In the summer I had the great pleasure of taking a holiday in France - the most visited country in the world (with nearly 85 million visitors in 2013, higher even than second-placed USA with nearly 70 million1). However, because it's such a big country (nearly twice as big as Germany, for example), it was never particularly busy. Indeed, I cycled the 155km Tour Jean Robic (on a shopping bicycle, but that's another story) through the hilly heart of Brittany and the place was practically empty.
However, one place that was crowded was the city of Lorient, on the south coast of Brittany, during the Festival Interceltique de Lorient. This extraordinary festival, spread over 10 days, welcomes musicians, poets, singers and artists from the far flung 'Celtic' diaspora, including Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, Asturias and Galicia. There was even an Irish pipe-band from Australia. The level of musicianship was exceptionally high throughout and the audience (700,000 total visitors) was voluble and appreciative - partly due to the amount of liquid refreshment that was consumed. There was a 10-mile race at the end of the festival, welcoming runners from all the Celtic nations. I was there on the start line, in my usual Union Jack running shorts, alongside the guys painted blue with the Scottish Saltire flag and plenty of Breton shirts and regalia.
Lining up on the start line of that Celtic race in my Union Jack shorts gave me pause for thought. I was seemingly the sole representative of a nation - Britain - that many of the Celtic nations define themselves as being 'against.' It was almost as though Darth Vader had turned up for a race between Han Solo, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca. I was the lonely representative of the evil Empire. Although I did have a friendly chat with a French guy (or was he Breton? Maybe he was both!) at around half way, I was running too hard to speak much. I was 108th out of nearly 400, in a time of 71 minutes, which shows that this was a serious race for serious runners: it was won in 51 minutes by a gentleman of East African origin. I slipped on some rocks later in the day, bashed in my foot and haven't run since. But that's also another story.
All of this Celtic-ness (Celtosity?) was brought home to me during the recent Scottish independence referendum. I know that people worldwide are amazed that it was even allowed to take place at all, but the electorate in Scotland had elected a party (the Scottish National Party, the SNP) to their parliament whose reason for being was to create an independent Scotland. The British Prime Minister David Cameron gave them what they wanted - a referendum - when the polls looked as though they could never win. As we know, it became a lot closer, and the politicians from London had to 'bribe' the Scots with promises of extra powers to avoid losing the final vote. Although the result seems clear, 55.3% voted 'No' to independence, only 191,969 people out of the 3,619,915 total voters would have had to have changed their minds for the 'Yes to independence' side to have won. Personally, I think that only if a majority of those registered to vote (4,283,392 voters) had voted yes should they have changed the current status of the Scottish nation, but that's yet another story.
In the run-up to the vote, there was a great deal of very well-informed debate on the question of Scottish independence. It seemed very clear to me (full disclosure - I am not Scottish, but did my first degree in Dundee in Scotland, holiday in Scotland each year and have a brother living in Scotland) that the economic arguments against independence were strong. Although Scotland would benefit from increased revenue from North Sea Oil, that very benefit is set to decline quite quickly over the coming 30 years, while the question of which currency Scotland would use was never satisfactorily answered. Unfunded pensions liabilities, high social security payments and a fleeing corporate sector did not bode well. Independence would have caused a decade-long recession in the new nation, at a time when we are all already struggling. No pain, no gain? An independent Scotland could exist, no doubt about it, but the pain, sometimes, is not worth the gain. In my humble opinion.
People in the rest of Britain were overwhelmingly against Scotland leaving the Union. The rest of the UK breathed a collective sigh of relief when a majority of the people of Scotland voted to stay. We are better together - part of something larger, more stable, more open to future opportunities, better able to withstand the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune2 and ready for whatever the future is preparing to throw at us.
Now, in this uncertain world, is it better to be part of a smaller company or a larger company? Do we ever see agitation from combined companies to split apart again (okay, yes, occasionally). Are Lafarge and Holcim better off together, in a Union of their own? Probably.
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings
2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_be,_or_not_to_be
