Can anyone tell me what, if any, celebrations are planned for the 300th anniversary of the Union of England and Scotland?

this has gotta be a loaded question - you may be launching another war between Scottish and English Fodorites -with Scots saying i think that there is nothing to celebrate about this union. They certainly won't be celebrating in Scotland, except perhaps at Balmoral.

The election of a Scottish prime minister

Seriously, I'm not winding anyone up. There must be something.....

The official answer to the question is at http://tinyurl.co.uk/r6sy . It had to be obtained under the Freedon of Information Act, which shows how excited everyone is about it.

There won't be a war on this site. The normal Scottish posters are intelligent people. So they realise that their Act of Union (there was another, too, you know - conspicuously uncelebrated in 2001) turned Scotland from a bankrupt failed state (raping the ruling monarch was one way the nobles asserted authority) to the centre of a spectacular intellectual flowering in a couple of decades.

And it relieved the Scots of what they're hoeless at (ruling themselves), but offered them a huge slug of the world as a place to do what they're global leaders at (telling other people how they ought to be ruled).

That's why repeated elections consistently fail to throw up a majority in Scotland for independence. Scots who're upset at remaining part of the Union are simply bemoaning their own inability to persuade their compatriots to their point of view.

And, of course, engaging in the Scots' favourite pastime. Blaming the English for their own failings.

If flanneruk's bluster doesn't provoke Scots to rebuttal then i cast doubt on the intelligence of Scottish Fodorites that flanner perhaps then falsely attributed to them.

Too bad this OP didn't have a better heading - Celebration of Union of England & Scotland in post would have insured a barrage of Scottish complaints.

A two pound coin? Is that all? Pitiful!
Will this help stop the Americans calling us British? Always grates a bit.."Hey are you British?"
British by birth, English by the Grace of God.

Author: londonengland
Date: 09/26/2006, 10:43 am
The election of a Scottish prime minister>>>>>>>>>>&g t;

Cameron may be a Scottish surname - but Dave is as English as you get. easy mistake to make though.

Or did you mean Ming?

Funny that both prime candidates for Prime Minister- Messrs Reid and Brown -are both Scottish.

Which is why it won't be either of 'em. Alan Johnson's the labour mob's only hope.

<Will this help stop the Americans calling us British? Always grates a bit.."Hey are you British?"
British by birth, English by the Grace of God>

What should i call a resident of Great Britain when i'm not sure if they are Scottish, Welsh or English? Please i'd like to no what is acceptable so as to not affend. I never dreamt calling any resident of Great Britain British was offensive - I mean the Sun Never Sat on the British Empire...or was it in fact on the English Empire, which would include Wales and Scotland as subservient entities that like flanner said about Scotland "turned Scotland from a bankrupt failed state to the centre of a spectacular intellectual flowering in a couple of decades." I assume the Welsh reaped the same benefit of English colonization.

Blair is as Scottish a name as you can get, and he was born in Edinburgh.
Who took over who?

What English colonisation?

It was a bloody Scots king who took over the English throne. And the instant the English bailed the Scots out from the catastrophe of their failed attempt at building an empire, it was the Scots who all went flooding to England. They've been colonising the English ever since.

Wales was never a state, so we've no idea whether it'd have been a failed one or not. It's always been more a state of mind, which is why they get so narky about their language.

In what flanner will certainly say is an indictment of American education, wasn't the Scottish royals who took over England really French - wasn't Mary Queen of Scots French and even Queen of France at one time. This is why they have croissant-like pastries in Scotland, right?

<What should i call a resident of Great Britain when i'm not sure if they are Scottish, Welsh or English?>

Ask.

Being called British, just sounds odd, a "British accent" is a meaningless phrase, "British English" slightly less so.

james VI/I depending on your counting system was Scottish.

Scotland had links to France - The Auld Alliance - and there were also cultural links. But he was definately a sweaty. As was the present Queen's mum. (and my mum is one too - they're everywhere).

And no-one wil get offended if you call us British. What gets up the noses of the little bits of Britain is when English and British are used as synonyms.

a est f -
well that makes sense. We do refer to collective residents of Great Britain as Brits because talking in general about Great Britain we'd never say English, which, on the other hand, many Americans use - "I'm going to England" when they are going to Scotland as well - it's all England to many. When i land in London i'm landing in England but to me i'm landing in Great Britain. But i see the validity of not saying a British accent as they are many variants of a British accent.

Now to important questions - do you have English muffins in Britain? English muffins are a favorite breakfast food here.

We have muffins. Which are a bread thing.

And we have American muffins which are like little cakes.

And we have all sorts of crumpet.

<Cameron may be a Scottish surname - but Dave is as English as you get. easy mistake to make though.>

Surely, David is a Welsh name

<wasn't Mary Queen of Scots French and even Queen of France at one time.>

Her mum was French, but she was a Scot. She was married to the King of France briefly, but he snuffed it, so she had to go home.

<What gets up the noses of the little bits of Britain is when English and British are used as synonyms.>

Well put.

<When i land in London i'm landing in England but to me i'm landing in Great Britain>

Great Britain doesn't sound right again. The UK would be more apt. Great Britain is the big island, the "United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern island" is what the country is.

When I go home I go to England or the UK.

< do you have English muffins in Britain?>

In England or in the UK, your English muffins are our American muffins. English English muffins are totally different.

As Audere points out we have crumpets, pikelets as well as scones (the pronounciation of which could spark a whole new debate...Skownes or skonns).