Anthony Barnett (London, OK): At the end of my recent post on the fate of Peter Hain I noted the way events favour the nationalists if not the break-up of Britain. A small story covered by BBC Scotland but not, to my knowledge, any London paper provides another illustration. At the end of December the Library of Congress decided to reclassify Scottish literature as a sub-category of, wait for it, English literature. Huge row. Now a u-turn. One that means the category of "Scottish writer" has been newly recognised by the Library of Congress, whose classifications set a global standard. What might once have been a literary or academic correction has become a political statement.

PS: interesting reflection on this and British writing by David, aka Britology Watch, in the comments below, thx David.