Where Were You When JFK Was Shot?

This seminal moment for a whole generation came before I was born. So did the landing on the Moon.

My generation's moment came on 31st August 1997, the death of Diana, the Real Princess of Wales. For me it was just a normal Sunday, like a hundred Sundays before and a hundred Sundays since. And yet I remember it like it was yesterday.

It's funny how ordinary events, that would normally be washed away by time, attach themselves to extraordinary events so as to stay in our memories for eternity.

Cause and Effect

60 years ago India achieved independence from the British after a long struggle.

India was the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. It's independence would signal the beginning of the end of the largest empire the World has known. It was a huge blow for Britain. But the British thought they could have the final laugh.

Aided by the self-serving paranoids of the Muslim League, the British would partition India on their leaving and create the wholly artificial state of Pakistan. This partition would not only result in a million deaths and the largest human movement in history (15 million people). It would cast a shadow over the sub-continent that lasts to this day. A shadow that now includes the possibility of nuclear holocaust.

Pakistan is a failed state. It's a failed state because it is an artificial state. It's people have nothing in common other than their religion.

Nothing good has come from Pakistan since it was created. For more than half it's life, including now, it has been ruled by the military, a stark contrast to India which has been a model of liberal democracy since independence. It was the Pakistani secret police which created the Islamic extremists, including the Taleban, to fight the Soviet army in Afghanistan. These extremists have now turned on the rest of the world. They are blowing themselves up and murdering others all over the world, including London. Three of the four 7/7 bombers were of Pakistani origin. Who's laughing now?

Part-Time Democrats

It is outrageous that so called democratic political parties should oppose a referendum on Scottish independence simply because they do not agree with the potential outcome.

If all political parties opposed referenda that might produce an outcome that they do not agree with, then there would be no referenda, ever!

Referenda are far more democratic than a cabal of 129 people who are only accountable to the 5,200,000 people they are representing once every four years.

The latest opinion polls suggest that only a minority of Scots favour independence. Surely it would be better if there was a referendum now on independence. This would be defeated and the issue could then be put aside for a generation. Scottish politics could then deal with other issues, such as health, education, crime, instead of the issue of independence always dominating the political debate.