Who are the British?

Discussion

1. What do you think the last sentence means?

2. Does devolution strengthen or weaken England's position in the UK?

3. Do you think the Scots and the Welsh will settle for home rule or will they go for total independence?

Writing

1. Write a short creative story based on one of the pictures in this article, e.g. A day at the golf course.

2. Use the last sentence as the starting point for a short text (3 paragraphs) about devolution.




Discussion

1. What do you think the last sentence mean?

I think the last sentence «The United Kingdom is less united than ever, but that may also prove to be its strength.» means that all 4 nations in the UK has its own parliament, where their take serious decisions, so England, Welsh, Northern Ireland and Scottland are today way more independent than they were before. And the second lead of the sentence, “that may also prove to be its strength” refers to that the these nations work completely great together. Everyone has its job and everyone does what it supposed to do.



2. Does devolution strengthen or weaken England's position in the UK?

I would say it does both. It mostly weakens England’s power over the small nations, but it also strengthens England, because devolution makes them to concentrate a bit more on themselves. They get also a lot more independent from the others. Yes, it weakens the “big” “king” position of England, but it has its benefits as well!



3. Do you think the Scots and the Welsh will settle for home rule or will they go for total independence?

I think that England’s power will lessen over the years and at the end, the Welsh and the Scots get completely independent from them.