Happy birthday, United Kingdom

It's the supra-national state that once ruled 1/3 of the world and it's 300 years old today. In all that time, we haven't managed to get rid of the people who make it a kingdom. Sad, really.

Also, it's interesting to note that the UK doesn't mark this event with a public holiday or a flag waving competition or anything like that.

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January 16, 2007 | Filed Under UK 

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5 Responses to “Happy birthday, United Kingdom”

  1. Rhys on January 17th, 2007 12:08 pm

    Don't give Gordon Brown and Peter Hain any ideas!

  2. Sarah on January 19th, 2007 5:52 pm

    I don't know if this is an urban legend or if I just have a faulty memory (both highly possible) but I heard that the Act of Union that originally joined Ireland and the UK (would this be after the union between England, Scotland and Wales?) dating from 1800 was repealed by the Irish Free State after independence in order to get out of the Commonwealth. However I just checked Wikipedia and that article claims that Ireland left the Commonwealth after declaring itself a Republic, losing membership as a result, and not seeking new membership. Does anybody know if this is true? And if so, theoretically, could Scotland similarly repeal the Act of Union that joined it to England initially, supposing a majority wanted full independence?

  3. Tom on January 19th, 2007 6:02 pm

    This is correct. There has been much talk on British TV news recently about this topic because a month or two ago, a poll seemed to suggest that for the first time in many years, a majority of Scots favoured leaving the Union.

    Labour (for whom Scotland and Wales are vital seat-winning areas), have had an apoplexy over this and Gordon Brown has been spending a lot of time up north warning that establishing a republic would be a disaster etc. The BBC has also done its bit as national ministry of propaganda. It commissioned another poll which found out (surprisingly) that actually, the majority of Scots want to remain in the Union.

    What really count are the elections this May which could well give the Scottish National Party a chance at leading the Scottish parliament. If that happens, they will certainly call a referendum on independence within four years. So there is the delicious possibility of Gordon Brown being in power as Scotland secedes from the UK.

    Probably won't happen though.

  4. guirilandia on January 27th, 2007 8:23 pm

    "Also, it’s interesting to note that the UK doesn’t mark this event with a public holiday or a flag waving competition or anything like that."

    You mean Catalunya, right?

  5. Tom on January 28th, 2007 10:28 am

    Yeah, or practically any other country.

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