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Gibraltar, Scotland, Northern Ireland (what will become of the peace process?). Effectively the UK is left with Wales. Is it even a 'K' any more? Would that tak
by ricksplat 10y ago
Gibraltar, Scotland, Northern Ireland (what will become of the peace process?). Effectively the UK is left with Wales. Is it even a 'K' any more? Would that take the 'G' out of GB?
- return0 10y agoMore like Cyprus and Malta. I figure the UK is not ready to split yet, no?
- ricksplat 10y agoJust a couple of years ago Scotland were all set. Then some EPP crony said something about not being in the EU any more and swung the vote. As for NI - for the sake of peace that would be a more drawn out process.
- etatoby 10y agoI expect Scotland to split and join the EU shortly. Just look at the map in the linked article.
- sievebrain 10y agoPerhaps. If they did, so be it. But the arguments at the time of the referendum didn't get stronger. The EU would require Scotland to join the Euro, join Schengen (means a border wall), and the primary argument for an independent Scotland was "we'll take all the oil money for ourselves". But now oil is cheap thanks to US fracking and the North Sea oil industry is going bust. I think the future probably has more devolution in it. Which is fine.
- ricksplat 10y ago>means a border wall Hadrian's wall and miles of rural waste should already be sufficient for these purposes.
- ck425 10y agoOne of the key arguments against independence was uncertainty over if/how soon we would join the EU. At the time that vs just staying in. Now it's vs definitely leaving. So while the argument hasn't changed the alternative has. We've also had almost 2 years of Westminster failing to deliver any of the promised devolution. We get these things are slow to happen but there's been pitiful progress towards them so far. Lots of people voted No on the basis of more devolution. So while the arguments haven't changed the alternative to independence has for the worse. I'm honestly struggling to see a future without an independent Scotland tbh.
- sievebrain 10y agoThe delay on devolution was caused by the SNP insisting that it still receive the same or bigger subsidies from the rest of the UK, even though that struck many as unfair (part of independence is paying your own way). It's not like Parliament refused to hand over powers.
- ck425 10y agoIIRC part of this argument was that Scotland contributed more than the uk average as well, they most per person outside London/South-East England. Additionally parliament haven't been particularly forthcoming over tax rights, easiest way around that argument was to split income tax into a federal and regional income tax and let us set the later.
- estefan 10y agoThere's talk of London trying to do the same. That'd be a way to solve a lot, but I can't see it happening.
- w_t_payne 10y agoAnd London too.
- rorykoehler 10y agoI can see Northern Ireland, Scotland and London splitting and rejoining the EU. The rest can go wallow in the mess they made for themselves.
- pugwash 10y agoNorthern Ireland won't split from Great Britain. Too many people there are too heavily invested in their identity as British and would happily follow the rest of the UK over the edge of a cliff so long as they get to keep their Union Jacks and framed photos of the Queen. Sinn Féin have called for an Ireland-wide referendum on unification because obviously they have. Even if you grant that they don't have the ulterior motive of being Irish Republicans and that they genuinely want Northern Ireland to remain part of the EU (and there's no reason both of these things can't be true), that's probably the only way to ensure that the six counties of Northern Ireland do remain part of the EU in some fashion. And, of course, if it did pass, you'd simply end up with a resurgence in sectarian violence as Unionist hardliners rebel.
- rorykoehler 10y agoYou're probably right on all counts apart from leaving Great Britain (though its's also possible you're right on that too). As an Irishman I'm not sure a united Ireland is desirable as the problems of the north may spill into the south. I would personally support an independent Northern Ireland in the EU more than a united Ireland.
- dba7dba 10y agoGreat Britain sounds fine to me.
- Scarblac 10y ago"Great Britain" is the name of the island, there's no reason for it to change. It is opposed to "lesser Britain", the Brittany part of France.
- pluma 10y agoYeah, but it's used as a shorthand for the full name of the UK: "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". If Northern Ireland leaves, that makes it "The United Kingdom of Great Britain". If Scotland leaves, that makes it ... what exactly? The United Kingdom of England and Wales? I guess they'd also have to change the flag but I'm not sure what a cross between the English and Welsh flags would look like.
- conjectures 10y agoYou're mistaken. We became Great Britain when England and Scotland unified. When all the peripheries split off again, it'll be back to good old England with John Bull, warm beer and less jobs.
- DonaldFisk 10y agoScarblac is correct. We became the United Kingdom.
- conjectures 10y agoI refer you to this resource aimed at junior schools. Should be at your level: http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/britain/britain.htm http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questi...
- DonaldFisk 10y agoOh very funny, and not particularly accurate. Ptolemy used the term Great Britain (μεγάλης Βρεττανίας) for the large island in 147AD, long before Scotland or England existed. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain#Derivation_of_.22Great.22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain#Derivation_of_.2...
- pbhjpbhj 10y agoWales isn't and wasn't a kingdom, the union that formed GB was that of the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland initially under personal union of King James. The Welsh counties were annexed to England long before that in a similar way to the other counties of Britain. The geographical state of Wales being birthed now never was a unified Kingdom though it was very briefly conquered by Gwynedd (Northern principality in Wales), only for so much time as it took the English crown to realise and quell the 'rebellion'. For GB there are about another quarter million people who are subjects of Her Majesty who remain in overseas territories.
- ricksplat 10y agoSir Thomas More: "it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world... but for Wales?"