Scottish nationalists defeat Labour in Scotland

The some bad news for Britain's Labour party in the Scots' parliamentary elections as Scottish nationalists committed to independence became the largest party in the Scottish parliament today, giving the Labour Party, which has most of it's strength in Scotland a major defeat.

The Scottish National Party's (SNP) win in the May 3rd election ended 50 years of Labor dominance in Scotland, and SNP leader Alex Salmond has pledged a referendum within three years on Scottish independence from Britain and said that the Labour Party had lost its 'divine right to govern Scotland.'

"This is an historic moment," he said.

Indeed it is. As Canker and some of my others pals across the pond have told me, without the Labour vote in Scotland, the rest of Britain would have been governed by the the Tories.

Well, Slàinte mhath and all that, but Scottish independence may not be quite as simple a matter as all that.

For one thing, like much of non-Muslim Europe, the Scots aren't having babies. Scotland has half the annual births it had in the 1950s, a population on the brink of falling below five million and pensioners are estimated to outnumber schoolchildren by 2009.

Not only that, but government regulation and high taxes have led to a decent amount of emigration by native Scots.

Like much of non-Muslim Europe, the Scots have been looking to immigration to pay the bills for a socialist welfare state..and that immigration has been mainly coming from the Muslim world,which creates a whole new set of problems, to say the least.

Given the Islamist threat to Britain and all of Europe, Scotland on its own may not be the best choice at this juncture of history.

The Scots, if they truly want to have an independent Scotland again had better take a close look at these issues.