Talk:Scotland

Parliament?

Here is the current political setup in Scotland, in case anyone is interested:

The Scottish Parliament was first established in 1998 under the Scotland Act. The Parliament is a unicameral legislature comprised of 129 Members, 73 of which represent individual constituencies and are elected on a first past the post system; 56 are elected in eight different electoral regions by the additional member system. The Queen appoints one of the members of the Parliament, on the nomination of the Parliament, to be First Minister. Other Ministers are also appointed by the Queen on the nomination of the Parliament and together with the First Minister they make up Scottish Executive, the executive arm of government.

Methinks maybe it can be used as something of a blueprint for Scotland's government. I also came across an interesting notion that there are a limited number of seats for Scottish Peers, far fewer than there are peers, so that members of Scottish Nobility must stand for election! Something to think about! Zahir 08:34, 15 February 2006 (PST)

It should be noted, however, that Scotland *there* never lost its original Parliament, and thus, the old Scottish Parliament should be considered, rather than the modern one Nik 11:14, 15 February 2006 (PST)

Here is the wiki article on the original Parliament of Scotland (aka "The Three Estates"): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Scotland Zahir 08:24, 16 February 2006 (PST)

Collection

Smartly done, Dr. Zahir, smartly done! The article looks t'riffic! BoArthur 19:55, 20 March 2006 (PST)

good researching mate. --Marc Pasquin 16:07, 21 March 2006 (PST)

Darién

Could something like the Darien Scheme have happened *there*? Given that Scotland actually did have a colony (namely New Scotland), I wonder about it, but even so, a colony in Panama would've been very useful for Scotland, so perhaps they might've. Depending on the global politics at the time, perhaps England would've given Scotland more assistance, so that the colony might've survived. Of course, today, it would be part of New Granada, but might there remain a sizeable Scottish population? Nik 19:46, 21 March 2006 (PST)

Something to explore....BoArthur

Sir William Wallace

Given that England had another rival kingdom strattling its western border, I wonder if Edward I really could have earned his title "The Hammer of Scotland"? Might not William Wallace have had Kemrese support, so that he was ultimately more successful and never was executed? Something to consider... Zahir 22:40, 30 November 2006 (PST)

That would be pretty cool to see! He'd also probably be an even bigger hero in Scotland *there*, too. Seth 04:55, 22 August 2007

Scottish language

I'd think that the Scottish (and Breton, too) language should be somewhat more widespread than *here*. In Scotland, I'd see it being more-or-less on par with English, at least until you hit Glasgow-Edinburgh. Seth 04:59, 22 August 2007

I had always assumed that those part of scotland that spoke an anglo-saxon dialect spoke Scots, not english:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_language

--Marc Pasquin 03:07, 22 August 2007 (PDT)

Correct. Scotland is mostly Scots speaking, Scots being a language akin to English but not a dialect of it. That "pluricentric diasystem" that the article mentions is probably a good description of English in IB: there are three great centers, Edinbro, Yorich and London each of which has evolved a central and literary language with dialect territories around and overseas. The other languages of Scotland are Gaelige (mostly in the Islands and Highlands) and Breathanach (in the southwest).

Scots is also widespread, though probably not as much as English. After all, Scotland sent its own colonists to America and Australasia.

As for "Breton", the Brehonecq language (dialect, really) is itself somewhat widespread, in so far as Bretons have migrated to French territories -- one might suspect that they've settled along the St. Laurence in New France, up against the Brithenig and Kerno speaking province of New Castreleon. One might also suspect that some numbers of Bretons have settled in the Nouvelle Cornouaille prefecture of Louisianne. But Brehonecq is not a national language like Scots, so it could only survive the machinations of French officialdom by the linguistic and cultural obstinacy of its speakers. This is clearly so in Cornouaille itself. How that tenacity might translate to overseas territories where there is a homogenisation of French people (folks from all over France) in any given colony is less sure. Unless there is a large concentration of dialect speakers, I think that eventually the local version of French will win out in the end. Elemtilas 06:25, 22 August 2007 (PDT)

About the new edit--I feel that we should specify that English itself wasn't originally divided into two but instead three languages (or language varieties), but nationalism has resulted in literary Northern English being eclipsed by Sowthron English and the divides between the two polar ends of the continuum being more sharply drawn. Instead of saying that many Scots do not consider it a distinct language, perhaps state that they still subscribe to the older "dialect continuum" view. Juanmartinvelezlinares 04:52, 11 January 2018 (PST)