I REFER to the article on page four of Friday’s National, “Reforms will see British Army have ‘Union Division’ (Nov 26).
This is nothing more than the next step in what has obviously become a sinister plot on the part of this Tory government to do away with the four nations and make everything into a part of Britain. (I won’t say Great Britain because I don’t think Britain will ever be “Great” again). We have already seen the many comments in your publication concerning the Union Jackery on products in our local shops. Well I noticed in ALDI last week that every single loaf of bread had a Union Jack on the packaging. I’m 78 and in my entire life I have never seen that before.
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These are not moves by individual companies to assert their “Britishness”. After all, if there has been no need for it in the last 78 years, why is it necessary now? I believe there has been some sort of instruction issued by Westminster to make everything “British”.
ALDI still displays the Saltire prominently on Scottish products, but the increase in the appearance of the “British” flag on almost everything else, including vegetables, is significant. I notice, too, that in Morrison’s the Saltire has disappeared from Scottish meat and it is packaged in pretty plain “Market Street” wrapping, still with Scottish lamb or beef in small letters, compared to other meats with the Union Jack and “British” in prominent writing.
We have already had notification that if you travel to the continent by car, you can no longer have the Saltire and “Scotland”, or as is more common “Ecosse”, on your number plate. Your must have the Union flag and UK or GB instead.
It seems this is now going to happen in the army, with Scottish regiments disappearing and becoming, for instance, the 1st Battalion the Ranger Regiment. All of these moves beg the question, “How long will it be before the Scottish Government is disbanded and Scotland is again governed from Westminster via the Scottish Office’s much enlarged administration capacity (including a debating chamber for the Westminster government) in Edinburgh?”
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So, Scottish Government – be warned! Unless you get your finger out pretty damn quick and move for independence now, then the next stage will be to change Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from being nations in their own right into nothing more than regions of “Britain”. In this respect for “Britain” please read “Greater England”. Unless I am very much mistaken, that’s Boris’s plan. He has already declared devolution to be a failure. This is how he will remove it.
One final point you should never forget. When the Treaty of Union was signed in 1707, it was the Tories, in the form of their antecedents, The Whigs, who were in power. They stated in the English Westminster parliament – before they adjourned and came back as the “English Parliament continuing as the British Parliament” – “We have catched Scotland, and we will never let her go!” I think they meant it then, and they mean it again now. They might even revert from being the “British” Parliament back into the English Parliament. Then everything, including Scotland, will become “English” instead of “British”. It could happen!
Charlie Kerr
Glenrothes
LIKE Alex Orr (Letters, Nov 26), for many years I thought that St Andrew was the patron saint of Russia. Alas we were both wrong. When visiting the Hermitage Gallery in St Petersburg I asked the guide about the many portraits of St George. She said: “St George is our patron saint.” “What about St Andrew?” I inquired. “St Andrew is the patron saint of our navy,” she replied.
Margaret Pennycook
Glasgow
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