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Chancer
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Russet,

OK, back to this:

An interesting letter in the i today quotes an article from a pamphlet published in London at the time of the flooding in 1607:

"A true report of certaine wonderfull ouerflowings of Waters, now lately in Summersetshire, Norfolke, and other places of England: destroying many thousands of men, women, and children, overthrowing and bearing downe whole townes and villages, and drowning infinite numbers of sheepe and other Cattle."

'On its front page an engraving showed only the top of a church spire and a couple of trees emerging from the floods, and people, animals and a crib floating in the water.'  

David

 

 

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I'm English, and strongly pro Union, but I've often wondered how I'd feel about the UK if I were a Scot: probably with quite a lot of ambivalence. One small example: I've always been struck by the way that so many of we English casually exclude the other UK countries from the national narrative by routinely referring to 'England' when we mean Britain or the UK. And we've allowed the rest of the world to use England, never bothering to correct people. I can't think of any other decent country with this divisive habit.

If, as I hope, Scotland votes to stay in the Union I'd like to see a serious rebalancing of our multi layered identity and have our children taught the difference between the home nations and the wider state.

Alex Salmond is a very clever operator who knows how to provoke the Kelvin Mackenzies among the English (a few on this site maybe..) into the kind of snarling reactions that perfectly suit his agenda.

Final thought - the referendum will follow the World Cup this year - an event that leaves even Sassenachs despairing about England. That'll probably add one or two percentage points to the yes vote.

James
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Maybe the newly independent Scotland would like to take the Bank of Scotland (and it's debts!) with it.

On the subject of MPs with regional accents, I have read that 'White Dee' from Benefits Street has announced that she intends to stand (and that's not just on her feet!)
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[quote user="Rabbie"]The name is to a large extent irrelevant. The BoE was founded by William Paterson who was Scottish. What is relevant is that the Bank today is one of the assets of the UK and Mr Salmond has proposed that the assets and liabilities of the UK should be split if Scotland becomes independent. If England says Scotland can't have its share of the assets then IMO it is not unreasonable not to agree to taking a share of the liabilities. 

The problem is that there is so much posturing being done by politicians on both sides of the argument. Hopefully the situation will be resolved by a No vote but if there is a Yes vote I would not be surprised if there is a lot more common sense on both sides.

 

[/quote]

I have no strong feelings either way about Scottish independence, but if I was a fervent nationalist (English) I would, in much the same way as fervent Scottish nationalists tend to do, take great exception to being told that the name of the Bank of England is "to a large extent irrelevant". It may be irrelevant if you're presenting the nationalist argument for the Scots, but perhaps less so if you're presenting it from an English nationalist (does such a beast exist?) point of view! And that just threw up another thought. We currently have the BNP and UKIP. They're going to have to have a nomenclature rethink, aren't they?

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[quote user="You can call me Betty"][quote user="Rabbie"]The name is to a large extent irrelevant. The BoE was founded by William Paterson who was Scottish. What is relevant is that the Bank today is one of the assets of the UK and Mr Salmond has proposed that the assets and liabilities of the UK should be split if Scotland becomes independent. If England says Scotland can't have its share of the assets then IMO it is not unreasonable not to agree to taking a share of the liabilities. 

The problem is that there is so much posturing being done by politicians on both sides of the argument. Hopefully the situation will be resolved by a No vote but if there is a Yes vote I would not be surprised if there is a lot more common sense on both sides.

 

[/quote]

I have no strong feelings either way about Scottish independence, but if I was a fervent nationalist (English) I would, in much the same way as fervent Scottish nationalists tend to do, take great exception to being told that the name of the Bank of England is "to a large extent irrelevant". It may be irrelevant if you're presenting the nationalist argument for the Scots, but perhaps less so if you're presenting it from an English nationalist (does such a beast exist?) point of view! And that just threw up another thought. We currently have the BNP and UKIP. They're going to have to have a nomenclature rethink, aren't they?
[/quote]I obviously didn't make my point clear. I was replying to a post which suggested (to me at any rate) that just because it was called the Bank of England it was an English asset. I was trying to make the point that it is just one of the UK assets that should be shared if there is a split. I am sorry if you think I was being insulting. That was not my intention.

For me the importance of the BoE is not in its name but in its role as the central bank of the UK.

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Rabbie, I totally see what you meant, I'm just playing devil's advocate and saying that maybe "what's in a name?" could be a bit of a red rag to a bull to some people. I mean, to us English, it's our bank. This is, after all, all about nationalism. At the moment, Mr Salmond wants the Scots to decide on their own future, but there will be English people who might disagree with the Nationalist stance north of the border, or at least hold views about national identity every bit as entrenched as those of the Scots. Oop north (not as far as Scotland, or even as far as Idun, but where I come from) there was an oft-used expression "What's yours is mine, and what's mine's my own"...which seems to be Mr. Salmond's world view.

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[quote user="Russethouse"]Betty, How is the flooding situation going in your part of the world?[/quote]

We're much better, thanks, RH. They've lifted our flood warning and, thanks to the fire service (some from as far away as Derbyshire) the ground water is being pumped away, although that's a 24/24 job. There's a massive pipe running for about half a mile around the village, pumping the water away back into the river, which is now low enough to take it, and pumping some more onto specially dammed areas of land to soak away.

We were certainly extraordinarily lucky, and our thoughts are now very much with our close neighbours in Wraysbury, Old Windsor and Egham. Since yesterday, we even have trains again.

Hope it's all getting better for those of you elsewhere, although I realise that for some, it isn't showing much sign of improvement.

ETA.. and I must mention one of the unsung heroes of this whole operation: Khalsa Aid. It's a Sikh organisation, and they've been incredibly supportive and helpful and sent volunteers to assist in every aspect of the situation in which they could get involved, many coming from outside the area to help.

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I'm glad things are getting better Betty.

I've wondered why Khalsa Aid isn't mentioned more than it is. I suppose it's a reflection on our lazy journalists; I know Khalsa Aid has been busy in the Philippines.

Make the most of your Derbyshire firemen. Derbyshire County Council is planning to close eighteen of its fire staions.

Hoddy
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A man from Khalsa Aid was on the TV from Somerset some weeks ago, and then the Thames started flooding and some of the volunteers were going there and more were being solicited from the Midlands. I thought that I had mentioned it in a post, but maybe not.

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Thank you for all the supportive comments and good wishes. We've been very lucky, but it's been a pretty tense week, and the cleanup operation is only just beginning. I do appreciate your kindness and concern, which have cheered me up and given me somewhere to come to have a chat, a laugh and the usual mandatory disagreement whilst the waters have been lapping at our ankles. [:D]

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Our daffs are now out here in Wiltshire. Nice to see some signs of spring despite the rain which just seems to go on and on. Atleast we are safe from flooding unlike so many poor people who will probably only get back into their houses in time for next year's floods[:(]
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On Friday I drove to Melton Mowbray and thought how lovely this bit of middle England is looking at the moment. Crocus, snowdrops, catkins and daffodils along the route. We've been lucky to avoid the floods. I'm trying not to let the memory of that horrible burst of late winter we had last year spoil it.

Hoddy
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