Devolution Blues

So my UK passport is still 'fit for purpose'. It’s almost due for renewal. I was wondering whether it would come back with a new descriptor. The Fragmented Kingdom? The Fell-Apart Kingdom?

I could hardly bring myself to go on line on Friday morning. Would the Scots go with their hearts or would calculating logic prevail? I had mixed feelings – I did feel that the UK would be belittled and diminished by losing Scotland and there is the ongoing fear that if the Scots left the table it would be that much harder (nigh-on impossible?) to get the Tories out of power (though the only available option seems to be replacing them with another group of Tories with a different name).

But there were so many attractive aspects to a YES vote. England would really have a problem with where to store its floating tools of potential mass genocide and would face the embarrassment of having to maintain the only controlled border between Galway and the Bosporus, between the North Pole and Tangiers. I take an interest in this issue as my Russian, Slavic and African friends living in, or visiting, Europe have to go through a separate visa process in order to visit the UK. And - to add insult to injury - those who live in Brussels – the capital of Europe - have to go to Paris to get their visa. Welcome to ENGLAND- keep out Johnny Foreigner!

Best of all a YES vote would have been ‘sand in the eye’ for the Conservative and Unionist Party. To preside over the dissolution of the Union would be an embarrassment that David Cameron’s reputation would never recover from. It would have led to a year of in-fighting in the Tory party that would have substantially harmed their next election prospects and left a historical legacy that no-one would forget. Tant pis