Alistair Moffat: Between Britain

Between Britain is an account of a walk along the line of the border from Berwick Upon Tweed to Gretna and the Solway. Moffat moves through the history of England and Scotland’s relationship with each other, visiting the sites of battles, treaties, castles and crossroads. The border is also the place where both nations define themselves, where saltires and St George’s Crosses flutter by the roadside, where different jurisdictions collide and where cultural habits and accents meet. But as the story moves along the Tweed and then into the Cheviot Hills, it also looks at change as the identities of these often uneasy neighbours have sharpened and become more assertive in recent times. English nationalism, the most powerful force in British politics since the turn of the 21st century, and Scottish nationalism are compared as Moffat seeks to understand how these have changed – and why.