🎧 What is the Union?

Episode summary: For this first in our series looking at the future of the UK, we talk to the historian Colin Kidd about the origins of the Union and the ideas that underpin it. Is the island of Britain a natural territorial political unit? Is nationalism compatible with Unionism? What changed in the 1970s? Plus we discuss how the shifting character of the SNP has shaped the arguments for and against the Union. Talking Points: Historically, the Kings of England considered themselves rulers of the whole island. - But any large community must be imagined. It’s inherently artificial. - Those who have tried to impose unified rule over the island by force have historically struggled. - England has served as a quasi-imperial power on the island. The union in 1707 was a product of contingency, part of a succession crisis. - At the time, the real drama was Jacobitism, not the English versus the Scots. - What united Britain in the 18th century is not so much positive factors, but an ongoing series of wars. The height of British…