is. Also, I apologize for the lack of facts to support my arguments, I'll try to add some links later. Until then, death to the Union and remember Culloden Moor.