tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146862549146540514.post9061991370512854752..comments2023-12-27T02:56:40.956-08:00Comments on Dougsbookblog: As Private Fraser would say: We're all doomed!Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10909280645811414303noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146862549146540514.post-1736145216552202102011-12-17T05:52:02.542-08:002011-12-17T05:52:02.542-08:00The theory of Independence is fine, Martin, Scotla...The theory of Independence is fine, Martin, Scotland was a sovereign state and could be again. I worry though, about the people who are taking us in that direction. Salmond is a fine politician, the best home-based one we have, but I don't trust him to deliver on his promises. John Swinney comes out with these wonderful stats, but none of them stack up. 'Independent Scotland would be the sixth wealthiest country in the world' Does anybody in their right mind really believe that? Becoming Independent would be a difficult, dangerous and irrevocable proposition, don't try to bullshit the Scottish people about it. It doesn't matter if you wander into a minefield with rose-tinted glasses on, it's still a minefield.<br /><br />I also look at the historical perspective with a bit less optimism. Of the last seven kings and queens of Scotland only one of them (two if you count James V, but he was knackered by defeat at Solway Moss) died peacefully in his bed, and he was king of England by then. Scotland was riven by internal tribal, regional and feudal divisions that weakened us so much that we were easy meat for the English apart from at Bannockburn.<br /><br />Have to agree that radical change is on the way, Tony, and it promises to be bloody painful.Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10909280645811414303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146862549146540514.post-80885358385796723522011-12-17T05:49:35.918-08:002011-12-17T05:49:35.918-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10909280645811414303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146862549146540514.post-38079383049408871902011-12-17T05:21:20.152-08:002011-12-17T05:21:20.152-08:00On the whole I'm forced to agree with you Doug...On the whole I'm forced to agree with you Doug, although I come from the other end of the 'disempowered centre'. I don't think any part of the political classes (let's face it, hardly any of them have have ever done anything else) have a scooby as to what the country's going through, having conspired to ram it firmly down the plughole over the last fifteen years. And let's face it, politicians don't make the weather, they just get damp when it rains - while we get soaking wet. I won't believe a word a politician of any party says until they do the right thing and let their index linked pensions go the same way my private scheme has...<br /><br />There's a massive change coming in politics, I suspect, driven by the fact that if we think this is tough, then we're about to find out the real meaning of the word.<br /><br />Oh, and Martin, as a bloke that lives in England and has spent a couple of years working five days a week in Scotland, a place of which I am more than fond, I think you'll find, whether it's sensible or not, that the average Englishman feels exactly the same.Tony Richeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15544681464714172655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146862549146540514.post-66250278807238503922011-12-17T05:13:57.879-08:002011-12-17T05:13:57.879-08:00Interesting take on the independence argument, Dou...Interesting take on the independence argument, Doug… I think there IS a lot of "it's the only thing we haven't tried." But bear in mind Scotland was always closer to Europe than England, even up until the 1700s; so we were never "alone". But also, there was a boundary of thought and attitude, which still prevails today, and it existed for centuries before the Anglo-Scots border was pegged out in the 1200s. The theoretical partnership of equals which the Union claims to be ages almost exactly with the era of modern capitalism. I'd like to think that in a century's time capitalism will be viewed as a failed concept created out of an imbecilic understanding of economic forces (because it left out human concerns)… and the union will be viewed in the same negative past-tense light. But that's just me… Ch;M.Martin Kieltyhttp://www.martinkielty.comnoreply@blogger.com