Proud Scot, Proud Brit

So I wrote this back when I had decided to vote No in the Scottish Independence referendum. My opinions have since changed, but this blog remains. I will continue to be culturally British whether my passport says that or not. My point when writing this blog was that I could not understand people who refute the word British, as though it makes you less Scottish. I am proud of so much about Great Britain, but the referendum is about political, powers only.

Like many people up and down the country, I jumped around screaming when Andy Murray beat Tsonga in the semi-finals of Wimbledon this year. I also cheered and cried from the outset of, and throughout, the Olympic Opening Ceremony in London. I revelled in the music section, announcing that I would never listen to American music again because British music is too awesome to need to.

Great Britain has so much to be proud of; The Beatles, Sir Tom Jones, Sean Connery, Harry Potter, the Premier League, Robert Burns, the Chemical Brothers, Shakespeare, Irn Bru (Scotland is the ONLY place in the world where Coca Cola is outsold by a native soft drink), Ridley Scott, Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Chris Hoy, Adele, Muse, Richard Curtis. 

I am an extremely proud Scot and if the Scottish national team played the English or Welsh national team in any sport, I'd be on my seat, wearing a Saltire, screaming on the Scots. When I was travelling a couple of years ago, I repeatedly found myself listing with pride all the wonderful things about being Scottish. I was also frequently outraged when it became apparent that people thought that the big island to the west of Europe was England and Scotland is one of those tiny islands above it where everyone wears kilts and eats only haggis. If I walk up the aisle and the man waiting for me isn't wearing a kilt, I'll be very disappointed. I am Scottish, not English, not Welsh. I am Scottish and I most certainly am also British.

England, Scotland and Wales each have so much to celebrate as individual nations and then have the added beauty of - as the Opening Ceremony showed - being able to come together for one hell of a party! Some people think we're bonkers, but I think we are a quirky, multi-cultural, slightly odd looking, imperfectly perfect, free country.
National pride is heightened when you take into consideration how small Britain is and yet how strongly we compete with much bigger nations. British film, British music, British comedy; these things are so well respected world wide, despite our population being less than one fifth of that of the United States. When the initials NHS were illuminated during the opening ceremony, I smiled smugly along with the rest of Britain and invited Mitt Romney to politely 'suck it'.

Yes, our history is fraught with colonisation and civil war, but when I see Brits coming together to celebrate an event like the Olympics, when I read all the objections to NBC not showing the 7/7 tribute, when I see a Scot, Englishman or Welshman accepting a medal on behalf of Great Britain, when I take part in a minute's silence on the 11th of November, I am overwhelmed by what Great Britain stands for and what we have achieved together.

What I'll add at the end here is that while the above all stands, the thing that breaks my heart is watching our government attempt to destroy all this in favour of being some soulless global power. Whatever happens in the referendum, I will fight to save the NHS, to improve education and to restore Britain - both north and south of the border - to its rightful glory.

Jon Richardson's opinion on Jimmy Carr's Tax Dodging

Sean Locke said he wasn't sure why David Cameron had to get involved in the story about Jimmy Carr dodging tax.

Jon Richardson replied "David Cameron got involved because he’s in charge of the economy and he gets shit in the papers everyday for having to fire Nurses and Doctors, and one of the reasons he has to do that cos there isn't enough money in the pot, and one of the reasons there isn’t enough money in the pot is because not everybody pays their taxes".

Oh Jon you wonderful, beautiful, clever man :)

Andy Murray; Scottish and British

I think my brain may be boiling in liquid rage inside my head.

Andy Murray is a Scottish man. He plays tennis. When he plays tennis, he is playing for Britain. When Greg Rusedski played tennis, he was playing for Britain. When Tim Henman played tennis, he was playing for Britain. No English people kicked off about that. Why is it that Scottish people are sitting on their haunches, just waiting for someone to call him British so that they can pounce up and yell,

"SCOTTISH WHEN HE'S LOSING, BRITISH WHEN HE'S WINNING"?

I just do not believe that the above is true. My doubts were backed up in Will Sturgeon's blog, "the UK media reported on Andy Murray predominantly as a "Scot" a grand total of 1,290 times. Meanwhile he was reported as being predominantly a "Brit" just 96 times, according to Google News". The blog does to go on to say that the term "British" does outweigh "Scottish" when describing him.. Possibly because he is and always has been playing for Britain.

The fact is, every time he wins, he wins for Britain, because the team he plays for is Britain. Just like when Sir Chris Hoy won gold at the Olympics. Just like when Phil "The Power" Taylor throws one hundred and eighty. Just like when Jenson Button wins in.. The car thing that he does. They are all, in those situations, playing for Great Britain. I don't hear any Scots saying, "Jenson Button; British when he's winning, English when he's losing".

As a proud Scot, I am extremely proud that Andy Murray is Scottish. As a proud Brit, I am proud that Andy Murray is British.

We know why the Scottish are so protective over Andy Murray; because we very rarely get any sporting glory at all. Sir Chris Hoy did us proud at the 2008 Olympics and damn we can't half curl - in the Winter Olympics 2010 Rhona Martin led a team of Scottish women to a gold in curling - but generally, we don't bring home many trophies with little sports people on top and unfortunately, our English neighbours bring home a lot more than us! There is also the sneaking suspicion that Murray would much prefer to be playing for Scotland rather than Britain.

But unless we are prepared to give back Button, Haye, Ennis, 'Power' Taylor, Idowu, Eddie the Eagle and Hamilton (bad example, nobody wants Hamilton), then we are going to have to share Murray, Baker, Hoy and yes, even our curling team.

.. What we really need is Murray to play in the Commonwealth Games! Then we can sit, poised, ready to castrate anyone who calls him British.