I think slightly spurious stillYou’re asking people to choose between two things - - would you like a packet of sweets or a bag of crisps, whilst you may want both if you’re asked to choose you have to pick one, it doesn’t mean you’re not supportive of the other.I’m now in my early 50s so am a child of the thatcher era (why I support the Torres historically) and when I grew up we all thought of ourselves as British. By nature as nationalism has grown and taken a larger grip in Scotland if many Scots start to define themselves primarily as Scottish rather then British and support anyone but England etc, then some people elsewhere would start more to define themselves more locally too. To be fair this is not just a British phenomenon (Catalonia being the obvious recent example)Just so you can tut at my heathen view on the matter, I think it far better if we stay together as a united island here, but if the Scots really wanted to separate at the end of the day I would say that whilst I personally think it would be a mistake, I do think it should be their choice. I do think that they would be poorer for it at least initially, however if they were strongly pro being their own country and that unlocked other perceived benefits for them then so be it. I would feel sorry for the minority who had by then lost!Regarding Northern Ireland I think a slightly different matter as geographically separate from here, but I’ve always thought the status of Northern Ireland to be either a part of the uk, a part of the republic, or independent is up to them. Whilst they are I think quite heavily subsidised by elsewhere in the uk, it is relatively minor, and i would suspect in their own time they may come to a better peace with the republic - geographically that would make more sense.
Mike Warman ● 2700d