Bitter Together – Free Scotland Now!

Britain should stop giving out medals and knighthoods in honour of a long dead racist and rapacious Empire. There are other things which indicate Britain is not so great.

1) Banning republicans from parliament is actually shameful in a supposed democracy.

2) A brutish British Tory government which works for millionaires and appears to detest the poor doesn’t and shouldn’t fill anyone with pride. Shame is the appropriate emotion.

3) Britain’s foreign policy stinks. Cutting foreign aid to the bone was bad enough but Brexit is a completely suicidal approach to trade while preventing freedom of movement has caused huge problems and solved none. The USA clearly sees Britain as a pariah in world affairs. They have told Britgov to go whistle for a trade deal and that will continue as long as Britain threatens the NI protocol and the Good Friday Agreement.

I’m a Scot and feel proud of what my country can potentially become and has started in the Scottish Parliament with moves toward more fairness in society. Free prescriptions, plans for free dental care and a better funded and better performing NHS shows the SNP Government have the health of our people as a priority. Similarly having no tuition fees means our young people are not prevented from accessing education. In England you get what you pay for, if you can afford it. The taxation system is fairer in Scotland with higher earners paying more tax and the low paid paying less.

England and Scotland could be friends and allies as independent countries on a basis of equality. England is just too big to be in an equal union with Scotland and for the moment what they say goes and we have to lump it.

The Tory Government got into power on a minority of the vote. If Labour had any sense the next time they get in power (if ever) they should introduce Proportional Representation. That would isolate the Tories for ever and open up potential alliances with the Liberal Democrats and Greens. Unfortunately Labour have given no indication that they dislike the two party system even though it usually works against them.

Maybe England can also be proud of itself in the future but it is unlikely while they fly the ‘Butchers Apron’ union flag and hang on to empire dreams. Perhaps their ambitions will adjust if Scotland and Wales (and Cornwall) leave the union. That would be no bad thing.

A lot of people seem to like to say ‘I’m not a nationalist’ without apparently knowing what the word means. If you support normal national powers for Scotland then you are a Scots ‘nationalist’ ie you support independence. Equally if you support the existing British state then you are also a nationalist, a British nationalist.

Some British nationalists also claim to be patriotic Scots yet there is nothing particularly patriotic about wanting your country to continue to be outvoted in a foreign parliament by a factor of 10-1.

The No campaign includes the Orange Lodge, EDL, BNP and UKIP as well as the Scottish puppet parties because all these organisations are against independence and are trying to campaign against it. All of them are British nationalists and all wave the Union Jack.

Some of NO get very upset whenever they see a Saltire, like George Foulkes who complained when he heard Scotrail planned to put one on the Trains or the various unionists who seem to be happy to see Wimbledon covered in Union Jacks for a Scotsman’s victory but were disturbed when the First Minster unveiled a Saltire.

Better Together are very far from being Scots patriots though I understand why they want to hide this fact as Scots identity is much stronger than the British one in Scotland and has been for years. That’s why the Union Jack is not the official logo of their campaign.

I suspect this anti-Scots dimension will become clearer to Scots over the next year and a half as Better Together continue to attempt to scaremonger and undermine Scots self confidence.

By the way England already is a foreign country and Britain won’t still exist after independence. Britain comes from the ancient name of Britannia which can be defined as the part of thse isles which is specifically not Scotland. It’s a fake name for a fake country which was created in 1707 and which has always effectively operated as an enhanced England. The ‘British Isles’ label is an insult to Ireland just as the Union Jack represents a false claim to it and ignores the existence of Wales.

Boyle is of course entitled to have a view on independence but if anyone bases their view on the 2014 referendum based upon the endorsement of a celebrity then they haven’t thought about the question anywhere near enough.

Apparently in ’79 celebrity status quo supporters appeared in newspapers on an almost daily basis warning against voting for devolution. Despite this we did vote in favour even though we were finagled out of it for 20 years.

Celebrities are quite nice as indicating possible momentum for your cause and the numerous artists which are supporting Yes while No are struggling to pick up one is good for our side (artists tend to create Art which has an impact on the consciousness) but even if every current celeb all said they were voting NO I don’t think it would necessarily derail Yes Scotland.

If you’re already a multi-millionaire then you may well prefer the Status Quo and the fairly low tax regime (and offshore tax havens in Bahamas etc) which is the Tories preference.

What Yes is offering is a chance to decide our own future on defence, benefits, human rights, foreign policy. It is an opportunity which is ultimately flexible enough to include all views including those who don’t support certain aspects of the SNP’s proposed prospectus (such as EU, pound or monarchy). That’s an attractive proposition.

The Status Quo on the other hand is undoubtedly a Council of Despair and neither David Cameron or Ed Miliband have anything to offer Scots. We will never have a better opportunity than this to get a Yes vote and when the Yes campaign has put their message across on every doorstep face to face I have no doubt that vision of a better future and the enthusiasm with which our supporters put it across will win the day.