Auld Hamish Went Away

Prime Minister makes heartfelt speech

Its all been said before. Politicians, singers, actors, bloggers, even the shy walking-the-dog types who do little more than gaze out at the seas, minds content in a happier place. So Dai Jakes will cast his shilling into the cap as well. This week Scotland votes yes/no to Independence which will herald a new 'dawn' for Great Britain. We will all be affected: Wales, England, Northern Ireland, not just the Scots (and by the way, it is Scots and not "Scotch" as some (usually foreigner) have written. Scotch is a drink).
Now as a proud Welshman, and 100% Celt, one would think I'd be up for this Independence lark. Who knows? If it worked out for Scotland, then us Welsh could try it too and in my heart it all sounds grand. Its perfect in fact, I can feel my Welsh soul dance with the music it was born with.
But alas my head thinks opposite. My mind is filled with doubts and what ifs? and is weighed down by the simple fact that should Scotland choose to break from the union, hundreds of years of history will be shattered. Not forgotten, or cast away like some moth eaten rug but definitely shattered.
We have defended this great island for over a thousand years as one, and during two world wars our fathers and grandfathers fought not as Scos or Welsh but as British. We were, we are Great Britain, stronger and better together. There is too much risk in splitting such a wonderful nation who lets not forget has given the world so much.
As Stephen Glover writes today in the Mail Online:

"I know I will grieve on Friday morning if my country, Britain, has been voted out of existence. Millions of people will feel likewise. The end of the nation that has done more than any other to shape the modern age, and saved the free world as recently as 1940, is really too big an idea to get one’s mind around."

I 100% agree with Mr Glover in this. Our tabloids speak of a 'Broken Britain'? Come the end of this week, and should Scotland go its own way, then we shall know of a broken Britain. And I for one will mourn for it.

Not Race, Space

Space for rent?

On Twitter earlier I read a few posts where people are admitting they are genuinely frightened about the fact that next year up to 250,000 Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants could flood into Britain after access restrictions are lifted. Is the way we intend to go forward? Making our citizens fearful of the future that lies ahead?
I am not a racist, and 9/10 times you hear someone say this, you can almost guarantee that the next words to fall from their lips will be racist but not so today if you'll hear me out. In the 1990s I was part of the "End Racism: Live In A Colourful World" campaign, nd recently I stood up to racist bullies who were being horrid to my partners work colleague (her workmate is Filipino.)
Im as far from racist as the bottom of the ocean is to outer space but then immigration is not about race, its about space. Great Britain is a small island, an island that if we are not careful will have people spilling off the edge of our coasts. Where are all these homes going to go? Are we going to build skyscraper monstrosities and have them looming over the streets like giant bars casting depressing shadows? Our green and pleasant lands will have to make way for apartment blocks I suppose and wildlife be damned.
I fear we are reaching a sad chapter in British history, miserable time created not by people fearful of a foreign race (although one can't deny this is happening in some places) but more by the simple fact that islands have limits. It is impossible to try and stretch earth that it is not there. The only way to build would be up and then we will end up looking like 2000AD's Mega City One. (And without the swift, efficient law and order that exists in that fictional city.)
Im all for folk coming to the UK to seek a better life than the one that has been offered in their own homeland, and I applaud the ones who go on to find work here and contribute to society like the rest of us (shirkers aside of course.) But our lands can only offer so much, it is folly to believe we can provide for everyone. Common sense and a quick glance at Great Britain on a map ought to tell us this.