Times Change

The Kelpies

It’s only a matter of days now until the referendum on Scottish independence and with the new poll, showing yes ahead, but effectively making things too close to call, it’s getting exciting!

I wrote about my conversion from ambivalence to strongly pro-independence here. But even at the time, I had my doubts about independence being possible. Scotland seemed to be entrenched in old immoveable views. Most Labour folk would follow the Labour line and SNP folk would follow the SNP line and that would be it. People seemed unwilling to engage or even consider that it might even be possible. In truth, it gave me doubts about Scottish people – I have been proven astoundingly wrong in these doubts.

In the past half year it’s like the whole country has woken up to the idea that independence might just work or it’s a least worth having an open conversation about above and beyond the usual party lines. People are making up their own minds. They have been debating the risks and the rewards at a level that seemed impossible for me to imagine before.

The highest point in the campaign for me was the other day when a friend from back in school posted an eloquent plea for independence on his Facebook page. It’s funny, but you never really think of people growing up and changing. It would have been hard to imagine that the kid I knew at school would care anything about politics, never mind to be so engaged as to write something so heartfelt on his timeline. Times change and Scotland is changing – maybe even for the better.

Of course, it’s not all be pleasant. Accusations of aggressiveness on and off the internet have come from both sides, but I think considering the magnitude of the decision being made, Scotland is doing pretty well – for most countries it takes a revolution to bring about the sort of changes we are talking about.

I hope the people of Scotland will vote YES. But even if we don’t, the referendum itself has been a success. People are taking their country into their own hands in a way that I’ve never seen in my lifetime and it gives me hope that maybe people are better than I’ve given them credit for. Maybe the world can be changed…. not maybe .. YES

Why I’m for independence

So, let me start by saying that whole idea of nationalism is just stupid.
Separating people into countries based on the random bit of dirt they happen
to be born on makes no real sense to me.

“You were born on this bit of land, congratulations you’re English. You were
born one meter outside of the border get away you scrounging foreigner!”

I’ve also lived in China where the nationalism can be a bit scary at times and
leaves people frothing at the mouth. Just mention some uninhabited island
that they have never seen, nor which will make any different to their lives and
some Chinese will happily throw themselves at the armies of the world. This is
all despite them being seemingly rational people before and not having known
island exited until a couple of years ago.

Therefore, it might be a bit of a surprise to some that I’ve ended up in the YES
camp when it comes to independence and I have to admit I’m a little surprised

Army (Photo credit: aka Quique)

myself. I’ve never voted SNP, I’m happy to call myself British and if you asked
me two years ago what I thought about independence, I probably would have
said that I wasn’t really for it or against it, but didn’t really see the point. So
why do I support independence now? In short, I like the picture that’s being
painted of the nation we could be.

Whether many people in the UK care to admit it or not, the British Empire is
at an end and it seems to me we have two choices: The first is that we can
accept that gracefully and cut down on our role on the world stage, or we
make fools of ourselves and spend a lot of money trying to pretend to the
world that Britain is still a superpower – anyone who has seen a recent Paul
McCartney video will know how embarrassingly bad the latter can be.

  It would

be great if the UK as a whole could accept that together, but if not, maybe an
independent Scotland can do it alone and that’s what I like about leaving the
UK: accepting ourselves as a small European country.

Why do we have to spend huge amounts to wage wars around the world

Nuclear Submarine HMS Vanguard Returns to HMNB Clyde, Scotland (Photo credit: Defence Images)

where we are not wanted? Why do we need nuclear weapons? Why would we
want to stay part of a UK that constantly continues to isolate itself from all our
neighbours? We’re like that kid that everyone hates, but who they have to

play with because they live in the same neighbourhood. Every time we don’t
get our way we make a fuss and say we’re talking our ball back and we keep
insisting that we get special rules or we’re going to go tell our mum. So let’s
make a country in north where we’re prepared to work together with others
around us rather than always being in conflict.

The next reason is economics and, no, it’s not about the oil. The English
economy and the economies of other parts of the UK are different, but we
make rules that are designed with the sole purpose of helping the bankers
in London at the expense of everyone else. This is totally understandable, as
since the destruction of our industrial base, making up fake money is the only
real source of income the UK has left. However, it’s not good for the rest of
the country. If we became independent Scotland could make choices that are
suitable for our place in the world. Take tourism for example, which is a big
source of income in Scotland. I have lots of friends in Asia who want to do
big European trips and they want to go to the UK, but going to the UK means
double visas, so they don’t, they just go to Spain or France where they can
cross between the borders without the hassle.

Pelamis P2 wave energy device (Photo credit: Scottish Government)

Okay, and yes, there is the oil, but it’s finite. For me the oil money means
a green future. It means taking that money and using it to invest in clear
energy that we can sell to the rest of Europe – again something that’s easier to
develop if not controlled by the south.

The third big one for me is a chance for a better society. Anyone who has been
to Scotland and the rest of the UK will know that there are a lot of problems:
alcoholism, drugs and a large quantity of some not very nice people. We’re like
a drunken doctor with a festering arm, trying to tell the rest of the world how
to stay healthy. Again, if we stop trying to interfere in the rest of the world,
that would free up money and attention that we could focus on ourselves
and try to fix our own problems at home. In Scotland, let’s be honest, we’ve
got a tendency to blame the south for everything that goes wrong. We’re like
teenagers still living in our parent’s house, but as an independent country we

will have to take responsibility for our own problems, not just say, “It’s all your

Saltire flag in the wind (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

fault” to England. Maybe then we can actually make some real changes and
for me that’s the biggest thing. It’s not working the way it is now. So let’s try

something different. So let’s take a chance! Let’s choose change!

Let’s vote YES!