"The most successful union of nations the world has ever seen."
The No side's widespread claim that the UK is the most successful union of nations that the world has ever seen should not pass unquestioned. Notable derelictions of duty on the part of the senior partner include:
- One hundred and seventy years of Highland Clearances (1782-1854), during which up to 200,000 people were summarily evicted, stood watching while their homes were demolished, and were then then forced to emigrate. Donald MacLeod, a witness of one such incident, wrote of "two hundred and fifty blazing houses ... The conflagration lasted six days, till the whole of the dwellings were reduced to ashes or smoking ruins."
- The Irish Potato Famine of 1845-1852, in which the UK Government refused to authorise help from England. One million people died and a further million were displaced, out of a population of 8-to-10 million. Ireland had been part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland since the Acts of Union of 1800.
- The Irish armed uprising of Easter 1916 (434 dead).
- Civil war in the UK (the "Irish War of Independence") in 1919-1921, in which 1,400 were killed. Ireland seceded from the Union in 1922, and the UK took the name "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
- Unchallenged discrimination against Catholic and Irish people in Northern Ireland from the 1920s through to the 1990s.
- Thirty years of civic violence in Northern Ireland (1968-1998), which saw 3,500 UK citizens murdered, under a brutal and self-seeking governing body that was a disgrace to the civilised world and was supported throughout by the UK government.
- The 2011 riots that started in Tottenham, in which 5 died. The the UK government claimed that there was no social, political or economic dimension to the riots, and that the rioters were "pure criminals". There were no riots of any kind in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Given that the first duty of a government is to protect its citizens, and that the aim of politics is to reconcile differences, these events are appalling failures. The reason, of course, is that English politicians don't do politics, they only do power. That's why we should be shot of them. More on that next time.
- One hundred and seventy years of Highland Clearances (1782-1854), during which up to 200,000 people were summarily evicted, stood watching while their homes were demolished, and were then then forced to emigrate. Donald MacLeod, a witness of one such incident, wrote of "two hundred and fifty blazing houses ... The conflagration lasted six days, till the whole of the dwellings were reduced to ashes or smoking ruins."
- The Irish Potato Famine of 1845-1852, in which the UK Government refused to authorise help from England. One million people died and a further million were displaced, out of a population of 8-to-10 million. Ireland had been part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland since the Acts of Union of 1800.
- The Irish armed uprising of Easter 1916 (434 dead).
- Civil war in the UK (the "Irish War of Independence") in 1919-1921, in which 1,400 were killed. Ireland seceded from the Union in 1922, and the UK took the name "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".
- Unchallenged discrimination against Catholic and Irish people in Northern Ireland from the 1920s through to the 1990s.
- Thirty years of civic violence in Northern Ireland (1968-1998), which saw 3,500 UK citizens murdered, under a brutal and self-seeking governing body that was a disgrace to the civilised world and was supported throughout by the UK government.
- The 2011 riots that started in Tottenham, in which 5 died. The the UK government claimed that there was no social, political or economic dimension to the riots, and that the rioters were "pure criminals". There were no riots of any kind in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Given that the first duty of a government is to protect its citizens, and that the aim of politics is to reconcile differences, these events are appalling failures. The reason, of course, is that English politicians don't do politics, they only do power. That's why we should be shot of them. More on that next time.
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