What specific issue about Scottish Independence do you find most interesting?
That’s the second best question I’ve been asked today. Although to be fair the other question was “do you want me to come into work instead of you tomorrow?” and I basically jumped at the opportunity to have a lie in.
Which specific issue do I find the most interesting? It’s difficult to say that there was a single issue that I found to be the best or even the most interesting. There’s part of me that looks at the political implications of Scotland becoming independent. The British Empire… what did it stand for? Colonialism, imperialism, slavery. Sure, it made some people fabulously wealthy and it is true that Scots were part of that too. But only through becoming part of the Union were they able to access this part of the Empire. Forward onto the middle of the twentieth century and Europe was split between governments of differing ideologies as democracy (of varying standards), fascism and communism took hold. Fascism, thankfully, was defeated in Europe and the people of the UK voted for a socialist Labour government. Hurrah for democracy! For all of the praise that Clement Attlee got (and quite rightly too), it was a little strange for a socialist to believe in the Empire. However, he believed in the Empire of its early days and that it was a force for good. That said, he also believed that they should govern themselves. And so, decolonisation came about and so did self-governance for these countries. And not one of these countries said “actually England, can you continue to make decisions for us as we might be a bit shit at it.” Nope, they all took independence. Every one of them. And it was this opportunity to say “actually, we’re meant to be a wealthy nation that has vast oil reserves, natural resources, a skilled and educated workforce… and yet there are people out there that have to work 45 hours per week and still go to a food bank to survive… and there are pensioners that have decide between paying for food or paying for heating… there are still parts of Glasgow where 50% of the population live BELOW the poverty level… and there are those that are rich enough to avoid paying tax at all…. hmm…. do you think we could have a go at governing ourselves for a change as Westminster has done nothing.”
Gas and electricity prices continue to rise and yet the companies regularly post record profits. Of course, not that the Scottish government would go through a period of reversing the privatisations of the Thatcher governments, but still… I wouldn’t see Westminster doing anything different.
Military spending and involvement continues to rise. Ho hum. Meanwhile Iain Duncan Smith wants to tax disability benefits. Lord Freud, a fucking welfare minister, comes out and says that disabled people aren’t “worth the minimum wage” and suggests that they should be working for £2 per hour.
Does that sound like the sort of thing that a government minister should be saying, let alone a welfare minister? £2 per hour. Disgusting comments from a member of a disgusting party. Meanwhile, it gets revealed that Facebook paid nothing in corporation tax in the UK this year! But hey, it’s so much easier to bash the working poor rather than multinational companies, right? That, of course, wouldn’t have anything to do with certain tax-dodging companies giving money directly to the Conservative party in donations? Of course not!
So, the best, specific issue that I find the most interesting is… democracy. Plain and simple. We would get the governments that we would vote for every time. They’d actually have to listen to the views of the Scottish people, rather than being treated as second-class citizens. Hey David Cameron… it’s been over a month since the referendum… you haven’t been back to Scotland yet despite being Prime Minister of the UK… why, it’s almost as if you don’t give a fuck about us. Oh… you don’t.
The British Empire is finished. Look at the House of Lords. Look at the Last Night of The Proms. Look at Nigel Farage, the Daily Mail, the Daily Express. All clinging to a way of life that only serves one kind of people; wealthy, pompous, arrogant, stuck-up snobs with faces that you’d never get tired of giving a kicking. Look at them all and ask yourself if they represent you or what you stand for. Because they don’t. A dying empire that will come to a halt one of these days soon enough. The deficit and debt continues to grow. Funny that George Osborne is starting to sweat a bit when he realises that, hey, he might need to tax the rich folk at last to pay for this crisis. Nope, of course not… he’ll continue to keep with his reckless financial plans and it’s only a matter of time before it comes crashing down. At which point, he personally won’t care because he’s rather rich. And a cunt. A smug-faced rich cunt.
Seem to have divulged a bit too much into that so I think I’ll stop there!
Then there’s the part of me that looks at things materialistically and says “could you imagine a Scottish passport with a lion rampant on the cover and pages with watermarks of highland terriers?! It would be the best!”
