Shared Opinion

17 May 2008

If Scotland is to be independent, then why not London? And good luck to what’s left

Tempted? Why not? You leftover English, Welsh and Northern Irish, you could really make it work. True, you’ll never be a major nation, up there with France and Germany and the rest, but you’ll certainly be more significant than Scotland. Heck, in GDP terms, you might even give Poland a run for its money.

Or maybe we could all just stick with what we’ve got. Even though we’re a bit bored. Why the hell not?

A fine tale of animal suffering reached me other day, and it seems too grimly hilarious not to share. It happened to a friend’s mother, out walking her dogs. She was in a wild part of Scotland that will remain nameless, just in case she broke any laws.

This lady has many, many dogs. Five? Nine? Small, yappy things. I have met most of them. Off the leash, they surge, an amorphous mass. On this particular day, they saw a fox. They were off.

The friend’s mother gave chase, but she was too far away. She heard snarls and yaps, and those wild, cat-like noises I’m told that foxes make when they fight. Eventually she waded in, laying about with boots and stick. She was too late. The dogs pranced away, thrilled. The fox was on its side, all bloodied and mangled.

As you might expect from the five or nine dogs, the lady was an animal lover. Farming stock, yes, but a fox fan. It seemed too late for vets. She was distraught. She wept. She found herself a boulder and, looking deep into the fading eyes, slammed it down on to the stricken animal’s head. Then, wiping tears, she turned to her dogs. Five or nine leads later, she turned back. And the fox was gone.

Literally. Not dead. Gone. Isn’t that the worst thing you ever heard? Poor creature. It must have thought she was as bad as them.

Hugo Rifkind Is A Writer For The Times.

Previous page 1 | 2 | 3

More articles from: Hugo Rifkind | this section

Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (3)

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Post comment

Sonya Porter

May 16th, 2008 6:37pm Report this comment

UDI for Wessex!

Dave Ashworth

May 17th, 2008 4:43am Report this comment

No matter if the Scottish or English people want the Union to continue, or devolution. Debate on the matter is just "Fluff" for it has already begun its path to separation. Not from the average Scot or Englishman, but from the European Union officials who are hell bent on breaking up what they perceive as opposition to their grand scheme of total domination and the removal of democracy in Europe. "DIVIDE AND CONQUER".
The people of the UK are the only people of Europe who could stand up to the Rascals and Scallywags of Brussels and these EU Commissioners know this.
So stop blaming each other for the "Nostalgic Thoughts" of independence as the split is part of a plan being forced upon us by Brown and his Circus Clowns, as it was by Blair and his idiots before.

ian skidmore

June 11th, 2008 1:16pm Report this comment

ANY OIL MONEY TAKEN FROM SCOTLAND IS MORE THAN PAID BACK IN SUBSIDIES. BUT FOR GOD'S SAKE DON'T TALK THEM OUT OF GOING IT ALONE. THOUGH WHEN YOU CONSIDER THE MESS THEY AVE MADE GOVERNING US THIS TWELVE YEARS PAST......
DID YOU KNOW THAT IN SCOTLAND IT IS ILLEGAL TO WEAR AN UNLICENSED SPORRAN

Post comment