Tuesday, January 17, 2012  Remaking British politics  Many of my
Scottish nationalist friends attack the so-called "Unionist"
opposition to separatism because it seems so negative. "Overcome
your fears" they say "and embrace a positive and constructive
agenda for a separate Scotland". Yet for me, it is separatism
that is negative and narrow. The SNP thesis is that the Union
has failed and can not be repaired. In my view there is very
much a positive message in the idea of preserving the common
state.  The political union that was created in 1707 was a
platform that not only created the worlds most successful global
economy for a period of two centuries, it also created a
political and cultural powerhouse that spread the our ideas of a
liberal parliamentary system across the planet and disseminated
our language even in places that did not come under the
influence of the Crown.   It was an expansive and dynamic time,
and the Scots took full measure in it. Indeed part of the
problems of the common state, as some