Scotland and the fight for New England self-government

On Thursday 18 September, Scotland will vote on independence. This wikipedia article provides a good introduction.

I have mixed feelings on the vote. I am not sure that full independence is in Scotland’s best interests. However, two things are important from a New England self-government perspective.

The first is that Scotland has  already achieved the thing that we have been fighting for, self government within  Australia. They did so despite continued opposition from Westminster and the established elites.

The second is that the vote on independence is treated as the self-evident right of the Scots to make their own decisions.

We New Englanders are entitled to no less. If we take control, we will certainly make mistakes, but they will be our mistakes. We will have only ourselves to blame.

Surely it is not too much to ask to give us another vote? Are we to be treated as less than the Scots? After all, it is our right too.  

Wednesday Forum - what hash tags should we use to promote New England?

In a response to my post, Dobson's Brewery - new New England beers, Denis Wright tweeted " @JimBelshaw You're a corrupting influence, Belshaw.

Mmm! I like the idea!

This got me thinking. I have only just begun to use has tags on Twitter and am really just learning how. I have also been watching others use of the tags.

I spend a far bit of time promoting New England causes or reporting on New England stories. Here I really should use hash tags more, for we can can use them to promote New England causes and life style. But to really have impact, we need some common hash tags.

I say common hash tags because this adds to impact and creates threads that people can follow.

Any ideas on hash tags that might be used?

Locality names is one obvious possibility. However, here we may need a modifier where other places have similar names. For example, #newcastle is dominated by Newcastle in the UK, #newengland by the US. By contrast, #armidale is all armidale. So do we add oz at the end?

And what about life style or attractions?

Ideas?

Update One


Suggested list of initial tags based on suggestions and search:

• For newcastle, #newcastle. Despite the number of newcastle UK tweets, #newcastle well established. Adding oz or Australia likely to fragment
• For Hunter Valley, #huntervalley
• For living history, #livinghistory
• For adventure tourism, #adventuretourism
• For Northern Rivers, #northernrivers