Forums Forums National News Question Time is at it again!!

I think there will always be those that keep harping back to the "old" battles as a means of justifying being a country in their own right. It still comes back to funding really. I don't have an issue with them being out on their own. My issue is that "we" will be funding them to do so. I'd rather my taxes were spent in England if they do break away.

It's just a shame that the majority of people who pay taxes won't have a say in the whole matter! I don't like the look of Alex Salmond anyway - he's shifty, same as Gordon Broon.

I've certainly got connections to the Haggis. My old man was 1st generation English, his old man was a Glaswegian, all my paternal uncles are Jocks. My second daughter married one, he was a WOII in the Black Watch, 3 of my grandkids are Jocks. I've loads of mates who are Jocks and all agree that it would be madness to play the lone card. I don't think it will happen but like I say, those who still live up in the hills have got to stop moaning and start pulling together.

Winston Churchill made a very interesting comment about the Jockanese servicemen. He was addressing a dinner at a regimental function (I think it was the Scots Guards) just after World War Two. He stood up in front of the Officer Corps and announced in his inimitable way, with a scowl on his face, "There's only one thing wrong with the Scots!" There was an uncomfortable silence and a rustling of kilts, (probably, as some of 'em reached for their Skein Dhus!"). Churchill waited a bit, and then continued, this time with a broad grin and a shake of his trademark cigar. "There aren't enough of them!" he cried. Brought the house down!! There is a moral in this story. We, the English, have a cross to bear for the way the Scottish nation was treated in the days of Longshanks and Wallace. The Scots sing about it at every rugby match when they laud their national anthem (which is, in my view, a bit racist to start with!!) Their national anthem, though, continues with the phrase, "Those days are past now, and in the past they must remain". Why then, does Alex Salmond seek to denounce his own nation's sympathies by opening old wounds? If the truth be told, both the "Jockanese" and the "Heathen English" actually enjoy the banter that goes with it. Next month, I will be playing golf in Cornwall with 32 of my pals from all over the UK. On the last day of the four day trip we have a competition called "Celts v Oppressors". Just for that day, all the Irish, Welsh and Scottish contingent morph into a rabble of racist ... against the English, who respond in kind. There is a trophy presented to the winners of the competition. The winning captain accepts it with good grace and sits down. The losing captain has to make a speech to the winning team, praising them and paying homage to them for being the superior race of human beings. You can imagine the ribaldry. At the end of the day, though, we are all friends and would cheerfully sacrifice ourselves for each other. This, to me, exemplifies the true spirit of human nature. Of course we are proud to be a member of a nation-but don't let it blind us to the fact that, deep down, we are all the same.

Alex Salmond - something fishy about that name.