What the Scots don’t understand is that the English are sick and tired of them as a nation banging-on about ‘independence’. You see, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind south of the border that the UK would be much better-off without Scotland so would be well shot of it, and indeed we would do so if we ordinary voters had our say, eh?

Oh yes, we nevertheless love Scotland, we love its dour, genuine, hardworking, amazingly talented people, we recognise their caring outgoing character, their fighting spirit, and moreover we envy their environment, we marvel at the country’s beauty, it’s mountains, it’s lochs, it’s burns, it’s islands, (and not forgetting its whisky, eh?), but nevertheless are wary of its potentially punishing rainy environment. However, on a strictly financial basis, they are a drain on our resources and that starts to outweigh these other factors when their leaders cast the English as the vile oppressors of their nation, and make plain their present-day plain bloody-minded disloyalty to Britain’s common cause, don’t you think?

Now, some years ago it became evident that a substantial number of Scots, understandably marshalled by the Scottish National Party (SNP), felt that Scotland ought to have been released from the Union, so that they could paddle their own canoe [after all, 58 other countries from the old days of Empire have been granted such independence (not always after a peaceful struggle, it has to be said!)]. As a consequence, the UK Government agreed that the Scots themselves, should have a referendum to let their population alone decide, for once and for all, what they wanted to do. That referendum was held two-and-a-half years ago on 14 September 2014.

After a long very divisive debate and campaigns that set community against community and frequently tore individual families apart, the Scots decisively decided at the twelfth hour, against what had seemed at one stage to be the likely outcome, to stick with the Union and remain in the UK. The then leader of the SNP Alex Salmond had declare shortly before the vote that it would be a decision “once in a generation”, and indeed “a once in a lifetime opportunity for Scotland”. Resulting from his failure to then lead his fellow Scots to victory in the final battle, he fell on his sword.

[There were though perhaps some glaring faults in running that referendum (decided-on by the SNP) – like allowing ‘non-Scots’ living in Scotland to have a vote, and like not allowing ‘true-Scots’ living in England and abroad to have a vote?].

The rest of us thought that that was it then, didn’t we? Yep, but just like the BREXIT deniers, the SNP did not actually accept the result and simply reassembled their troops to prepare for yet another battle.

These days, the Scots’ independence troops are led now by a very strident female, one Nicola Sturgeon, established First Minister of the Scottish Assembly, who has control in that place, as it is dominated by the SNP with only 2 short of an absolute majority. She is demanding that the rest of the UK allows them to have a ‘second’ referendum – on the pretext that the Union’s decision in favour of BREXIT did NOT have the FULL support of the Scots. [The cost of the independence referendum was some £16million in admin alone and that fell on the British taxpayer, delivered through the Scottish government – so the total cost including that which incurred in campaigning, probably was in the region of £25million – what an utter waste, eh?].

Sturgeon ignores the facts though, doesn’t she? Yes.

Ignores the fact that the majority of her countrymen have no stomach for a second campaign, so DON’T want the diversion of another divisive referendum.

Ignores the fact that being in the Union means that you can’t pick-and-choose what ‘will-of-the-people’ you want to accept [like which party forms the Government – as the Tories did in 2015 against the wishes of the Scottish people. eh?].

Ignores the fact that more people in Scotland voted to stay in the Union than voted for independence by a massive margin of 10.6% in the highest turnout EVER.

Ignores the fact that she is rejecting out-of-hand the results of BOTH referendums.

Ignores the fact that during the independence referendum neither the SNP nor anyone else for that matter, said anything about BREXIT playing any part whatsoever in the decision to be made.

Ignores the fact that there is no mechanism for Scotland to remain in the EU when the UK departs within the next couple of years.

Ignores the fact that even if given independence by the UK Parliament, then Scotland would have to apply to become a new member of the EU and even if that was successful they would have to ditch the pound sterling as their currency and take-on the disastrous euro in its place.

Ignores the fact that the rest of the UK is Scotland’s most important market, and potentially the World, and certainly NOT the EU.

Ignores the fact that Scotland has insufficient resources and income on its own to sustain the current lifestyle of its population, which is currently subsidised by the rest of the UK (as well as grants from the EU). [At ten percent it has the worst GDP deficit in the whole developed world, eh?].

Ignores the fact that Scotland is fairly represented in the British Parliament and indeed the SNP provides 54 from the 59 of their MPs there.

Ignores the fact that the Scottish Assembly has devolved power ONLY, and has no say whatsoever in matters dealt with solely by the British Parliament. Moreover that neither the First Minister not the leader of the SNP has completely no standing, simply by holding those roles, in our Westminster Parliament (as they are represented by the MPs selected by Scotland’s constituencies).

Ignores the fact that the SNP are making a pig’s ear of running things in Scotland, where Scottish Education (that used to be the envy of the world) is now after a decade of the SNP is in turmoil, with more than a quarter of their primary children failing literacy & numeracy standards, other schools behind even former Eastern Bloc nations in reading, maths, & science (in the last decade its international ranking has fallen for 11th to 90th); that the Scottish NHS is in total meltdown outright crisis (missing nearly ALL national waiting-time targets including cancer and A&E), and that their excessive spending and centralisation policies have taken ruined Scotland’s finances and grounded public services, to boot?

Ignores the fact that independence is not in the best interest of the Scottish people.

The British Prime Minister Theresa May has quickly responded to the SNP’s demand for a second referendum by saying “NOW is NOT the TIME”, and she is quite right, isn’t she?

Sturgeon’s ideological dream of independence [a nightmare for many Scots?] overrides her responsibility of office, so she intends to turn a political issue into a ‘constitutional problem’; she is more than willing to pig-headily defy the will-of-her-peoples by pursuing her traitorous demands, as she knows that the UK Parliament will be reluctant to be accused of defying that same will. She is using the standard political strategy, used for many decades by tyrants overseas, to create a distraction from their failures at home, wouldn’t you say?

Now, many of us, particularly those with Scottish roots or Scottish connections, were supportive of the Scots who wanted independence in their referendum (and indeed were surprised when they passed-up the opportunity), as we could quite understand an underlying desire to forge their own future (though we thought they would be worse-off without us). However, the devastating crash of the world oil price demonstrated the risks of ‘going it alone’, and that single factor alone has put curtains on the viability of Scotland operating alone.

The reckless relentless pursuit by the SNP of independence, at the expense of the people, the has shocked and astounded most of us across the border, because it turns out that simply it stems from a inborn hatred of the English, as they only actually want us to grant them independence so that they can hand it over immediately to the unelected, unaccountable, uncaring, administrators of the EU’s 27 countries of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and NOT the UK (plus perhaps poised to join in further enlargement – ALBANIA, BOSNIA, KOSOVO, ICELAND, MACEDONIA, MONTENEGRO, SERBIA, and TURKEY]. Sound like independence to you, eh?

A groundswell of anger is growing in the UK against the disloyalty of those Scots still clamouring for so-called independence, who are biting the hand that feeds them, at a critical time. Instead of standing fair square and shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of us, to successfully negotiate BREXIT, they are cynically trying to divert all attention and resources to rebut their stupid ambitions.

If Sturgeon succeeds in getting her second referendum (and she probably will), it will be AFTER we have achieved BREXIT (WITHOUT the support of our fellow citizens from Scotland), you can expect to see demands from the English for a parallel referendum to allow US to ditch Scotland from the Union, whatever the result of theirs, don’t you think?

[IF the majority of Scots who indeed want to remain British, don’t quickly and vehemently clearly tell their MSPs that THEY want the call for a second referendum to be ditched forthwith, they might well find themselves in a few years time, completely cast adrift and ostracised on both sides of the border, perhaps?].