英國國營銀行「國家儲蓄及投資」（NS&I）被踢爆多年來未有恰當處理帳戶的存款資金，導致約3.75 萬人受影響，不能取回應得的款項，估計涉及4.76億英鎊（49.7億港元）。 英國政府星期四勒令 NS&I 的CEO Dax Harkins 辭職 ，由去年才卸任稅局首席常任秘書長的 Jim Harra 走馬上任，應付危機。
５月初蘇格蘭地選，主張蘇格蘭獨立的政黨首度獨得蘇議會過半數議席，即時令人揣測，蘇格蘭會在未來幾年內進行獨立公投，並會獨立；亦有不少人把蘇格蘭與西班牙的加泰隆尼亞作比較。
西班牙《國家報》上週一篇文章（英譯在此）就指出，「蘇獨」和「加獨」情況相差很遠，「蘇格蘭人」遠不及加泰羅尼亞人那麼熱衷要求獨立，甚至英格蘭人其實較蘇格蘭人更希望蘇格蘭獨立，不要不斷放權後又要在下議院「霸著」議席，影響英格蘭事務。
但更重要的是，歐洲已不再是一個個「獨立國家」，而是由一堆邦聯組成，見原文如下：
「(David) McCrone(, co-director of the Institute of Governance at the University of Edinburgh,) laughs at the simplicity of the view from London of the Scottish question. “The view from there tends to espy two possibilities: that Scotland will never be independent, and that independence is inevitable. I think it’s much more complicated than that. We live in a world where independence can be a problem. In reality, we’re talking about degrees of self-government. If independence is understood to be the classic nineteenth-century independent state with borders and armies and all those things, well, of course that’s not going to happen. That’s not the world we live in,” he explains. “In the world today, self-government is shared at different levels. Both Spain and Britain are members of the European Union. And the EU has power too. It’s not a matter of absolute sovereignty, but of shared sovereignty.”
「“My personal prediction is that Britain will follow a path to a confederation,” David McCrone continues. “In other words, when it will have to come, at some point in the future, there will be higher levels of self-government. Just as there are in Belgium, for very different reasons and in another context. Devolution of powers in Flanders and Wallonia is considerable. We are moving toward a world confederation, not a world of completely independent states. A world in which Scotland, Catalonia and of course the Basque Country will go further in self-government. Things change......」
某程度上，同樣的想法可應用在中國上－－「絕對的主權」已是上世紀（初）的產物，在中國則是在列強侵略下自保的一個思維。而且，事實上，中國歷史上就算是統一且中央集權，不同朝代都有進行某種的地區自治模式。
統一和獨立之間，還有很多選擇。
西班牙《國家報》上週一篇文章（英譯在此）就指出，「蘇獨」和「加獨」情況相差很遠，「蘇格蘭人」遠不及加泰羅尼亞人那麼熱衷要求獨立，甚至英格蘭人其實較蘇格蘭人更希望蘇格蘭獨立，不要不斷放權後又要在下議院「霸著」議席，影響英格蘭事務。
但更重要的是，歐洲已不再是一個個「獨立國家」，而是由一堆邦聯組成，見原文如下：
「(David) McCrone(, co-director of the Institute of Governance at the University of Edinburgh,) laughs at the simplicity of the view from London of the Scottish question. “The view from there tends to espy two possibilities: that Scotland will never be independent, and that independence is inevitable. I think it’s much more complicated than that. We live in a world where independence can be a problem. In reality, we’re talking about degrees of self-government. If independence is understood to be the classic nineteenth-century independent state with borders and armies and all those things, well, of course that’s not going to happen. That’s not the world we live in,” he explains. “In the world today, self-government is shared at different levels. Both Spain and Britain are members of the European Union. And the EU has power too. It’s not a matter of absolute sovereignty, but of shared sovereignty.”
「“My personal prediction is that Britain will follow a path to a confederation,” David McCrone continues. “In other words, when it will have to come, at some point in the future, there will be higher levels of self-government. Just as there are in Belgium, for very different reasons and in another context. Devolution of powers in Flanders and Wallonia is considerable. We are moving toward a world confederation, not a world of completely independent states. A world in which Scotland, Catalonia and of course the Basque Country will go further in self-government. Things change......」
某程度上，同樣的想法可應用在中國上－－「絕對的主權」已是上世紀（初）的產物，在中國則是在列強侵略下自保的一個思維。而且，事實上，中國歷史上就算是統一且中央集權，不同朝代都有進行某種的地區自治模式。
統一和獨立之間，還有很多選擇。