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| The Blame Game |
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It’s all very complicated, you understand. A fine balance of hereditary, population demographics and luck, yet it can be determined whether you too fall into this category with analysis of three simple things: your passport, your accent and your birth certificate. Passport: British citizen? Strike one. Accent: Scottish? Strike two. Birth certificate: Glasgow, Aberdeen or any other Scottish city, town or village? Hold on to your highlanders, folks – you’re out. That, anyway, is what The Independent’s Dominic Lawson has come to believe. And his article published on Tuesday 17th February, that confidently proclaims, ‘I blame the Scots for the banking crisis,’ argues as much. Indeed, what a fine embodiment of ignorance, naivety, and bitterness it is. From the moment he called Scotland “Hibernia” – that would be the Greek Latin name for Ireland, Dominic – you knew it was going to be something special. And while Independent web editors have since scrambled to insert Caledonia in it’s rightful place, sadly the rest remains It seems as though, in times of crisis, we, or at least Dominic, talks in terms of the Scots and the English. So let’s indulge him. Scots don’t pay their way? Lawson claims it is “two Scottish banks” that have had to be “propped up” by taxpayers. Well, in brand name, indeed both are “Scottish” banks. However, are we wiping Northern Rock, an “English” institution – the first and only bank to be fully nationalized – from the history books? Secondly, HBOS, one of the ‘failed banks’, a merger between the English Halifax and Scottish Bank of Scotland, had a Board of Directors with at least as many Halifax’s directors. In addition, many English as well as Scottish bankers have been found wanting in the last few months by committees and shareholders, HBOS’s English Chief Executive Andy Hornby included. Thirdly, how you can blame the Scots, when the Scots have not been in charge of their banking system since the UK was formed, is puzzling. The Bank of England and the London Government is responsible for ensuring banking regulation. As Harry Reid of The Herald pointed out in October, if Scotland had controlled its own banking system over the past thirty years or so, “would Scotland have had more stringent banking laws? Would we have had a sovereign wealth fund, built on our oil revenues? Would we be in the euro-zone? The answer to each question is probably yes.” Scottish individuals and Scottish companies have made bad decisions, but so have English ones. Lawson’s assertion that “Scottish hubris” was involved in the public anger over the Lloyds TSB takeover is based on the presumption that pride drove the outcry. There is little doubt pride was hurt: no doubt, however, that genuine concern was shown for the banking system as a whole. Was it the right and only decision to be made? How about you ask Lloyds shareholders now? That would be the English Lloyds bank, now accused of poor decision making, after deciding to take over a bank that had failed as a merger between an English and Scottish institution. It’s all the fault of the Scots, you understand. If anything, it must be clear that you cannot attribute blame on the ridiculous basis of a nationality. But what, then, does Dominic’s rambling mess tell us? I reiterate, in a crisis, we talk in terms of the Scots and the English which inevitably raises the question—does ‘Britishness’ exist The symbols of ‘Britishness’ and Englishness have naturally become exceptionally closely tied: the prime minister of the UK is generally, though not currently, English; the capital for both is London; the majority of the UK’s population is English. The step between 'English' and 'British' has often seemed small, if not non-existent. Yet if the state capital were moved to Inverness for the next three hundred years I would guarantee you two things. Support for Scottish nationalism would fall and support for English nationalism would rise. ‘Britishness’ would instead become merely Scottishness, rather than Englishness, thinly veiled in the Union Jack. And perhaps Gordon Brown has moved the fine political balance in the UK ever so slightly in such a direction. Quite simply, a Scot has pillaged the idea of Englishness, trying to reconstruct a British identity. For being British has meant, generally, an indulgence of predominantly English identity: as is natural when the state capital is London. Yet suddenly, two Scots are in control, and making a fine financial mess of it. Gordon Brown has attempted to appeal to a truly British identity, but it doesn’t exist. And Englishness is threatened by his damaging presence in what some view, perhaps rightly so, as fundamentally English institutions. If ‘Britishness’ really did exist, where Gordon Brown came from – Scotland, England, Wales or Northern Ireland - wouldn’t matter. But this crisis and others have revealed that origin does matter to people and has exposed the weakness of the British identity. Therefore we are left with what may become an inescapable realisation: Britain, as an identity, a nation, is superficial. Beyond flag-waving Olympic ceremonies and a category on our passports, what does it mean to be British? Dominic Lawson has put forth one answer: not very much. When the stakes are high, and jobs, livelihoods and families are at risk, Scottishness and Englishness come to the fore. Britishness is exposed for what it is: non-existent. And should more people come to accept this reality we might start to see real solutions to very real problems.
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It was around five in the afternoon when I found it. It told me straight. I was at fault for the banking crisis. Imagine my horror at Dominic Lawson’s verdict. Then again, you might not have to, because here’s a little nadir all of your own to cope with. You might be too.
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