Elainesk,
The one thing I hate about Scotland is how hard it is to move there! ? That has been a dream of mine for a long time.
My daughter spent time there last year. She adored it. Wants to go back.
I love the lyrics to Scots Wha Hae. Sums up the spirit of your country perfectly!
@jeanne-mayell I too am connected to Robert the Bruce through marriage, his sister Christina De Bruis (De Bruis is their original name) she married my ancestor Andrew De Moray (De Moravia) which eventually changed to Murray over the centuries. Andrew is my 1st cousin 16x removed of 1st cousin 7x removed. I am on Ancestry and I was thrilled going back to the 13th century and seeing the connections, I guess back then there weren't too many Scots unlike the population today and with so many Scots over the centuries spreading their wings it is wonderful how interconnected through ancestry so many of us are. For anyone with Scottish or any other Nationalities, ancestry it is definitely a wonderful journey going back family trees.
@polarberryBevause it is Westminster Government in London that controls immigration in the UK (for all 4 Nations) and they have made it so much harder since Brexit, many people have found it so very hard to move and settle in UK because of the attitude of Conservative Government in London & the majority of Brexit voters in England who are very against immigration unless you have special skills/qualifications that benefit UK ( I think it is appalling to demean immigrants who don't have high qualifications but certainly have worthwhile skills needed in many trades) Scotland has been vocal as to how welcome immigrants are in Scotland, we have many rural areas and cities which we want to be always filled with people of all Nationalities and Scotland has always needed immigrants, we call ourselves a mongrel Nation as in, we are such a wonderful mixed Nationality/Culture Nation and that our Scottish Government calls everyone in Scotland "Scots" this is to never have a divide of them and us as in non Scottish born and Scottish born, our saying is "if you chose Scotland as your adopted home then you are an adopted Scot". We can but hope and pray that one day in the near future Scotland will return to being Independent Scotland like we were prior to 1707 then London will have no say in who Scotland opens our doors to and we can take back ALL our powers that London Government have dictated and we can hand back Trident to London since they use Scotland as a dumping ground for Nuclear submarines and toxic waste against our will. Our Scottish Government and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon have been fighting hard to get our Immigration powers devolved to Scotland but London has told us No, they tell Scotland to sit down and be quiet and have kept us out of Brexit talks yet Scotland is supposed to be an equal partner in this Union of Nations...that is a joke! England treats us like their Colony and show no respect that in the signing of Act of Union in 1707 our Nations signed as equal partners and not as Master and slave. We live in hope of freedom sometime soon Polarberry :-)
My great grandfather —the Reverend Bruce, came from Edinburgh planning to cross Canada and head for the south seas as a medical missionary. But he fell off a hay wagon in Nova Scotia and got a concussion so they decided he wasn’t medically fit for travel. He stayed in Canada and headed up a church in Nova Scotia.
@triciact Brian Cox is a very proud Scot and a wonderful actor, he has never forgotten his roots and stays grounded. We have many celebrities who are openly pro Independent and we have others who worry about their career so keep quiet if they are pro Indy. Val McDermid a famous crime writer, I went to school with her, she came out as pro Independent in 2013 and has spoken out many times on reasons why so many Scots want Independence, the pro Unionists try and have often likened us to nasty Nationalism the exclusive far right kind all because we want to self determine as an Indy Nation, Scotland has been globally recognised as being Civic Nationalism which is an inclusive, welcome Nationalism that is about running our own Nation like many others who have left British Empire/UK over the centuries and decades...as seen in this list of 20th century who gained Independence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_that_have_gained_independence_from_the_United_Kingdom
Scotland is rich in resources, Westminster London Treasury needs that wealth of resources and have pretty much robbed us blind for several centuries. A very good website that has many, many blogs about Scotland's economy where you can see how Westminster has robbed us and their media has spread so much lying propaganda about Scotland. I know there are many good folk in England but every Government in power in Westminster since 1707 have treated Scotland appallingly. Sadly too many Scots still don't know enough about these facts and have been brainwashed on the lies by Westminster over the decades that Scotland is "too wee, too poor and too stupid" to be Independent and they chose to believe the rotten and dishonest unionist parties and their propagandist media. thankfully through more and more respected pro Independent Celebrities like Brian Cox as well as Sam Heughan of Outlander who is like his character Jamie and speaks up for Scotland's Independence :-)
Hey Jeanne, is that a hint to Elaine for an invite? ?
Just kidding. Humor helps in trying times.
@dina I have read Zoron's posts and it gives me hope, we have a tough fight ahead of us because the pro Unionists will do everything in their power and use every dirty trick they can find to stop us, not because they love us, the people but of the wealth in our Nation. I have no doubt that if we were unsuccessful of returning to our Independence that once we'd been bled dry, England would not think twice about kicking our future generations of Scots and Scotland out of the UK absolutely destitute and on our own. We absolutely need our Independence now in next few years while we still have great wealth in our land to become the kind of Nation we believe in, a progressive and prosperous International Scotland. The corruption within the UK Government and their Corporations, tax havens etc is appalling, several years ago my MP discovered Scotland was being used for moneylaundering, the setting up of businesses in UK is a power reserved to Westminster so my MP went to the Government Minister in Westminster who was in charge of this department and demanded he tighten up the ease in which small businesses were being set up with no extensive checking on the new businesses and this was allowing a lot of moneylaundering via Russia. It was in the newspapers and the Conservative Government decided to silence Roger Mullin, my MP when in 2017 snap General Election, Roger had a safe seat with a majority of 10k votes, he lost everyone of them yet he was a very popular, honest, hard working politician and what was unheard of, our region were anti Conservative yet it was Conservatives that pretty much took the votes from Roger.
We believe UK government wanted Roger to stop uncovering just how deeply corrupt the UK government in London really was. Many of us believe though interference, Roger lost his seat to silence him. This shows the devolved powers Scottish Government has and the reserved powers that UK government in London has, very important powers that sadly control Scotland too much. https://www.parliament.scot/visitandlearn/Education/18642.aspx
@polarberry If our Independence dream comes true, you can all come over and help celebrate our Independence ;-)
I have two lines of Scottish ancestry and one of my earliest Scots arriving in America was a Presbyterian minister and teacher who walked across Pennsylvania in 1828 and settled in Ohio where he founded a church and a school. I have his handwritten journal from his trek across Pennsylvania. My other line came to America in 1903 from Glasgow, but the family originated in Fifeshire, just south of St. Andrews. My Scots ancestors were so lucky to come to this country where they weren’t bound by a class system and were able to explore more opportunities. At the same time, I yearn for that country in a way I don’t fully understand, much less describe.
@jeanne-mayell What I love about Nova Scotia is how proud they are of their Gaelic heritage even today, the descendants have kept their Scottish/Gaelic heritage alive. Many of the Scots especially from the Gaelic speaking islands left Scotland when the wealthy elite of Scotland and England chased them of the land their ancestors had lived and worked as they did too. If you have never read about Highland Clearances this tells you why so many Scots left Scotland, there was no jobs because of what happened during the Darien Scheme that pretty much bankrupted Scotland and against the will of the many thousands of ordinary Scots who were not given the vote, only a few thousand wealthy elite sold out Scotland because of their mistakes in this scheme and England had Scotland where it wanted it.
The wealthy elite from England and Scotland who had met in Edinburgh to sign the Act of Union had to flee into a pub in the Royal Mile in Edinburgh and hide in the toilet to sign the declaration because thousands of angry Scots rioted against this merger to make Britain instead of Independent Scotland and England.
When I see the pro Unionist Scotsborn here in Scotland, I often think of Nova Scotia and for majority of us who are pro Independent Scots, we too are very proud of our ancestors, our history, our culture but we are made to feel like we have no right to be proud Scots and are often insulted by folk in England who make fools of our culture, our Highland dress but most of all our Scottish accents and languages, Scots, Gaelic and Doric.
We hope Brexit is the catalyst that sees many more Scots come over to the pro Independent side, when majority of Scotland voted against Brexit but like the Governments we get in Westminster, because Scotland cannot compete with population of England at 54 million (Scotland is 5.4 million) we will always lose out to what England wants. England wanted Brexit, Scotland out of the 4 Nations voted most to stay in EU but we were told it is a UK decision so we have to suck it up and be dragged out against our will......it will always be like that as long as we stay in UK, in fact it will get far worse for Scotland as Westminster Government tries to rob us of the powers we have as a devolved Nation. We are hoping this is when Scots will get really angry, after all, our Scottish Government has protected us from some of the really bad austerity cuts and also have given Scots many beneficial policies that the rest of UK don't have like no university fees, free prescriptions. I think the undecisive Scotsborn should watch the documentary of Nova Scotia I watched and see they pass their Scottish heritage down the generations. Westminster Government has told the supermarkets to stamp the Union Jack on food products especially Scotch Beef which is well known around the world, so many quality products produced in Scotland are now named as British. Imagine politicising our food eh! I buy products no matter what Nation they are from if I like it, I, like majority of pro Indy Scots we refuse to buy union jack stamped food, we are Scottish, not British ;-).