Why Scotland is different (some politics for a change)

[alitheapipkin]

I'd like to say that it's because Scots are less racist and more leftwing than the English but that wouldn't actually be true (social attitude studies consistently show little difference - for example this report (pdf) "Is Scotland more left-wing than England" finds very modest differences in concern over income inequality and support for tax-and-

Comments

[drplokta]

It seems to me that the difference is that Scottish politicians don't need to blame the EU for things, because they can blame Westminster instead.

[alitheapipkin]

There is that. It does have the advantage of being more often true but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that even as a indy supporter, I'm not totally without concerns about what happens when we don't have Westminster to blame. But honestly, I look at the Scottish parliament right now compared to the utter mess at Westminster and think that if we can't do better, we don't deserve nice things!

[danieldwilliam]

(To pre-empt a post I have brewing)

I expect by the time we are independent we'll have sung our own creation myth long enough and loud enough to not need to blame anyone else for our misfortune.

[alitheapipkin]

I look forward to that post :)

[steer]

I was going to say something similar. Nationalist movements are defined by a national identity and to make that political it's often useful to put that national identity in opposition to some alternative. In England this comes out as opposition to "foreigners", multi-culturalism, the EU etc -- and English nationalist movements often express this in unfortunate ways.

In Scotland that national identity can be put in opposition to a cartoon version of an English national identity (associated with leadership from London, ironically in many ways a place with similar social attitudes to Scotland). So a left wing progressive form of nationalism seems easier for Scotland.

But perhaps this is too simplified a blue.

[alitheapipkin]

I'm sure you're not surprised to hear I think that's too simplified. This article http://www.listener.co.nz/current-affairs/foreign-affairs/scotland-brexit-anti-immigrant/ makes some nice points about the difference in national character regarding notions of sovereignty.