THIS could be a momentous year for Scotland and its place in the world ... and not just because it should be the year when we decide to grasp the power to shape our own destiny.
Towards the end of 2020, Glasgow will host a conference designed to do nothing less than to formulate a response to the climate change emergency which is threatening the very future of our planet.
Climate change is threatening to dominate the global political landscape and has already galvanised young people in a way that mainstream politics has largely failed to do.
Much of this has to do with the extraordinary effect of 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, who has encouraged schoolchildren to stage worldwide strikes in a bid to shame their elders into serious action.
Thunberg has expressed an interest in coming to Glasgow for the conference and has been mooted as the next rector of Glasgow University, so Scotland should be at the centre of the world’s most important debate. But first there is the matter of our country’s independence.
There is no moral justification for Boris Johnson’s refusal to give legal force to the second independence referendum and so his stubbornness cannot withstand
reasoned arguments forever. There WILL be another independence referendum. It should be this year but, even if it is delayed, the time is coming soon.
Meanwhile the wider Yes movement has much to do while waiting for Johnson to bow to the inevitable.
Polls suggest there are still many who have yet to be convinced by the argument for independence.
It is our job both to articulate an inspiring vision for the kind of country that
independence would allow us to create and to overcome fears that the practicalities would thwart our best intentions.
We will do both by showing respect for the views of those weighing up the arguments for both sides and by talking passionately and politely to those we know are willing to be convinced.
We will not wait for Johnson’s approval for the referendum before we start our campaign ... it begins today. And it’s that prospect that makes for a happy new year.
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We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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