24th April 2014
England’s History, Scotland’s Future
Yesterday at the Residence we marked St George’s Day, the feast day of England’s patron saint, and the week of the 450th anniversary of the birth of England’s and the world’s greatest dramatist and poet,William Shakespeare.
A British architect, Rueben Thorpe, talked to us about the excavation of the Rose Theatre in London, one of the theatres of the Elizabethan age, whose boards Shakespeare himself may have trodden.
And the splendid actors of Stockholm’s English Speaking Theatre Company performed extracts from “Much Ado about Nothing” (which they will be performing in Stockholm this summer) and from other Shakespeare comedies, dramas and sonnets.
Yesterday evening, having marked a famous birth in English history, I talked to the British and Commonwealth Association about the future of Scotland and the United Kingdom, specifically the referendum on Scottish independence being held this September.
I set out the British government’s case for why Scotland remaining part of the United Kingdom is the right answer and fielded a lot of excellent questions on history, defence, culture, values, economics and my own future if Scotland votes to go its own way! Thanks to everyone who took part in, and attended, both events.
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