I am so sick of people saying they’re going to vote with their head not their heart and then trotting out inane comments about Alex Salmond, and how great Britain and the Union are. NO. Sorry, your HEART inclines you to stick with the UK and, yes, you hate Alex Salmond. That’s fine. Just admit it. On the contrary most people I know voting YES are doing so not to create a tartan Brigadoon and be “more” Scottish (??) but because they feel that the present UK is failing them and they calculate we can do better. Just as I can run MY household affairs better than you would, other things being equal. And I think that’s a reasonable prospect whether you LIKE it or not. Unlike ANY other nation becoming independent in history, an independent Scotland will start life with a Parliament, a governmental system, a judiciary, Scottish based regiments, printed bank notes, vibrant civic society, locally based banks, locally based professions (law, teaching, medics, etc etc) and a huge amount of other infrastructure which will simply require changing the name plate. Oh and a balance of trade surplus (meaning we can borrow foreign exchange easily or MIGHT NOT HAVE TO). With a diverse economy which still has substantial manufacturing, food and drink, tourism, life sciences as well as financial service and tertiary education. If Scotland can’t do it, no nation can. Now, THAT’s using your head not your heart (i.e. clinging to past glories which aren’t under threat anyway, we’ll still have our shared history). And as Disraeli said, referring to India, “Self government is better than good government”. Well, we haven’t got good government. The UK is HIGHLY indebted (George Osborne’s right about that if little else) therefore pays more to borrow on international markets (urgently 2.50% on 10 year bonds) than ANY OTHER COUNTRY in the EU except Greece, Poland and Hungary. Yup, even basket case Spain, Ireland, Italy pay less (I’ve just checked in this week’s Economist p72). And who has benefitted from all this government borrowing? GOOD QUESTION. Not the poor, that’s for sure, in this the 4th most unequal country in the OECD. These issues will remain with a no vote and we’ll have NO leverage. With a YES vote we can chart a different course - like most other countries in northern Europe have successfully managed.
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 18:44:24 +0000
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