Where is the so called ''Silent Majority'', that voted no?
They voted no, we were told, so they got as near to as federalism, so that Scotland got Super Duper devo max that was better than independence, so that ''The Vow'', was delivered.
How do they feel, now that Westminster is taking the complete piss out of them and Scotland ?
We voted NO supposedly; so we are now powerless or as good as.
As after all they not taking the piss out of any YES voter are they, as most of us knew this would happen as Westminster have form on this over and over again.
My poster from last year seems strangely prophetic.
As the recent happenings in the House of Commons prove this is how the UK Constitution now works....
- English votes for English laws
- English votes for Scottish laws
- No Scottish votes for English laws
Scotland didn't vote for this. Does the UK care? Does Scotland care? Only time will tell.
This is my response to any NO VOTER who tells me to just get over it and accept the result that Scotland VOTED NO in September 2014.
If the Scottish Referendum had been conducted FAIR and SQUARE then the result would have been considered to be more acceptable to the people who campaigned for and then voted "YES".
Unfortunately by any measure it wasn’t.
David Cameron himself said, and I quote " The Scottish Referendum is a matter solely for the people of Scotland to decide".
From that moment on the people of Scotland and down south were bombarded with scaremongering lies and deceit from Westminster, Better Together and mainstream media which includes the newspapers, the broadcasters with particular reference to the BBC.
Westminster was virtually put on hold when it looked despite all this that Scotland may have the temerity to vote Yes with 100 Westminster Labour MPs shipped up to Scotland by train to try to force a NO vote.
Bus loads were brought from England and Wales (paid and fed I may add) to canvas for a NO vote whereas Yes campaigners were largely doing everything for free and were from Scotland.
Scottish Pensioners were phoned in their homes by Better Together and told that they could lose their pensions and put them at risk if they voted "YES". This was then backed up by Labour people at the gates of polling stations telling those on benefits or pensions that they would lose them if people voted YES.
Scottish SUPERMARKETS and BANKS and BUSINESSES were called into Downing Street to frighten the Scots about prices going up and businesses moving south and mortgages costing more if they "VOTED YES".
Scotland was told that the NHS would be at risk if they VOTED "YES". But we now know from Labour General Election campaigning that it is at risk in the Union. Gosh what a surprise!
People were told that Scotland’s OIL would run out in 20 years; and 2 days after a NO VOTE they were told that the Oil would last at least 120 years. None of the economics of a Yes vote was based on oil being anything other than an added extra.
The USA was contacted to speak out for the Union; Russia was contacted to speak out for the Union; Spain was contacted to speak out for the Union; The EU was contacted to tell Scotland it would not be allowed in the EU.
Even the British Embassies around the world were contacted to support the Union.
Every dirty trick in the book was used by Westminster against Scotland voting Yes. The only thing they did not do was put tanks on the streets and threaten to blow Scots off the map.
In spite of all the lies, the might of "THE ESTABLISHMENT" and dirty tricks etc being launched against them 45% of all the Scots VOTED "YES".
I think under the circumstances people in Scotland therefore have every right to vigorously pursue self determination and independence for their country.
Justice will be seen to be done and honesty will prevail.
Any reservations I may have had before the vote have now gone thanks to what occurred during the campaign and on the day of voting.
Until the day of Scotland’s independence, the fight goes on. Of that the world can be rest assured.
This originally started as a list of 10, but I couldn't get it down to that number. Plus I have cheated twice as two entries are actually series of videos but very worthwhile nonetheless.
There are some longer videos or series which I think are just as worthwhile, but for this list I have tried to keep the videos (except for one) to shorter ones which are easy to watch in a short period of time.
The order the videos appear does not indicate preference on my part and all are valid.
1. 'Yes means...' from the official Yes Scotland campaign. Uplifting, positive and extremely persuasive.
2. 'Scotland has a choice of two futures' from the official Yes Scotland campaign.
3. 'My Generation' on the YouTube account 'Scott Teechur'. An excellent video perhaps somewhat handicapped by some people's tendency to switch off during the first part.
4. 'Independence and the Economy' from Business For Scotland. Clear, succinct and extremely comprehensive for its length.
5. 'Duggy Dug' - the series. A series of animated shorts from Newsnet Scotland voiced by the acclaimied Holywood actor Brian Cox. I have selected the video titled 'The No Nightmare' to show here but there are others accessible by using the links below.
6. The Stephen Paton series. This is a weekly summary of #indyref news from Stephen Paton which began on 02.06.2014 and more recently Miriam Brett with her mid-week review. I have selected his first show although several of his later ones are even better than this.
7. Lady Alba - Bad Romance. Definitely one of those videos you couldn't miss, and trying I hope to be ironic! Not for the faint hearted and mind the sweary word. Vocals and lyrics by Zara Gladman. If you canny cope with it all the way through then the lyrics appear below the video. She has several other songs in a similar vein.
Original track by Lady Gaga - no copyright infringement intended! Subtitles available, click the captions option on the player.
I want your weapons, I want student fees, I want a country run by Tory MPs, I'm voting No I want a country that squanders its oil, I want its leader to be rich as the royals, I'm voting No.
Chorus: I want your love even if it's wrong, I like being told what I should do, Why bother trying to make your own decisions, When Westminster can do it for you?
It would be mental to try something new, Let's sit around and wait for things to improve, I'm voting No Who gies a fuck about the West Lothian question?, Yeah it's unfair but baby I like the tension, I'm voting No.
Chorus
Just say No, baby; Self-determination's crazy; Just say No, baby; Self-determination's crazy
I'm voting no; Cos I like Status Quo; I'm voting no; I don't wanna be friends
Je vais voter non; Parce que j'aime Status Quo; Je vais voter non; I don't wanna be friends
Chorus
8. 'Reasons to vote Yes to Scottish Independence' by Celtic FC Fan Footage on Youtube.
9. YES Scotland - Iron Sky with music by Paulo Nutini. Now blocked on YouTube by BBC Worldwide on copyright grounds (or political grounds more like!) as the BBC is being so unbiased in the indyref debate (Yeh!). I have re-uploaded it here, in the hope it will be seen and understood prior to the 18th September. Pity about the spelling mistake but otherwise great.
10. Scottish Independence - Lets Vote Yes. From the 'voteindependence' channel on YouTube.
11. Top 10 Unionist Myths Debunked. From the 'John Webb' channel on YouTube.
12. The Truth About Scottish Independence - The McCrone Report Scandal. From the VoteYes2014 channel on YouTube. Barring the odd spelling mistake an excellent video that sets out clearly why and to what extent Scotland has been conned over North Sea Oil and its revenues for the last 30 odd years.
13. 'Would you vote for Scotland to join the Union?' - Blair Jenkins the head of the Yes Scotland campaign states this to the SNP conference a few years ago. Well would you? So why vote to stay in it? From the 'Dances with Haggis' YouTube channel.
14. Scottish Oil, Westminster Rule - A Case for Independence. From the 'RigInterGrater' channel on YouTube. The video that explains the reasons behind my wanting an independent Scotland.
For whatever reason this video will not link through from Blogger to YouTube in the normal way.
15. Scotland. From 2011 on the One Scot channel on YouTube. Again this video will not link through Blogger to YouTube in the normal way. I have therefore uploaded it again with the link to it on YouTube appearing below.
I do not hold copyright permission for any of these (particularly the one barred on YouTube by BBC Worldwide on political or copyright grounds (whatever is your preference). If anyone wishes their videos to be removed from this list then please ask and I shall do so as quickly as I possibly can and the one containing material from BBC Worldwide will be removed on 19th September 2014 if I remember to do it and we are still staying in the UK (less likely if Scotland is not).
I couldn't resist putting this on here as it is such a laugh, but at the same time so serious as it sums up what being in the UK is for Scotland. Lady Alba deserves an award!
Chancellor George Osbourne and the UK Office of Budget Responsibility continue to downgrade North Sea Oil production, but the oil industry itself disagrees, claiming instead that record levels of investment mean that North Sea Oil revenues are set to grow rapidly again according to the ultra unionist Telegraph "North Sea Oil to give George Osbourne £25bn boost" and "Oil: boom times ahead" says the Herald.
The UK Squandered It All
With similar population sizes, natural resources, and geographical location - where did it all go so right for Norway, and in comparative terms so wrong for Scotland? "The UK squandered it all" a statement admitted by Alistair Darling, the leader of the No Campaign, on a recent BBC Hardtalk interview, where he also admitted there was "no question, Scotland can afford to be independent".
Think of something positive Scotland got from North Sea Oil?
Look around Scotland, point at something and say we got that from North Sea Oil. What would you point at? I can't think of a thing.
Why Vote YES in September 2014, if the above story of UK ineptitude was not enough for you?
The public services you use will have more money going into
them due to Scotland's surplus, funded partly by the money saved from not funding the Westminster system, and nuclear weapons. The power of your vote will increase 11-fold. You're therefore much more likely to get a government you vote for, and therefore the policies the Scots want on things like welfare (say a definite good-bye to the bedroom tax created by Labour in the early 2000s) and the re-nationalisation of the Royal Mail which Labour are in favour of (at the moment anyway). There's is a far larger chance of
reversing Government policies which have made the UK one of the most unequal countries
in the world. The tax from your wages will no longer go towards funding Europe's
largest nuclear arsenal, which will not be deliberately sited, within 30 miles
of your country’s largest city, as supposedly this is too dangerous to situate it in England. You will have a new written Constitution which is likely to guarantee everyone a home, enough food to eat (the only way you currently get that is if you are in prison), free education, a free health service. And there is lots more.
A NO vote is a vote for no change.
Some memorable Tweets on Scotland's current position below...
My retired mum told me she'll be volunteering from monday. Its a food
bank. Not the Gaza Strip, but in Midlothian. The Union isn't working for Scots.
ELAINE C SMITH 'It is a No vote that is emotional: driven by a heart full of fear.'
Look at Glasgow 70 Labour years and still poverty worse than 3rd world nations.
Do I believe in Britian? No it's corrupt, broken & bankrupt would rather spend billions on trident than help the disabled.
Nick Clegg, Ian Duncan Smith & David Cameron have been declared 'fit
to work' by ATOS, despite clearly not having a spine, heart or brain. We would be shot of them.
Independence means Scots rule Scotland. The status-quo means England does with 82% of MP's.
I'm English and the idea that voting yes will 'drive a wedge between us' honestly hasn't occurred to my family.
Project Fear has got to me. Terrified about what Westminster will do to us if YES lose.
The UK is £1,000,000,000,000 in debt, so dinnae scare me aboot Scotland's Independent future, jist get me out of here!!
It's grand tae be alive in Scotland in 2012, tae feel the tectonic
plates shiftin. Come an join us build a new, a better nation...
As a resident
of lucky Scotland and the big ship UK I thought I would look at what would have
happened if Scotland had voted for independence in the 1970s, instead voting
over and over in each UK General Election to stay in UK (or being hoodwinked
each time to try to get the Tories out before 1997).
And before you say Scotland didn't have the opportunity to vote itself out of the UK before now, it did. In each UK General Election it could have voted a majority of SNP or pro-independence MPs to Westminster who would then have had the clout to negotiate terms for independence.
Between
1990 when Mrs T resigned or 1992 when the UK election took place and 2013
We would not have had Mr Major and
his Conservative Government either meaning public assets continued to be sold
off and run down.
We would not have a privatised
Railway which costs more to run as it is as compared to the nationalised
version and a lot of the subsidy given just goes into the pockets of big
business.
We would not have had the continued
diminution of workers rights.
We may still have had a steel mill
at Gartcosh, as Ravenscraig may well have stayed open to service a restructured
Scottish engineering and manufacturing sector, rather than the retail,
temporary and zero hour contract job hell we have today.
We would not have PFI or private
finance initiatives, renamed by Labour after 1997 as PPP or public private
partnerships, which have proved time and again to be poor value for money to
the point where the public are paying private companies over and over again for
things they could have afforded easily without their involvement in the first
place.
2. We would not have had the Blair
Government although we would have had a Labour one as Scotland significantly
voted for Labour during this time as has always been the case in recent
history.
We therefore would not have been
dragged into the Iraq war.
We would not have had the vast
increase in PFI or PPP which occurred during this era vastly increasing the
public debt for future generations.
We would not have further
deregulated the banking and financial system meaning more foundations for the
credit crisis of 2008 would not have been laid.
We would not have a separate
Scottish Parliament within the UK meaning that Scottish MPs can vote on some
English matters but English MPs cannot vote on the same Scottish issues. This
would however be irrelevant as Scotland would be in charge of its own affairs
nonetheless.
We would not have had the continued
diminution of workers rights.
We would not have the New Labour
version of the minimum wage, but we would still have had the old Labour one
which was actually more generous (this being abolished during the 1980s by the
Conservatives).
We would not have sold Scottish gold
reserves at the time when the UK god reserves were sold by Gordon Brown, as gold was at the lowest possible value ever. We may
have sold some but when the price was higher.
3 We would not have had the CON DEM
coalition Government.
We therefore would not have had very
harsh cuts to public spending during this period.
We would not be facing the
privatisation of the Royal Mail.
I am sure
many of us could add even more to the list if we actually thought about it,
although we can never know what negative things the Scots Government would have
done over the same time period. I think it is an interesting experiment however as it shows just how much Scotland has been damaged by Westminster rule since the 1970s.
From that moment on the people of Scotland and down south were bombarded with scaremongering lies and deceit from Westminster, Better Together and mainstream media which includes the newspapers, the broadcasters with particular reference to the BBC.
Westminster was virtually put on hold when it looked despite all this that Scotland may have the temerity to vote Yes with 100 Westminster Labour MPs shipped up to Scotland by train to try to force a NO vote.
Scotland was told that the NHS would be at risk if they VOTED "YES". But we now know from Labour General Election campaigning that it is at risk in the Union. Gosh what a surprise!
People were told that Scotland’s OIL would run out in 20 years; and 2 days after a NO VOTE they were told that the Oil would last at least 120 years. None of the economics of a Yes vote was based on oil being anything other than an added extra.
I think under the circumstances people in Scotland therefore have every right to vigorously pursue self determination and independence for their country.
Justice will be seen to be done and honesty will prevail.
