Latest news with #DannyDorling
The Herald Scotland
29-06-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
So Scots felt they were British centuries before the Union? Hmm
Scottish identity and a desire for independence among many Scots is also ever changing, with Oxford University professor Danny Dorling, an expert in human geography, claiming recently that a form of independence is already in progress, due to an ever increasing political and cultural divide between England and Scotland. However, new research by University of Glasgow professor Dauvit Broun surprised many people. He explores the idea of Britishness in relation to Scottish independence and identity in the Medieval period, offering a different insight into contemporary debates surrounding national identity. Broun examines the ideas of Scottish academics and historians in the 1380s and 1520s of Britain as an extension of the Scottish Kingdom. Broun makes use of a recently discovered early 16th century homemade compendium booklet of king-list, chronicles and origin-legend material. Read more He also analyses John Mair, who is often believed to be the first Unionist thinker and his belief in a Scottish kingdom which could grow to include England while being ruled by a Scottish monarch, highlighting that the idea of Britishness was based on the shared island rather than a shared Unionism. Additionally, he questions whether instead of a shared Britishness there has been unique Scottish, English and Welsh versions of Britishness for centuries. Broun argues that these new discoveries emphasise the possibility for both Scottish independence and Britishness to exist at the same time in today's national identity. He says Scottish identification with Britain exists far before the political Union of 1707, highlighting Britain is just as much a geographical concept as a political one. Broun states: 'Rather than 'banal unionism', there was 'banal Britishness' based ultimately on sharing the same island.' This new research suggests the possibility of retaining a British identity in an independent Scotland, as was foreseen in the late medieval period. This concept is not dissimilar to Scandinavia, Norway is no less Scandinavian now than it was pre independence from Sweden in 1905. It brings to mind Alex Salmond's call, during the 2014 referendum, for a social union with the rest of the UK. But could Scots, in any future independent state, still retain their sense of Britishness? The imposition of the Union of 1707 received an overwhelmingly hostile response from the Scottish public with anti-Union demonstrations being commonplace alongside riots in Glasgow and Edinburgh. This reaction begs the question how could Britain be Scottish when the majority of Scots were against this political Union and felt no identification with the label of British. P.H Scott in The Union of 1707 argues: 'England had obtained their centuries-long objective of asserting control over Scotland, not by conquest, but by intimidation and ingenious and diverse means of bribery.' The high point of the British Union and a shared British identity was in the mid 20th century with the Second World War bringing a sense of shared sacrifice and the nationalisation of key industries like the railways, coal and steel under labour. However, no one can deny these links have been taken apart one by one, ironically by the Conservative and Unionist party under Margaret Thatcher who, in selling off the UK's assets, diluted a sense of shared purpose. What shared identity is Britain left with to tie us together aside from a BBC that no one watches? There no longer remains the shared political unity of post-war support for Labour, instead Scotland and England have not voted the same way since the 1980s, with increasingly different party support and political preferences. Ultimately, we must recognise that identity changes and as Scotland and England continue to grow increasingly apart, both politically and culturally, we must consider our future. As Scotland's foremost historian Sir Tom Devine said: 'Only through sovereignty can we truly develop a truly amicable and equal relationship with our great Southern neighbour.' Isobel Scott is studying Modern History at the University of St Andrews
The National
08-06-2025
- Business
- The National
Scottish independence 'already begun as UK political culture diverges'
Professor Danny Dorling of the University of Oxford told the Sunday National that the divergence is particularly evident in social policies such as the Scottish Child Payment. This policy, he said, has significantly helped tackle child poverty in Scotland while remaining almost entirely ignored by English political elites, who he accused of wearing 'unbelievable blinkers'. Dorling described the mid-pandemic launch of the Scottish Child Payment by the SNP in February 2021 as both 'really interesting' and largely 'unnoticed' south of the Border. READ MORE: Labour 'could lift 700,000 children out of poverty using SNP policy' The professor said the SNP had 'worked out the cost of living crisis could be just as deadly as the pandemic'. 'Nobody says it like that – but certainly it's important,' he went on. 'Prices went up 30% in a couple of years. That's really serious." In response, he noted, the Scottish Government introduced a modest £10 weekly payment for children under six in families claiming benefits. 'The clever thing politically is the point of principle. Once it's established, you're no longer debating it," Dorling said. He compared the move to an early New Labour policy: "In 1997, they introduced a very small fee for going to university. 'It's just about £1000 a year', right? We now have the highest fees in the world in England.' In Scotland, the pattern has repeated – the Scottish Child Payment has risen significantly to £27.15 per week, with the scope also expanded to all children under 16 in families receiving benefits. The University of Oxford's Professor Danny Dorling (Image: Newsquest) Dorling said: 'It's a lot of money. If you've got three kids, that's about £4000 a year extra untapered – you don't lose it if you get any other benefits – that money means that your children can eat and eat well, I mean healthily. 'This is quite an incredible policy and the cost is still pretty low.' The Scottish Child Payment has been cited as a key reason that child poverty rates are falling in Scotland even as they climb in all other UK nations. Figures published in March showed that 31% of children across the UK were in relative poverty, up from 30% the previous year. In Scotland, however, the rate had dropped from 26% to 22%. However, despite the policy's success – and adoption by other parties including Scottish Labour – Dorling said it was almost unknown south of the Border due to 'the unbelievable blinkers of English politicians and English poverty analysts not to look at this, to try to pretend it isn't happening'. The professor said that, in his opinion, the difference comes down to 'understanding the culture of English elitist politics'. READ MORE: Lesley Riddoch: Independence is at 54 per cent – so why won't the SNP mention it? He argued that many MPs, academics, and analysts emerge from a narrow 'dinner-party world' – studying PPE at top universities before entering policy roles – which creates intellectual isolation and resistance to external ideas. 'The fundamental argument that's always put forward when somebody says we could do this is 'it's not possible',' Dorling said. 'Now, if you've got somewhere within the boundary of the UK demonstrating it's possible, that's really annoying. That's the killer. 'Also, Scotland had the worst poverty rate in Europe when I was a child. The fact that Scotland [now] has a lower poverty rate than any region of England, it doesn't compute.' Dorling said that, as a geographer, he is typically looking abroad for policy inspiration rather than doing "what we always do in Britain, which is go 'we'll invent one out of our own head'". Nicola Sturgeon introduced the Scottish Child Payment while first minister (Image: Colin Mearns) 'But in the last five years, when I do public talks, I try to get people to guess [where this policy is] – that's the punch line, which makes people laugh – and after they go, 'is that in Iceland? is it wherever?', it normally takes them more than 10 guesses. 'I go, 'no, that's done in Scotland'. And they don't know. I can't explain it. I do think it's bizarre.' Dorling argued that this is contributing to a 'growing divide' between politics north and south of the Border 'since 1997, but earlier, if you look at the MPs elected as independents in the 1970s, a growing cultural divide between England and Scotland'. 'Scotland used to be in some ways culturally really part of the Union. You used to produce some of the most obnoxious government ministers. You go to Edinburgh University and learn how to be nasty and go into finance. You shouldn't underestimate how English Scotland was, even in my lifetime.' However, he said that, especially among young people, the divide between English and Scottish politics was widening. READ MORE: John Curtice issues verdict on Hamilton by-election after 'surprise' result 'You know, we no longer get any Scottish students,' the University of Oxford professor said. 'I haven't met in 12 years a student from Scotland. Why would you travel down to England and pay fees? 'So there is a way in which a form of independence has begun already. It's cultural, especially with the young people.' Dorling further argued that the Scottish Child Payment had been a 'tricky political decision because you are deciding not to spend money on other things, principally the old'. However, he said this had come from politicians like Nicola Sturgeon. 'These typically tend to be women in their 40s or 50s, quite strong, quite determined. In most European countries, this is a growing demographic of politicians,' Dorling said. However, he said that growing leadership demographic was not being reflected in England, another aspect of the increasing political divide north and south of the Border.
Powys County Times
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Powys County Times
Letter: Wales needs a fresh start and Plaid is planning one
In response to my recent column to the County Times, one of the paper's readers pointed out that welfare is not devolved to Wales and argued that this would prevent us from carrying out our recently announced Cynnal policy of direct child payments of £10 a week to Wales' poorest households. While it is true that welfare is a power reserved to Westminster, this does not prevent us from implementing Cynnal. Indeed, this exploratory policy reiterates the good that could be done by devolving welfare. As stated in my original piece, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has demonstrated overwhelmingly that unconditional cash transfers to poor families are the most effective way of combatting poverty, and child poverty more specifically. Scotland – the country on which we have modelled the policy – is projected to see a 6% decrease in child poverty rates, the only UK nation or region to buck the trend of worsening rates. How do we go about emulating this in Wales, then, with the current constitutional settlement? Professor Danny Dorling of Oxford University has suggested that a similar scheme could be delivered by local authorities, mirroring the Discretionary Assistance Fund (DAF), which would be within the scope of existing powers. Additionally, Section 60 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 gives the Welsh Government the very broad power to do anything they consider appropriate to promote or improve the economic, social or environmental well-being of Wales. The reader also points out the considerable financial cost of the policy, which he estimates is in the region of £120m. To put this in context, the Welsh Government currently spends £5 billion on tackling poverty in one way or another and has very little to show for it. Redirecting a small fraction of this spending to the most effective policy to tackle child poverty is well within our means. Technically and financially, therefore, nothing is stopping Plaid Cymru from implementing Cynnal. With an electoral mandate in 2026, it will be part of our policy programme to give Wales a fresh start.
