The Thistle & The Rose

It's the 300th anniversary of the Union between Scotland and England. I did wonder what the tercentenary gift would be if 50th is Golden. Perhaps the bar is raised as far as unicorn horn? In fact the anniversary is being marked by.....the release of a special £2 coin. Wow, can't think of anything more special.
It's an interesting time for the 300th anniversary with the country as divided on matter as it ever has been since the Union was first set up in 1707. Opinion polls seem to suggest a high level of support for the SNP but not all of these people would vote for Independence. The Government are being vocal on their backing for the Union but this could just be posturing for the English who do make up the majority of the UK. Interestingly Blair did say that he felt an English parliament wasn't necessary and having 2 different classes of MP's would be unworkable. This is exactly the situation we have in Scotland with MP's and MSP's and while it isn't unworkable there is an element of redundancy with the Scottish Parliament. It could be that a referendum is the next step for Scotland especially if the SNP have a strong showing in the next election.
There is a famous quote from the former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau to an American audience. "living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant: no matter how friendly and even-tempered the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt".
This could apply equally to the Scottish attitude towards the English. The situation isn't helped by Britain seeming to be geared towards the English with the media especially being guilty of this.
Whatever happens it may be unlikely that there will be another 300 years of the Union. In fact things may well change in the next few years.

On a lighter, vaguely related note, it seems as if Scotland has a new famous resident. Bob Dylan has bought a mansion in the Cairngorms National Park to cement his recent love of the country. His song Highlands details this but I think he has been interested in Scotland for a long time as his tracks Blowing In The Wind & A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall seem to sum up our weather rather well.
It seems Dylan isn't well received by everyone as Simon Cowell (he of the high trousers and crap factor fame) recently said that Dylan songs bore him to tears and that he wants to plug his ears and run in the other direction. Surely that is most people's reaction to any bland dirge that one of his "talents" inflicts on us.