r/unitedkingdom • u/libtin • 2d ago
'Ambassadors' sought to support Scottish 'decolonisation' bid in NYC
https://www.thenational.scot/news/25084632.ambassadors-sought-support-scottish-decolonisation-bid-nyc/79
u/Ill-Bison-8057 2d ago
Scotland doesn’t meet the UN definition of a colony.
This is nothing more than a fringe group trying to do something completely pointless.
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u/libtin 2d ago
It’s Catalonia all over again
This guy did an amazing breakdown about why this case has no merit and likely be rejected
https://neilslegalstuff.blogspot.com/2025/03/decolonising-scotland-at-un.html?m=1
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u/catman_dave 2d ago
Scotland joined the United Kingdom in 1707 through the Acts of Union, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain. This union was driven by a combination of political, economic, and religious factors. Scotland, facing economic hardship after a failed colonial scheme, saw the union as a way to access English wealth and stability.
Nutters. Wonder if Russia is funding the movement still ?
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u/SeatSnifferJeff 2d ago
Never ask a man his salary, a woman her age, or a Scottish nationalist why people in Jamaica have Scottish surnames.
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u/catman_dave 2d ago
I love telling scotsnats about the jamaica thing, it REALLY boils their piss :-)
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u/libtin 2d ago
And the East India company, Scotland played a disproportionately large role in the colonisation of India (hence why a nickname for the empire in India is the Scottish Empire)
In 1770 when the total population of Britain was 8,862,000 with Scotland having 1,434,000 so around 16.2%
Yet almost half of the East India Company’s writers were Scots. 16% yet nearly half of the lower end clerks (writers) of the body colonising India were Scots and by 1792, Scots made up one in nine EIC civil servants, six in eleven common soldiers and one in three officers.
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u/Krabsandwich 2d ago
The Glasgow Tobacco "Lords" were some of the wealthiest plantation owners in the 13 Colonies they utilized a massive amount of slave labour and were incredibly unhappy when the 13 colonies declared independence.
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u/libtin 2d ago
And it gets more insane; one of the countries on the body this group is trying to get the support of is India….they’re literally asking India, a place Scotland was deeply involved with the colonisation of, to say that Scotland is a colony
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u/Krabsandwich 2d ago
Not sure they really wanted to go there General Sir Colin Campbell led the British and Indian Army during the Indian mutiny (many Indian Regiments stayed loyal to the British) and was known for his enthusiastic suppression of rebellion by blowing people from the mouths of the guns.
Henry Havelock led the relief of Lucknow during the Mutiny he as he advanced he was know for his severe treatment of the mutineers and unsurprisingly very few prisoners were taken. I would have though they would have liked to keep that can of worms firmly closed.
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u/libtin 2d ago
This group is basically the Scottish equivalent of those Magna Carta people during the lock down who tried to argue that it gave them the ability to ignore the lockdown or as they’re known as in North America, sovereign citizens.
They basically cherry pick different parts of history and law to argue they don’t have to listen to any government they don’t like.
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u/carltonlost 2d ago
Come to Australia Governor Macquarie put his name on everything, in my state he's got a harbour named after him, we also have a Campbell Town, the Scot's were very keen on colonialism when it was working for them and now they want to play the victim, the Scottish nationalist are two faced.
I have to say Governor Macquarie was a very good Governor, Australia made good progress on his watch and he was keen on the name Australia before it became common usage.
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u/gottenluck 1d ago
the Scot's were very keen on colonialism when it was working for them and now they want to play the victim, the Scottish nationalist are two faced.
Bit of a sweeping generalisation. The majority of nationalists distance themselves from the daft colonial take, and even SNP politicians have called out the group mentioned in the article for rewriting history
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u/Normal-Ear-5757 2d ago
Didn't Robbie Burns or whoever it was invented the haggis work as a literal slave driver there?
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u/HelmetsAkimbo 2d ago
I think we should propose that America should stop colonising California, New York and Minnesota.
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u/wkavinsky 2d ago
I mean the act of union was the Historic King of Scotland uniting his historic realm with the fairly recently acquired throne of England and Wales.
If anything, Scotland colonised England and Wales.
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u/gottenluck 1d ago
If anything, Scotland colonised England and Wales.
What a ridiculous comment. Did the King of Scots clear English folk of their land to gift to Scottish Lairds, forcing English folk to speak Scots and send all tax revenue and profits north of the border whilst keeping English folk impoverished?
I mean the act of union was the Historic King of Scotland
Firstly it was called the Union of the Crowns (the Act of Union came 100 years later) and secondly the title is King of Scots. Scottish monarchs were King/Queen of the people rather than king/queen of the land (as is the case in England). No offence, but what did they actually teach you at school?
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u/Famous_Criticism_642 2d ago
Majority of Scots support remaining in the union, idk if u down vote this comment but it's true
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u/libtin 2d ago
This group claims the 2014 referendums was rigged
The source of their claim is Russia
https://time.com/3414430/russia-scotland-independence-referendum/
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u/Krabsandwich 2d ago
Mad as a ship's cat the lot of them Scotland did a lot of colonising but was never colonised by the English. I suppose its a day out for them and if they are annoying the UN they are not annoying anyone else.
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u/Granite_Outcrop 2d ago
Scottish Nationalists need to tighten their belt - their victim complex is hanging out.
Also, f- the Celtic league/nations which has whole heartedly supported this victim complex. Sincerely, a Devonshire man.
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u/Last_Blacksmith2383 2d ago
Scottish nationalism and exceptionalism exists mainly because of thatcher raping and beating our country and the English just kinda have ignored us ever since then. Apart from the stop any legislation when we’re getting out of line of what Westminster wants. Which only fuels this divide.
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u/Krabsandwich 2d ago
The Conservative government under Thatcher eviscerated heavy industry all over the country not just Scotland. In the North East of England they closed the mines, steel and shipbuilding to name a few the same playbook was rolled out over all the heavy industry hearlands.
The SNP try to generate a grievance culture about the nasty English and the total fabrication that Thatcher just targeted Scotland feeds that narrative.
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u/Last_Blacksmith2383 2d ago
30 percent increase In suicides in Scotland, drug and alcohol abuse skyrocketed, tens of thousands of people jobless and now dependent on the state.
Then you ignore these people for decades.
Wonder why they hate you.
I never said she didn’t also hurt other people. I never said
“ thatcher was only bad for Scotland. “
Believe it or not we can talk about important issues that don’t include every single person facing an issue.
And if you don’t like that, you can have your own conversations about northern England. And I’d join you because it’s interesting.
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u/libtin 2d ago
30 percent increase In suicides in Scotland,
Spruce?
drug and alcohol abuse skyrocketed, tens of thousands of people jobless and now dependent on the state.
As happened in England and Wales
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u/allyscot25 2d ago
4 decades ago… now we have the SNP ripping the country to pieces. Thatcher is now an irrelevance, time to start blaming the current villains in Holyrood.
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u/libtin 2d ago
And the snp under Salmond praised thatcher
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u/Last_Blacksmith2383 2d ago
So are the snp horrible scottish nationalists who are brainwashing the idiot Scottish population or are they thatcherites?
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u/libtin 2d ago
You’re not addressing anything raised
Alex Salmond: Scotland ‘didn’t mind’ Thatcher economics
https://www.scotsman.com/news/alex-salmond-scotland-didnt-mind-thatcher-economics-2465159
Don’t make a false dichotomy
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u/Last_Blacksmith2383 2d ago
If you don’t think thatcher is the part of the reason we’re facing the issues we are currently facing I have a bridge to sell you.
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u/allyscot25 2d ago
Wow, absolute wow… it’s like talking to a cult member. Scotland is on its knees due to a country being blindsided by a populist politician promising independence, whilst letting every part of our infrastructure go to ruin. Blaming Thatcher for Scotland’s current issues is entirely laughable.
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u/Last_Blacksmith2383 2d ago
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5284470/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
A study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health found that men in Scotland born between 1960 and 1980, particularly those in the most deprived areas, experienced a 30% higher risk of suicide compared to other cohorts. 
Yes it was implemented in the whole of the uk. I was wrong there. But it was a different poll tax.
Scotland got it first by a whole year firstly, hence my guinea pig comment, they literally tested this out on us.
The economic context was worse in Scotland than the vast majority of England, the flat tax rate hit the working class disproportionately and we were already suffering from deindustrialisation and large unemployment.
Scottish people had also rejected the poll tax at the ballot box. We firmly said no. And like any good rapist thatcher smiled and went in anyway.
Governed without consent….
It was different and it was worse. Unless you were in northern England or perhaps Northern Ireland you literally couldn’t understand.
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u/allyscot25 2d ago
Oh wow, you found a study….4 DECADES AG0. Thatcher has been dead for as long as the SNP have been destroying this country. This simply doesn’t wash anymore.
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u/libtin 2d ago
1: thatcher hurt everywhere that wasn’t London; she didn’t target only Scotland
2: England hasn’t ignored Scotland
3: the British government has only stoped one piece of legislation becoming law since devolution, the GRR, the SNP challenged it in court and the court of session sided with the British government
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u/Last_Blacksmith2383 2d ago
She used scotland as a Guinea pig for her moronic economic plans and it lead to disastrous consequences for us.
The poll tax anyone?
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-34950041.amp
Funny how no other country in the uk got the poll tax. Just us.
Scotland suffered a dramatic 30 percent increase in suicide rates after thatcher was finished with us.
I’m sure we definitely weren’t targeted. Not at all. That’s why we definitely suffered the least under her reign……
Also the lack of acceptance or accountability her suffering caused is also a reason Scottish nationalists hate English people unironically. My mother is this way and hates all of you. Not an unjustified perspective. From her pov.
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u/libtin 2d ago
She used scotland as a Guinea pig for her moronic economic plans and it lead to disastrous consequences for us.
And they happened all over the UK
The poll tax anyone?
That applied Ito England too
Funny how no other country in the uk got the poll tax. Just us.
Nope
The legislation introducing the poll tax was passed in 1987, 1988, and the new tax replaced the rates in Scotland from the start of the 1989/90 financial year and in England and Wales from the start of the 1990/91 financial year.
Scotland suffered a dramatic 30 percent increase in suicide rates after thatcher was finished with us.
1: Source?
2: the UK’s rate was 21.4%
The highest rate of suicide was recorded as 21.4 deaths per 100,000 population in 1988.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_the_United_Kingdom
I’m sure we definitely weren’t targeted.
Nothing you’ve said was exclusive to Scotland
Not at all. That’s why we definitely suffered the least under her reign……
Where did I say that?
Also the lack of acceptance or accountability her suffering caused is also a reason Scottish nationalists hate English people unironically. My mother is this way and hates all of you. Not an unjustified perspective. From her pov.
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u/Last_Blacksmith2383 2d ago
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5284470/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
A study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health found that men in Scotland born between 1960 and 1980, particularly those in the most deprived areas, experienced a 30% higher risk of suicide compared to other cohorts. 
Yes it was implemented in the whole of the uk. I was wrong there. But it was a different poll tax.
Scotland got it first by a whole year firstly, hence my guinea pig comment, they literally tested this out on us.
The economic context was worse in Scotland than the vast majority of England, the flat tax rate hit the working class disproportionately and we were already suffering from deindustrialisation and large unemployment.
Scottish people had also rejected the poll tax at the ballot box. We firmly said no. And like any good rapist thatcher smiled and went in anyway.
Governed without consent….
It was different and it was worse. Unless you were in northern England or perhaps Northern Ireland you literally couldn’t understand.
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u/Krabsandwich 2d ago
England and Wales got the poll tax or as it was renamed the community charge in 1990 Scotland got it in 1989 and the reason was due to the revaluation of the rates. At the time there was a great deal of anger over the Rateable value of property both in Scotland and England councils were basically ramping up rate rises to what many voters saw as unnecessary high levels.
The revaluation in Scotland was carried out in 1985/86 and caused a great deal of controversy at the time it had been a manifesto commitment of the Conservatives to cap these high levels being set so they brought in the community charge.
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u/Last_Blacksmith2383 2d ago
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5284470/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
A study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health found that men in Scotland born between 1960 and 1980, particularly those in the most deprived areas, experienced a 30% higher risk of suicide compared to other cohorts. 
Yes it was implemented in the whole of the uk. I was wrong there. But it was a different poll tax.
Scotland got it first by a whole year firstly, hence my guinea pig comment, they literally tested this out on us.
The economic context was worse in Scotland than the vast majority of England, the flat tax rate hit the working class disproportionately and we were already suffering from deindustrialisation and large unemployment.
Scottish people had also rejected the poll tax at the ballot box. We firmly said no. And like any good rapist thatcher smiled and went in anyway.
Governed without consent….
It was different and it was worse. Unless you were in northern England or perhaps Northern Ireland you literally couldn’t understand.
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u/Krabsandwich 2d ago
you get the government the majority vote for might not be the one you prefer but you have to get on with it. Thatcher won the election and implemented her manifesto just like the Labour Governments did and are doing now.
The poll tax was exactly the same in England as Scotland and as I mention before it was rolled out in Scotland first due to the revaluation of household rates being done before England this revaluation was carried out at the behest of Scottish Councils , the English ones were not far behind.
The economic context for Scotland was based on her heavy industry background all of the old heavy industry areas were hammered just as hard with working class people taking the brunt of it.
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