The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Author Archive


A different parallel 143

Posted on July 09, 2014 by

Last month we carried a view of the Scottish independence debate from the Canadian province of Quebec. Today we hear from the English-speaking side of the country.

In English-speaking Canada, few people seem to be aware of Scotland’s independence referendum. It doesn’t register much in the papers, much less our cheerfully oblivious TV news. The couple of friends I’ve told about it were interested, but mainly viewed the event as they would the World Cup: a distant, if intriguing, foreign phenomenon.

Conversely, Scotland’s view of Canada has been quite the opposite. Commentators on both the Yes and No sides have drawn explicit parallels with the Canadian experience, especially Quebec’s fraught history of referenda and sovereignty debate.

montreal

As a Canadian-American who’s spent a good deal of time south of the border, however, I think there’s a much more apt comparison to be made.

Canada’s bizarre love-hate relationship with our dysfunctional, arrogant, yet somehow still likeable neighbours and friends in the United States of America is both cautionary and optimistic. And it indicates the absolute need for a Yes vote.

Read the rest of this entry →

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,790 Posts, 1,222,478 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Young Lochinvar on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “MB @8.07 A depressingly accurate assessment I suspect.Jul 22, 20:27
    • Mark Beggan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Radiohead Creep.Jul 22, 20:17
    • Mark Beggan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Is it case the Scottish government can’t step into it as they are the cause. It’s their secret cult of…Jul 22, 20:07
    • Milady on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Wait, just when I think I’m keeping up we get “trans*” – what does the * mean?! (Other than I’m…Jul 22, 20:02
    • agent x on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Mark Beggan says: 22 July, 2025 at 7:43 pm Can the UK government step in on this scandalous behaviour? ———————————————–…Jul 22, 20:01
    • Bilbo on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “A song for Dr Upton: https://tinyurl.com/2s4m3vumJul 22, 20:01
    • Mark Beggan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “The Scottish government are the criminals. It’s our money being spent on insulting us.Jul 22, 19:57
    • Mark Beggan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Can the UK government step in on this scandalous behaviour? No matter the outcome Dr Upton will have to change…Jul 22, 19:43
    • Anne Johnston on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “For Everything, and that is EVERYTHING, I say ‘Follow the Money’and you’ll find the real criminals behind this enterprise …just…Jul 22, 19:31
    • agent x on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Yet NHS Fife internal disciplinary procedure has cleared Sandie of all charges/allegations against her. Today she has been accused of…Jul 22, 19:13
    • Bilbo on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “I wonder if that is a Freudian slip with the idea that men who have relationships with Trans women thinking…Jul 22, 19:03
    • Young Lochinvar on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Yup. It’s weirdly similar to the behind the scenes shenanigans recruiting people to testify against / stitch up Alec Salmond.Jul 22, 19:01
    • Mark Beggan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “It looks like Dr Searle has taken it upon herself to be Judge, Jury and executioner.Jul 22, 18:42
    • Young Lochinvar on The Pillars Of Sanity: “Gilruth! Jesus H Christ.. The phrase “inept clown that’s achieved nothing worthwhile and effed up a shed load of stuff…Jul 22, 18:39
    • robertkknight on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Welcome to Sturgeon’s Scotland, a.k.a the tartan shitshow, that can’t distinguish a woman from a man. Meanwhile, Swinney fiddles whilst…Jul 22, 18:26
    • Young Lochinvar on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Well said. I saw that too and just gave up bothering even trying to understand their jibber jabber claptrap..Jul 22, 18:19
    • Dan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Ach, as an occasional engine builder, I thought bigender described an entity that identified as being / or was attracted…Jul 22, 17:53
    • DaveL on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “That’s a question for Greens MSP Patrick Harvie. He’s the proud recipient of an award from the deceased chief cheese…Jul 22, 17:51
    • Fergus on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: ““… straight (attracted to the same gender)” I suspect “same” was meant to say “opposite”. [but they can’t say that…Jul 22, 17:38
    • Neil Mackenzie on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Ah… Nope. If you’ve used ‘male’ or ‘female’ to mean someone’s gender, you’ve made a mistake and used the wrong…Jul 22, 17:26
    • Rogueslr on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “We knew at 13 weeks that we were expecting a daughter, that’s approximately 24 weeks before birth. So AFAB is…Jul 22, 17:20
    • James Barr Gardner on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “I wonder if NHS view Paedophilia as normal and reducing the age of consent down to 10 years is normal…Jul 22, 17:16
    • KOF on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “” … an illustration of how far Scotland has sunk since Alex Salmond stood down.” Alex Salmond voted for the…Jul 22, 17:04
    • agent x on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Meanwhile the warped and twisted evidence continues today with Kate Searle!Jul 22, 17:03
    • Mark Beggan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “I would like to dedicate this song to Mr. Upton: “Boys Keep Swinging” Heaven loves ya The clouds part for…Jul 22, 16:48
    • Mark Beggan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Holyrood is the only sinking ship where the rats have decided to stay.Jul 22, 16:15
    • I. Despair on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Anent the uselessness and idiocy of NHS Fife management – I don’t know if her post technically counts as management…Jul 22, 16:13
    • Aidan on The Pillars Of Sanity: “@Xaracen – thrown out is a figure of speech, it’s not been printed out and physically thrown out of the…Jul 22, 16:12
    • Stuart on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Meanwhile in other news, (and pay attention to the last paragraph from the article re devolution) Farage has spoken, this…Jul 22, 15:39
    • agent x on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Does NHS Fife not welcome Heterosexual? No mention of the majority of people.Jul 22, 15:07
  • A tall tale



↑ Top