We do in fact know how to gain Scottish independence – let the English vote on it. Given that most would be just delighted to see the back of the demented porridge wogs that would be that.
However, in and around the shouting match concerning the issue there are some pretty odd claims:
Of course there’s a certain lack of logic to the claim which is why Ritchie supports it. Looking at countries which are currently independent will not find anywhere which has succeeded in becoming a colony again, will it? We would need to look at current colonies – British Overseas Territories as they are now known – to find one of those.
And it’s at this point that we find out that the claim is wrong too:
Full adult suffrage was introduced to Anguilla in 1952. After a brief period as part of the West Indies Federation (1958–62), the island of Anguilla became part of the associated state of Saint Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla with full internal autonomy in 1967. However many Anguillians had no wish to be a part of this union, and resented the dominance of St Kitts within it. On 30 May 1967 Anguillians forcibly ejected the St Kitts police force from the island and declared their separation from St Kitts following a referendum. The events, led by Atlin Harrigan and Ronald Webster amongst others, became known as the Anguillian Revolution; its goal was not independence per se, but rather independence from Saint Kitts and Nevis and a return to being a British colony.
With negotiations failing to break the deadlock, a second referendum confirming Anguillians’ desire for separation from St Kitts was held and the Republic of Anguilla was declared unilaterally, with Ronald Webster as president. Efforts by British envoy William Whitlock failed to break the impasse and 300 British troops were subsequently sent in March 1969. British authority was restored, and confirmed by the Anguilla Act of July 1971. In 1980, Anguilla was finally allowed to formally secede from Saint Kitts and Nevis and become a separate British Crown colony (now a British overseas territory). Since then, Anguilla has been politically stable, and has seen a large growth in its tourism and offshore financing sectors.
But then, you know, facts and Scottish independence…..
Only the 13 Colonies of North America ‘won’, in any meaningful sense, independence. All others were granted independence (UK could no longer afford an Empire) and nowhere was Britain driven out by force. All were left in good order. Exception, Aden… now Yemen, where the locals couldn’t agree among themselves who would be in charge, so Britain gave up, left anyway and left them to slug it out. Which they are still doing. As for Scotland. I have yet to hear any reasoned, logical argument why England benefits from union with Scotland or how it would suffer without it. Arguments… Read more »
Rhodesia’s independence was declared unilaterally, although not because they weren’t being offered it, what was on offer didn’t suit the white regime.
And of course, we have the Commonwealth.
54 countries, most of them former colonies, still wanting to maintain ties with the UK.
Any other former imperial power managed that?
I think Rwanda and Mozambique are members of the Commonwealth, but neither was a former colony of the Union Kingdom of Northern Ireland and Great Britain. How are they ‘maintaining ties’ when they didn’t have them to start with.
@ Bongo
This is the obverse of the coin. Former colonies who had observed how well Rhodesia did under British rule compared to the rule of Black Africans or other colonial powers and decided they liked the idea of HM as figurehead reigning even if not ruling over them.
Which is why I said “most of them” not “all of them”
Lol, I remember reading about some French Politicos back in the day being befuddled as to why the newly independent U.S. had better ties with Great Britain than with France.
I’m waiting for a U.S. state or two to come cap in hand in the not too distant. Given the V.G. impersonation of a failed nation the US has been doing for the last few years, I think it fair to say their republican experiment has failed. Shame that.
The “V.G.” impersonation? Do explain.
Canada, Australia and New Zealand are a bit odd on that map. 1931 was the Statute of Westminster, yes, but Canada was effectively independent in 1867 and Australia & New Zealand in 1900. (You could argue that Canada wasn’t independent until 1982) And they are countries where people left the motherland specifically to settle there and create a new country. Where was the mass emmigration from the UK to Scotland to found a create a new country?
NZ’s independence wasn’t won, it was forced onto us. We were happy with the situation as it was and resented the Statute of Westminster considerably. Prior to that we were self-governing, true, but that’s not the same as independent. The Ireland 1922 should have a “most of” attached, as a quarter of Ireland refused independence. A number of those colonies were reabsorbed actually into the British Empire voluntarily. Brunei, for example, was happy to return to being a protectorate upon the ejection of the Japanese. None of them resisted their reincorporation in 1945, and most were only released reluctantly when… Read more »
The map is wrong. Britain only ruled the Aden Protectorate, or South Yemen. The Imamate of Yemen (North Yemen) was more or less ruled by the Turks until WW1.
The UK dumped —-oops gave independence to South Yemen in 1967. The place was subsidised by the USSR until the fall of communism. It then united with oil producing North Yemen.
A few of the Shetlanders & Orcadians I know are quite in favour of protecting themselves if the central belt idiots manage to win a referendum. Protection to take the form of Shetland / Orkney becoming a crown dependancy ( Argue later about which crown, English Scottish or Norwegian), just like Channel Islands or Isle of Mann. They pay a fee to preferred crown, most likely England for the same stuff as the Channel Islands, keep the oil revenue for themselves to save it being poured down the bottomless pit of Glasgow. Long term – fishing revenues from Shetlands waters… Read more »
What about Newfoundland?