An actual letter from America. I’m Will McLeod and I’m the Government and World Affairs Correspondent for Netroots Radio in Washington, DC.
I’ve been following the Scottish independence referendum for a few years now. Most of the fallacious arguments I’ve seen have been pretty well knocked down, but there’s one in particular that keeps cropping up which is absolutely ridiculous and needs to be dealt with. I also do policy work for various people, and since no other foreign policy and government policy geeks have knocked down the NATO argument and the defense spending argument, I’ve decided to throw my hat into the ring. My Scottish ancestors came to the US about 250 years ago, and I’m a supporter of Scottish independence. Oh. Not Again! / Oh alright…I have been avoiding the old media debate because we should be concentrating on winning.
On the other hand, it is still live and I did rather start it, or at least joined the party, when I took on the BBC a year ago. My first point is that people unhappy with any outlet of news, or any public organisation, if they feel strongly enough, should exercise their right to demonstrate and to boycott. What on earth is threatening about that? It is an extension of market forces – I don’t want your product, it’s not good enough so I’ve come along to tell you and I wont be buying any more. It is, I think, a free country. Tory donor in independence backing - Scotland / News / The Evening Telegraph. A leading businessman who has donated cash to the Conservatives has said he is voting Yes in the independence referendum because the offer of more power for Holyrood is "too little too late".
John McGlynn, who founded the Airlink Group of car parks, said he had wanted to see a "devo max" option on the ballot paper in the historic vote. In the absence of such an option, he said he had "no choice" but to vote for independence. Mr McGlynn, who is on the board of Scottish Enterprise, described himself as being a " lifelong Conservative, a person who helped fund the party with donations". But he insisted that the referendum is "n ot about any one political party or any one political leader", arguing instead: " It's all about self-determination and whether or not you believe decisions about Scotland's future are better taken in Scotland or in London. "It's about our nation, our tomorrow, our people. 'There's no one left to tell the truth': how Scottish unionism lost the plot.
The success of Yes Scotland seems less shocking when you see the anti-political mood it has tapped into This is really happening.
The Scots could vote to end the greatest, most successful union in human history next week. Westminster has, at last, woken up to this threat and what it would mean for the United Kingdom as a whole. The result has been panic, frenetic activity and a promise to turn Scotland into part of a quasi-federal state. Zara Kitson: 8 People I’m Voting Yes For – Because The Personal Is The Political. Transcribe of speech given at Falkirk Yes event on Sunday 7th of September 2014.
I am a feminist. An internationalist. A Scot. A Brit. A European. The mishandling of the Scottish referendum shows exactly why Westminster is so hated. The political establishment down here in the Westminster village has been stung into hyperactivity by the sudden surge of support for the Yes campaign in Scotland.
Without very much discussion with their own parties Ed Milliband and David Cameron have reached a joint conclusion: that Scotland's discontent can be overcome and a "No" vote secured by promising the Scots that they can have independence in all but name if only they vote to stay within the Union. Devolution by the bucketload, it is implied, would allow the Scottish assembly to tax and spend as it pleases while still remaining under the cover of sterling.
Whatever the merits or demerits of the "Devo Max" proposals, one thing that strikes me, as an East Anglian, is that no one seems to have thought to ask us, or the rest of the English and Welsh, for our consent to that offer. Whether we voted Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem or anything else, we did not vote for Scottish independence in all but name. Scottish independence: North Sea 'fracking' proposal made. 4 September 2014Last updated at 11:36 ET Experts are divided over how much conventional oil and gas remains in the North Sea Underwater fracking could almost double the amount of recoverable oil and gas in the North Sea, it has been claimed.
The N56 business body said the technique could exploit Scotland's "unconventional" oil and gas resources. N56 was founded by Dan MacDonald, a board member of the pro-independence Yes Scotland organisation. Dr Gordon Hughes, professor of economics at the University of Edinburgh, dismissed the report as "pure guesswork". Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, has been heralded as a new source of energy in UK but onshore reserves in Scotland are thought to be limited. N56 has now seized on a new proposal by petroleum geophysicist Dr Christopher Cornford to export fracking techniques to the North Sea.
Scots voting no to independence would be an astonishing act of self-harm. Imagine the question posed the other way round.
An independent nation is asked to decide whether to surrender its sovereignty to a larger union. It would be allowed a measure of autonomy, but key aspects of its governance would be handed to another nation. It would be used as a military base by the dominant power and yoked to an economy over which it had no control. Scots voting no to independence would be an astonishing act of self-harm. YES VOTE OFFERS UK CHANGE SAYS ENGLISH GREEN LEADER. Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014 With just over two weeks to go to the Scottish independence referendum, the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales today visited Edinburgh to explain why her party supports the Scottish Greens’ push for a Yes vote.
Natalie Bennett, whose party has 160 councillors, 3 MEPs and Green MP Caroline Lucas, says Scottish independence would shake up UK politics and encourage progressive forces throughout the British Isles. The Day It Became Truly Real. (Fair warning, this is the angriest post I think I’ve done.
Just so you know…) Alistair Darling came to Greenock today. The town of my birth, where I spend many of my days, which is as familiar to me as anything I can think of. He came here, to spread his message. He came here. He came here with his big vans. It’s not an argument. Jim Murphy came to Gourock a while back. """We're not together ... English voters... - Great Things Start With Yes. Andrew Wilson: Independence chance is fleeting. THE tears came, suddenly and unexpectedly. I was sitting in my car, having just posted my referendum vote into the Royal Mail box in my village.
They only lasted a few seconds, and I quickly calmed myself, dried my eyes and headed off to work for another day. Free higher education can be secured only with independence, say Academics for Yes. The two professors are part of a founding group of some 60 from Scottish academia and learning who today launched Academics for Yes in support of the independence campaign. Professor MacGregor said: “I am not a politician. I am not even a political activist. I am an academic and I am a citizen. I had no intention of taking an active role and certainly not a public role in the referendum campaign. But the negativity of the No campaign has compelled me to make a public stand.”
A third professor in the new group, Joe Goldblatt, of Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, said: “If the right to offer free education for the citizens of Scotland is to be preserved, full and independent economic control over these matters must be gained through independence. Orkney-based Donna Heddle, Professor at the University of the Highlands and Islands and Director of Nordic Studies, said: “I’m backing this campaign because it’s the right thing to do. “These outcomes would be disastrous. Lesley Riddoch at National Collective Presents... Craig Murray, former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan.
Scotland - It's About Democracy, Stupid Great Britain began with the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when James the VI of Scotland ascended to the Throne of England and Ireland, but the United Kingdom didn't officially come into existence until the Act of Union in 1707, which effectively dissolved the Scottish Parliament. The British Empire began with the Union with Scotland and, if those in support of a Yes vote have their way, it will end with Scottish independence. But what's any of that got to do with Barack Obama, the Pope or any other international leader or celebrity? I can ask that because I'm an American transplanted in Scotland. If a native Scot tries to do so they're likely be dismissed as backward and chippy 'Bravehearts'.
Why I am voting yes. Move to stop politicians 'carving up' an indy Scotland. Custom byline text: Exclusive By Tom Gordon Scottish Political Editor The National Council for Scotland project aims to ensure that the widest range of public opinion is reflected in negotiations with the rest of the UK (rUK) in the event of a Yes vote. Instead of "a new Scotland based on the cynicism of the old Britain", with the great and good of politics and commerce pursuing their own agendas, organisers want the whole of Scotland to have a say in redesigning the country.
Areas for debate after a Yes vote would include currency options, sharing the UK national debt, sharing UK assets, and whether Scotland should be part of UK energy and banking regimes. Among those supporting today's launch of the website nationalcouncilscotland.org are authors Alan Bissett and James Robertson, below, broadcaster Lesley Riddoch, actor David Hayman, Electoral Reform Society director Willie Sullivan, and academic Dr Oliver Escobar.
Scotland's leading historian makes up his mind: it's Yes to independence. Professor of history Sir Tom Devine at the University of Edinburgh. Photograph: Murdo Macleod Scotland's leading historian has delivered a major boost to the campaign for Scottish independence with the announcement that he will be voting yes in the forthcoming referendum. The eagerly awaited announcement by Sir Tom Devine, made in an interview with the Observer, will provide much-needed support to the pro-independence campaign, which has seen support for a yes vote stall in recent weeks. Neither side in the campaign has openly courted Devine, but each has been eager to receive the endorsement of a man who is considered to be Scotland's foremost academic and intellectual. The professor of Scottish history counts several senior figures on both sides among his friends, including Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister and now a driving force of the no campaign.
Scotland’s farming elite urge rural community to get behind the “yes” vote - Jennifer Dempsie / Columnists / Opinion. On Wednesday morning four farmers were found in Hope Street in Glasgow’s city centre. Your first thought may be that they were lost, but actually they had come together to call for the farming community in Scotland to get behind a “yes” vote. Gathered in Yes Scotland’s headquarters, four of the biggest players in Scotland’s farming community John Ross, Jim Walker, John Kinnaird and John Cameron, all former presidents of the National Farmers Union of Scotland (NFUS), urged Scotland’s 65,000 farmers, crofters and growers – as well as the 250,000 others who depend of agriculture for their living – to follow their lead.
This is an unprecedented intervention from Scotland’s farming elite. Their experience spans 24 years of NFU presidency and all the major EU reforms on agricultural policy. The farming vote is sizeable, and one that certainly hasn’t traditionally been pro-independence by any means. Annually farmers contribute £2.7 billion to the Scottish economy.
I'd vote yes, to rid Scotland of its feudal landowners. Power's ability to resist change: this is the story of our times. Morally bankrupt, discredited, widely loathed? Independence referendum: Top surgeon becomes viral hit after making impassioned plea to vote Yes to save the NHS. ONE of Scotland’s top breast surgeons has become a YouTube sensation with a grim warning that the NHS will die … without a Yes vote. Dr Philippa Whitford, 55, has broken ranks to predict that without independence the NHS in Scotland will simply wither away. She said: “In five years, England will not have an NHS and in 10 years, if we vote no, neither will we. “If we do not vote Yes in September, I will be heartbroken. Janey Godley, Why I'm Voting Yes.
For over a year now, I have been asked on a near weekly basis "How are you voting? " Twice I missed out on BBC Question Time and was deferred from other political shows due to me not being a committed 'Yes or No'. Scottish independence is fast becoming the only option. Those among my friends who have lost their religious faith have described it as a desolate process. Rather than experiencing a rush of euphoria at liberation from a restrictive credo, they speak of their sadness as, one by one, the illuminations on their once cherished pillars are extinguished.
An English, not English Scots YES testimonial. By Clare Ferguson. Why an independent Scotland could become the richest country on Earth - Comment. An independent Scotland could become the richest country on earth. I’m not joking. Talking of hard facts, exactly what happens if you vote No? To hear it told, there's a national shortage. US Congress tables resolution in support of united, secure & prosperous UK.
The big gamble for Scotland is staying in the union - FT.com. On Being British: Why This Londoner Is Voting Yes. Hello, I’m English. The Internationalist Case for Scottish Independence. Support for Scottish independence grows among progressive England. Scottish Independence; An Open Letter To England. Scottish Independence; Voting ‘Yes’ is a very English thing to do. The keepers of the gate. Timeline Photos - Scottish Independence for Families. 100 New Voices Of The Independence Generation. Scots, undo this union of rogues. Independence is the only way to fulfil your potential.
Senior oil & gas industry executive declares membership of Business for Scotland & support for Scottish independence. Patrick Harvie: Uncertain future still holds hope. GREEN YES: HARVIE ON 6 MONTHS TO GO TO INDYREF. Why I'll be voting Yes - by the Dowager Duchess of Hamilton.