My contribution to the Politics Home podcast a week ago, when I discussed the above theme, has been turned into a discreet entity. This is it:
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Thank you for providing a starting point (and one possible framework) for discussing and exploring the economic case for an independent Scotland.
While I agree that Mr Murphy has provided a valuable profile for the case for an independent Scotland in economic terms, this is hardly a starting point. The points raised have been extensively discussed in the independence movement for a long time, though of course the issues are not yet resolved. For example many have argued that use of sterling after independence, SNP policy in 2014 ref, is a stupid notion for same reasons: and there is some indication that SNP are moving in that direction though policy not yet announced.
The problem is not that there is no lively debate: in Scotland there is. The problem is that it is not reported much. I am very grateful that Mr Murphy’s intervention has brought the problem with GERS to the fore in MSM. But I am depressed that the same case made by Scots did not have that effect. Profile and personality matter more than the argument, sadly.
Similarly there is a problem with the mainstream narrative which Mr Murphy highlights in another post detailing the mismanagement of resources and in particular north sea oil. SNP and therefore Scottish Govt has called for further tax breaks for the oil companies, despite the fact that they are already the object of philanthropy from the people of the UK and despite the inescapable example of Norway: a rare opportunity to actually see the counterfactual in practice given similarities. Who can say there is no alternative when the alternative is on our doorstep? Who can argue for tory economic competence (tory red or blue or, in this case, yellow, though SNP have not actually had the power to pay over the odds for oil yet)?
Our people are impoverished for the benefit of corporations at every turn. I want independence so lend SNP my vote: but they are not very different on that issue, so far. After indy, if it is achieved, I hope for a better option.
A small off-topic nitpick:
discreet: secretive, quiet, unobtrusive
discrete: separate, detached.
You’re not the only one who does this (and your device’s auto-complete typing is erratic so it may not be deliberate) – you just happen to be the lightning rod for it.
Sorry!
I must confess to being a unionist of both varieties (UK + EU). It’s not about the numbers or the economics. Its about vision and the conviction that people can achieve more by working together towards shared purposes (rather than seeking a relative advantage by undermining each other) and resolving their differences in the conference room (rather than on the battlefield). It saddens me when people want to leave a union rather than work together with its other members to achieve these goals.
In the case of the EU, it is clear than some Brussels based politicians and civil servants have got so out of touch with the people and so far up their own proverbial that it has not been too difficult for certain UK politicians, business leaders and media moguls with evil intent to paint the EU in such a poor light that people were conned into wanting to leave.
In the case of the UK, the equivalent metropolitan elite are not partly responsible for growing nationalism. They are wholly responsible. If London had any interest at all in governing a UNITED Kingdom there would be no SNP. It would be unnecessary.
I have one simple proposal that would
– significantly address the regional wealth imbalances within the UK,
– cause HM government to consider governing the whole UK rather than just a city state called London,
– stop the impending dissolution of the UK and
– enable the builders to get into the Palace of Westminster before it crumbles to the ground.
The proposal is this: Relocate permanently the capital city of the UK and the seat of the HM government to Glasgow and convert the Palace of Westminster into the focal point of a new ‘London University of Democracy and Statesmanship’.
Nice idea
But not enough now I think