tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post7254304994770320759..comments2024-03-28T15:31:24.324+00:00Comments on SCOT goes POP!: Try telling the Nordic countries you need to have a single state to retain a multi-national identityJames Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01516007141763230886noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post-20985481171215242802011-05-27T23:52:03.777+01:002011-05-27T23:52:03.777+01:00And above all else we share a common language - a...And above all else we share a common language - although of course we have two others of our own!James Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01516007141763230886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post-64584042083573588922011-05-26T16:47:37.115+01:002011-05-26T16:47:37.115+01:00I think, too, that the Eurovision Song Contest bea...I think, too, that the Eurovision Song Contest bears witness to this feeling of cultural similarity. Didn’t Wogan bemoan for years how Cyprus would always give 12 points to Greece, and vice versa; how the former Soviet states tended to vote heavily for one and other, and how the only country that liked the UK was Ireland, rather strangely, I thought, given the troubles.<br /><br />Of course, I understand that when it comes to neighbouring nations, there can be a love – hate relationship, but there are natural ties founded on geography, and regional culture, cuisine, etc, based on what nature has given us.<br /><br />We, although very different in many ways from the English, have a great deal more in common with them than we do with people of Mediterranean origin, perhaps because we suffer the same weather conditions, eat the same kind of food, are educated in a broadly similar way, listen to the same kind of music as they do. Rather like people from Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, have similar cultural identities, completely different from Nordic people, or the people of South East Asia, who also have broadly similar lives.<br /><br />We live on the British Isles; nothing will change that. We share them with the Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands and Man. Whether or not we are part of a political structure, that will surely remain.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post-30246201185316960152011-05-26T09:48:48.271+01:002011-05-26T09:48:48.271+01:00Interesting that unionists have always sneered at ...Interesting that unionists have always sneered at the 'identity' politics of nationalist parties and now, hey presto, not only is identity legitimate, it's a reason to 'save the union'.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com