Scottish Independence: Anyone give a hoot?

A new year, a new beginning and, potentially, new dawn for Scotland. The Scottish parliamentary elections are just around the corner and, more so than at any time in recent years, Scottish independence is back on the agenda. In Scotland, Labour is, thanks in large part to opposition to the war in Iraq, increasingly unpopular, the Lib Dems have forsworn the possibility of a coalition arrangement should Labour find itself in a minority position and the Scottish Conservatives continue to revel in the in their irrelevance. Three factors that have the SNP gleefully rubbing its hands in expectation. In England, the distinct possibility of a Scot moving into No.10 and the continuation of the 'Scottish raj' within Whitehall have brought the West Lothian question, a product of devolution that more and more seems to be the Union's Achilles heel, has come back into play. These factors, mixed with the post-Cold War ascendancy of the principle of self-determination in international relations and good old fashioned tartan pride, make it all the more likely that at some point in the near future Scotland will fly the nest of Britain to make its own way in the world.

What's more, I can't imagine why the other residents of these sceptered isles would be sorry to see us go. Indeed, they may even be glad to see the back of our ginger heads:

- Scotland has some of the most deprived, economically unproductive and unhealthy regions in the UK; getting shot of them would be a blessing.
- It's hardly likely to affect Britain's position within Europe. It's not entirely clear whether or not Scotland's position within the EU is guaranteed and the rest of the UK need no necessarily lose votes in the European Parliament proportional to the population loss. Even if it did, Britain's position relative to other states would remain unchanged.
- An independent Scotland is not going to make it hard for the English/Welsh/Northern Irish to invest in/gain from the Scottish economy; why would it alienate it's closest and most important economic allies?
- The SNP claims that Scottish tax payers in fact provide a net subsidy for English tax payers. Regardless of whether this is correct or not, why shouldn't Britain take advantage of the claim and ask the Scots for some form of reparations to compensate for independence? Britain might even get a good deal. After all, what about the rights of those who wish to remain living in a United Kingdom including Scotland?

Each of these points is very much off the top of my head but I can't for the life of me come up with a single argument to the effect that the rest of Britain would be sorry to see the Scots go.

Independence is not yet inevitable, a cornerstone of the SNP's policy is a referendum on the issue and opinion polls, and my own personal experience, suggest that a majority of Scots do not want it. I count myself among this majority as I emphatically believe that independence would be a disaster for Scotland.

However, regardless of the eventual outcome, there seems little reason for anyone else in Britain to be upset, or even care, if my kilted comrades cast off the yoke of the Union and march merrily off into the sunset of independence.

Give a hoot? Nah.

James C

Green Day: What Happened?

I still remember the first time I heard Green Day. I must have been about 10/11, young anyway, and I was going through that period of adolesence in which one first becomes 'musically aware'; a strange time when you have an unexplainable yearning to move beyond the tapes your parents play in your car and the fare at school discos. It was a summer afternoon and I was in the 2nd floor of a Virgin megastore in Glasgow, wandering listlessly among punk/metal/alternative section. I say listlessly because I wasn't sure what it was I was looking for. I didn't know what type of music I was into but I did know that my current CD collection (a best of the Beatles, "Smurfs go Pop", an Iron Maiden CD and a never-listened to Chillis album) was inadequate, I knew that I wanted to like stuff that no-one else liked and I knew that I hated 'soft' music.

I picked up the album I did becuase I'd seen an older guy wearing a Green Day t-shirt at school once. I'd never heard any of their music, I didn't even know what dookie meant. Anway, I took it over to the sample headphones section, put the barcode under the red light and pressed play.

For the first couple of tunes I couldn't believe it. I honestly couldn't believe it. Just how...words escape me. I couldn't believe just how fucking good it was. I fucking loved it. Short, fast, very loud and definately not soft, each song was better than the last one. This was it, I decided, this was fucking it, this is what I liked, this was my music.

I bought the CD, and of course I got every other one. And I loved them. The bombast of 'Dookie' to the charming Gillman Street innocence of "1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hour", the aspirational 'Kerplunk', "Nimrod" with its easy, focused intensity that belied a subime confindence and the joyous resignation of "Insomniac", it was all Green Day and it was all great. I even thought "Warning" was a good album.

And then they released "American Idiot". What happened? Where was the modesty, the austerity and pop sensibility that had made them endlessly listenable? 9-minute multi-part epics do little but bore. What happened to the ease, the grace and the swagger that was central to Green Day's charm? Before every song, no matter how much work had actually gone into it, sounded like it had been thought up during a jam on a lazy Calfornian Sunday afternoon, they had sunshine in them. Now, it sounds like they were written to schedule during a 9-5. And what in the name of God was going on with the lyrics? Billie-Joe was the best when he wrote about what he knew, moving into politics leaves him sounding like an idiot (Pulverise the Eiffel Towers/That criticise your government) It wasn't like they took a risk with this approach, taking to pot-shots at Bush to an audience of punk fans is singing to the choir in a very obvious way. There's precious little joy in this album and, for all the tempos, a surprising lack of exuberance. It was Green Day with a bad cold.

Also, they just did a song with U2. U-fucking-2. On this last point all I can muster is what the fuck?

What happened? Where did my favourite band go? What the hell were they thinking? Are they ever coming back?