Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/12/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]----- Original Message ----- From: lug-request@leica-users.org Date: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 10:29 am Subject: LUG Digest, Vol 31, Issue 43 Peter writes: <<The United Kingdom is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland; each of which except for Northern Ireland, which has the status of "province", is legally a country in its own right and I am not going to discuss further here. For example Scotland has its own legal system and currency (same names different notes etc; very different laws in some areas). Under conquest and the various Acts of Union etc, all surrendered their powers to Westminster. Lately the constituents have been granted limited autonomy, which has been seized upon by both Welsh and Scots, causing conflict with Westminster. In addition various other constituents such as the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man have their own legal and tax systems which interact with the Enflish system in various ways. Berwick-upon-Tweed is a complete ly different case with until recently a seperate standing under international treaty and has only recently made its peace with Russia after the Crimean War.>> As a recently repatriated former long term resident of the UK I found it hard to underestimate the mutual antipathy between the English Anglo-Saxons and the Celtic Welsh, Scots, and Irish. To a foreigner, all Brits seem alike, but that's not the way they see it. The English regard the Scots as clannish dour folk, living in a cold forbidding country, who spend all their time fighting, drinking, doing sports that involve throwing heavy objects, and inventing practical things like steam engines, television, and penicillin. Whatever language they speak, it certainly isn't English. The Scots view the English as lazy wimps who cheated their way to the Scottish throne and are incapable of running their own country. They regard helping the English manage their affairs as a form of missionary outreach work. Scots point to the fact that if the British Cabinet were not 2/3 Scottish, England would slip slowly into the sea. The Welsh are almost beneath notice by the English who believe that singing coal miners and drunken poets are the only good things to come out of Wales in centuries. The Welsh reciprocate by regarding the English as jackbooted thugs who delight in oppressing hardworking poor folk and appropriating miner's pension funds for London based welfare grifters. To add injury to insult, the English dominated supermarket chains import New Zealand lamb and mutton when the hills are alive with the sound of wooly Welsh sheep. So refer to a Scot or a Welshman as an Englishman at your own peril. Larry Z