Re:Howard Marks obituary: 'Britain's most charming drug smug...
by pjc50 on Monday April 11, 2016 @07:06AM
(#11470723)
As a paid-up Yes/SNP supporter with a little familiarity with NI, I think it's a really bad idea to compare the two situations.
The Troubles were not about having a "resolution", and indeed having a referendum within the Six Counties would have produced a result for staying in the UK. The troubles were about discrimination and violence: both street violence and state violence. The solution involved the reform of the RUC and the imposition of human rights law and anti-discrimination law.
Whereas the Scottish question has not been characterised by any significant level of violence on either side of the politics - there's a bit of it around the Old Firm, but it doesn't pervade public life in anything like the same way. Scotland got its first devo referendum in '79, albeit sabotaged by the turnout requirement.
The Troubles were not about having a "resolution", and indeed having a referendum within the Six Counties would have produced a result for staying in the UK. The troubles were about discrimination and violence: both street violence and state violence. The solution involved the reform of the RUC and the imposition of human rights law and anti-discrimination law.
Whereas the Scottish question has not been characterised by any significant level of violence on either side of the politics - there's a bit of it around the Old Firm, but it doesn't pervade public life in anything like the same way. Scotland got its first devo referendum in '79, albeit sabotaged by the turnout requirement.