ABSTRACT
In 1979 Somerville College Oxford celebrated the centennial of its founding in honour of the remarkable science writer and suffragist Mary Somerville, born and educated in Scotland. The effects of the policies of Thatcher – and Major after her – ensured that the three and a half British nations ceased to maintain their political coherence and concern with joint issues in a short period of fewer than 40 years. Without doubt Thatcher’s policies had disastrous effects upon at least the political unity of the four nations, although it has to be said that the huge growth of the SNP in Scotland, advancing (in Westminster) from 6 seats in 2010 to 56 in 2015, was more a response to the perceived failings of Labour. Certainly, the 2016 EU referendum threw up distinctive behaviour, particularly between Scotland and England, concerns about race and immigration, as well as conflicting notions of relations between Britain, Europe, and former imperial territories.
