A thought on Scottish independence

[henry_the_cow]

The Scottish National Party are doing well in the polls leading up to the elections for the Scottish parliament. This led me to post this thought on the Guardien's blog site this morning.

I work at a Scottish university & in my opinion independence would not benefit these institutions. (Disclaimer: this is my personal opinion, not a university policy). Most university research is funded by the UK research councils and much of it involves consortia and collaboration with other universities across the UK. If our funding were to come from a separate body instead, it would effectively cut us off from these broader collaborations. EU funding would not compensate - we already partake in EU projects and the number of these would not increase.

Even the threat of independence and the associated political instability could put off talented people from applying to jobs in the Scottish universities. It seems to me that Scotland gets a good deal out of the union and we should stick with it.

Comments

[tchernabyelo.livejournal.com]

Scots don't need independence. It's consistently remarked upon in the meejah that the Scots are already ruling the English...

And while you pointed out you work at a Scottish University, you didn't point out you're not exactly Scottish, now did you... though your accent would have given it away if you'd left an audio comment... :)

[inuitmonster.livejournal.com]

I think even the SNP count anyone as living in Scotland as Scottish - so Mr Henry The Cow is Scottish.

[bolshy-spice.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... it's a tough one. Personally I'm wholly in favour of Scottish independance, but this is mainly informed by the fact that I'm a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, and I think that in spite of 50 years of awfulness, we've finally come out of it very well, and I imagine that in some sci-fi parallel history narrative, in which we stay in the Union, we're much worse off!

I genuinely think it's time for Scots to look after Scottish affairs, which will *finally* end English resentment of the West Lothian question, and allow the Scots and the English to deal with each other as equally sovereign nations. Having lived in England for two years I'm well aware that the English don't care one jot about Scotland, Wales or NI, yet S W and NI *have* to care about what goes on in England because of how it affects them. This is an anachronistic imbalance which just can't survive in this day and age.

Regarding your situation, hmm... maybe have a look at how things are going in other small countries. Funding for research in Ireland is pretty healthy, it's got a very healthy sci-tech sector. In your favour - yes there was a brain drain out of Ireland for much of the 20th century (ask my dad!)...! This was primarily because of economic factors though. Do you not think though that the reason UK research councils fund Scottish research is simply a function of the present structure, and it's too simplistic to assume all this money will disappear overnight in the event of devolution? Don't get me wrong, I'm not coming down hard against what you're saying, just trying to figure out the best long-term solution, seeing as I think ultimately Scots are better off looking after their own affairs.

Interesting article in Prospect from last December by a former Scots Tory who now favours independance.

http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=7973

Interesting because he wants it for a lot of reasons I don't agree with, but makes some valid Tory-tastic points - in particular how he can't stand the dependancy culture that has been exascerbated by Labour in Scotland since devolution and sees independance as the only route to (conservative-style) self-reliance. In spite of my old leftiness, I think that's a very valid point.

Roll on May the 3rd.

[bolshy-spice.livejournal.com]

Do I get a prize for writing a comment that's longer than your original post? :-)

[henry_the_cow]

It's not so much that the amount of funding would be reduced - it's hard to say whether it would or not, depending on how well the rest of the economy would do. My point was that it would be harder to collaborate with the other universities (and companies) of the UK. A fair amount of modern research involves quite widespread collaborations. Admittedly my role in this is more vulnerable than most, as I work in a UK-national institute, which would presumably lose that status after independence.

There's also a question of how independence would affect student numbers, but that's something I don't know much about.

BTW, at the moment there seem to be a fair number of English people who do care about Scotland, but not in a good way;-)

[inuitmonster.livejournal.com]

Apparently there is more support for Scottish independence in England than there is in Scotland.

[inuitmonster.livejournal.com]

[i]Having lived in England for two years I'm well aware that the English don't care one jot about Scotland, Wales or NI, yet S W and NI *have* to care about what goes on in England because of how it affects them. [/i]

An independent Scotland would still have to care lots about what goes on in England, because of the fundamental imbalance between the two "countries", in much the same way that Ireland has to pay far more attention to the UK than the UK does to Ireland.

Anyway, I am against nationalism and so favour the maintenance of currently existing borders - so long like the UK!

[inuitmonster.livejournal.com]

urgghhh - stung by hanging out on too many suckass websites with their own faux html tags.

[(Anonymous)]

I've read that support for independence runs far below that for the SNP itself. Although the SNP could undoubtedly hamstring the Scottish Parliament if it does well, it would seem that their bluff could be called by agreeing to a new referendum on independence, reasonably safe in the knowledge that the SNP would fail.

As a Scot who has lived in England for the last 15 years, I would not support independence. The case that Scotland's affairs are routinely ignored by the UK government is largely irrelevant - you could say the same about Yorkshire, or the West country, neither of whom would benefit from independence either.

Support for Independence

[(Anonymous)]

I take issue over support for Independence. Every poll where the question was a straight - yes or no to Independence - the yes vote is in the majority. The only poll where Independence appeared to be less was when it is placed in a multi-option poll along with 'more powers for the Scottish Parliament' - which it is conceivably Independence as well.