The home straight

We are inside the last 2 weeks and it is so, so close.  Not in % terms, in time.  We are almost there, we are on the home straight.

A word of warning to us all.  Races are won and lost on the home straight.  We know that a desperate Westminster will try to pull something at the last minute.  I’m sure their most sinister forces, fresh from ‘eggin’ Murphy in an attempt at the pity vote,  will have something planned.

Am I concerned? Yes.  Am I worried? No.  I have great faith in the ability of those dark forces to ‘cock it up’, royally.  Let’s face it, they lost the EU election.  That must have hurt.  Here we have the UK in Europe, run by Europe, represented by UKIP?  That’s ‘love, 15’ in my book.

It is clear that the YES campaign has the momentum.  However, this is now a time for reflection on the campaign to date and ensure we are putting out our best and most compelling messages.

Just to open with an encouraging recognition.  The YES Campaign has broken down every social barrier, be it ethnic, gender, age, homophobia, education, class or religion and

WE ARE AS ONE – UNITED WITH A SINGLE PURPOSE, SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE AND A BETTER FAIRER SOCIETY.  In that respect we are already WORLD CLASS.

Along the way, the YES campaign has had to resist many attempts to derail it.  Better Together began by playing their ‘joker’ then continued to play their ‘joker’ ever since.  Their campaign strategy has been very clear from day 1 – drag the debate into politics rather than where it truly lay, in the hearts of the home Scots and their fellow neighbours.

Politics dictates that the focus must be on the ‘White Paper’.  Many people do not realise that this is a piece of work, a vision if you will, based on the ‘Big Conversation’ that took place between the Government and the people of Scotland over 4 years.  Since the Government has been SNP for the past 2 terms is should come as no surprise that the  tone of the White Paper is SNP centric – they are, after all the majority Government of Scotland half way through their second term and more popular than ever.

The White Paper, of course, becomes a gift to the Better Together BT campaign and the ‘forces of darkness’ often referred to as Westminster.  BT has produced nothing, no vision for Scotland.  Their battle cry becomes NO, NO That, backed up by contrived horror stories and scares to instill fear into the most vulnerable in society; the poor, the sick and the elderly.  Stories that say if you favour Independence your whole world will fall in?

Let’s simply refer to the NO voters as BT to include their entire campaign; that includes Labour and LibDem which makes BT resemble a bunch of DICTATORS.  BT declare the White Paper as the YES campaign’s manifesto, cast in stone, for an Independent Scotland.  In fact they go further and anoint SNP as the de facto winner of the first General Election in Scotland – and they’re off on their campaign of negative criticism.

This of course is very far from the truth.  The White Paper is a ‘vision of what could be’; the basis of the SNP’s election campaign in 2016.  Just as Churchill was overturned by Attlee in 1945, there is no guarantee that SNP would win iScotland’s first General Election.  It is worth repeating what I said in my very first blog, and which the SNP with complete honesty and integrity have reminded the electorate:

A YES VOTE IS NOT A VOTE FOR SNP BUT A VOTE FOR AN INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND

I don’t intend to go through the detail of the White Paper or it’s little brother the Executive Summary although you can [read it here].

Just to recap, BT began their campaign with a DELIBERATE DECEIT and continued their campaign in a manner that could best be described as MORALLY BANKRUPT.

BT’s campaign has been deliberately crafted to appeal to people’s baser instincts.  Fear, greed, selfishness, short-sightedness, social snobbery and deceit are just some such instincts that are in us all as failing humans.  However, Scots overcome these instincts to a great extent, that is well summed up in ‘The common Weal’.  In a sense this is the difference between the two campaigns and this is very visible in the media and on the streets.  I could not be more proud of the YES campaign.  It is the most inspiring movement of my life, bar none.

By contrast, I could not be more disappointed by the Better Together campaign that has disgusted me from grass roots right up to their leaders and the foreign Government behind them.

By now we are all familiar with the topics that BT were instructed to focus on.  I mention them and will dismiss them quickly because I want to focus on the really important positives of the campaign.

I know I am repeating myself but sometimes we must because the topics hang around like a bad smell.  The topics I want to commit to room 101 are Currency, the EU, Oil, Trident and Pensions.

Currency is really simple.  Scotland will share the pound.  You will note that I do not commit to a Currency Union.  This is because there is no such thing.  This was always a BIG LIE and here’s why.  The pound is an international currency we simply continue using it as always, same as many other independent states.  That just leaves the position of the Bank of England and here we must respect Mark Carney who, despite the influence of Osborne, Mark Carney has been completely honest.  The main points are simply this.  The Monetary Policy Committee of the BoE set the base lending rate; 9 people, an Indian, 4 Londoners and 4 from Canada and America – no Scottish influence!  The inter-bank lending rate set at 0.5% now since March 2009 looks set to remain low for a considerable time.  It may rise by 0.25 or 0.5% but if it goes too high in the current climate the country will totally collapse, bankrupt, re-possessions etc.  Sorry, I forgot to say, the country is England.  This is where we have the vastly overpriced houses and masses of people only just making their mortgage payment.  This is Scotland’s safety net!  Of course the base rate is only there to control UK inflation at 2% +/- 1%.  Comparing GDPs Scotland’s inflation would have to exceed about 22% before we tipped the UK rate by about 1%.  At that point Mark Carney must write to George Osborne to explain what is going on and what the BoE are doing about it.  No surprise that would be a ‘nothing really’.  Finally, the old chestnut of the ‘lender of last resort’.  In 2008 the Government Treasury bailed out RBS and HBOS to the tune of £65 Billion.  It is always the party most affected by a collapse that does the bailing out and the Government and London markets were most at risk from these two disaster areas.  [read about it] However, these two were by no means the ‘biggy’ – that honour went to Barclays with about 12 times the debt of RBS.  They were bailed out in secret by the US Fed to negate a ‘debt crisis’ in the US.  The Fed in fact weighed in with £552 Billion to Barclays then on to a total £1.3 Trillion in banking bail outs.  BoE the ‘lender of last resort’? more like the ‘excuse of last resort’.  This is simply a story.  If that is not enough, then consider this; New Labour, especially Darling and Brown were steeped in the banking crisis up to their armpits.  The banking regulations have changed to ensure this can NEVER happen again.  So rest assure,

SCOTLAND WILL BE USING THE POUND STERLING, SHARING THE DEBT AND TAKING A PRO RATA SHARE OF THE ASSETS.  IF NOT, YOU CAN GUARANTEE THAT THE CITY OF LONDON WILL BE ON ITS KNEES WITHING HOURS

Then there is the EU.  Now on this one I differ from the SNP aspiration to remain in Europe.  Even though I am a European by birth and by family – I am a Belgian – I do not believe the UK should be in Europe and I certainly don’t believe Scotland should break away from the UK just to hand the reigns to Brussels.  I was always in favour of the Common Market and felt a European agreement on defense would be a good thing but ‘oh boy’ how the scope has crept.  There are two side to this.  First of all, the decision as to whether Scotland should be in the EU will be made by the first Government of iScotland, which I hope will be a proper coalition (sans whips).  The second is whether Scotland will remained in the EU awaiting the ‘boot’ or whether they would be ‘booted out’ immediately and then at the back of the queue with their application form fully filled out and nervous like a motorist attempting to tax their vehicle.  Anyone who thinks Scotland would be ejected from the EU needs their head looked, I question their a) sanity and b) motives.  If Greece gets to stay in, and with a very big bung when they admitted lying their way in.  A country, and Scotland has always been a country in Europe albeit as a member of a group of countries, is definitely in.  They have 40 years within the EU, they have become an independent country through democracy, they are a very wealth country oozing oil and gas and renewable energy.  Oh and I nearly forgot to mention the small point about the nuclear defenses, ouch! Scotland kind of has your defense system, guys, at least for now, while you f*ck about with nuclear Russia over Ukraine.  Let’s call that a definite IN.  Whether Scotland wants to stay in is the big question and that’s the people’s choice.

Oil, oil, oil?  so much has been said on this subject our heads are spinning or is that oozing?  For Scotland this is a curse.  All those Trillions of pounds (no, it’s in dollars) of revenue?  it’s like an unwanted lottery jackpot.  Are you NUTS? guys.  Aside from the vast reserves remaining in the north sea there is Clair and the west coast oil.  But there is a serious problem with north sea oil and gas?  How will Westminster cope with its absence when they try to balance there books, the ones on the knife edge or is that a precipice?  Enough said!

Trident is arguably the ‘biggy’ and here again I do not agree with the SNP.  I am a peace loving sort of person.  The thought of weapons of mass destruction fills me with horror.  The million dead in Iraq following an illegal Blair, sorry war, sounds like mass destruction to me – let’s call it conventional mass destruction and let’s not differentiate.  We, or should I say me, have put up with Trident for many, many years.  As a resident of Helensburgh I can say me because they are on my doorstep, but I should say we.  I want them gone, but I want more than that.  They can be gone easy, .. or they can be gone difficult.  Easy would be the civilised (if you can use civilised and nuclear in the same sentence) removal where we agree an arrangement that is mutual.  Hard, is the one that begins with ‘get them to f*ck out now’.  Somewhere in the middle is the deal where we get just about all we want to help our nation’s transition in exchange for making their transition to a new location or no location go smoothly.  Sadly, the voice of common sense in my head also says any sizeable nuclear tiff anywhere in the world and we are all vapour, so gone would be good!  In the final analysis, Scotland is sitting with 4 aces and the poker game is just getting under way.

And finally (he says with an air of irony) there is pensions.  There are 2 kinds of pensions, works or private pensions and State pensions.  Works/private pensions are easy, if we are lucky enough to have one, and we are receiving one, then that money is banked and guaranteed – so we are completely safe.  Well, I say safe, I really mean safe after the event.  Gordon Brown carried out a raid on pensions that cost you and I a total of £118 Billion by 2012 and growing at a rate of around £11 Billion per year.  This was removing tax relief from the pensions investments.  [read about it] Completely unfair because this was our pensions savings that were being invested.  You may be aware that pension contributions are exempt of tax.  Of course we save these with pension companies who invest that money and that was where Brown carried out the raid.  Some of us have lost 75 – 80% from our private pensions.  Nice one Gordon.  Still you got to invest our life savings in things like Blair’s illegal war!

Then there is the State pension; currently under ‘management’ with Westminster as they push out the benefit further and further for men and women.  When we pay our NIC if we are lucky enough to have a job, we are funding pensions.  70% of that money is invested abroad and not a factor in the referendum.  We have an absolute guarantee from the UK Pensions Minister that our pensions are safe and all will be paid.  Over and above that we have the guarantee from the Scottish Government on ‘triple lock’ that means our pensions don’t fall behind the growth in the economy.

A final word on pensions.  I want independence for my kids and grandkids and so on; not for a secure pension.  If you want to deny your successors their future so you can feel secure with your pension then you must give yourself a ‘selfish restart’.  This new iScotland will respect you but will NOT develop on the back of your self-centered principles.  Let’s agree that pension concerns are consigned to room 101.

And we are done with all the main BT distractions.

And now on to the real messages.  I have picked the messages that are most important to me and I hope my readers feel the same.

Top of the list must be these principles:

1.  The people of Scotland elect their Government and that Government is the Government for the people of Scotland by the people of Scotland and

THAT IS WHAT WE ALWAYS GET

However, the most important point is the Power of Recall.  Scotland, probably uniquely has the most extensive, established and fully joined up local infrastructure of grass roots citizens.  These citizens are now politically savvy, fully informed especially in terms of Scotland’s history and determined never to be fooled again.  Through this vast network and the powers of Social Media these citizens will inform their politicians and hold them to account and if they don’t shape up or if they fail to deliver on the promises we have made on doorsteps all over Scotland they will be gone now, not when it suits them.  This peoples network, borne of YesScotland already have their meetings booked up to the end of 2014 and well beyond 18 September when we get our INDEPENDENCE

2.  A constitution for citizens of Scotland is already in the making.  What could be more important than the ‘oversight capability’ of a constitution especially from a country so intelligent that brought the world the Scottish Enlightenment [read about it].  A constitution will spell out exactly what the country, iScotland expects of its citizens.  The constitution will also spells out exactly what each citizen can expect from their Government.  This comes with a guarantee because the grass root infrastructure will remain in place to ensure this is the case.

3.  When people vote YES they are not voting for the SNP.  Our SNP leaders have made this point repeatedly – I wish they had made it sooner.  Just as Clement Attlee beat Churchill in 1945 after WW2, I believe that Alex Salmond is far from a certainty in 2016.  But don’t let us be anything short of respectful to our First Minister who took us to the referendum, stood his ground against the forces of darkness and has measured up to his principles in Government.  Don’t let us forget that Scotland has been on pocket money for 307 years and when the budget allocation to Scotland under the Barnett formula gets cut, the SNP Government must take the flack from cutting other budgets to protect the integrity and promise of the NHS; I am talking free prescriptions, free car parking, free eye examinations and some categories of people get free dental on the NHS such as children under 18 [read about it].  Even when you pay, it is relatively cheap compared with England.  At the Royal Free hospital in London patient or visitor parking for 1 week is £500.  Nurses generally pay £200 per month out of the wages to park at their hospital.  Let us remember what the SNP Government are protecting on our behalf.

4.  There can be no doubt whatsoever that Scotland is a rich country, even without the oil.  In a way it is sad that rich is always a measure of £ notes.  Scotland is rich in so many other ways such as social justice, access to justice and access to the most basic building blocks in a society; health and education.  Rather than reproducing the facts, here is a posting from Business for Scotland the Scottish equivalent of the CBI with 2,500 business members since March 2013 alone and growing rapidly.  Some will note that section 4 on oil is extremely conservative and does not include the vast new Claire field in the north of the proven fields off the west coast.

 

5.  Finally, in my list is the absolute necessity for Scotland to link arms with its closest neighbour, but as an equal partner and nation.  England is currently Scotland’s largest trading partner and Scotland is England’s second biggest trading partner.  We can either hang together or hang separately.  This is not a choice or an option.  If both countries don’t make this work we are looking at ‘mutually assured self destruction’ and that suits nobody.  In my blog, ‘the elephant in the room’ [read it] I presented a vision of a new England.  I hold with that view and, however long it takes, I believe that iScotland will ultimately be working with an English National Party, or whatever it’s title will be, but a party that is hundreds of years late and desperately needed to represent the people of all of England.  I cannot see the current establishment lasting much past the Scottish referendum and frankly I doubt there will be many in England who will miss the ‘Eton chums’.  It may take a long time, and it may be a tortuous journey, but in the fullness of time I see a British Isles that is a collective and collaboration of 4 strong independent nations showing the world what can be achieved with co-operation and will power but most importantly not staring down the barrel of a gun or the sharper end of a nuke.

SCOTLAND’S INDEPENDENT WILL BE WON WITHOUT BLOOD BEING SPILLED AND THAT IS REMARKABLE, and we don’t  buy the bit about the offensive egg