On 25th July 1603 King James VI of Scotland was crowned King James I of England, sparking many of the ongoing resentments about Scottish power in England and English power in Scotland that are continuing to this day.
On 25th July 2008, Labour lost to the Scottish Nationalist Party in the Glasgow East by-election, giving the Scottish independence movement a handy boost.
1603, resentment of influential Scots; 2008, resentment of influential Scots.
405 years with the same rulers – and 301 years since the Act of Union brought the two countries together as one – and yet Scottish/English national identity is as strong as ever. The only difference? We no longer invade and kill each other when we get miffed.
Lesson learned? Political union is great.
Let’s continue the anaolgy shall we….the EU is offering us another 405 sodding years of subsidising the French sodding farmers? As we’ve spent the last 405 sudsidising the Scots?
Can’t we invade instead?
Time Worstall,
The amount of subsidies may look horrendous, until you tally the costs of invasion (cf. US budget Iraq).
But it was only about 40 years after King James VI of Scotland was crowned King James I of England before Scotland invaded England again. You know, during the various civil wars in the decade after 1642. Civil wars do happen and are if anything generally more bloody than wars between nation states.