The Last Colony

Despite the high rhetoric, during the dark days of the Raj India only ever made enough cash to maintain its huge civil service and army. This begs the question; why did the British Empire insist on holding on to the sub-continent? Arrogance probably played its part-the Empire would never live down losing their precious India-but the main motivation was incredibly practical; the Indian Army was used to project Imperial rule in areas that did make a profit.

In the modern world I think it is safe to say that Scotland is now used for a similar function. The Scottish people are used in an attempt by the Westminster Government to cling on to the old days of glory. Could England really justify its position on the U.N. Security Council without 25% of its armed forces (the Scottish bit) and the loss of that large chunk of land which allows it dominance over the North Sea (Scotland has many good locations for naval bases which would be closed if Scotland became independent).

A personal story which illustrates my point; when the Communists decided to build the Berlin Wall they had to moved the road blocks etc in order to get the construction material in. The Allied forces did not know this and believed that the Soviets where moving the barbed wire to allow an invasion force through (a logical conclusion considering the political climate). As such two Scottish and one American regiments were mobilised and moved over 100 miles to Berlin. The problem I have with this tactic is that there already was two English regiments stationed in Berlin, but these soldiers were not even put on stand-by. I know this to be a fact as my Grandfather served with one of the Scottish regiments. I more than suspect that the reason Scottish soldiers were used was because that if the Soviets had invaded there was more than a fair chance that the first line of defence would be obliterated (as the first line so often is), but the second line (English regiments) might just make it through. We are the last sepoys. In this situation logic was ignored, and the expendable colonial regiments were placed in the expected line of fire. I believe Scotland should become independent because I oppose Empire, and think that we should make the move to finally end the unequal ‘partnership’ which marks, and always has marked, the union of the parliaments.