Essay

Scots look to break free

By Mike Dwane

By the end of this year, the United Kingdom might look a little less united. The people of Scotland will vote in September on whether they want to break away from London and go it alone as an independent nation.

This independence movement has naturally upset many. Scotland, after all, is the birthplace of seven British prime ministers, including Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The Queen's husband goes as the Duke of Edinburgh. Even James Bond, that quintessential symbol of British charm and sophistication, is a Scot. Sean Connery, the most famous Bond actor of them all, is as Scottish as haggis.

There might not even have been a British Empire if it were not for the Scots. Many would say that Britain became the world's greatest power on the back of the free trade economics of Adam Smith. And there would have been no Industrial Revolution were it not for James Watt and his steam engine.

The Scots are justly proud of their history of innovation, which includes penicillin (Alexander Fleming), the telephone (Alexander Graham Bell) and television (John Logie Baird). And, of course, the Scots invented golf.

Every Japanese will be familiar with at least one work of the Scottish poet Robert Burns. His poem, Auld Lang Syne, is set to an old Scottish air and traditionally sung on New Year's Eve. In Japan, the song is better known as Hotaru no Hikari.

Scotland is a little schizophrenic when it comes to sport. Its footballers and rugby players represent Scotland and love to beat the English. But in the Olympics, a Scot will compete for Great Britain.

The Edinburgh cyclist Chris Hoy is the most successful British Olympian of all time. This is appropriate, I suppose, as the bicycle is also a Scottish invention.

He has been known as Sir Chris Hoy since he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2009. Sir Sean Connery is also a knight.

Others have refused the honour of a knighthood because they consider themselves Scots and not Brits. Scotland and England have in fact only been part of the same political entity since 1707 and spent most of the previous centuries fighting like dogs, as anyone who has seen Braveheart will know.

The battle scenes in that Mel Gibson movie were actually filmed in my country, Ireland. You can see some of my friends, who were extras on the set, in a famous scene where the Scottish warriors lift their kilts and shout obscenities at the English archers!

The Irish and the Scottish share an ancient Gaelic language but can hardly understand one another's English accents today.

We can't agree on who makes the better whiskey or even how to spell it. In Ireland it's whiskey and in Scotland whisky.

The only thing most of us can agree on is disliking the English and I expect the Scottish referendum to reflect this in September.

スコットランド人は英国から自由になれるか

英国（グレートブリテン）の一部であるスコットランドの分離独立の是非を問う住民投票が９月に予定されている。アイルランド人である筆者は、この住民投票をどう見ているのだろうか。

The Japan Times ST: May 2, 2014