ON Saturday morning I settled in Hectors in Stockbridge, Edinburgh with two copies of The National (one to leave on the bar), a bacon sandwich and a coffee. I left an hour later filled with a renewed optimism and joy that matched the sunny morning, blue skies and a brisk, fresh wind that reminded me to “ne’er cast a cloot ’til May is oot”.
It seems like a long time since I have been so encouraged by the call for independence. For a while now it has felt like only a grim determination against the prevailing winds has carried the independence movement forward, but with each article I read the vision and ambition of so many within the movement shone with renewed vigour.
Of course I read the letters section, where there were warnings of not being ambitious enough and not wanting to remain tied to sterling. But as with the advancing spring weather, casting off too much all at once is not advisable. In fact the business community very much welcomed this statement, along with the declaration by Mark Carney that the pound could still continue to be used as the base currency.
The move away from sterling too quickly will not help Scotland’s cause. I can see that some wish to discard the pound as soon as possible just to prove a point, and even delight in the fact that sterling may crash without Scottish assets as some sort of payback for centuries of exploitation. Whilst I can appreciate this sentiment, I do not wish to see England and its people suffer misfortune. Neither should anyone supporting independence in Scotland. A strong, successful economy in England will help Scotland and indeed Ireland achieve far greater success than a productively weak, low-wage, tax-dodgers’ paradise.
I have argued that a successful, independent Scotland will wake the English from their present stupor of Tory-promoted past glories and dreams of reborn Empire. That significant numbers will realise that Brexit is a con that will strip workers of their rights and make the country a much harsher and unpleasant place to live. We have to remember that the mainstream media and BBC have been hard at work over many years deceiving their audiences not only in Scotland but throughout these islands. I hear the same soundbites misrepresentations repeated over and over again on visits to family in England and Wales. We need to be able to take the English public with us on the road to independence and not think that they can be abandoned along the way. We will need the support of the English public to expose the lies of Westminster to undermine the rather nasty British nationalism that Theresa May is already encouraging.
The English Tories will continue to appeal to the basest of British nationalist sentiments to further their stranglehold on Scotland. They will continue to try to wipe Scotland off the map as they attempt to “Britishify” every last thing they can possibly lay their hands on (I’m sure that one day I will wake up with a union “fleg” tattooed to my backside if they are allowed to continue).
One thing is for sure, as from today: the Tories in Scotland are now a dead weight. Their only goal is to hold Scotland back as if to prove their long-stated grievances that Scotland is too small to do anything without the say-so of London. However in her recent, revealing interview on Scotland Tonight, Ruth Davidson clearly demonstrated her party have absolutely nothing to offer Scotland. Not a thing. The British nationalists can complain all they like but their time is now past. They have nothing but fantasies of past imperialism to sustain their cause. Scotland is moving forward now with greater optimism, ambition and the sheer joy of being alive in the world.
Scotland can no longer be held back or chained. The time for independence is now.
Ian Greenhalgh
Edinburgh
HAVING just finished reading my Saturday National and your coverage of the Growth Commission report, I was feeling full of optimism and enthusiasm about the findings. Later, however, I thought that I should bring myself back to reality and find out what the right-wing Unionist lot had to say. I found that The Courier had stretched to a two-page spread on the subject. I never got as far as reading the coverage, however, as my eyes were drawn to “The Weekly Courier Poll”, which asked the question “How would you vote in a second Scottish independence referendum?” I really don’t know whether the result is a misprint or an attempt to lull us into a false sense of security, but can you believe:
Robin Hastie
St Andrews
IT was with a sinking heart that I read that the Growth Commission report advocates staying with sterling for an extended period after independence. Currency was one of the major rocks upon which the 2014 independence referendum foundered and it is essential that we get it right for indyref2.
Scotland must have its own constitutional currency with full reserve banking from day one of independence. This means that only the Scottish state can issue currency, which is then managed by the private banking industry on a full reserve basis. The present fiscal system, using debt-based currency issued by the private banks with fractional reserve banking, is a recipe for disaster as has so frequently been proved.
Unless a Scottish constitutional currency is adopted from the moment we become independent, then the financial elite who profit from the present system will be in charge and we will be no better off than we are now. Have no doubts: if the London and Edinburgh financial establishment get a toe in the door, they will eventually control Scotland’s finances to their benefit and not that of the public. There is absolutely no advantage in having our own currency if it is controlled by private bankers. That is the reason why the UK’s finances are in the mess they are today.
Tony Perridge
Inverness
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