Scotland... and Canada
So, Nicola Sturgeon has announced she wants another referendum on Scottish independence, to be held some time between autumn 2018 and spring 2019 -- ie, after Article 50 is triggered but before the finalisation of Brexit negotiations.
During the first Scottish referendum, I was opposed to Scottish independence, or at least sceptical, for various reasons. I'm Canadian, we've dealt with this, and I was and am opposed to Quebec independence. I also don't see the point in breaking up the world into smaller and smaller nation-states. If anything I would favour much more radical rearrangements. I like what the PYD is doing in Rojava, for instance, which involves extremely localised governance, and the people involved don't really care what nation-state they belong to as long as they're allowed to be autonomous within that. (There's more to it than that, but that will suffice for a description). There's also a selfish political element. The separation of Scotland leaves rUK (the rest of the UK) as a much more conservative, backward, insular country, and the rest of us stuck there (pity Wales and Northern Ireland).
But this time, I actually understand it. They voted against the Tories, yet now they have a Tory government, and no other party looks likely to take the helm at any time in the foreseeable future. Labour is in completely disarray and the LibDems' shining moment was when they got a large enough third place, in 2010, to play kingmakers (see how well that went).
The Scots voted by 2/3 against Brexit, yet now they're getting dragged out of the EU against their will, and not only that, May is dead set on a hard Brexit -- out of the customs union, out of the free trade zone, no Norway option, no Switzerland option, nada. And it will have at least as negative repercussions for them as for rUK. Certainly it will hit Scotland harder than London, which is also objecting vociferously to hard Brexit. Arguably the possible ramifications on NI (possible resurrection of the Troubles if a hard (defended) border is reimposed between NI and ROI) are more serious, but apart from that, I'd say the Scots have pretty genuine cause for complaint.
So if they have an opportunity to escape Brexit and seemingly perpetual Tory rule, I say, good on them. Grab it with both hands. I would... oh wait.
I just went and checked the status of my NCA assessment. It's complete. The good news is they're not recommending I do any courses, only exams. The bad news is, they want me to do six exams. The five expected ones -- Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Foundations of Canadian Law, and Professional Ethics -- are fine, and, as I say, were expected.
But they also they want me to do "Business Organizations (formerly Corporate Law)"! Why? Corporate law?! Ewwwwwwwwww.
I don't think I'll appeal, I think if I go ahead with it at all, I'll just do that one first, but -- what a bloody pisser.
During the first Scottish referendum, I was opposed to Scottish independence, or at least sceptical, for various reasons. I'm Canadian, we've dealt with this, and I was and am opposed to Quebec independence. I also don't see the point in breaking up the world into smaller and smaller nation-states. If anything I would favour much more radical rearrangements. I like what the PYD is doing in Rojava, for instance, which involves extremely localised governance, and the people involved don't really care what nation-state they belong to as long as they're allowed to be autonomous within that. (There's more to it than that, but that will suffice for a description). There's also a selfish political element. The separation of Scotland leaves rUK (the rest of the UK) as a much more conservative, backward, insular country, and the rest of us stuck there (pity Wales and Northern Ireland).
But this time, I actually understand it. They voted against the Tories, yet now they have a Tory government, and no other party looks likely to take the helm at any time in the foreseeable future. Labour is in completely disarray and the LibDems' shining moment was when they got a large enough third place, in 2010, to play kingmakers (see how well that went).
The Scots voted by 2/3 against Brexit, yet now they're getting dragged out of the EU against their will, and not only that, May is dead set on a hard Brexit -- out of the customs union, out of the free trade zone, no Norway option, no Switzerland option, nada. And it will have at least as negative repercussions for them as for rUK. Certainly it will hit Scotland harder than London, which is also objecting vociferously to hard Brexit. Arguably the possible ramifications on NI (possible resurrection of the Troubles if a hard (defended) border is reimposed between NI and ROI) are more serious, but apart from that, I'd say the Scots have pretty genuine cause for complaint.
So if they have an opportunity to escape Brexit and seemingly perpetual Tory rule, I say, good on them. Grab it with both hands. I would... oh wait.
I just went and checked the status of my NCA assessment. It's complete. The good news is they're not recommending I do any courses, only exams. The bad news is, they want me to do six exams. The five expected ones -- Administrative Law, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Foundations of Canadian Law, and Professional Ethics -- are fine, and, as I say, were expected.
But they also they want me to do "Business Organizations (formerly Corporate Law)"! Why? Corporate law?! Ewwwwwwwwww.
I don't think I'll appeal, I think if I go ahead with it at all, I'll just do that one first, but -- what a bloody pisser.