Friday 19 September 2014

Scottish Independence

This has been an interesting couple of years. Lots of things have happened, and if we are going to carry on together, which by the way we are very happy about, we need to sort a few things out.

Yesterday was always going to be difficult. No matter which way it went approximately half of you were going to hate it. Personally I blame Alex Salmond for putting the idea in your head in the first place when the result could only ever be division.

Perhaps it needed doing, and perhaps it did not. What is important now is to keep the best things from the referendum debate, and dump the bits that are frankly unbearable one moment longer.

Last night 84.5% of people expressed an opinion about the way their country was run. In the last general election it was just  63.8% and in 2001 it was a mere 58.2%. It's more than in the referendums held in 1997 or 1979.

Both sides in this vote used fear. Fear of what will happen if you go, and fear of what will happen if you stay. Salmond in particular blamed everyone else for all of Scotland's problems - poverty, problems in the NHS, even low turnouts were the fault of Westminster politicians. Neither side used logic and reason. It would be nice if they had, and I'll bet you anything the silent majority that didn't butt into every news programme would have appreciated it.

Alex Salmond said that it is a great day for democracy when 1.6 million people cannot have what they want, an independent Scotland. I hate to think how much all this has cost.

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