Right then...As Im sure many who have me on their feed will be - TopicsExpress

Right then...As Im sure many who have me on their feed will be grateful for, this will be the last thing I post regarding Scottish Independence (other than the party on Friday in the event of a Yes vote, natch)... Tomorrow, for the first time in history, the Scottish people shall have the power of their countrys future in their hands. Something no Scot has ever had before and, should it be a No win, something highly unlikely to ever be repeated. We, the Scottish people, can change our world. The first few years will not be easy by any means, but the end result will be extremely worthwhile. We choose to take the running of our country and its affairs into our own hands, the hands of the people who live, work and fund Scotland, or we choose to give that power to a government more than 400 miles from our border and which historically shows not one bit of concern for any of us, preferring to use us as a political policy testing ground and as a means to fund tax cuts for the rich and keep millions unemployed. Is that something you, my fellow Scots, can live with, should you place your cross in the No box? I first became politically aware in my early teens, during the miners strikes of the early 70s and since then have watched as successive Westminster governments moved further and further to the right. This from a country which traditionally votes for the left of centre parties. In 1978 I came of age and in 1979 we had our first vote on devolution and we are today hearing exactly the same scare stories as we did then. We were told if we voted for devolution we faced losing our steel, shipbuilding, car and heavy engineering industries. We did not get devolution then, even though the majority voted for it because the Labour party skewed the vote by insisting on a 40% yes vote (from the total electorate, not the turn out, the WHOLE electorate) and yet we lost the lot. Every industry we were told we would lose on a Yes vote, we lost anyway, we also lost our mining industry. We now face the very real possibility of a Tory/UKIP coalition in number 10, which will carry through swageing cuts to our public services; services which are there as the safety net for those less fortunate among us. Cuts which btw will be in addition to the £26 billion worth of cuts due to take place in the UK within the next 12 months. Is that something you could live with having voted No? In order to keep this post short, Ill make an analogy...If you, or someone you cared for, were living in an abusive relationship, would you act to keep you or them in it, or would you act to remove you or them from it? THIS is the question you should be asking of yourself tomorrow. Scotland is a GREAT nation, a world leader in many respects and in many fields. HOWEVER we have but 59 MPs in a chamber of 650, so to remain within the relationship will mean our voice can and will always be the minor voice, the one which can and will be continually ridden roughshod over (watch Westminster on the TV and see the braying shambles that is the mother of parliaments). It is up to each and every individual which way they choose to vote and the result MUST be respected. As you stand in the polling booth tomorrow, ask yourself if you will act to remain in the abusive relationship or act to remove yourself from it. I will be voting Yes, yes to change, yes to self determination and yes to the end of 307 years of foreign rule of my beloved Scotland. What will you be doing? ALBA GU BRATH