Since my last post I have been stuck in London itching to get back and get on with the work. I have so much stored in my head that I must let some of it out.
Sometimes in life we have some horrible sh*t to deal with hence my leave of absence. I deliberately put everything off until after the referendum. After a short lull I am now fully charged up and ready to go.
Of course I was very disappointed about about the result of the referendum. I wasn’t gutted but I was extremely angry. I have had to spend some time understanding that anger and converting it into positive actions. That work is done. I hope the other 1.6 million of us are now fully recovered and even more determined than ever.
From London, let me put something else out there. 1.6 million Scots residents were disappointed. But that is a drop in the ocean compared to the millions of people all over the UK and all over the world that were holding their breath and hoping for the right decision. They will hold their breath as long as it takes. The world watched on as the YES campaign conducted themselves with dignity, determination and courage against the vast forces of the establishment. Forces we cannot see. Forces we know are there because we feel them but mostly they are the invisible final vestiges of a dying Empire that have yet to wake up to the reality of a determined people who will never give up.
Almost everyone I speak with in London has offered their sincere disappointment at the result. Sure there are many in England who must have breathed a sigh of relief that have not pulled their snouts out of our trough. But already, there are millions in England who have seen a great victory. The referendum has put English nationalism on the agenda. I see that as an incredibly important development in our pursuit for independence. I have been moved by the support for Scottish independence that I received openly from some UKIP hierarchy. I know Farage and Coburn were overtly anti-Scottish independence, which I see as crass hypocrisy – but watch this space.
In my blog, The Elephant in the Room[read it] I tried to paint a picture of an England post YES. Well, post YES has not happened yet but much of that prediction is beginning to happen. Even as I write the latest Tory defector, multi-millionaire Arron Banks has moved to UKIP and up his stake from £100k to £1M thanks to the sneering of William Haigue. Arron Banks will contest a seat at the 2015 GE.
If Scotland is to succeed as an independent country, England must also succeed. I thought it may have been harder to kick-start England but turns it I was wrong. England kick-started, selected first gear and they are already beginning to move off.
FROM SCOTLAND’S PERSPECTIVE I SINCERELY HOPE THEY GET THERE
As for the party leaders and the Eton chums, I think their cards are all now already marked. None of them have been able to take any credit from the referendum. I thought a NO vote would had had them all queueing at the table of plenty for their recognition. Not so. The referendum outcome has been relegated to snide remarks for cheap laughs. Witness Boris at the Tory conference. On the morning of 19 Sep we woke up with more work to do – Boris wakes up every morning to discover he is still Boris Johnston?
Within days the whole Establishment machine has gone into ‘stupid’ mode. Miliband, the absent minded professor, forgets his lines at conference and misses out the most important topic, it’s the economy stupid. Cameron is exposed, exposing the Queen in ‘Purrgate’ and we are dragged into another war in the Middle East. The ghost of William Wallace must have been dying with laughter at their schoolboy bungling.
Just on that point, Cameron could have debated the Iraq intervention at any time over the past months as the US were already in there with all guns blazing. Let’s face it, it’s not as if Cameron was pre-occupied with the referendum and preparing for his showdown with Alex Salmond. Cameron must have known the vote on Iraq was a banker. He must also have known that had he acted on Iraq ahead of the referendum we would still be celebrating in the streets.
Enough of the reflection and back to the here and now….
I have been keeping a watch over social media on ‘Bonnie’ and there are some great developments. The upsurge in membership of the SNP has been truly inspiring. I am not a member, but I will always vote for the SNP regardless of the issue until we have our country back. The meteoric rise of ‘we are the 45%’ has also been truly amazing.
In think we are all now in a period of refection. Even the rise of SNP membership and the astounding popularity of 45 is all part of that process, albeit a reaction to what happened at the referendum.
Of course I am aware of a number of initiatives, such as demanding a recount, putting Brown on trial for posturing as a human being and the numerous rallies and meeting going on. This is all good stuff and keeps us all engaged. It keeps that ember glowing until we are ready to move forward in a positive direction.
On the SNP front I welcomed the resignation of Alex Salmond. I think this was a master stroke from a remarkable strategist. The personal campaign against him was as unwarranted and unjust as the final (or is it?) result of the referendum. Make no mistake, Alex Salmond now becomes one of our most respected elder statesman. He will be out of the firing line and better able to help lead the campaign. When Nicola Sturgeon announced her candidacy for FM, Scotland must have given itself a little comfort shudder that could have detached us from the mainland at Gretna.
I am going forward on two fronts. In my last blog I outlined my ‘back of a fag packet’ strategy and I will soon put out there my thoughts on what we did right and what we did wrong. I was privileged to be a part of the grass-roots campaigners. I came too late to participate in strategy but I did my time on leaflets, meetings, doorstep canvassing and reflecting my thoughts on my blog and Twitter. All around me I saw ordinary people in every social box doing extraordinary things. I have worked at the lowest and the highest levels and I have never experienced that level of commitment and devotion to duty. That’s why I know we cannot fail – we are unstoppable.
Someone on 45 notice that I (or rather my iphone) had broadcast my mobile number on Facebook. This was not deliberate but it did not bother me one bit. I welcome anyone who wants to contact me at any time to talk, discuss, criticise or even insult me. Mind you I do pretty good repartee so ‘easy tiger’. My details are on my ‘about’ page and I will communicate at any level with anyone who takes the trouble to email me. I would invite anyone to contact me on anything even remotely associated with our journey to independence.
I will go into more detail in my next blog but I will sum up our delay in achieving independence in a short statement,
WE DID NOT HAVE A STRATEGY!
Sure there were lots of strategies out there. YES Scotland had a great strategy. The SNP had a great strategy. The Green Party and many of the big players like Business for Scotland and the various #indy groups had strategies. Many of these strategies were effective and successful, but I still say,
WE DID NOT HAVE A STRATEGY?
I am going to leave that thought hanging there because I feel it is phenomenally important and that’s where I am going to pick it back up …………
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