Headed out with a few pals to cover some of the huge Whitehirst Park area of Kilwinning armed with 300 Yes newspapers, as many Greens For Yes flyers and dozens of copies of The Wee Blue Book.
With a handful of us heading round the doors, we made pretty light work of the deliveries and had it done within a couple of hours - although not without a break to scoff some 'Yes' decorated cupcakes from The Kandy Bar!
Our experience was overwhelmingly positive. Although we weren't chapping doors, we did end up speaking to people we bumped into - 10 yes, 2 undecided, 1 who didn't say and 1 no.
We also had a few Yes-decorated cars honk their horns in support, and saw maybe a dozen Yes stickers/posters in house windows. We didn't see any No material whatsoever.
In the time we were out, one of the boys got word through via texts and Twitter of no less than three undecideds he knows moving over to yes!
After covering our patch, I phoned the Yes Shop in Irvine and asked for more material to dish out and more streets to cover. Within 10 minutes, a very helpful couple had arrived in their Yes-emblazoned car to drop off 200 new flyers and a map with more streets to do tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning will involve firing those out before heading into Kilwinning town to help with a stall during the college lunch time.
All positive!
Monday, 15 September 2014
Saturday, 13 September 2014
A fresh start
With 97% of eligible adults now registered and turnout expected to be between 80-90%, September 18th will mark the first time in history that the will of the Scottish people has been truly heard.
300 odd years ago, we were "bought and sold for English gold"; next week, we, collectively, decide whether to be governed by the union or whether to become independent.
Creating an independent Scotland would be a message to the world: we are fed up of the current political system. We demand accountability, democracy, equality, justice, redistribution of wealth. The government in an independent Scotland would always have to be accountable and democratic: it would answer to its people, the people who created it.
Conversely, a no vote is a weak acceptance of the status quo. It says: we're okay with this. We're okay with the private school elite, okay with unelected clerics in the legislature, okay with power in the hands of the 1%, okay with illegal wars and an aggressive foreign policy, okay with nuclear weapons, okay with rising child poverty.
The sort of political apathy that sees 66% of voters pick their cuddy in Westminster's two-horse race has been washed away with the referendum debate. The millions of apathetic or young voters who come out to vote for the first time next Thursday can be encouraged to keep a stake in politics, if we all get out to the polling station and grab ourselves something worth voting for. Not the same old, same old, but a new country. A fresh start.
300 odd years ago, we were "bought and sold for English gold"; next week, we, collectively, decide whether to be governed by the union or whether to become independent.
Creating an independent Scotland would be a message to the world: we are fed up of the current political system. We demand accountability, democracy, equality, justice, redistribution of wealth. The government in an independent Scotland would always have to be accountable and democratic: it would answer to its people, the people who created it.
Conversely, a no vote is a weak acceptance of the status quo. It says: we're okay with this. We're okay with the private school elite, okay with unelected clerics in the legislature, okay with power in the hands of the 1%, okay with illegal wars and an aggressive foreign policy, okay with nuclear weapons, okay with rising child poverty.
The sort of political apathy that sees 66% of voters pick their cuddy in Westminster's two-horse race has been washed away with the referendum debate. The millions of apathetic or young voters who come out to vote for the first time next Thursday can be encouraged to keep a stake in politics, if we all get out to the polling station and grab ourselves something worth voting for. Not the same old, same old, but a new country. A fresh start.
IMPORTANT REFERENDUM NEWS
With turnout on Thursday expected to be in the unprecedented 80-85% region, the electoral commission have announced measures to ease congestion at polling stations which would otherwise be unable to cope.
Yes voters are being asked to go along on the 18th September between 7am-10pm, while No voters have to cast their vote on the 19th.
Please bear this in mind, everyone.
Scottish independence referendum: OUR JOURNEY
An interesting look at the Scottish independence referendum through the eyes of the young people of youth group Arran Youth Foundations.
Monday, 25 August 2014
Salmond's best response on Plan B
All Salmond has to respond with for the debate tonight (25/08/2014) and Darling's inevitable questioning on Plan B.
"Polling shows that the people of Scotland want a currency union. The people have spoken, and yet Better Together continue to claim a currency union will be denied; despite claiming they want what is best for Scotland, and despite Alistair Darling's claims that it is the most logical and sensible option.
"Scottish voters are not stupid. Most people can see that this talk of a currency union being denied is not reality, but instead pure politics from the no campaign, a tactical move for two reasons.
"One, an admission from the yes campaign that we have a 'plan b' can be pounced upon by 'Project Fear' to breed uncertainty over the currency of an independent Scotland. And two, it weakens our position in any post-independence negotiations.
"But for the record and in the interest of clarity, I'll state my position on it: in the completely unlikely and totally hypothetical scenario that there is no currency union, we believe Sterlingisation would be the next best option. This view is supported by the Adam Smith Institute and the two nobel laureate economic experts of the Fiscal Commission Working Group.
"However, the truth is that Better Together are fighting independence because they don't want to lose Scotland's resources - and they know this would only be compounded by Scotland no longer being in the UK pound. The recession presided over by Alistair Darling was caused by a negative growth of just -2.5%. If Scotland votes Yes in September, the UK will lose almost 10% of its GDP overnight, forever. It will lose a net contributor, and billions of pounds a year in oil revenues. Without a currency union, Scotland would have no obligation to take a share of the UK's crippling debt, the root cause for the current austerity measures - debt which the UK treasury has already publicly stated it will honour in full.
"So the question I would like Alistair to answer, for Scottish voters and for voters in the rest of the UK: what is your plan B if there's to be no currency union?"
"Polling shows that the people of Scotland want a currency union. The people have spoken, and yet Better Together continue to claim a currency union will be denied; despite claiming they want what is best for Scotland, and despite Alistair Darling's claims that it is the most logical and sensible option.
"Scottish voters are not stupid. Most people can see that this talk of a currency union being denied is not reality, but instead pure politics from the no campaign, a tactical move for two reasons.
"One, an admission from the yes campaign that we have a 'plan b' can be pounced upon by 'Project Fear' to breed uncertainty over the currency of an independent Scotland. And two, it weakens our position in any post-independence negotiations.
"But for the record and in the interest of clarity, I'll state my position on it: in the completely unlikely and totally hypothetical scenario that there is no currency union, we believe Sterlingisation would be the next best option. This view is supported by the Adam Smith Institute and the two nobel laureate economic experts of the Fiscal Commission Working Group.
"However, the truth is that Better Together are fighting independence because they don't want to lose Scotland's resources - and they know this would only be compounded by Scotland no longer being in the UK pound. The recession presided over by Alistair Darling was caused by a negative growth of just -2.5%. If Scotland votes Yes in September, the UK will lose almost 10% of its GDP overnight, forever. It will lose a net contributor, and billions of pounds a year in oil revenues. Without a currency union, Scotland would have no obligation to take a share of the UK's crippling debt, the root cause for the current austerity measures - debt which the UK treasury has already publicly stated it will honour in full.
"So the question I would like Alistair to answer, for Scottish voters and for voters in the rest of the UK: what is your plan B if there's to be no currency union?"
Sunday, 24 August 2014
Why I'm YES: the two futures facing Scotland
I've had various, undecided (as far as the Indyref is concerned) pals ask me recently to write an article with my main reasons for wanting Scottish independence summarised.
I've tried to be a little more concise than normal with this, although not by much...
SCRAPPING TRIDENT:
I, like the majority of Scots, believe that the Trident nuclear missile system is an affront to our collective moral conscience. That we would even entertain the idea of subjecting the world to another Hiroshima in the name of 'defence' is a scandal.
In terms of defence? It's pointless, a relic from the Cold War that bears no relevance to the modern day threats (cyberwarfare and terrorism) we face. Trident is a 'first strike' weapon - something to use first, not as retaliation.
How can we possibly vote to maintain the union, to give a 'thumbs up' to Westminster's sickening plans for renewal at a cost of 100 billion pounds? The £1 billion it'll cost Scottish taxpayers to keep Trident in Scotland over the next ten years is enough to pay for 3,300 nurses or 2,700 teachers, or to build 125 primary schools or 40 high schools or community hospitals.
Based just 25 miles from Scotland's most populous area - with nuclear weapons occasionally driven through the heart of Glasgow - it's time to bin Trident.
SAVING THE NHS:
I believe in Nye Bevan’s founding principles for the NHS: to provide care free at the point of delivery, decided on clinical need and not the ability to pay.
With health being a devolved matter, the NHS has been managed much better in Scotland since devolution than in England. That does NOT mean it is safe from Westminster's mistakes.
As Westminster continue to privatise the NHS down south - putting profits, not care, first - Scotland will feel the effect. Scotland’s budget is decided as a percentage of what Westminster spend in England on public services. When English public spending is cut thanks to austerity and privatisation, Scotland's will be too.
DEMOCRACY:
In UK general elections, Scotland's votes don't matter in the wins of either party - when Labour have won power, they could have done so without Scottish votes, and when the Tories win power, it's despite Scotland categorically voting against them time after time.
No one is suggesting that Scotland is some giant voting bloc where people across the country want to vote the same way; but at least in an independent Scotland, the will of the people will be heard.
It won't be some utopia where Scottish governments are always perfect, but there will finally be accountability; the opportunity to sack any government which fails us.
NO MORE WARS:
Since devolution, we have been dragged into two illegal wars, resulting in hundreds of thousands of innocent lives lost, against the will of the Scottish people. This will happen again as long as warfare and defence remain non-devolved matters.
With thousands taking to the streets in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scottish MPs voted against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The motion was carried by English Labour and by the Tories, who had just one MP in Scotland at the time.
Likewise, Scottish MPs voted against the renewal of Trident in 2007, and against the benefits cut and the bedroom tax in 2013, but they were imposed anyway.
MORE POWERS:
I want more powers for the Scottish parliament - devolution has clearly worked, so why would we not want control over the matters that remain outwith our control?
A 'Yes' vote guarantees more powers. Better Together claim a 'No' vote does the same, that if we vote against independence they'll sate us with more powers.
The idea that the 'Better Together campaign' can do anything to give us more powers is misleading. Alistair Darling, the head of BT, is a backbencher in a party that isn't even in government - he has no mandate to offer us more powers. David Cameron can promise us all the tea in China, but the people of Scotland have long memories - we were promised more powers by the Tories for a no vote in 1979, and what we got instead was Thatcher, industries closed down, the poll tax and the unions being dismantled.
One side of this - the Yes campaign, and the SNP - have genuinely campaigned for more powers for Scotland since the 1930s and before. The other side were, as recent as the 1990s, completely and utterly opposed to us having any powers devolved to our own parliament.
Even if they are sincere about suddenly wanting to offer us more powers - which I don't think they are - does anyone really think they'll pass these powers through the House of Commons reliant on the votes of 500+ English and Welsh MPs, when polling shows English voters are overwhelmingly in favour of Scotland being 'punished' in the event of a no vote?
After a no vote and after any further threat of independence has been removed, I don't see what could possibly move these politicians to hand over more power to the Scots: rather, they'll look to take powers away and slash the Barnett Formula once and for all.
LEFT-WING POLITICS
I'm an unashamed leftie. Left-wing politics are drowned out in Westminster, with the Tories moving more and more to the right, and Labour following them in pursuit of middle England votes. With UKIP now on the scene, the situation can only get worse, with more anti-immigration and anti-EU politicians surely fighting their way into the House of Commons in 2015.
In an independent Scotland, the right wing will still exist with a revitalised Scottish Conserviative party. Clearly there are still people in Scotland who share UKIP's concerns: 10% of Scottish voters opted for them in the European elections. But, importantly, there will be balance. Scottish Labour can return to their roots, no longer shackled to their diametrically-opposed southern counterparts. With their founding goal achieved, the SNP might factionalise, giving Scots even more political choices, not forgetting the share of votes for the Greens and various socialist parties.
If that's not something that appeals to you more than a UK general election with choices like David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Nick Clegg, Ed Milliband and Nigel Farage, there's something wrong. And that's only in the short-term: looking at the bigger picture, we have the chance to rid ourselves of the private school elite and the unelected House of Lords once and for all. Not just swerving the awful ballot paper on offer in 2015, but every one after, with politicians cut from the same cloth as Cameron et al imposed on us again and again.
A NEW, EXCITING, WEALTHY COUNTRY
While the UK government has squandered the golden opportunity that North Sea oil promised - using oil and gas receipts to pay for mass unemployment, tax cuts and government spending - we could follow Norway's example and set up a 'rainy day' oil fund. Theirs is currently worth around £450 billion!
The UK is on its way to being the most unequal society in the Western world. It has lost its AAA rating. Austerity measures are set to continue, with 450,000 jobs to go next year, and the pinch of benefits cuts and the bedroom tax still being felt across the nation.
This is our chance to break away from all of that.
The Financial Times believes that an independent Scotland would be one of the wealthiest countries in the world. In fact, we would be the wealthiest country ever to become independent - no nation breaking away has ever had a better start than the chance we have on offer.
With the oil resources we're already drilling for - not forgetting massive new fields discovered off Shetland, and exploration to discover just how much oil lies off the south of Arran - Scotland has an economy on which to build a wealthy, new, independent nation. Throw in a whisky industry with exports worth £4.2 billion, a food and drink industry worth £10 billion, tourism which generates over £5 billion and 200,000 jobs, the Scottish construction industry worth around £21.4 billion annually and agricultural output worth £2.7 billion, it's clear that the Scottish economy is ripe for independence.
The OECD reckons we would be the 14th wealthiest nation in the world - ahead of close to 200 other nations - so it's beyond doubt that we would survive on our own. We would flourish.
I've tried to be a little more concise than normal with this, although not by much...
SCRAPPING TRIDENT:
I, like the majority of Scots, believe that the Trident nuclear missile system is an affront to our collective moral conscience. That we would even entertain the idea of subjecting the world to another Hiroshima in the name of 'defence' is a scandal.
In terms of defence? It's pointless, a relic from the Cold War that bears no relevance to the modern day threats (cyberwarfare and terrorism) we face. Trident is a 'first strike' weapon - something to use first, not as retaliation.
How can we possibly vote to maintain the union, to give a 'thumbs up' to Westminster's sickening plans for renewal at a cost of 100 billion pounds? The £1 billion it'll cost Scottish taxpayers to keep Trident in Scotland over the next ten years is enough to pay for 3,300 nurses or 2,700 teachers, or to build 125 primary schools or 40 high schools or community hospitals.
Based just 25 miles from Scotland's most populous area - with nuclear weapons occasionally driven through the heart of Glasgow - it's time to bin Trident.
SAVING THE NHS:
I believe in Nye Bevan’s founding principles for the NHS: to provide care free at the point of delivery, decided on clinical need and not the ability to pay.
With health being a devolved matter, the NHS has been managed much better in Scotland since devolution than in England. That does NOT mean it is safe from Westminster's mistakes.
As Westminster continue to privatise the NHS down south - putting profits, not care, first - Scotland will feel the effect. Scotland’s budget is decided as a percentage of what Westminster spend in England on public services. When English public spending is cut thanks to austerity and privatisation, Scotland's will be too.
DEMOCRACY:
In UK general elections, Scotland's votes don't matter in the wins of either party - when Labour have won power, they could have done so without Scottish votes, and when the Tories win power, it's despite Scotland categorically voting against them time after time.
No one is suggesting that Scotland is some giant voting bloc where people across the country want to vote the same way; but at least in an independent Scotland, the will of the people will be heard.
It won't be some utopia where Scottish governments are always perfect, but there will finally be accountability; the opportunity to sack any government which fails us.
NO MORE WARS:
Since devolution, we have been dragged into two illegal wars, resulting in hundreds of thousands of innocent lives lost, against the will of the Scottish people. This will happen again as long as warfare and defence remain non-devolved matters.
With thousands taking to the streets in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scottish MPs voted against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The motion was carried by English Labour and by the Tories, who had just one MP in Scotland at the time.
Likewise, Scottish MPs voted against the renewal of Trident in 2007, and against the benefits cut and the bedroom tax in 2013, but they were imposed anyway.
MORE POWERS:
I want more powers for the Scottish parliament - devolution has clearly worked, so why would we not want control over the matters that remain outwith our control?
A 'Yes' vote guarantees more powers. Better Together claim a 'No' vote does the same, that if we vote against independence they'll sate us with more powers.
The idea that the 'Better Together campaign' can do anything to give us more powers is misleading. Alistair Darling, the head of BT, is a backbencher in a party that isn't even in government - he has no mandate to offer us more powers. David Cameron can promise us all the tea in China, but the people of Scotland have long memories - we were promised more powers by the Tories for a no vote in 1979, and what we got instead was Thatcher, industries closed down, the poll tax and the unions being dismantled.
One side of this - the Yes campaign, and the SNP - have genuinely campaigned for more powers for Scotland since the 1930s and before. The other side were, as recent as the 1990s, completely and utterly opposed to us having any powers devolved to our own parliament.
Even if they are sincere about suddenly wanting to offer us more powers - which I don't think they are - does anyone really think they'll pass these powers through the House of Commons reliant on the votes of 500+ English and Welsh MPs, when polling shows English voters are overwhelmingly in favour of Scotland being 'punished' in the event of a no vote?
After a no vote and after any further threat of independence has been removed, I don't see what could possibly move these politicians to hand over more power to the Scots: rather, they'll look to take powers away and slash the Barnett Formula once and for all.
LEFT-WING POLITICS
I'm an unashamed leftie. Left-wing politics are drowned out in Westminster, with the Tories moving more and more to the right, and Labour following them in pursuit of middle England votes. With UKIP now on the scene, the situation can only get worse, with more anti-immigration and anti-EU politicians surely fighting their way into the House of Commons in 2015.
In an independent Scotland, the right wing will still exist with a revitalised Scottish Conserviative party. Clearly there are still people in Scotland who share UKIP's concerns: 10% of Scottish voters opted for them in the European elections. But, importantly, there will be balance. Scottish Labour can return to their roots, no longer shackled to their diametrically-opposed southern counterparts. With their founding goal achieved, the SNP might factionalise, giving Scots even more political choices, not forgetting the share of votes for the Greens and various socialist parties.
If that's not something that appeals to you more than a UK general election with choices like David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Nick Clegg, Ed Milliband and Nigel Farage, there's something wrong. And that's only in the short-term: looking at the bigger picture, we have the chance to rid ourselves of the private school elite and the unelected House of Lords once and for all. Not just swerving the awful ballot paper on offer in 2015, but every one after, with politicians cut from the same cloth as Cameron et al imposed on us again and again.
A NEW, EXCITING, WEALTHY COUNTRY
While the UK government has squandered the golden opportunity that North Sea oil promised - using oil and gas receipts to pay for mass unemployment, tax cuts and government spending - we could follow Norway's example and set up a 'rainy day' oil fund. Theirs is currently worth around £450 billion!
The UK is on its way to being the most unequal society in the Western world. It has lost its AAA rating. Austerity measures are set to continue, with 450,000 jobs to go next year, and the pinch of benefits cuts and the bedroom tax still being felt across the nation.
This is our chance to break away from all of that.
The Financial Times believes that an independent Scotland would be one of the wealthiest countries in the world. In fact, we would be the wealthiest country ever to become independent - no nation breaking away has ever had a better start than the chance we have on offer.
With the oil resources we're already drilling for - not forgetting massive new fields discovered off Shetland, and exploration to discover just how much oil lies off the south of Arran - Scotland has an economy on which to build a wealthy, new, independent nation. Throw in a whisky industry with exports worth £4.2 billion, a food and drink industry worth £10 billion, tourism which generates over £5 billion and 200,000 jobs, the Scottish construction industry worth around £21.4 billion annually and agricultural output worth £2.7 billion, it's clear that the Scottish economy is ripe for independence.
The OECD reckons we would be the 14th wealthiest nation in the world - ahead of close to 200 other nations - so it's beyond doubt that we would survive on our own. We would flourish.
Monday, 3 March 2014
Britain is STILL broken
In 2009 and 2010 as he fought to become Prime Minister, David Cameron told voters again and again: BRITAIN IS BROKEN.
In his analysis of the country's situation then, Cameron referred to what he called Britain's "broken society" and promised to bring in "radical social reform."
Just four years later, this same man is telling Scotland that we are "better together," that we should remain part of a Britain which he himself described as broken.
Is it now fixed?
Or could it be that he simply doesn't want to lose a net contributor? A country which between 1980 and 2012 contributed £1,425bn in tax receipts, including a geographic share of oil revenues. Scotland would be better apart, independent from a Britain that is still broken. Since 2010 under Conservative rule, the problems in Broken Britain have worsened.
The national debt is 1.5 times larger than it was then, now standing at £1.16 trillion compared to 2010's £0.76 trillion.
The UK lost its AAA credit rating, held since 1978, when it was downgraded in February 2013.
Britain's workers are now £1,600 a year worse off since 2010.
The Tories' flagship scheme, the Work Programme has been a complete failure, with a miserable 10% success rate - and all at a cost of £5 billion.
More than 8 times as many people accessed foodbanks as in 2010.
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Source: Left Foot Forward
In 2012, the government closed down Remploy sites, putting nearly 3,000 disabled employees out of work.
One out of every six children in the UK lives in relative poverty. According to the chief executive of the Children's Society, "in the first full year of the coalition government, 300,000 more children faced a real fall in living standards that pushed them into absolute poverty"
The wealth gap continues to grow. The UK is now the most unequal country in the West. According to a UN report, 'the gap between rich and poor in Britain is the same as Nigeria and worse than Ethiopia'
If Britain was broken in 2010, it has only shattered further still since the Conservatives came to power via the coalition. For David Cameron to argue that Scotland are somehow better together with this Broken Britain is ludicrous.
What Scotland needs now is to become independent, to take the chance to start afresh. To do that we must be prepared to show a little faith and embrace change. Critics of independence cite "uncertainty" as a reason against a Yes vote. Uncertainty about tax rates, European membership, pensions, loss of public sector jobs.
The implication is that by contrast, the union and this Broken Britain offers us certainty.
Uncertainty about tax rates? Since 2010, Value Added Tax in Broken Britain has risen from 17.5% to 20%. Just last year the Conservatives introduced the "bedroom tax", causing higher levels of rent arrears and homelessness. The number of homeless people in England has risen for three years in a row.
Uncertainty about European membership? The biggest threat to Scotland's membership of the EU is the Tories' determination to hold an in/out referendum. After the proposed bill was killed in the House of Lords, David Cameron said that 'he would, if necessary, use the Parliament Act - which limits the power of the Lords to block legislation - to ensure it gets on the statute book before the next General Election.'
Uncertainty about pensions? Following Gordon Brown's pension theft, the idea that the UK provides pension certainty has already been blown out of the water; to make matters worse, the Tories are considering the privatisation of pensions (like everything else in their Broken Britain)
Uncertainty about loss of public sector jobs? More than 600,000 public sector jobs have been lost since the Tories came to power, thanks to "the devastating effect of this Government's austerity cuts on total public sector employment."
Uncertainty? The only certainty that the union gives us is that things under Tory rule will continue to get worse. Scotland needs to vote for independence and guarantee that we always get the government we vote for; otherwise we will never escape the devastating effects of the Tories and David Cameron's Broken Britain.
In his analysis of the country's situation then, Cameron referred to what he called Britain's "broken society" and promised to bring in "radical social reform."
Just four years later, this same man is telling Scotland that we are "better together," that we should remain part of a Britain which he himself described as broken.
Is it now fixed?
Or could it be that he simply doesn't want to lose a net contributor? A country which between 1980 and 2012 contributed £1,425bn in tax receipts, including a geographic share of oil revenues. Scotland would be better apart, independent from a Britain that is still broken. Since 2010 under Conservative rule, the problems in Broken Britain have worsened.
The national debt is 1.5 times larger than it was then, now standing at £1.16 trillion compared to 2010's £0.76 trillion.
The UK lost its AAA credit rating, held since 1978, when it was downgraded in February 2013.
Britain's workers are now £1,600 a year worse off since 2010.
The Tories' flagship scheme, the Work Programme has been a complete failure, with a miserable 10% success rate - and all at a cost of £5 billion.
More than 8 times as many people accessed foodbanks as in 2010.
In 2012, the government closed down Remploy sites, putting nearly 3,000 disabled employees out of work.
One out of every six children in the UK lives in relative poverty. According to the chief executive of the Children's Society, "in the first full year of the coalition government, 300,000 more children faced a real fall in living standards that pushed them into absolute poverty"
The wealth gap continues to grow. The UK is now the most unequal country in the West. According to a UN report, 'the gap between rich and poor in Britain is the same as Nigeria and worse than Ethiopia'
If Britain was broken in 2010, it has only shattered further still since the Conservatives came to power via the coalition. For David Cameron to argue that Scotland are somehow better together with this Broken Britain is ludicrous.
What Scotland needs now is to become independent, to take the chance to start afresh. To do that we must be prepared to show a little faith and embrace change. Critics of independence cite "uncertainty" as a reason against a Yes vote. Uncertainty about tax rates, European membership, pensions, loss of public sector jobs.
The implication is that by contrast, the union and this Broken Britain offers us certainty.
Uncertainty about tax rates? Since 2010, Value Added Tax in Broken Britain has risen from 17.5% to 20%. Just last year the Conservatives introduced the "bedroom tax", causing higher levels of rent arrears and homelessness. The number of homeless people in England has risen for three years in a row.
Uncertainty about European membership? The biggest threat to Scotland's membership of the EU is the Tories' determination to hold an in/out referendum. After the proposed bill was killed in the House of Lords, David Cameron said that 'he would, if necessary, use the Parliament Act - which limits the power of the Lords to block legislation - to ensure it gets on the statute book before the next General Election.'
Uncertainty about pensions? Following Gordon Brown's pension theft, the idea that the UK provides pension certainty has already been blown out of the water; to make matters worse, the Tories are considering the privatisation of pensions (like everything else in their Broken Britain)
Uncertainty about loss of public sector jobs? More than 600,000 public sector jobs have been lost since the Tories came to power, thanks to "the devastating effect of this Government's austerity cuts on total public sector employment."
Uncertainty? The only certainty that the union gives us is that things under Tory rule will continue to get worse. Scotland needs to vote for independence and guarantee that we always get the government we vote for; otherwise we will never escape the devastating effects of the Tories and David Cameron's Broken Britain.
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