{"product_id":"9781509542666","title":"Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot : The Great Mistake of Scottish Independence","description":"\u003ch3\u003eAuthor:  Lloyd, John \u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch4\u003eSociety \u0026amp; social sciences\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003ch5\u003ePublished on 3 April 2020 by Polity Press in the United Kingdom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHardback | 224 pages\u003cbr\u003e160 x 316 x 19 | 478g\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/h5\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Scottish nationalists seek to end the United Kingdom after 300 years of a successful union. Their drive for an independent Scotland is now nearer to success than it has ever been.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Success would mean a diminished Britain and a perilously insecure Scotland. The nationalists have represented the three centuries of union with England as a malign and damaging association for Scotland. The European Union is held out as an alternative and a safeguard for Scotland's future. But the siren call of secession would lure Scotland into a state of radical instability, disrupting ties of work, commerce and kinship and impoverishing the economy. All this with no guarantee of growth in an EU now struggling with a downturn in most of its states and the increasing disaffection of many of its members.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In this incisive and controversial book, journalist John Lloyd cuts through the rhetoric to show that the economic plans of the Scottish National Party are deeply unrealistic; the loss of a subsidy of as much as GBP10 billion a year from the Treasury would mean large-scale cuts, much deeper than those effected by Westminster; the broadly equal provision of health, social services, education and pensions across the UK would cease, leaving Scotland with the need to recreate many of these systems on its own; and the claim that Scotland would join the most successful of the world's small states - as Denmark, New Zealand and Norway - is no more than an aspiration with little prospect of success.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e The alternative to independence is clear: a strong devolution settlement and a joint reform of the British union to modernise the UK's age-old structures, reduce the centralisation of power and boost the ability of all Britain's nations and regions to support and unleash their creative and productive potential. Scotland has remained a nation in union with three other nations - England, Northern Ireland and Wales. It will continue as one, more securely in a familiar companionship.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Far From The Madding Crowd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43987484934403,"sku":"9781509542666","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0404\/3207\/4914\/files\/9781509542666_879669da-6037-4a9b-a468-c8c4f1f66e27.jpg?v=1731423239","url":"https:\/\/www.maddingcrowdlinlithgow.live\/products\/9781509542666","provider":"Far From The Madding Crowd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}