The Essence of Scottishness

As the Scottish Nation celebrates a glorious victory in the Faroe Islands, keeping the pressure on Italy and France in Euro 2008 Qualifications, Callum Carr, the most famous blogger originally from Dunfermline, has put down his well thought out ideas on Scottish identity and independence.

I feel British but this is a poor second to my Scottishness. I don’t feel European, ever. I know I am officially a European but the concept of Europe as an entity of which I am a citizen means nothing to me.

Therefore, my Scottishness is undefinable – it just is – and, similarly, my Britishness just is.”

and

I am quite clear: I am Scottish first and then British is a distant second. In the weeks since I wrote the above piece I make one significant addition: I am Scottish, I feel Scottish, I only feel Scottish but I am British because I know logically that I am British. I do not feel British in the way that I feel Scottish. In fact, I do not feel British.

As I read it I kept thinking that is pretty much how I feel, although I am a little bit more sympathetic to the idea of being British.

Having lived around the world a bit, this cultural identity is important. Although I lived in the US for over 10 years, I never felt very American. I certainly never felt very Nepali or Philippino when I lived there and I certainly never felt at all Singaporean when I lived there. Australia on the other hand, I can get my mind around being Australian. Scottish Australian perhaps. Always Scottish.