It's the tenth anniversary of the Scottish Parliament this week (1 July) and most opinion polls seem to suggest that while devolution has been popular, the desire for independence from the Union seems to have waned. If anything, the anniversary has been rather understated, with any hand wringing about national identity, Britishness, etc. relegated to water-cooler and discussions of events in SW19.
There may be more sports-related remarks on this blog following 4 July. That date - and discussion of independence - also brings to mind a recent discovery in The National Archives, according to PhiloBiblos. An unknown copy of the first printing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (called the 'Dunlap Declaration' after its printer) has been uncovered by a New Jersey rare book dealer. The dealer also paid a visit to the BL (which at the time was displaying one of TNA's copies of the Declaration in the exhibition), but as far as I know didn't make any similar discoveries here...
Still, issues of national identity still abound: according to the blog account of the discovery, "The whole thing was really very English. No cause for excitement. You find a new D of I, you have a cup of tea, and you move on."
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