WHEN looking to the future of Scotland as an independent, climate-conscious EU nation state, looking back to 2014/2016 can be both informative and thought-provoking.
The “division” that I was acutely aware of with my good friends and neighbours back in 2014 was always hard to get a grip on, as my they were both easy to initially get on with, and apparently a known quantity when it came to their outlook on life.
The “division” would in large part stem from my commitment to continuing change and their commitment to minimal or no change to their lifestyle of choice – and/or their spending capacity. Petty expressed hatreds of party or individuals, their dress sense, and/or hairstyle, seemingly provided cover to their fears.
A consensus of “change but not independence” hit ConDemSlab for six (3), in the 2015 UK General Election, and demonstrated the sheer ruthlessness of a Scottish electorate spurned after 2014 by the UK Government and ConDemSlab.
The results of the Holyrood 2021 election, now essentially means that the electorate has empowered the Scottish Government (SNP/Green) to create/outline a new future reality for the citizens of Scotland, which is balancing both interdependency with other nations, and self-determination.
In contrast the UK electorate has empowered the UK Government to dissemble/rearrange a past reality for the virtual future benefit of the citizens of the rUK. The result will be unpleasant, inward-looking and fault seeking.
Scotland and its sovereign citizens (ruthless electorate) can absorb both Covid-19 and climate change requirements within a “change via independence” approach as soon as it has a currency, an EU border and a central bank.
For Scotland to move to this stage it clearly requires indyref2 as soon as practicable. This international process started at the weekend when the world looked on via TV link to see just how many citizens of Scotland were willing to demonstrate support to COP26, against the wishes of the UK Government, intimating just how ruthlessly focused an engaged electorate can be.
Stephen Tingle
Greater Glasgow
$100 BILLION seems a lot to most people dealing with economies of daily life, never mind climate chaos. This is the money promised at a previous COP some years ago, but still not delivered by the developed world (that caused most of the problems) to help the developing world (that suffers most of the consequences).
Let’s put that in the context of not only the cost of fires and floods across the world or the islands that will disappear or the disruption to the fishing industry.
The USA alone had a budget of $770bn on military spending for the one year of 2020. We could add some of the other big military spenders: China $252bn, India $72.9bn, Russia $61.7bn and of course the UK $59.2bn.
Meanwhile the major oil companies such as Shell and Siccar Point, with the collusion of Westminster and Holyrood, will make the situation much worse by opening the Cambo oil field (near Shetland), costing more than $5bn.
The money is obviously there but the political will definitely is not. Unless we make our politicians pay by voting them out, at every opportunity, they will continue to lie and try to fool and blame us.
Norman Lockhart
Innerleithen
EXCELLENT letter by Andrew Stone (Where is the Scottish in the indy campaign?, Nov 7). I would go further and ask where is the campaign? I see no evidence of a concerted drive to convince the Scots of the advantages. I agree with Andrew Stone that there is apparently, an unusual absence of “cultural nationalism” in the campaign, assuming there is a campaign in the first place, bordering on the sinister.
To achieve indy we must blend the emotional (heart – cultural nationalism) with the rational (head – economic nationalism). The two elements cannot be separated, as they appear to be at this point in time, as Andrew Stone rightly points out. The photo shown next to the letter has a large billboard with an advertisement stating “Independence is normal”. The problem is how do we define “normal”? Conversely, are we saying that if you do not vote for indy, then you are abnormal?
I do not have any of the buzz I had in 2014 – its locked away inside me waiting for the starting gun again. The momentum of 2014 has nearly ground to a halt. I feel as if I’m in no man’s land at this point – like being rudderless in a boat in the Sargasso Sea, drifting aimlessly without a direction. I am only one cog in a large indy wheel. Someone has to get the wheel moving again – and soon.
William C McLaughlin
Biggar
DID you notice the BBC Scotland GMS headline at 9am on Saturday referred, as the lead item, to a “huge demonstration” of 50,000 folk expected later that day? Keep that under your hat for the BBC Scotland report (or lack of it) about the next full-scale indy march.
Roddie Macpherson
Avoch
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