LOCAL CONTENT - NO THANKS! We will publish a link at the end of this article to the Shetland BT UKOK No Thanks page in order that any Yes or Undecideds who may not be too sure how they are going to vote, can view the positive case for the Union. Some of us attended the constitutional convention in Lerwick last night where an impartial group of academics, including a representative of the Scottish Youth Parliament. There were no politicians nor Yes/No on the platform although the audience contained activists from both sides. This makes a refreshing change from debate since the speakers were impartial with a broad range of expertise. For No voters, and Undecideds, it must come as a surprise to hear matter-of-fact statements like NATO has an open door policy on membership and needs Scotland more than Scotland needs NATO but for Yes campaigners this is common knowledge, prevented only by a biased media from becoming basic facts and really of little influence on how people should choose to vote. Regardless of subject, from defence to culture, reasoned words from educated people made much of it sound like your average Yes meeting, only without the Yes campaigners! Pensions were another matter, raised by an audience member, who has obviously absorbed some of the No Thanks warnings. Very easily explained as private pensions will continue as normal, whether you live in Spain or Wales or an independent Scotland. State pensions? Well here the panel reiterated nearly word for word what our own Danus Skene pointed out at a recent Yes meeting. It comes down, not to the funding, but who do you trust more to look after your pensioners, Westminster or Scotland? Just as Queen Elizabeth 2 launches herself into the Clyde at a cost of £3bn, to be followed by Prince Philip at another £3bn. Currency and the pound popped up. Of course Scotland may use the pound - if we want to- but here we disagree with the academics slightly. Using the pound and forming a currency union is not the ONLY option put forward by the White Paper. It is the preferred option. There were several options including using our own currency which is by far and away the best option for Scotland, but the Scottish Government are playing a blinder with the currency union and if you can spot it, keep it under wraps for the moment, because No Thanks do not have a clue what it is. Yet. If you get the chance to visit one of these meetings Go! Whether you are Yes, No or Undecided, it could change how you see your country in future. Without a politician or a campaigner in sight. Anyway, here is the positive case for the Onion (peel back layers and greet) with Shetland content. Too late for them to start their own page now.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 09:52:16 +0000
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