One of the regular huffs of those who support the Union come what may is that the movement for Scottish independence is characterised by exceptionalism, by the belief that Scotland is somehow uniquely special, that it’s better than anywhere else, and particularly that it’s better than England. Because of course it’s a treasured trope of Unionism that wanting independence is all about anti-English sentiment. It’s not really about Scotland at all.
But none of that is true. It’s not independence supporters who believe that Scotland is special. Independence is nothing more than the radical idea that Scotland can be a normal country. It’s Unionists who believe that Scotland is unique. A Unionist Scotland is uniquely incapable of having any currency at all. Despite quite literally striking oil, a Unionist Scotland is poorer than Greece and unable to manage its own economy without subsidies from a Conservative government – which uniquely throws money at Scotland out of altruism. A Unionist Scotland has no real culture, other countries have real languages, but Scotland, uniquely, has invented ones. The Unionist Scotland is a very special place indeed, a fantastical place, a place of myth and legend that exists only in the fevered imaginings of Daily Express leader writers.
The Tories rail against the division of another referendum, but it’s they who create the deepest divisions of all. They divide us into the haves and the have nots. They divide us into those who have choices and opportunities and those who have none. They tell us we want independence in order to divide, but independence is a means to healing those cutting wounds that slice through our society. We don’t want independence because we think Scotland is so great and so special, we want it because Scotland has so much wrong with it, and we need the tools to fix it. We need independence because we’ve learned that Westminster won’t fix our problems, because Westminster profits from them. We need to fix things for ourselves.
The place for Scotland in the UK is on a lower rung, a place where there is no view and no vision. It’s a place where we do what we’re told. It’s a place where Scotland is a country in name only, and scarcely even that much. Scotland in the UK is the country that can’t act like a country, the nation that can’t act like a nation. It’s a twisted and deformed place, the land that’s not a land, the country that’s not a country. It’s the country that gets compared to a county. A country whose role is to disguise English nationalism with a red white and blue veneer and to allow English nationalists to feel as if they’re not nationalists at all, a deformed land in a deformed state. Independence breaks the chains. Independence is the leap to normality.
What sort of normal country could a normal Scotland be? It could be a Scotland that offers citizenship to everyone legally resident in Scotland at the time of independence. It doesn’t matter if you’re Scottish born, rUK born, Irish born, EU born, or born anywhere else in the world. If you’ve made Scotland your home, Scotland has made its home in you. We strive for a Scotland that demonstrates that Scottishness is a state of mind, that Scottishness is a place in the heart, that Scottishness is about acceptance and tolerance. That’s a Scotland that is proving that Scottishness isn’t about the past, it’s about the future and the journey that we all take together as a society. Because being Scottish isn’t about where you come from, it’s about where we’re going.
Scotland could be a country of tolerance where there is zero tolerance for violence and abuse against women, against minorities. A country where everyone is cherished and all citizens are sovereign. We could have a constitution that states there can be no discrimination on the grounds of age, race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, language, culture, or religion or lack of religion. We could be a country that seeks to heal the divisions of sectarianism and race, that promotes and fosters diversity. We could be a country that has railway signs in Gaelic just to annoy Tom Gallagher. We could be a country with a sense of humour and sense of itself, because a country that can laugh is a country at ease.
We could be a country at peace with itself and with the world. In the more than 300 years of Union there have been a mere seven decades of peace. In the UK war is normal, and only a few days after the Brexit process has begun and the British nationalists talk of war again. War is what defines Britain. Scotland can be defined by peace. Scotland can rid itself of the obscenity of weapons of mass destruction. It can have armed forces whose role is peacekeepers, not as war makers. Scotland can be a small voice for sanity in a crazy world. We can make that choice. We can be better. We can be good.
Our country can be a land where the body of citizens is sovereign. Independence isn’t about whether we’re members of the EU, or whether we’re a monarchy, or whether we’re in NATO or out of it. Independence isn’t about policy, independence is about who gets to choose, and those choices are made by the people of Scotland. We could become a republic, or we could remain a monarchy, but it’s for all of us to decide. That’s what independence is all about, it’s about the power of a people to determine their own path. It’s about choosing where to go, about picking a path through the green hills and along the shores of the sealochs, a path that takes us home, the path that is home, the journey that defines us.
I used to think we should aim for immediate membership of the EU on independence, but it’s for the people to make that choice. Upon independence, let’s go for membership of EFTA and the EEA – we can join immediately upon independence, we get access to the single market and freedom of movement of people, we avoid questions of having to sign up to the Euro, we avoid the jibes of those who claim there would be a veto, and we can make a pitch to those who voted to leave the EU but who support independence. And after we’re independent, then it’s for the people of Scotland to decide whether we apply for EU membership. Because we the people are the sovereign body, not a government. That’s the great difference between an independent Scotland and the imperialism of Theresa May’s Britain. That’s the point we seek to establish with independence, that it’s the people who choose, not the politicians.
There’s a difference between living and existing. Existing is having choices made for you. It’s having decisions imposed on you. Living is choosing for yourself. Scotland exists under the Union, it can only live with independence. Let’s choose to live.
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[…] Wee Ginger Dug Let’s choose to live […]
Superb post Paul.
Personally I don’t want to be and don’t see myself as better than anyone else. How I think we should be perceived is ‘as good as’. What I think we should aspire to, is to be better, to do… better.
That’ll do for me.
FMs Stanford U. speech – HERE
Thanks Sam. An interesting video. 🙂
This is special. Says it all for me.
A wonderful positive reflection, Paul.
England, and I choose to polarise on ‘England’ as opposed to the usual sweeping ‘the UK’, is as much at an historic crossroads as Scotland is.
I have many English resident/born friends, ex colleagues, and relatives who are caught up in the madness of May, and the Rise of the Far Right Down There.
The Union is broken, fractured beyond repair.
Most Scots now demand the Right To Choose; a Scottish Government of the people of Scotland, elected by the citizens of Scotland, and held accountable to the people of Scotland.
I observed the other day that Something Wicked This Way Comes. Shakespeare, and the title of a tremendous Ray Bradbury take on the human condition.
The inhuman evil of the latest round of WM cuts passes into law without so much as a whimper from Scottish Labour and Lib Dems. The Great Repeal Bill looms.
It’s comfortingly above the pay grade of puppets like Davidson Dugdale and Rennie as Branch Office Yoon agitators.
Education gap, cancer waiting times, £15 billion deficit, and yet another delay in the completion of the Forth Road Bridge ‘cos the Wee Nippy got the weather forecast wrong, is just about the stretch for the gaggle of Freeloaders populating the Unionist benches Up Here.
The Pointless 59, who refuse to acknowledge that Scotland is a country even, and deny/ignore/ suppress the irrefutable evidence of successive elections and plebiscites, that the Union is heading only one way, into the history books under a chapter headed; ‘The Fall and Rise of the Scottish Nation’.
You have aroused me from my usual morning fug, with this inspiring piece, Paul, and not for the first time.
Madness rampages through England at the moment.
I suspect that there will be civic unrest Down There very soon now, especially during the Summer Holiday season, when Spain may be a lot less inviting than before.
We keep our powder dry, meantime.
“By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes. [Knocking]
Open locks,
Whoever knocks!”
(Enter MacBeth.)
Well thanks for that, as a young man I loved Ray Bradbury’s work. I had no idea until today that the title of one of his great novels owes it’s birth to Macbeth.
I still have the complete Corgi paperback editions of Bradbury’s opus which I originally devoured as a young man. A modern day Mark Twain.
I’m going to dig out The Martian Chronicles to wallow in the wonderful world of Bradbury once more.
While I’m at it, it’s a while since I read MacBeth. I’m a biblio-horder. I’ve got the complete set of well thumbed Shakespeare too.
I hate this blog. If I’m not careful, I’ll never get anything done other than enjoying myself.
Bradbury’s “The Halloween Tree” with Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud. Classic.
Ace, AI.
Jack Collatin,
I enjoy your posts, I’ve read a fair few!
On Bradbury, “The Murderer”; I think it was in the collection called “Golden Apples of the Sun”. I read it in high school, about 40 years ago. The basic premise was the hero, anti-hero, lost the plot because everyone was obsessed with their ‘personal communicator’. Prescient or what? Must read it again.
Back on topic, smashin’ article.
The message I’d like to see us nail is that we are an inclusive, not an exclusive society.
I know we’re all on a high because “Brexit” is a gift, a gift that keeps on giving. So far, its like we wrote the script. But, we cannot afford to be complacent; the Unionists will poison the well.
Don’t like the term “Brexit”. It implies that the whole of geographical Great Britain is leaving, well we’ll see about that.
Random post-pub ramblings…
Drew, ‘Golden Apples of the Sun’ is also a direct lift from another of my heroes, WB Yeates, ‘Dream of Wandering Aengus’:-
“Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.”
Lots of the Greats borrowed quotes from others:
‘For whom the Bell Tolls’. Hemingway..and so on.
These men inspired me during my formative years, big time.
I’m off before Paul blocks us..
Jack. Mike Scott of the Waterboys has put the Song of Wandering Aengus (among others) to music and it is on an album dedicated to Yeats. It is superb. If you want more information, let me know.
Frank. AKA Saor Alba.
Frank, Christie Moore has a great version too.
Thanks for the Waterboys tip.
That’ll be yet another lost hour or so on YouTube!
I’ll be accused of neglecting my ‘day job’ by my Everlovin’ if I’m not careful. (Couldn’t resist it.)
‘Song’, not ‘Dream’ of course.
I need to type more slowly, or research before I clack.
Bradbury is a legend and Mr Collatin, your not far behind. Your right Paul, independence isn’t a policy, it’s a democratic philosophy.
Like you Jack, I have many relatives and friends in England. I also have current colleagues (in the Biological Science community) in England and I see the madness of May and the far right all around me when I go down to stay for a few days for meetings throughout the year.
I totally agree with you that “The Union is broken, fractured beyond repair.”
Colleagues, friends and family are caught up in the madness and despair at what is now happening. They were saying to me in 2014 that they were hoping that we stayed part of the Union, but now they are seeing why we need to be independent and have much empathy. These friends, family and colleagues are of the ‘remain’ group.
Saor, I still hope upon hope that the good people of England will see sense, even if it delays Independence.
No one in my personal circle of English friends and relatives voted to leave the EU.
I too hope they see sense.
The French want no-one to be their superior. The English want inferiors. The Frenchman constantly raises his eyes above him with anxiety. The Englishman lowers his beneath him with satisfaction.
Alexis de Tocqueville
It has forever been thus
The Scotsman constantly looks over his shoulder to compare himself to the English… 🙂
Yes Craig, too many of us do. However, blessed as Scotland is, with some of the finest Universities in the World, many of us have jumped over the S E England pull intonEurope and further abroad.
We can do it as good as most and better than many.
You had me on the last paragraph Paul, I am pro independence but feel that the EU question is for post independence when we are free to debate and vote for or agin EU membership properly. By that I mean make it clear that EU membership/independence are not intertwined. I have been wavering because of this, thanks for the clarity.
A brilliant definition of the sovereignty of the people. Well done Paul.
Superb Paul, you have written what I and many more feel but do not have your skill of pen.
Thank you and please keep it up 🙂
Because, as we keep hearing, iScotland will have to reapply for full EU membership. EFTA/EEA membership makes perfect sense. Followed by a referendum to join the EU.
It really does kill a lot of what will be the next onslaught of project fear stone dead.
I believe we ought to be in the single market with free movement and so on, but whether that is as an EU member or an EFTA member doesn’t bother me much. Pretty much swings and roundabouts. Yet what is true, either way, iScotland will have a greater say in the EU than we do now.
I stand to be corrected but EFTA rules means that we pay in, as we do now, via UK, but have no vote on what we have to observe of E U laws and regs.
Taxation without representation would too easy a chant for some.
It would also mean that should we wish to join the EU later, it would be subject to a veto from any individual member state, as opposed to a qualified majority which will certainly be offered should slde in as a successor state.
I would expect continued interference from Westminster to encourage one or more member states to veto us. WM cannot afford to be successful and show them up.
Expect gutter tactics from them.
Wow! How come with all the intellect, sincerity, honesty and straight talking our folk can come out with we are subordinate to war-mongering, inefficient loopies Ever thought of standing for Holyrood? I’m looking forward to seeing you in Dunfermline in June!
I rarely comment on any blogs or internet forums but your article sums it up for me.We can try and convince the soft knows with endless discussion about the economics ect of independence but sometimes all you need is a simple rallying call which appeals to the heart and soul.
[…] Source: Let’s choose to live […]
Win the Indy vote at all costs and then fight amongst ourselves about the best way forward. Lots of making our way in the world and working positively and with integrity.
Choose your words carefully TT. Let us by all means _debate_ amongst ourselves, no doubt with passion at times, but _fight_ no! Nothing would please our former masters more than the sight of us fighting amongst ourselves, with or without their assistance!
How sensitive of you. Debating. Nice and cosy. Yawn.
Pit that bottle doon noo Jimmy …
But seriously, look what happened over in Ireland, a full-blown civil war following indy, which poisoned their politics for decades afterwards. And how many other former colonies suffered the same fate? The Brits are past masters of Divide and Rule, or at least a sort of DIY Scorched Earth policy.
Only a racist would not want to be ruled by Westminster. Once all other arguments are refuted it remains the only explanation.
Racists like the Canadians, the Irish, the Americans, the Indians and Pakistanis, the Australians, the Kiwis, the Botswanans, the South Africans (OK they actually are racists), the Zimbabweans, the Israelis/Palestinians, the Ghanaians, the Nigerians, the Bermudans, the Manx, the Jamaicans, the West Indians, the Bahamians, the Yemenis, the Guyanans, the Kenyans, the Malays, the Singaporeans, the Bangladeshis, the North and South Sudanese…
I shake my weary, wise, benevolent, British head at them. Racists.
On a similar positive note, this blog I think is a keeper, enjoy! :
‘Independence isn’t about policy, independence is about who gets to choose…’ Exactly
I have a great deal of sympathy for your EFTA/EEA position… except for one dinosaur-sized fly in the ointment; If we drop the idea of immediate seamless EU membership we lose the reason for holding ScotRef on Holyrood’s timetable. If we say we can join EFTA/EEA and have a bit of a think about EU membership HMG in Whitehall can say you can do that any time and now is not the time. We lose our leverage over the timing of the referendum, and it would be self-inflicted.
If we want our referendum as soon as possible I believe it has to be on the basis of getting a vote for independence before the UK leaves the EU, and that only makes sense if we have campaigned for Scotland to remain in the EU.
Agreed Holebender.
How are you?
As well as I can be under the circumstances (which are bloody awful). If you want to know any more contact my user name at hotmail.com
Not really. If the argument in framed in terms of continuing and seamless membership of the European single market the Scottish govt’s timing argument remains intact.
I should add, I still want an independent Scotland to be a part of the EU, but I think that tactically the EEA/EFTA position is a better one for the referendum. If we want Scotland to join the EU, we can vote for parties who have applying for EU membership in their manifestos when we have the first Holyrood election in an independent country. Or we could have a referendum on it, if we’re not referendummed out by then.
I agree, Dug. If the UK gov was pursuing a soft Brexit (the type even Farage endorsed) then Holebender would be correct, but they aren’t.
It’s possible we’ll be flouncing out of negotiations and attempting to fall back to WTO rules (if Argentina don’t veto the UK’s trade schedule) within months. Whatever gets us out of that situation and helps us regain some sanity i.e. EEA and free movement – how could any remainer vote against that prospectus? The added bonus is a fair few Yes/Leavers would also be brought back into the fold.
I can’t really get my head round the Yes/leave position but I’ve met some and it’s going to be a sticking point for them. Unionists are going to scream and howl whatever we do, we might as well choose the option that gives us the best chance of success.
The reality is; EFTA will be the simpler option get sorted before we go to the people. The options on offer need to be stability vs batshit Brexit. That’s how we win.
a wonderful, inspiring piece of writing Paul…. thank you
On the question of EFTA or EU, I am strongly for membership as is the SNP. However that bridge quite nicely fits into a timescale which is looking very plausible. Forget about being held in a holding pen by the EU. Our objective should be an immediate application for membership of EFTA and whether or not to join the EU should be left to a subsequent general election or referendum. As the saying goes it is all about ‘taking back control’.
Except we then lose control over the timing of the referendum. See my post above for the reason why.
Politics is ‘the art of the possible’ and ‘we have to start from where we are and not from where we would like to be’.
I voted Remain. I think that on the whole the EU is a good thing. Although not perfect, it is a better place to be than outside as the UK will be.
However, it is possible, indeed, probable, that as Mrs May said, that whether Scotland is independent or part of the UK, in 2019 it will be outside the EU.
Therefore, any planning for independence must take account of that contingency and, so, consideration of things like membership of EFTA, have to be considered. We also have to consider that for some time after independence that we will have to use the pound sterling or a new Scottish currency pegged to the pound. These things are practical politics and an acceptance that at that time we will be where we are and will have to navigate to where we would like to be.
Mrs May doesn’t speak for the EU and probably knows less about it than you or I. If she says we’ll be out of the EU in 2019 I am inclined to believe she is wrong.
To my mind if we vote for independence within the EU while we are still within the EU that institution is going to bend over backwards to accommodate us. Even if it takes us a couple of years to secure our independence from the UK and the UK leaves the EU in the meantime, we will have an agreement with the EU that we’ll be full members on independence day. It’s in nobody’s interest to force us out and then force us to rejoin. The key, though, is to vote for independence before the UK leaves the EU so that our membership will be continuing, regardless of what the UK gets up to between our vote and our independence day.
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a 50+ Female.
Another nugget upping the ante. Some wee tears bubbling on reading these inspiring words. Thanks Paul.
p.s. I choose life.
Quite possibly your best. Sums up beautifully what my dad raised me to believe. ‘You’re no better than anyone and you’re no worse.’
I choose to live.
The timescale means that maintaining seamless membership of the EU is very unlikely. Will we be independent by March 2019? I’m guessing not. The probability is that we will be out and have to re-apply via A49. And yes that means all states have a veto. And yes, the process is 3 years fast track, or 4 standard. At the very least the unionists will make hay with that.
The Scottish Government has been focusing on the Single Market for the very good reason that SM membership is the essence of the benefits of the EU. It guarantees the four freedoms, protects our EU (and EEA) citizens, protects our economy. Being taken out of the Single Market is what does 99% of the damage of Brexit.
Joining EEA/EFTA is the fastest, simplest way back into the Single Market. We apply to the EFTA Council and if they agree we are in. None of the scare stories apply. EEA must be ratified by the EU states, but that’s much simpler than the full EU membership application.
And: 11% of 2014 Yes don’t want to be in the EU. We would be on 60% Yes, now, if the EU issue is parked for another day. I know Shetland fishermen who would vote Yes on that prospectus.
Austria, Finland and Sweden all joined the EU from within EFTA. It’s a precedented route to membership, if we choose to do that. The point is we would get the choice.
I think its worth recalling that the Scottish Government’s search for a compromise with the May Government was NOT around a special deal for Scotland to retain membership of the EU – even though this is what the Scottish electorate voted for – but quite specifically to retain membership of the Single Market. Importantly, the FM did not ask for the former but the latter: it is the latter, this compromise, that has been refused out of hand.
Although a substantial minority in Scotland did vote to leave the EU, it is likely, just as in the wider UK, that many of these people did NOT vote to leave the Single Market. Single Market membership obtained from the outset of an independent Scotland, with the prospect of full EU membership in the early years (should a majority choose this), is to me a pretty good strategic goal that could unite a larger majority in Scotland.
Tactically, I also wish to avoid in Indyref2 committing to a course that Unionists can point to as uncertain – and wholly in the gift of others. We allowed this with the currency union last time: if the EU will not give an explicit assurance of membership in time for Indyref2, then a step-wise process via EFTA and Single Market membership may be preferable.
#Holebender
I am strongly in favour of the EU, but your argument that we would be better applying for membership from within the EU makes us look as if we want to rush things. That is not Nicola Sturgeon’s way. Let’s be deliberative and reasoned. Anyway, this is all about selling the EU a message. We are making lots of friends at the moment. NC’s struggle with Theresa May will play well for us in the EU.
Slowly, slowly catch a monkey!
Nicola Sturgeon is arguing that we should hold the referendum in the window between the deal being known and the UK leaving the EU. What is the point of this if not to know what Scotland wants *before* we’re forced out of the EU? The only reason to do that is to secure Scotland’s continuing membership.
If we’re not going for continuing membership we very much weaken the argument for holding the referendum before the UK leaves the EU.
Off topic, but I wondered if you had seen this article in the Globe and Mail – and I say this with some hesitation as you are obviously so much more aware of what’s going on outside little Britain than most of us: https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/its-time-for-scotland-to-find-a-new-home-in-canada/article34583830/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&cmpid=rss1&click=sf_globe
thank you for the lump in my throat, Paul, a brilliant read.
I’ve followed you for a while and sometimes you do rant a bit, you know!, but this post is superb. It’s from the heart. You canna fake authenticity. It rings clear as a church bell. Well spoken. I am copying the entire piece to save it. God bless you (and the dug)
“That’s the point we seek to establish with independence, that it’s the people who choose, not the politicians.
There’s a difference between living and existing. Existing is having choices made for you. It’s having decisions imposed on you. Living is choosing for yourself. Scotland exists under the Union, it can only live with independence. Let’s choose to live.”
This is the crux of the matter and says it all for me Paul. It couldn’t be put any clearer.
Thank you.
Have you seen this Paul?
HERE
GIGALOLZ 😀
Yes I have. And I laughed.
EFTA/EEA or EU?
All we are talking of at this time is surely just strategy as a means to gaining Scotland’s Independence. Once Independent we can ask the Scottish people what they want.
Neither option really even enters my thinking, any one is good enough for me. It is NOT about Europe it is about Scotland and the people of Scotland being able to make that choice.
This is purely about Independence and we have the best chance of gaining that by appealing to the largest number of potential supporters. I’m sure the SNP will have surveys showing the best way to go, that’ll do for me.
PS I’m sure I don’t need to say that without Independence the question becomes irrelevant.
Thanks – I needed that!
The things you don’t see and never read about except in passing. The following is Nicola Sturgeon’s address to the UN on equality.
HERE
You want to know how Scotland is regarded overseas? How Scotland’s First Minister is regarded? Then watch this video and listen to the responses from those assembled and especially the first vid link. I’d like the reader/viewer to then try and picture either Ruth Davidson or Kezia Dugdale receiving the same reception.
I’d like you to then imagine one more thing. A permanent Scottish envoy to the UN participating on your behalf, talking to the world and the world listening. That Scotland has no idea of the work undertaken, how our representation is regarded by the wider world, or that we have no permanent representation is a black shame on our media.
Why is it left to ordinary engaged people to research and place this online for public consumption?
There is only one answer and it doesn’t paint our media and the opposition parties in the best light, now does it.
Ruth Davidson being ever so jolly hockey sticks as our envoy to the UN? Willie Rennie taking part in a Q&A at Stanford CA? Kezia Dugdale …och,it’s all too silly for words, Sam.
Years ago, when I was a young man, and had just finished decorating the lounge in our new home, a pigeon managed to squirm its way down the open chimney and fluttered, and crashed and cawed in blind panic until I managed to open a window and shoo the poor creature back to freedom.
I’d venture that the soot covered bird did less damage to my fresh Apple White walls than any of the above would do to Scotland, its reputation, and its relationship with the international community, if they ever found themselves in the position of governing the country.
NS has been a magnificent ambassador for Scotland on this recent trip to the US. Thanks for the video links, sir.
Of course it gets minimum coverage on this side of the pond.
Not sure if that was a direct link Jack. Most folks wouldn’t be aware of the vid link search field, but this one should go straight to the relevant address.
http://webtv.un.org/search/scottish-event-with-nicola-sturgeon-first-minister-of-scotland/5386621000001?term=Nicola%20Sturgeon
Just watched the UN piece, Sam.
It is transparent that NS has been warmly welcomed wherever she goes.
We are extremely fortunate to have her at the helm at this particularly turbulent time in world history.
Independent Scotland:- a ‘Good global citizen’. ‘I like that.’
Well Jings! Who knew?
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/20170329IPR69054/red-lines-on-brexit-negotiations
Two word response to May from Europe. The second word is ‘off.’
That’s pretty much how I read it.
Macart,
But will it be televised?
Added your link to my browser thingymajig.
Thanks.
Same with the other links I’ve posted on thread Douglas. Imagine the reaction of the public to seeing how our FM is received at the UN, at Stanford U? Imagine the different picture it paints if any of these things up to and including the EUs actual votes and deliberations on Brexit from the continent’s POV were to see mainstream dissemination?
There are times when thinking about the absolute state of our media it’s best to have heavy objects well out of reach.
She is just brilliant, Macart.
That is a stateswoman, perhaps beyond compare.
Did I mention, I think she is very, very good?
———
I was talking to a lady for independence today. Who is disabled. She was standing watching an event. Our First Minister brought her over a chair to sit on. Not a lackey, our First Minister did it herself!
Compare and contrast with Theresa May!
Honestly, this post sums up in words I could not, just why I have moved myself, my wife and my two kids, to Scotland. Born in England, and languishing there for my entire life has taught me the harshest of lessons. England isn’t something you are a part of any more, perhaps it never was, England post 1979 became something done to the people, not for or even by them. As I grew older, I remember well, that Scotland seemed to be the only place that rallied against the insane-Thatcherite tendency. However, because of the ‘British’ system, Scotland could not be free of Tory obsessions. Since Scotland won devolution, from afar, we could see Scotland holding out, resisting the pull of this Tory-inspired-blight.
10 short years ago, I came to Scotland for the first time as an Adult. My first trip to Edinburgh instilled in me the realisation that this country is where I felt at home. Subsequent visits to the Highlands and Islands as well as Glasgow and Edinburgh again, made that feeling bedrock. Finally last year on 24th June, I woke to find myself in a country I didn’t like and could not stand to be in any longer. Once more, Scotland pointed the way forward. We are with you now, we are here to live and work and thrive with you. To become Scots ourselves, will be the biggest honour we could imagine. I look forward to Scottish Independence.
Whether we join the EU, or not. Scotland is the place I choose because as you say ”being Scottish isn’t about where you come from, it’s about where we’re going” together.
You and your family are most welcome here Cormag.
Personally, I am proud proud that you have honoured us by choosing to be part of our journey forward together.
This made my heart sing. What an inspiring vision!
Agree with everything except your backslide to EEA, Paul. Not any principle in that, just low calculation. Letting the minority side in the EURef dictate to the substantial majority, for why? I want to keep all my EU rights unless my fellow citizens freely decide different, without interference from any foreign country.
What you said: “independence is about who gets to choose, and those choices are made by the people of Scotland.” Not some backroom tactical calculation by a select few as to what just might win most support. Which could backfire badly anyway if the recent anti-Brexit converts decide that EU-lite isn’t the real deal, while “leavers” decide that EEA is even worse than EU, since it costs us as much but gives us no say in all the big decisions. Just like we do now in the UK, actually.
First independence, won on a ticket of “stability first”. Afterward, in the light of future events, we can choose together how we go forward.