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Well i'm from Scotland, so i can relate to you being from a 'backyard nation". The Americans refer to the UK as England, and when most people say the UK, they mean England.
The greatest pride that Scotland has (apart from some nice scenery and kilts and bagpipes and haggis - and the ridiculously over-rated and pathetic Loch Ness Monster) is to defeat the English at the Battle of Bannockburn (a very long time ago).
Finland, although virtually unknown and treated as being part either Russia or Sweden, has one of the world's most competitive economies, as well as an excellent record for technological achievements - as i show in the discussion about Education and Computers.
I mean, the fact that such a tiny country (that has been abused, mistreated and blantantly betrayed by its neighbours) can be so technologically advanced certainly tells us something about its people. Dont forget that the kid that made the DVD copier was a Finn. And the guy that started Linux was a Finn. Whenever i think of Finns i think of programmers. One of my friends is half-english, half-finnish. His dad is english and is a computer scientist. His mum doesnt have anything to do with PCs, but we still consider the kid to be related to computers on both sides of the family - because his mum is Finnish.
I think that a lot of larger nations, like the USA, have a lot to learn from small nations like Finland. BTW, i'm sure that you will find that every single one of those large IT companies have Finns in them, making them the large, successful companies that they are.
Nice statement there, well, do you think Scotland should be independant? Its a nice place, and to be honest, in broad terms, not too different from England other that the odd cultural and lifestyle clash.
I'm not sure if the Finns have a massive influence in the technological world, but they are certainly of importance, and to be considered.
The post-war era was a period of rapid economic growth and increasing wealth and stability for Finland. In all, the war-ravaged agrarian country was transformed into a technologically advanced market economy with a sophisticated social welfare system. When the Soviet Union fell in 1991, the bilateral trade disappeared overnight, and Finland was simultaneously hit by a "home-cooked" severe recession. This left a mass unemployment problem, but the economy survived and began growing at a high rate after the recession. Finland joined the European Union in 1995, where she is an advocate of federalism contrary to the other Nordic countries that are predominantly supportive of confederalism.
The international success of Nokia and many smaller high-tech companies has been seen as a proof of the competitiveness of the Finnish system.
Finland has one of the highest patents-per-person ratios in the world. Finns tend to attribute this to "creative insanity".
I'd also like to add, Scotland is home to some big Game Developers and some ISPs!
i dont think scotland should be independant because that is pointless - anyway, what would the English do without us?! Scotland generates lots of tourism for the UK - Edinburgh's population doubles in the Summer (due to all the tourists.....it probably halves in the winter tho haha). And its armed forces are some of the best in the UK - so, at the end of the day, its practically become the same country.
Speaking of armed forces; Britains only trident submarines (nuclear deterrants/missiles) are stored at Grangemouth in Edinburgh, as are the shipyards, and oil terminals. Also you have RAF Machrihanish, the second longest runway in the world after Area 51, Nevada which was used in the cold war for testing americans "aurora" and other projects of the like, and is still one of the only places in the world that can cater for emergency landings such as space shuttles and the largest russian cargo planes.
I also prefer the schooling system in scotland, and the free tuition fees 5 years I think it is you have to live there to claim them; its generally a nice place too