No 10 has allowed a question to be asked by the Scottish nation which should never have seen the light of day. Its right up there with 'Is there a God?', 'Is Bruce Forsyth paid too much money?', 'Will Tony Blackburn become part of the Yewtree investigation?'. Such questions, just by being asked, start earth-scorching fires. 'Is the cat dead or alive?' While the safe door remains closed we can believe in a least two different alternatives, we can co-exist in peace - but now we have Alex Salmond and David Cameron trying to open the door.
Of course Scots 'hate ' the English, we have William Wallace beheaded in London, Culloden, the Clearances, even Dunkirk in 1940 where a largely Scottish ring of defence was sacrificed to allow 300,000 others to escape across the Channel. But 'hate' is used when what we mean is that the English are Manchester City to our Manchester United (NB I do not say Celtic-Rangers, they really do hate each other). For myself and all the Scots I know, we do not hate the English - the English are our competition, we like to beat them at whatever the sport.
The English are always somebody else; when I converse with an English person they are not English; they are either a friend, an acquaintance, a stranger or even someone I don't like - being English is not a consideration. Nor do I think of myself as representing Scotland during such encounters.
But there has been a small enclave of 'eejits' who have always voiced something sinister, who have referred to 'the English' with a sharp venom, and who, over the years, like Hitler and the nazi party, have inveigled their way in to positions of serious power - it is the fault of people like me for letting them get away with it.
Who are these people who clearly have no understanding of their own history, who refer to Wallace and Bonny Prince Charlie as if there was some connection to who they are (I assure you there is not), who make wild claims about a flourishing Scotland based on wet dreams and gold-plated guess work? It seems to me that they are the chancers, the ones who make money when the Scottish Parliament building costs £440 million to build, when it costs £90 million to build an IT system for the administration of EU grants to 22,000 Scottish farmers - they are the ones who hope to get to the top of whatever greasy pole they have targeted. They do not have Scotland's best interests at heart, they have only their own, they are feathering their nests and to hell with the rest. They will bankrupt our proud nation not just financially, but politically and spiritually too. We are now in danger of becoming a police state where those against the false prophets are threatened, hounded and destroyed.
We have been part of the United Kingdom for more than 300 years - Scots have fought and died alongside English, Welsh and Irish in battles across most of the globe, and lets not forget New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and a host of others nations fighting for that common cause; something that a handful of loud-mouthed lunatics are now trying to dismantle. In peace time too we have worked together, building world class businesses - in most boardrooms there are Scots, aye and there are English too - we need each other. This world needs unity, it needs enlightenment - it does not need further fragmentation.
And asking this stupid question has caused a fracture that will take years to heal - in just the same way that I would damage my marriage by asking my wife if she would like a divorce. There are now plenty of English voices saying 'well if that is how you feel....', which is an understandable reaction.
Stupid, stupid, stupid; all who have been responsible for allowing this event to take place should now step aside and let us begin repairs. I am not English, I am a proud Scot, but if push comes to shove I am British, and I have no wish to go backwards from here.
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