A Very Disunited Unequal Kingdom

Before I head off into my main topic today, I would just like to express my sadness at the tragic passing of Robin Williams. It was with a sense of shock and unreality that I heard the news of his death this morning. Many others today have expressed their sadness at this wonderful talented humorous mans passing, and we shall miss his humanity and insightful thoughtful nature greatly..Nanu nanu Robin.

One of my favourite films that Robin made was “Dead Poets Society” In it his character utters lines which may have been written about himself, but can apply to us all equally “carpe diem, seize the day, make your lives extraordinary.” and extraordinary he certainly was.

Other lines have also become famous from that film “”There’s a time for daring and there’s a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for.”
and “you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Don’t be resigned to that. Break out!”

and these lines lead me to my main subject matter of today, that of a disunited unequal kingdom.

Although it has been continually painted in this way by the other side, Independence is not about separation, and it is not about Nationalism, it is about autonomy, fairness,inclusion and social justice. Indeed if there has been a constant harping about Nationalism, it hasn’t been from the Independence side, it has been in the form of British Nationalism and its symbols and establishments.

From the very beginning of the establishment of the Union of Parliaments back in 1707, when Scotland and England through their own separate Acts of Union created what we have today, when these two countries decided on an equal partnership, it was a partnership which in truth was never really equal.
In the paper Westminster produced last year they said the following

“Scotland certainly was extinguished as a matter of international law, by merger either into an enlarged and renamed England or into an entirely new state.”

In effect in their view Scotland ceased to be an Country and became a region of a Greater England synonymous with Great Britain.

Thus this prevailing attitude possibly explains the intransigent arrogant nature of the rest of Westminster discourse with us uppity Jocks.

Despite the fact that these were two equal Independent countries back in 1707, despite the fact that the union was negotiated on equal terms with a joint sovereign, King James the first of Scotland, the union has never in reality been equal due to England being the much larger nation.
Our representation in the joint parliament has been no more than one tenth and is decreasing, meaning that even with every Scottish MP voting, we have always been overuled in favour of what suits England,particularly London.

Such policies as the bedroom tax and the sell off at knock down prices of joint assets like the Royal Mail have gone through despite a majority of Scottish opposition. In short, unless the policy has been agreeable to London,then Scots desires have and will continue to be overlooked. Indeed policies which Scots have been fervently against have been foisted on us, the poll tax where we were the guinea pigs for example.

Fast forward to today…

They tell us that if Scotland votes to be independent they wont share the pound, we will have to reapply for membership of the EU but they wont, we will have to apply to join NATO, but they wont, so on and so forth..

Given that Scotland and England jointly created the pound, and shared many other things with them, what right do they have to tell us that everything belongs to them! What sort of Union is that? It is not a Union at all.

Can you for one moment imagine any other form of partnership which is disolved, either in business, in relationships,in governance, where one party has laid claim to ALL the joint assets, and the other party has been left with nothing? It has never happened, nor will it happen now, despite their arrogance.

In reality, when Scotland votes to be independent, then we shall see proper negotiations take place, and all the nonsense they spout will be shown up to be just that…nonsense and political posturing.

So when the Scots government says we shall have the pound, we will have.
It is time that folk stopped listening to their obstructive nonsense, and start using their own common sense instead.

To recount the words used by Robin Williams

“you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Don’t be resigned to that. Break out!”

“carpe diem, seize the day, make your lives extraordinary.”
Make Scotland extraordinary!

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