I have tried not to write too much about the upcoming referendum because I do like to try to stay neutral but given the blatant bias of the BBC I feel independent bloggers need to redress that balance where possible. The Better Together campaign and David Cameron continue to make up whatever they want, only to be caught in that lie, and they move on to the next one. Take Scotland and the EU. Cameron claimed that Junker would not allow Scotland into the EU - Better Together run with that, only to find that Junker came out and says that is not the case: http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/independence-juncker-sympathetic-to-scotland-bid-1-3482266
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People in Scotland, be you Scottish, English, Irish, Welsh, Polish or any other nationality, need to ask themselves a few basic questions.
Do you want Nuclear Weapons in this country? If the answer is no, you should vote YES
Do you want to retain the NHS? If the answer is yes, you should vote YES
Do you think we should have a welfare system? If the answer is yes, you should vote YES
Do you want a greener Scotland (environmentally)? If yes, you should vote YES
Do you think of Scotland as a country rather than a region? If yes, then you should vote YES
Do you believe in democracy? If yes, then you should vote YES (a no means Scotland's votes remain null under a UK election)
Do you want another Tory government? If no, then you should vote YES
Do you want a country associated with UKIP? If no, then you should vote YES
If you were living in an independent country would you join the UK as it currently stands? If no, you should vote YES
Do you want a fair and just society? If yes, then you should vote YES
Do you want affordable childcare? If yes, you should vote YES
Another point I would like to make is that voting YES in the referendum is NOT a vote for the SNP or Alex Salmond - that is like saying voting NO is a vote for David Cameron and the tories. I don't vote SNP generally. I have been a liberal voter until the last election, when they stated they would never back a referendum, let alone independence. I vote Green in the EU elections and am still a liberal/socialist.
I find Labour to be as treacherous to their voters as the LibDems have been. New Labour have completely turned their back on their socialist past, allowing and indeed including new reforms which essentially backs tory reforms. Lamont is a mouthpiece for Milliband, who is a parrot of Cameron. This is why more and more Labour voters are changing position and stating that they will vote YES in September.
Better Together have now started a strategy of guaranteeing Devo max. Devolution to the max is a lie. Lamont and the Better Together campaign cannot guarantee devo max, they are not in power and going by polls, they will not be in power in 2015. If UKIP get in, they want to scrap the Scottish Parliament altogether (where is democracy there?). Cameron and his party will never give devo max powers. this is the proverbial carrot before the donkey. What we will get if a no vote wins is the stick, which is exactly what we got in 1979 when we dared to hope (we voted YES in '79. But Westminster brought in a rule about turnout. We were stamped into the ground after this referendum for trying to leave the UK).
Voting YES is not about separatism, as the BBC and Better Together would have you believe. Scotland will still be part of the commonwealth, still have the Queen as head of state and will still have the pound (I genuinely believe this because we offer too much for the rest of the UK not to give us that). We are geographically linked, we are not going anywhere. We simply want a better future, which most of us cannot see with a Westminster govt. The system is broken beyond repair and Scotland is lucky enough to have an opt out, unlike the rest of the British Isles.
Better Together seem to think that things will improve after a no vote. Where is this coming from? Will the tories suddenly grow a conscience? Will they stop trying to privatise the NHS? Will they continue to waste tax payers money on irrelevancies such as self portraits while millions require foodbanks? Austerity does not work and yet we are subjected to the worst policy we have seen since the 1920s. Osbourne has already told us that cuts will continue for several years, so things will get Worse, not better, over the next few years under a Westminster state.
I genuinely believe we have a chance at a better future as an independent country. I hope you see that too.
On another note, I have written a bit of a sexy witchy/werewolfy/vampirey book. If you like Charlaine Harris, Carrie Vaughn, Patricia Briggs, hopefully you'll like this. It is available on kindle and now in paperback.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Wolf-Witch-Coffin-ebook/dp/B00CCWL6ES/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366023812&sr=8-1&keywords=the+wolf%2C+the+witch+and+the+coffin
My second book, The Island of the Mist, is now available on both Kindle and paperback formats:
Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Island-Mist-Kingslayer-Series-ebook/dp/B0092TUS7U/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1346945410&sr=1-2
And paperback: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Island-Mist-N-Roy/dp/147921292X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346506656&sr=1-2
and in the US: http://www.amazon.com/Island-Mist-N-Roy/dp/147921292X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346946271&sr=1-2&keywords=the+island+of+the+mist
My first book, The Stone in the Sword, is now reduced in price: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stone-Sword-ebook/dp/B006ZQIEPG/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1327179005&sr=1-3
