My take on independence is to do with the well-being of the Scottish people. I couldnt give a toss about Mel Gibson, patriotism (which is, as Johnson said, the last refuge of the scoundrel), haggis, kilts, bagpipes or whas like us an theyre a deid. I do honour William Wallace and Robert the Bruce as fighters for freedom, but it was a different kind of freedom than were fighting for now. Dont forget - Bruce was an aristocrat. He had few dealings with the common people. LIke others of his ilk at the time, he probably thought of the common people as cannon fodder. If I thought for an instance that an independent Scotland would make the Scottish people worse off, Id vote no and proud of it. I have too much regard for the people of my country to do otherwise. This is our chance to build a Socialist country, a country where everyone - high or low, duke or commoner - is treated with respect as a person. A country where rank is but the guinea stamp, and not something that arouses hatred or contempt. I am an atheist, I have no belief in god. I know you are a Christian, and you have a belief. I want to see a country where state and church are separated. A country where you are allowed to worship or not worship according to your conscience. A country where you can attain the highest office in the land even if you have no belief. This isnt going to happen if we stay within the UK. The independence debate at the moment is deplorable, from both sides. Eddie Izzard is a case in point. All he said was that he wanted Scotland to stay in the union. Yet he is called a bastard for that, and people tell him to sod off because he doesnt have a vote. Thats not good enough. Thats just not good enough. Plenty of people who dont have a vote have expressed an opinion. It seems that if they are in favour of independence, this is encouraged. If they dont support independence, they are called all sorts of names. Tariq Ali doesnt have a vote, yet he expressed an opinion in favour of independence. I have never ever heard anyone say he is a bastard and he should sod off. If the standard of debate gets any worse, I am going to withdraw gracefully from expressing any opinions on the matter at all.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 17:41:27 +0000
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