England & Scotland

One of my most interesting experiences during my UK trip came on the bus tour in Inverness, Scotland... listening to the tour guide recounting, in a barely vieled bitter tone, how the English had attacked the Scots, surrounded them, and massacred them in a matter of days. A line that was repeated over and over again, location after location, especially at places like Urquhart Castle, which witnessed many years of bloody fighting between the English raiders and the Scottish tribes.

We may have our own grudges with the Pakis, but one needs to remember it's a story barely 60 years old, we have fought many bitter battles, and a long, painful proxy war of terror.

You would expect that the Scots, after so many years of peace and prosperity, and being part of the United Kingdom, would have moved on - but no. Most Scots actually hate the Brits, and want independence! Our taxi driver even told me that it was a strong possibility in the next 1-2 years! Wishful thinking, or am I ignorant of geopolitics here?

This is what Wikipedia pulled up...

The Scottish Government intends to hold a referendum of the Scottish electorate, on the issue of independence from the United Kingdom, on Thursday 18 September 2014. The question asked in the referendum will be "Should Scotland be an independent country?" After failing to obtain support from other parties for a referendum on independence during the 2007–11 Scottish Parliament, the Scottish National Party (SNP) again pledged to hold an independence referendum and won an overall majority in the 2011 Scottish election. On 10 January 2012, the Scottish Government announced that it intends to hold the referendum in the autumn of 2014. An agreement was signed on 15 October 2012 by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, and the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, which provides a legal framework for the referendum to be held. The principal issues in the referendum are the economic strength of Scotland, defence arrangements, continued relations with the UK, and membership of supranational organisations, particularly the European Union and NATO.