Despite a decade of arguing about independence...clearly some people can still be swayed'Imagine there was a referendum asking the following question': 'Should Scotland be an independent country? ...Do you agree?. ...Yes or No?...Remain or Leave? ' Could the outcome of a second Scottish independence referendum depend on the precise wording of the ballot question? What … [Read more...] about Would Scots vote for indy? What’s the question…!
#indyref2
An unsustainable paradox
Since Scotland’s votes were counted a month ago, there has been much debate about whether the results constituted a ‘mandate’ for an independence referendum. Some debated the significance (or lack of it) of the absence of a single party majority for the Scottish National Party (SNP). Others tried to aggregate the votes of parties into unionist and nationalist blocs (this … [Read more...] about An unsustainable paradox
Where’s the great transformation?
How will we judge the 2021 Holyrood elections? More of the same or a critical juncture? Manifestos are a good starting point in answering this question. They come in different forms and do not always give a clear guide as to what a governing party will do in office. The 1945 Labour manifesto was a relatively short document. It had an eloquence absent from modern manifestos. … [Read more...] about Where’s the great transformation?
No way to save the Union
In 2015, David Cameron set up a Commission headed by a Tory Scottish banker-businessman, Lord Smith of Kelvin, now Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde, and a very grand Scot indeed, to advise on how Scotland should be handled in the aftermath of the No vote in #Indyref1 in 2014. Smith made clear: "Nothing in this report prevents Scotland becoming an independent country … [Read more...] about No way to save the Union
Independence or bust
It would be worse than a mistake, a crime, to hazard that (freedom and security) for an independence that can bring nothing better. (John Lloyd book*)The case for the Union depends on the increasingly fanciful notion that a Labour government that's truly progressive (in Scottish terms) could get elected south of the border and stay in power long enough to make fundamental … [Read more...] about Independence or bust