Above: this year we are trying a vegetarian haggis (bought from Sainsburys) plus a bottle of Bells whisky.
Today is Burns Night - an annual celebration of the life and work of the poet Robert Burns.
This year the day has been hijacked by the Scottish National Party who have chosen to use today to launch the SNP consultation paper on a referendum for Scottish independence (they supposedly plan to hold the actual referendum on the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn 1314 although it is not clear they will be allowed to affiliate a historic anniversary for electoral purposes, especially as it would mean holding the election on a Sunday).
Therefore I think it is important for ordinary people throughout the United Kingdom to reclaim Burns Night from the SNP - great artists and poets are the inheritance of all humanity should not be retrospectively co-opted into nationalist programmes.
Probably any referendum will just be confined to Scotland, and people in the rest of the United Kingdom will not be involved (not even people who were born in Scotland).
However the ordinary people in the rest of the United Kingdom can go over the heads of the SNP and talk directly (via Facebook, blogs, Twitter etc) to the ordinary people of Scotland.
Therefore as someone who is entirely English my Burns Night message to the people of Scotland is: don't leave us. Stay with us in the United Kingdom. Let us continue to share our common island home and (I sincerely hope) share our common Parliament at Westminster.
1 comments:
As a Scot may I wish you and your fellow countrymen all the best for your future and remember to come and visit us in Scotland once in a while.
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