Saving Britain? The 2012 Olympic Games,Saving Britain? The 2012 Olympic Games,Scottish Independence and the Break-Up of the Scottish Independence and the Break-Up of the

United KingdomUnited Kingdom

Gerry MooneyGerry MooneyDepartment of Social Policy and CriminologyDepartment of Social Policy and Criminology

Faculty of Social SciencesFaculty of Social SciencesThe Open University (Scotland)The Open University (Scotland)

Gerry.Mooney@open.ac.uk

UW-Baraboo/Sauk CountyUW-Baraboo/Sauk CountyWisconsinWisconsin

10 October 201210 October 2012

‘It is quite true that the so-called races of Britain feel themselves to be very different from one another. A Scotsman, for instance, does not thank you if you call him an Englishman. You can see the hesitation we feel on this point by the fact that we call our islands by no less than six different names, England, Britain, Great Britain, the British Isles, the United Kingdom and, in very exalted moments, Albion. Even the differences between north and south England loom large in our own eyes’.

(George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, 1941 )

Britain or Great Britain or UK or...?Britain or Great Britain or UK or...?

Two Irreconcilable Images, Two Irreconcilable Images, Two Contradictory Stories?Two Contradictory Stories?

Alex Salmond (SNP Leader)and Scottish Independence: Swept Away

by the 2012 Olympic Games?Source: The Spectator, August 9, 2012Source: The Spectator, August 9, 2012

• 2012 Olympic Games has re-ignited long-standing debates and arguments around ‘Britishness’ and British national identity

• The portrayal of Britishness in the 2012 Games reflected confusion, uncertainty and ambiguity around the meaning of Britain and British national identity

• The Opening Ceremony (Danny Boyle’s vision – a three hour portrayal of ‘Our Island Story’ ) on July 27 provoked a considerable degree of political controversy.....

- Was it too political, too ‘left-wing’?

- Did it adequately capture modern Britain?• But for many commentators the Opening Ceremony and the

success of ‘Team GB’ in the Olympics and Paralympics has given rise to a new sense of patriotism and pride in ‘Britishness’!

The 2012 Olympics: ‘A Britain as Never Seen Before’? The 2012 Olympics: ‘A Britain as Never Seen Before’?

The Opening Ceremony as ‘Leftie Multicultural Crap’The Opening Ceremony as ‘Leftie Multicultural Crap’

• Conservative MP Adrian Burley: Olympics opening ceremony was 'multicultural crap‘

Tweeting during the Ceremony he claimed that it was:• ‘The most leftie opening ceremony I have ever seen – more than

Beijing, the capital of a communist state! Welfare tribute next?’

As the Ceremony progressed, he further Tweeted:• ‘Thank God the athletes have arrived! Now we can move on from

leftie multicultural crap. Bring back red arrows (the RAF aerobatic team), Shakespeare and the (Rolling) Stones!"

• Peter Hitchens (Daily Mail/conservative journalist) on the Opening and Closing Ceremonies:

• ‘It told us (the British) that we aren’t anybody anymore’......We forget the old monarchist Christian country that used to be and we become funky rock music drug-taking Britain’.

(BBC Radio 4, ‘Today’, 12/8/12)

‘‘Baffled Americans’!Baffled Americans’!

An Alternative View from An Alternative View from Over HereOver Here

‘It’s understandable why the ceremonies upset supporters of neoliberalism and the growing movement of Britain’s white nationalists. It’s even more understandable why many left-of-center people in the United States took to twitter in praise of what was on display. After all, any acknowledgement in mass culture that there is such a thing as a working class or a history of protest would be radical in this country. The mere concept that there is such a thing as a “National Health Service” and its existence is something to celebrate must also be seen as further evidence that we were getting a glimpse into an alternative universe. Just imagine if the economic elite of the USA had underwritten the opening festivities. We would have had “The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders Salute Our Nation’s Wealth and Job Creators.” They would have then engaged in full stage-combat with an army of evil teachers unions. Then the healthcare tribute would be headlined by “The Dance of the Pharmaceutical and Insurance Company Lobbyists” and end with a touching scene of people dying in a church hospice while Jennifer Hudson sings “The Circle of Life.’

(Dave Zirin www.thenation.com, July 30 2012)

The London Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremony: The NHS as a Symbol of Britishness?

The London Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremony: The NHS as Competing Politics/Ideology

• The Olympics and Paralympics are then credited with reviving a strong sense of Britishness and a modern British national identity – an identity that is multicultural and diverse – that anyone can buy into!

• Both a strength – but also a weakness?

• It has to be made very ambiguous for various groups and cultures to buy into it!

• And what about Scotland – and the potential of an Independent Scotland – how have the 2012 Olympic Games impacted on that?

The Olympic Games and Scotland!The Olympic Games and Scotland!

Source: The New York Times, February 27, 2012

May 1997: New Labour under Tony Blair elected

Sept 1997: Referendum on Devolution

May 1999: Re-Convening of the first Scottish Parliament since 1707

and the Act of Union

May 1999: May 2007: Scottish Government is a Labour and

Liberal Democrat Coalition

May 2007: Election of Scottish National Party Minority Government

Aug 2007: Choosing Scotland's Future: A National Conversation:

Independence and Responsibility in the Modern World –

Scottish Government believes the principal choices are:

– Small extension of devolved powers

– Radical redesign of devolution and greatly enhanced powers

– Independence

The Scottish/UK Question:The Scottish/UK Question:Background /Context (1)Background /Context (1)

Nov 2007: Launch of Calman Commission on Devolution by

pro-Union parties (Labour, Cons and Lib Dems)

Nov 2009: Calman Report published advocating more powers

for the Scottish Parliament (that is ‘greater’

devolution but Scotland remains within the UK)

May 2010: UK General Election sees Conservative/Liberal

Democrat Coalition elected under David Cameron

(Little support for Conservatives or Liberal Democrats in Scotland with strong support for Labour – echoes again of the 1980s with Scots ruled by a UK government they did not elect!)

May 2011: SNP wins overall majority with Cons and Lib Dems

losing heavily: Widely seen as a ‘shock’ result

Aug 2014: Possible date for Referendum on Scottish Independence

The Scottish/UK Question:The Scottish/UK Question:Background /Context (2)Background /Context (2)

How UK voted: 2010 General ElectionHow UK voted: 2010 General Election

Cons 306 36.1%Lab 258 29.0LibDem 57 23.0SNP 6 1.7Green 1 1.0SF 5 0.6DUP 8 0.6PC 3 0.6SDLP 3 0.4Alliance 1 0.1Ind (Hermon) 1 0.1

How Scotland Voted: 2010 UK General ElectionHow Scotland Voted: 2010 UK General Election

SCOTLANDParty Seats %Labour 41 41.9SNPSNP 6 6 19.9 19.9LibDems 11 18.8Cons 1 16.4

How Scotland Voted:2011 Scottish ElectionsHow Scotland Voted:2011 Scottish Elections

ConstituencyVotes % Seats

ListsVotes % Seats

TotalSeats (change since 2007)

SNP 45.4 53 44.0 16 69 (+23)

31.7 15 26.3 22 37 (-7)

13.9 3 12.4 12 15 (-5)

7.9 2 5.2 3 5 (-12)

4.4 2 2 (-)

Others 1.1 0 7.7 1 3 (+1)

Total 100 73 100 56 129

• Devolution was introduced by Blair and New Labour in 1998 to ‘save’ the UK and prevent any drift towards Scottish Independence

• Devolution was supported by the SNP as a step on the path towards Scottish Independence!

• Britain in decline and Britishness in decline? • The Break-up of the United Kingdom and the drive to

Scottish Independence.....inevitable?

Where are We at in 2012?Where are We at in 2012?

‘A few years ago the idea of a Scottish Parliament, if not absurd, was at best unlikely... the Parliament is here...celebrating its tenth birthday. Then the idea of having a SNP Government in that Parliament...of Labour losing an election for the first time in 50 years in Scotland – if not absurd was at least unlikely. Now that’s happened, they lost and the SNP won. So the idea of having a Scotland which is independent is neither absurd nor unlikely. I think it is inevitable...’

(Alex Salmond, SNP Leader and Scotland’s First Minister, BBC Panorama, ‘Will the Scots Ever Be Happy’?’, July 8, 2009)

The Inevitability of Scottish Independence?The Inevitability of Scottish Independence?

The Sunday Herald The Sunday Herald 15 /4/201215 /4/2012

This Place Britain!This Place Britain!

‘Britain is a composite nation, a patchwork of anomalies, mistakes and inconsistencies. It has a standing army but not a football team. It has an anthem, a flag and a queen, but there is no patron saint of the United Kingdom and no founding date of an original constitution to be celebrated with even token formality…. Its allegiances are split between opposing camps, bound equally to Europe and the United States by history and geography, the country that once boasted an empire is now struggling to find a new role for itself in a vastly unequal global order that it once helped to shape. Welcome to modern Britain’.

(Vron Ware, 2007: Who Cares about Britishness? A Global View of the National Identity Debate, London: Arcadia Books, pp: 1-2)

Defining Britishness!Defining Britishness!

‘…just about every central question about our national future …. can only be fully answered if we are clear about what we value about being British and what gives us a sense of direction as a country… the core values of Britishness … we do not love our country simply because we occupy a plot of land or hold a UK passport but also because that place is home and because that it represents values and qualities – and bonds of sentiment and familiarity – we hold dear. … the UK has always been a country of different nations and thus of plural identities – a Welshman can be Welsh and British just as a Cornishman or woman is Cornish, English and British – and may be Muslim, Pakistani, or Afro-Caribbean, Cornish, English and British…’

(Gordon Brown, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Speech to British Council, July 2004)

Fragmenting Britain Saved by.....Fragmenting Britain Saved by.....

....and 007 ....and 007

Reflections on the OlympicsReflections on the Olympics

• Rarely has an Olympic Games been used as explicitly to invoke a sense of nation and national purpose and rearticulating national identity

• Save that is Leni Riefenstahl at the 1936 Berlin Olympics!• Boyle’s ‘Isles of Wonder’ attacked as a romantic portrayal of British

history – and neglected Britain’s less than romantic role in slavery, empire, war and oppression

• Neglected also that the UK today is a place of deepening and rising inequalities – who is the ‘we’ being addressed

• Attacked by Scottish nationalists for conflating Englishness and Britishness or Britishness reduced to Englishness...

- England is Britain is England!• There is no one single ‘island story’ that is the UK...but multiple

and contested stories – reflecting multiple and contested histories

Enduring Tensions!Enduring Tensions!

• The next two years represent a hugely historic period for the future shape of Scotland and the rest of the UK

• The choice is not straightforward between the Union (that is the status quo) or Independence. 4 Choices:

• The current situation remains – unlikely and not popular

• Devolution Plus – some additional powers for the Scottish Parliament (favoured by Labour, Lib Dems and Conservatives)

• Devolution Max (‘Independence Lite’) – maximum available powers to the Scottish Parliament while remaining within the UK - but who defines what is ‘devo max? (currently favoured by the majority of Scots and some SNP members?)

• Independence – currently favoured by around 33-36% of Scots

Some Concluding ThoughtsSome Concluding Thoughts

The Meaning of Independence?The Meaning of Independence?

• The SNP have as yet to articulate a clear definition of what Independence actually means

• Ongoing debates and disputes around the nature of Scottish Independence

• Key questions: • what happens to the military and to the nuclear submarine fleet

based in Scotland? What proportion of the Royal Navy and RAF will Scotland have? Will Scotland stay in NATO?

• Will an independent Scotland keep the pound or join the euro? Will the queen remain head of state? Will there be border posts? What about North Sea oil revenues? Will Scotland be permitted to join the European Union?

• Can Scotland survive economically/financially?• And so on.......

• Increasing political divergence between Scotland and rest of the UK – the political and policy making landscape of Scotland is ever more distinct:

• No tuition fees for University and College Students

• Free prescription charges

• Free personal care for the sick and elderly

• Overwhelming public support for state/publicly provided services

• No privatisation of schools (unlike in England)

• No privatisation of key areas of the NHS (unlike in England)

• Key issue of how to afford this in a context of economic crisis and cuts (first 10 years of devolution - large funding increases - not now!)

• Deepening sense of Scottishness in recent times, BUT:

• Many of the symbols of Scottishness are also a product of Scotland’s involvement in the UK, in Empire

• and.........................

Scotland as an Increasingly Scotland as an Increasingly Distinctive PlaceDistinctive Place

UK Wide Institutions: Enduring Britishness?UK Wide Institutions: Enduring Britishness?