The "United" Kingdom

When Americans think of the United Kingdom they mostly picture England. Especially with the World Cup in full swing national unity is at full tilt on the island off the coast of France. After visiting London though, I quickly realized that was certainly not the case. There is regional pride much like the Catalan region in Spain present in the ‘United’ Kingdom. With England in the south and Scotland in the north, there isn’t much common ground to be found between them.

Having been to Scotland before, I understood their opinion of the English. In 2007, I stayed for 10 days with a student my age outside of St. Andrews in a town called Wormit. The picture above is me in St. Andrews Castle overlooking the city. While there, I noticed many things about their culture that differentiated them from the English. Not only does Scotland have their own flag, a national anthem called “The Flower of Scotland” but they don’t cheer for the England national team or totally embrace the English as countrymen. There was a girl in our group named Hannah who was from York, England and was teased playfully for not being Scottish. In arriving in London, I almost immediately saw how this was a definitely reciprocated feeling.

Stepping from the Tube onto Great Portland Street in London, I immediately became jealous of my friend Will. He had been living in a flat with 5 other guys in a very sheik, young part of town. Making sure that I was looking the correct way to avoid traffic, Brad and I were taken to a local pub. It was called the Mason’s Arms and a sign on the wall noted that Ian Maclean frequently drank there. To the right is a picture of it I found online. I made my way to the bar and asked Will which beer I should get. A gentleman sitting at the bar who was probably in his mid to early 40’s and wearing a sport coat and tie turned around and asked if I was from America. I replied that I was and he immediately grew a big smile on his face. He told his name was Harry and said that he went to New York about 6 years ago. While there, he was met with much acceptance and insisted on buying me drinks to recipricate the kindness. The next thing I know, I am surrounded by 3 or 4 local Englishmen asking me questions about being abroad and American politics. Several of them asked why I chose Luxembourg as a place to study and they also gave me tips on how to impress English girls. I joked with them on how the oil spill was caused by British Petroleum, not American Petroleum which made them all laugh. Eventually, the conversation steered towards football and they told me about how the people love certain teams based on location and region. While on the topic of region, I immediately thought of our class discussions about them. Being an inquisitive person, I asked them if the stereotype is true about the English and the Welsh having poor relations. All of them laughed and said that it wasn’t the Welsh they had the problems with; it was the “bloody Scots”.

From a historical standpoint, Scotland and England were never supposed to get along. The well known revolution lead by William Wallace, depicted in the movie Braveheart, occurred in the early 1300’s. It was in this revolution that the Scots earned their freedom. This freedom lasted until the early 1700’s when Scotland unified with England to create one country under the Acts of Union. This happened despite the national outcry by the people of Scotland against it. In class, we read in McNeil about the reaction to the movie Braveheart when it was released in 1995. It was received with two different reactions; one was a worry that all of Scotland would become a Braveheart theme park. While the other was a modern day push for Scottish independence. The Scottish National Party was the main group to voice this protest. Right now, a man by the name of Alex Salmond is leading the SNP and has been called a “Modern Day William Wallace”. He claims that “an independent Scotland would have no larger a fiscal deficit than most members of the European Union and would easily meet the Maastricht criteria for joining its Euro single currency.” http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9903/14/britain.scotland/

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777806.html?pageno=2.

In the bar, one man in particular explained to me that the Scots want to be their own country despite the fact that it could never work out. When I asked why it wouldn't work, he said " A place where men wear skirts could never run themselves". I silently disagreed but did not want to start a debate with someone who lived in England about Scottish rights. When I speak to my Scottish friends, they all say that it is possible for Scotland to be free but it is also unnecessary. They have independence as far as they are concerned and least they can be civil with their English neighbors. I will only ever have an outside looking in perspective on this issue but I believe that William Wallace died to free Scotland, and although they are not independent, they are certainly free.