Octavia's News Offerings
0ctavias0fferings is my selling handle (the 'o's are zeros) and you'll find me under that name on both Squidoo and Zazzle.
I'm a Scottish Grandmother, living the quiet life in the Cairngorm National Park area of the Scottish Highlands.
I've been here on Tumblr for a while now and I still keep saying 'I must blog more'.
Dear John Bull
Dear John Bull,
The problem with a marriage of convenience is that the longer it goes on, the less convenient it is likely to be.
After 300 years in this marriage, I am now seeking to regain my independence. It’s not as if you didn’t know this day would come, it’s clear we have grown apart in many ways.
I believe in looking after the people, you say they should look after themselves. I take care of the elderly, the sick, the disabled while you remove their support. Your people are the subjects of the Queen, in my lands the people are sovereign*.
The separation between us in some areas is already a chasm, though on other matters we still stand side by side. It is for this reason that I seek an amicable divorce and I will put that proposition to my people in a rational, balanced way, with the full facts, so that the sovereign people of this land may choose the way forward.
I would ask only this of you, make your arguments based on facts. Already, in the short time since my First Minister announced my intention to consult the people, there has been cacophony of name calling, threats and scare mongering from your side of the border. Have you no self-respect left? It’s abundantly clear you have no respect for my people, even though they are sovereign in our Nation and you are a subject in yours.
You tell my people they are too weak, too poor, too stupid to run their own affairs and that we exist under your benevolence alone, but this is the argument of an abusive spouse and I must urge you to reign in your minions.
Set them to looking for positive reasons why this Union should be maintained - but the fact that many Labour MPs will lose their jobs and it’s going to be a lengthy period of Conservative rule south of my border are not good reasons to stay in this marriage.
Never forget, my people have read the McCrone Report** and are tired of the Truth being replaced with your lies. You have become all too accustomed to regarding my assets as your possessions to use as you will.
Answer me if you can, why would I want to stay with such an abusive partner who thinks his opinion is all that counts and believes I should have no say on important matters? Is that not very Victorian? Why should I stay in a union with a partner who drags me into illegal conflicts where my sons and daughters die? Why stay with someone who takes all I earn and, grudgingly, doles me out pocket-money? The facts show my earnings are higher than yours (per capita) but I need only direct my eyes to the far south to see where the wealth is accumulating.
Give me a single honest, positive reason why I should stay because my people are too wise, too intelligent, too diligent, too sensible to be fooled, they are not children, you don’t frighten them with your stories and you risk filling the void between us with a resentment that may take centuries to overcome, while I would prefer us to remain friends of equal stature in the World. After all, we will still be living next door to one another.
I ask you again, give me one positive reason why I should stay and, if you cannot, do not bar my way.
Sincerely,
Alba
*Queen Elizabeth II is Queen of England, thus the English are her subjects, whereas she is Queen of Scots because the Scots people are sovereign in their Nation and can choose their Monarch (see Declaration of Arbroath)
** The McCrone Report
