My 36 Questions For The 'No' Campaign.

The Better Together campaign has recently released its ‘500 questions’; an attempt to try and show us that an independent Scotland would be a terrifying place where people burst into tears after being overcome by the horrendous ‘uncertainty’ of it all. The questions range from obvious fear-mongering to sheer pedanticism as we see in question 466:

“What will Scotland’s international dialling code be?”

That’s right. Don’t vote for self-determination because people in other countries might have to suffer the mild hassle of looking up Scotland’s dialling code. How is the ‘Yes’ campaign even supposed to answer that? ‘+224562’?

We’re constantly told that Scotland becoming an independent state would create uncertainty but I’d argue that there is just as much uncertainty within the UK. I’m going to try and illustrate by coming up with my own ‘500 questions’* for the Better Together campaign.

*N.B. I am far too lazy/dim-witted to come up with 500 questions. I have 36 so far.

Exactly which powers will be devolved to Scotland in the case of a ‘no’ vote?

Exactly when will the powers be devolved?

What safeguards will be put in place to ensure that further powers are devolved to Scotland?

Isn’t it important that all unionist party leaders explain exactly which powers they would like to see devolved BEFORE the referendum? This ensures that the Scottish people will know what they are voting for.

Will the UK’s credit rating ever be restored to its AAA rating?

‘Better Together’ warned us that an independent Scotland wouldn’t be able to retain the AAA credit rating but the UK has failed to do so. Why is the UK’s credit rating suddenly so unimportant?

The United Kingdom shares a great deal of culture with nations such as the USA. Why couldn’t an independent Scotland and the UK do the same?

Will Westminster respect the Scottish peoples will and remove Trident nuclear weapons from Scotland?

Would Westminster respect the outcome of a Scottish referendum on Trident?

‘Better Together’ argues that Scotland should remain part of the UK to enjoy the ‘prosperity’, yet unemployment is high, the national deficit has still not been cut and food banks are on the rise in Scotland. How will the UK ensure prosperity?

If Scotland is too poor and the Scots too stupid to run our own country why are the London elite so anxious for us to stay?

Can ‘Better Together’ confirm I won't need to work till I'm 70?

Can ‘Better Together’ give a guarantee UK will play an integral part in Europe or even just remain in Europe?

Will there be a referendum on EU membership if the Labour Party form a Government after the next General Election?

The same question applies to all other unionist parties.

Better Together’ claims that Scotland has influence in the EU as part of the United Kingdom but Scotland has far less MEPs than other similarly sized nations.  Wouldn’t an independent Scotland have more influence as an independent nation with more MEPs?

Is there anything on the ‘Better Together’ website, other than empty rhetoric?

Is the ‘Better Together’ campaign aware that Alex Salmond won’t be the eternal leader of Scotland for the rest of eternity and that there is a possibility of a party, other than the SNP, forming a Government?

Does the ‘Better Together’ think it is right to accept donations from Ian Taylor; a man linked to tax avoidance and dodgy business deals in Libya?

Does the ‘Better Together’ campaign think that it is in the interest of the Scottish public for groups such as ‘National Collective’ and ‘Wings Over Scotland’ to be censored?

Will air passenger duty be devolved to Scotland?

Will Scotland’s subsidisation of the rest of the UK continue?

How many more Scottish men & women will have to die in illegal wars?

When will Scottish troops be allowed to leave Afghanistan?

Will the UK intervene in the Syrian civil war?

Will the UK engage in military action against Iran?

Will the UK continue to sell weapons and provide diplomatic support to Israel and its war crimes?

Would Bevan (“No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.”) approve of Johann Lamont becoming best pals with Ruth Davidson?

Do the unionist parties have a plan in place for their role in an independent Scotland? Isn’t it in the interest of the Scottish people to know exactly what their plans and policies are for an independent Scotland so that people can make a totally informed decision?

Can ‘Better Together’ give an indication of what else will be cut by this Government?

How will Westminster take steps to tackle climate change?

 One in four Scottish children live in poverty. How will the United Kingdom put an end to this?

Inequality is continually rising in the United Kingdom. How will this unpopular and unfair pattern be reversed?

Will Scottish currency continue to be rejected south of the border?

Why aren't Alistair Darling's eyebrows the same colour as his hair?

Isn’t the rise of UKIP in England yet another example of Scotland and the rest of the UK wanting to go in different political directions?

On the ‘Better Together’ website there is a section called ‘realscotstogether’. Isn’t this just a case of the flag-waving that you are so quick to accuse ‘Yes Scotland’ of engaging in?

Why did ‘Better Together’ remove the video of Ryan, the student, from youtube? Was it because a man’s ramblings about “sausage rolls” and “dugs” have absolutely nothing to do with Scottish independence and is just a means of them trying to play their very own nationalist card? *(The video can be found here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asD_fBJeEg4)

George Galloway Doesn't Believe In 'Countries'

....Even though he would quite like Palestine to be recognised as one.

If ever there was a man who you'd think would support Scottish independence, it would be George Galloway. He supports self-determination for nations across the globe, is deeply dissatisfied with the current political order and opposes Britain's excessive spending on WMDs and illegal wars. But for some reason, Galloway just doesn't seem to 'get it' as is shown in one of his latest tweets:

"To Scottish nationalists: I don't think "countries". I am an internationalist and socialist. Nationality means nothing to me. Get over it."

The first thing that strikes me is the way Galloway describes every person who supports independence as a "nationalist". I find it difficult to believe that an educated man like Galloway could actually see a constitutional issue like independence in such black and white terms. Supporting independence does not make you a nationalist. Yes, it is true that Scottish nationalists do exist and identify themselves as such, but it is also true that there is a significant movement that supports independence and abhors nationalism. I see myself as belonging to the latter. I don't care about flag-waving or William Wallace. I care about Scottish people getting the Government that they voted for. As a Green, I see independence as a direct means of achieving localism; putting power back into local communities and reinvigorating our failing democracy. I don't care about any nationality any more than any other. I care about my family in England, my socialist comrades in Spain, the Zapatista movement in Mexico and Kurdish self-determination movement just as much as I care about the 20% of Scottish children who live in poverty.

This brings me on to my next point. Galloway has no problem backing the 'independence' and 'self-determination' of nations like Cuba or Venezuela but seems to despise the idea of Scots running their own affairs. George says that the "world is my country" and yet, somehow, I don't think he'd be particularly happy with the suggestion that the Palestinians give up on statehood and become citizens of the world. Now, of course, I am not comparing the plight of the Palestinians to the Scottish people's dialogue on independence. Palestinians face drone attacks, political repression and apartheid in their own land. What I'm trying to do is show that George's black and white rhetoric can be used against him. If Galloway wants to give his two cents on the independence debate then he'll need to learn to do a lot more than isolate and divide the Scottish people along 'nationalist' and 'progressive internationalist who's happy to stay within the union' lines.

The quote shown above also seems to suggest that socialism and independence are incompatible. This, of course, is utter nonsense. Scotland's socialist movement has been intertwined with the independence movement for over a century now. Keir Hardie supported home rule, John Maclean supported independence and, most recently, the late Jimmy Reid stated his support for an independent worker's Scotland. Both the Scottish Socialist Party and the breakaway Solidarity party have identified the British path to socialism as a failure and independence as a means of tackling capitalism. Socialism can't be achieved with one large swipe across the world. Scotland has the opportunity to turn it's back on the neo-liberal consensus and become a beacon for social justice, sustainability, peace and democracy. Neither side of the independence debate owns socialism and it would be ridiculous to pretend that is the case. 

-Scott Lumsden, Scottish Green Party member.  

There are worse things to admit to.

I recently read a brilliant article about the journey of one woman becoming more comfortable with her nationalistic tendencies. However the one thing that made me almost cringe was her seemingly ashamedness of wanting her own country to become self-determined.

I am unashamed. I also didn’t like the suggestion that a writer, or artist cannot be affiliated with a political party. I am a Scottish National Party member. The reason I support them is because of what they have so far achieved for this country. Free prescriptions, free university education, free bus passes for the elderly, care in the community, frozen council tax….I could continue but I feel these things are what affects most of us most of the time. You need some antibiotics, you don’t have to pay. You want to finish that degree, you will be financially assisted. You want your Granny to come visit next week, she can get a bus for free. You slip after a night out and need some physiotherapy, you don’t have to wait too long. You want to pay less council tax, so do I. The point is that so far the SNP have done very well for Scotland, more so than the Westminster Government.

This is why I will be voting Yes in the independence referendum. Also contributing to my deep rooted searing passion is the fact that when I meet folk, the worse thing I can say even to a staunch unionist isn’t that I support independence, but rather that when they ask “What do you do for a living?”, my response is usually sheepishly “Nothing. I am an unemployed, disabled artist.”  The artist part is debateable though. What is un-debateable is the stigma that has now been caused by being “unfit” to work. The sheer despicableness that David Cameron and his Government has shown to folk like me is without doubt an attack on the most needy in the community. While all my friends continue to work and gain pay rises that reflect inflation, I am stuck forever more, being poor. I can’t even move out from my mothers as I could now be taxed on a spare bedroom that I would need for my carer. Don’t think for a wee minute that I am one of the many children of benefit culture, I had a 3 bedroom flat on the South side of Glasgow, studying in my third year for University and my partner worked extremely hard to pay the mortgage. I was lucky though as I was funded by the SNP to get my degree, what was unlucky was falling ill. This could happen to you or anyone you know at any time. Nothing is certain. That is why all the questions relating to the uncertainty of an independent country doesn’t phase me. The union of Great Britain doesn’t seem too certain just now. Independence is a glimmer of hope in an otherwise gloomy London outlook.

I have had many debates with friends and strangers regarding independence. The overall consensus seems to be that everyone wants better for Scotland, just that some folk have different opinions on how this can be achieved. Its not us “Nats” and they “unionists”, it is all of us Scottish brethren. We have to come together to appreciate what is happening in Scotland right now and how we have been ignored for too long by the Tory government, that’s one thing we can all agree on….we don’t like Dave and his cronies. With an independent Scotland we can control 99% of Scotland’s revenue, right now we only control 15%. With an independent Scotland we can get rid of Nuclear weapons from outside our most populous city. With an independent Scotland WE can decide what is best for our country.

- Debra Torrance. 

Things Can Only Get Better

I have been back in Scotland now for a couple of months. I love Glasgow, it is my home and I was born here. I am a Glaswegian. I was forced to go in search of work and I really objected to having to leave my home and country to do so. However, since my return it has been quite a culture shock and I have come to the conclusion that Scotland is a crazy place because its electorate keep voting for more of the same. It’s like mass self-harming. England where I lived is much more prosperous, vibrant and cleaner than here. It is a nice place to live and in general England favours well out of being part of the union. The thing is, what struck me about England is that you would never know they were part of a United Kingdom. For many, it is just them and the ‘also rans’. Scotland is never reported positively. In English news, unless it’s a murder or bad weather it’s easy to lose touch. Scots may hear news every day about high politics in Westminster but I can tell you it is not reciprocal. In England, Scotland does not register as being remotely important or relevant.

 On my return, what struck me most is how poor and dilapidated Glasgow is. The roads are a complete mess with potholes and faded road markings. Pavements are just as bad. Dog fouling is atrocious. The fabric of buildings, especially public ones are decaying and shabby. It might be a time of recession but a lick of paint is nothing in the broad scheme of things. Indeed it should be compulsory that all buildings are kept and maintained to a tolerable standard. It looks to me that Glasgow is being run into the ground by the Council, whose Leader has a bigger salary than the Prime Minister of the UK.

 We have politicians in Scotland who are not earning their publicly paid wages yet a Government which is actually balancing the books is being attacked from all quarters of the media and unionist politicians for not doing enough!

 Good news is never reported in Scotland either. Invariably if its not a murder, job losses or some scare story about how bad Scotland will be, come independence,  then it just does not  pass the censors approval. Good news when it does arrive is usually reported akin to the Marvin the Manic depressive robot style of. ‘it’s a beautiful day, but it won’t last’. The bias of the MSM, BBC & STV is stark. It is no surprise that people have a jaundiced view of Scottish life, given the diet of doom they are fed each day.

 Having a walk through Partick, West End, Govanhill and attending Blochairn and Polmadie car boot sales, the resigned, downtrodden plight of people is evident on their faces. I have never seen so many miserable people. The shops are cutting prices to the bone yet not enough to stop hordes of Glasgwegians resorting to car boot sales to pick up goods at next to nothing prices. There seems to be a race to the lowest price In Glasgow and that will never work in anyone’s favour buyer or seller. The long term decline of value, of worth, of cost comes at a price of resentment of those more fortunate, lowering of expectation and almost certainly of aspiration. Or economy depends on people spending but somebody has to make a profit. That’s how the world operates.

 What has happened to the once great Scotland? Where has it gone? Where is the fight, the passion? I am not imagining it, it was once like that. There is no rage or anger about how things are and it is so painful to see so many people prepared to settle for less. It is a tragedy. It reminds me of Poland in 1986. Subdued, disgruntled people, scurrying round and doing the best they could to make ends meet. Grey, broken buildings, clapped out buses, infrastructure ignored or patched up. Worst of all, is the absence of hope.  I hope that people will say “enough” and start to fight back.  The next generation is depending on this one to make it better for them. Surely, there is enough self-respect left for that.

  If, like the Better Together supporters, you believe that this is the best that Scotland can do then it might be suggested that your aspiration levels are wanting. If you believe that Scotland, as a stand-alone nation cannot do better for itself than its current situation then by all means vote NO.

 You could also not bother voting at all. This would hammer home the charge of low aspiration and hopelessness I have just mentioned. As Bob Dylan once wrote, ‘a loser knows no success like failure, and losing is no success at all’

 Alternatively, VOTE YES for an attempt at standing on our own two feet and being accountable for ourselves and responsible for the welfare of the people who live here. It is incredible to me and to almost every foreigner I have spoken to about being an independent nation, that there are some people who need to be convinced that their country can be successful on its own. Countries around the world are doing it every day. It is normal. We might not be certain of our future in an independent Scotland, but it has to be better than what is here now.

Written by Frank Wilson.

Tide Power; The power of nuclear, without the deadly legacy.

If Scotland becomes an independent nation in the future, it cannot rely on dwindling oil and gas reserves, as a means of maintaining a healthy trade surplus. Oil itself will of course still flow from the existing and planned fields in Scotland's territorial waters. 

However, oil will be less important as a source of energy, as clean electric transport develops. Emissions targets will limit burning of fossil fuels and eventually, we will abandon oil and coal forever. 

In the overlapping years, as renewable hydro and offshore wind power generation matures, tide power will be waiting to produce perhaps double the output of the renewable arrays already in service. 

With 816 times the energy per cubic metre than wind power, smaller tidal turbines generate enormous quantities of electricity. Not only that, but unlike wind, this electricity will be produced every day, four times a day! 

Tides are predictable on a daily basis and by placing tidal turbines in various inlets, sea lochs and channels all around our coastline, the power may flow constantly. Just a grid management system is needed to switch in turbine arrays as they power up and to switch off machines which are finished their cycle. Arrays can be added to balance peaks at mid winter and pump water into hydro reservoirs to be released when extra base load power is needed (when wind turbines are stationary, for example). 

These undersea "Windmills" are similar to wind turbines, but only need to face in one direction, as the water flows in or out with the gravity of Sun and Moon pulling the ocean water around the Earth. 

Machines like these are currently being tested off the North coast right now, and with the Scottish Government funding, plus massive investment by utility firms, tidal energy will be the motive power for the "Mighty Atom" which Scotland is striving to become. If all this work is to be worthwhile, we as a people need to get behind our Government at Holyrood. We need also, to shake free from the vested interests in the UK oil/gas industry, as we'll as the nuclear lobby. To do this, we need independence and politicians with vision. I think you know who I mean!

Gordon J Ross

Independence & The Highlands by Councillor David Fallows

Independence and The Highlands

There would be some who would claim - indeed, have already claimed - that an independent Scotland would be no better for the Highlands than a Westminster Government - that the Central Belt would dominate. Well, let's start with a bit of that usual refreshing honesty that is the hallmark of SNP Politics from the leader down.

Of course the Central Belt is important to the future of Scotland, and must have its fair share of resources and attention from Government. It is a power house of the Scottish economy, and, let's not forget, where the majority of people live.

So does that by definition mean that the Highlands get the dregs, or a cursory look from afar? Of course not! Even now, we can already see the attention being given to the Highlands. The announcements of programmes to dual not just the A9, but also the A96 from Inverness to Aberdeen are to be especially welcomed, after all the years of labour and libdem coalition rule, which achieved nothing but a few bits of 2+1 overtaking lane.

The present Holyrood Government's support for renewable energy initiatives in Highland is also testament to the fact that the Highlands stand to benefit massively from Independence. We're not just taking about a plethora of onshore wind farms here, either. The real future of renewable energy lies not onshore, but offshore, via wind, wave and tidal generation. Highland has that offshore resource in abundance, and can benefit to the full from harnessing it. And Highland also has three of the best possible locations for the construction of the equipment needed. Most obviously apparent of those is Nigg, on the Cromarty Firth - once a thriving oil rig construction yard, where, with the active encouragement of the SNP government, moves are already in course to bring many new construction jobs back to the Inner Moray Firth area. And Highland has two other former oil rig construction sites, ideally suited to hook into the prosperity that the energy revolution can bring. These are the former J Ray McDermott yard at Ardersier, and the former construction site at Kishorn, in the west.

All of these opportunities - and many more across a vast range of services and product - let alone the obvious Tourism market for Highland - can and will benefit from an independent Nation - the sixth richest per head of population in the world - a Nation not content with number six, with the confidence and will to do even better. Here in Highland I have no problem at all with the idea that the majority of Scots down in the Central Belt will actually get the attention they deserve, and a future to look forward to after years of disgraceful neglect at the hands of Westminster. I know full well that an independent Scotland, thriving, confident and prosperous will, with absolute certainty, deliver that same new future to Highland - and to every corner of this Nation come to that. We need have no truck with the prophets of doom and gloom who would talk us all down to their miserable level. The future can, will and must be better than that.

 

David Fallows is an SNP councillor in the Highland Council - http://saltire.net/

 

A ‘Call to Arms’ for De-alignment (After Independence!)

I have recently been wondering whether I consider myself a Nationalist or a nationalist; an SNP supporter - a defender-of-the-faith, ‘toeing’ the party line - or an SNP voter – a voter balloting specifically in order to gain independence. I have become more and more convinced that the second wins out. There would be nothing sadder to see than the current Scottish National Party, for all its strengths and wisdoms, become the ‘establishment’ party in an independent Scotland; a party with a legion of ultra-aligned supporters who have become a symbol and a propagator of the reality ever-present and so detestable in modern politics – unabashed and unrepentant partisanship.

For I have become convinced that politics here is beginning to resemble that of the United States. I genuinely think that the hatred, and I mean hatred, between the SNP and Labour in Scotland would give the Democrats and the Republicans a ‘run for their money’. Thank our lucky stars we don’t have legalised guns!

Of course the situation is undisputable. In order to gain independence, not only are you compelled to vote for the SNP, but in electoral and opportunistic terms, the position of the Nationalists is very healthy - and very promising. This 4th Scottish Parliament marks an unprecedented opportunity to achieve what we’ve all been after - the separation of Scotland and the United Kingdom.

The opportunity is most certainly‘knocking on the door’. Although, as the latest Ipsos-MORI poll suggests, there’s plenty of work still left to do.

I used to think that economics would be the ‘be-all/end-all’ of the independence campaign, the key to winning‘hearts and minds’, and indeed the key reason behind my own support for secession from the Union. And I still believe that the economic reasoning holds water. But now I feel it in much simpler terms. I just want independence. I feel Scottish, not British. I think the four countries would be governed better apart. I feel no sense of pride or loyalty to the State of which I am a Citizen. The environment in and around Westminster, and the structures of the British State, are not fit for proper government.

Political life at Westminster is tiring, irksome, jaded and outdated. How many hours a year must be wasted in the Houses of Parliament by Members addressing each other as “The Right Honourable” or ‘”The Honourable Member” for wherever’? What time-wasting! What is wrong with addressing someone by their name? It’s a personal and endearing quality. And you have to question how much longer British voters can carry on listening to the same old tripe year-after-year from the main UK parties. Maybe the problem is the system itself.

And although the party politics of Westminster is, for me, one of its fundamental problems, the exact same is increasingly true for political discourse ‘North of the Border’.

Whilst I have voiced my dislike of the Labour Party in many ways over the years, finding myself drunkenly ‘cursing their name’ when nobody cares, maybe I’m beginning to empathise again. Labour really was left ‘bloody-nosed’ after the elections in May. When the Labour Party loses 4 of its 7 Constituency Seats in Darkest Lanarkshire, you really need to sit up and take notice. I couldn’t help but delight when the SNP’s Alex Neil out-polled the Labour candidate to take the Airdrie and Shotts constituency! Indeed by the end of that night, Glasgow itself was painted largely in Yellow. But who knows, it could be the Nationalists who are left licking their wounds next time round.

I don’t think we should be so quick to knock our opponents when they are down.

It was Labour after all that gave us nationalists a great opportunity; an opportunity to change –devolution. And it looks as though the old adage that Holyrood is just a ‘stepping-stone to independence’ might well come true. Whilst ardent Nationalists are often keen to point out that Labour, for so many years prior, had opposed self-determination and home-rule, I will not be so ‘stingy’. After all it is better to have finally attained devolution than never to have attained devolution at all. And what a success story it has become.

Since devolution was formally established in 1999, the political arena in Scotland has undergone many bright changes. The very idea of coalition, so alien until recently in UK terms, has breathed new life into Scotland. Consensus has (again until recently) been the‘order of the day’, and has been relatively effective in displacing the confrontational style encouraged and indeed enhanced by the ‘set-up’ of the House of Commons.

Devolved government itself has introduced many practical changes, from free prescriptions to the smoking ban (introduced under Labour I’ll add) - to name but a few. There is little doubt that Scotland is better governed today than it was in the near-three-hundred-year period from 1707 until the re-establishment of the Parliament.

But in post-independence Scotland, the political scene could be even more vibrant. It is exciting to imagine a new kind of politics where coalition government comes ‘back-into-play’, as it most likely will in Scotland [independence or not] and where the SNP, the Greens, Labour and the Lib Dems compete, tussle and alternative in successive progressive Governments - although there’s no doubt that the Lib Dems will take years to recover from their association with the Conservatives. The scope for voters to alternate between parties would be a welcome change to today’s arrangement.

I’ll forever be grateful to Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon for what they’ve done to the SNP, and more importantly, the greater nationalist cause-at-large. They have contributed massively in changing the SNP from a party of protest to one of power, as Gerry Hassan has termed the transition. Since they were first elected in 2007, the Scottish National Party have shown that they are more than adept at running the country, with their competence - coupled with the popularity of Alex Salmond - identified as key reasons behind their solid progress and successful re-election four years later.

But in a Scotland post-independence, where no-one can ‘second-guess’ what the political landscape will look like, I’d like to see a change away from the current circumstances of extreme partisanship – however idealistic that may seem. Nowhere is this tediousness more evident than in the hatred between the SNP and Labour. When both parties turn their guns to take aim at the Tories, accusing them of being the One True Enemy, I have a hard time believing them. For two fairly centre-left parties, the animosity is staggering. I’ve been as guilty of this ‘ultra-alignment’as anyone, and it’s something we’d all benefit from by changing.

After all, unashamed party politics and ‘falling into line’ with the Whip is a flaw best exemplified by that big talking shop on the Thames!

After Independence, maybe the Greens deserve a shot.

Ross Croall, @croall89