The Scottish Government

I was born in 1966, when i left school at 16 in 1983 Thatcher and her tory government were in full swing. No jobs, no hope and this lasted for over 8 years for me personally and for a significant part of my fellow scots.
In all these years of voting labour in Scotland we found ourselves in the hands of Thatcher and her successors, it got us nowhere. Now we have had a Labour government which we all dreamed of and hoped for would changed our country for the better, undo the wrongs of the past, no such luck, they are no better, the trappings of power in london corrupts the mind of even the most principalled person and they always resort to type. We need to be able to make our own destiny, our own mistakes, our own success.

I stopped voting for Labour after devolution when it became clear we were still being ruled by London, we need independence as a nation to go forward.

The union as it stands today holds us back as a nation, it does not take us seriously enough, the fact there is so much animosity between the SNP government in Scotland and the Westminster parliment says it all, the Scottish goverment is trying to do whats best for Scotland but they dont see that, they only see an irrelevance and will continue to block us at every turn. The signs are there that within a couple of years England will vote in an new Tory government, where will that leave us, the devolution settlement will be eroded and for all we know we could go back to the days when i left school and another generation will lose hope, we cant go back to that we need to go forward, yes there are issues that need to be addressed, the economics, EU, monarchy, national debt, defence etc. its all been thought thru what the concequences will be but is there anyone out there who thinks we as a nation could not overcome these problems and solve them? The Scottish parliment is more than capable of working out the fine detail of any problems we encounter on the way to independence, you have my vote Alex and thank you for giving me hope that my children will not grow up the way i did.

#382 Trevor Swistchew

Let us be clear on one point, all of us who live here have the right to be called SCOTTISH or, if we choose, BRITISH. Beyond that we may wish to stress our affiliation to our place of birth, say Aberdonian, Glaswegian, Highlander, Lowlander or whatever. Our uniqueness is that we are first and foremost SCOTTISH, whether we are 'joined' to England, Wales and Northern Ireland by a treaty signed over 300 years ago or not. If we all work together we will make a success of our lives and our communities, whether we are part of the UK or, as the minority government would have us, a member of the European Union.

Personally I do not think ditching the UK for the promise of another unknown partnership with a bunch of people with whom we may find difficult to communicate is all that promising, but then it is a free country where we are able to express ourselves.

If you are so downtrodden that you can't make a go of your life here under the current arrangement then the problem may lie with you, not the arrangement. Let's not replace the Catholic / Protestant invective with SNP / Unionist diatribe.

#380 Donna Elliot

Maybe you haven't been paying attention Donna, but we've had a devolved government for the last eight years. If you feel that being governed from Westminster has been bad just wait!!

How many dollar billionaires does Alex Salmond have to suck up to to replace all the projects financed by Westminister?

After that fiasco do you think Scotland will be more or less free than it is now.

You apparently equate 'freedom' with a state of independence for this country, when in fact it is what we already have. Freedom to act independently, travel, choice and so on are already part of my experience and have been since I was born 66 years ago. The SNP do not hold out the promise of more of anything, in fact they hold out the promise of LESS. They are unable to deliver on their own manifesto commitment, and can't even guarentee that they can hold out out on their climbdowns!!

If The First Minister can't recognise that the decision on Trumpton is a decision for the people of Aberdeen, and that the decision on nuclear power is a debate of interest to 80% of the people of Scotland, then so much for the Quote 'Governments ignore the will of the people, at their peril' Unquote. Nicola Sturgeon 2007

Whatever the status of Scotland it looks like we will be governed by a bunch of self seeking individuals who care little for the majority opinion.

there are people who say the Union keeps this country in money even if that were true scotland will do well when full independence rises.the unionist will defend the union point of view as is their right but that takes nothing away from the drive to freedom.insults and negativity are the growing pain of independence and like the rain independence will not stop.there are many people who have very little in scotland no money home or job.to create a nation where the welfare of the many takes priority over the greed of the few must include freedom to plan and work out the destiny of this nation.cherishing the union and saying there is no other way is to ignore the fact that young people in this land want to be free.labour and tory had their opportunity over many years to bring social and financial fairness to the people -they failed.if they had won there would be no move for full independence.finally people have woken up and know the lies that were dumped on them by unionists.

373. Francis Fallan - Shotts Lanarkshire
"Nationalist Socialist Party"

It was called the National Socialist Party, not Nationalist. As far as I know it had no interest in independence for Germany, which was already independent (albeit with territories under French and British "rule").

Scottish and Proud. That's what I'd like to be, what I'd like my children and their children to be. How can we possibly be proud to be Scottish when Scotland continues to be governed by another country? It's like living with Mummy and Daddy but saying your all grown up. I'm happy with England as a neighbour but I would want tmy neighbours telling me how to run my house. I think it is an insult to every person living and working in Scotland for others to say we couldn't manage on our own. We are all grown up and it's time to stand on our own to feet.
Iam Scottish, not Brtish nor European, Scottish. Let's give ourselves and future generations something to be proud of.

#369 Michael Brown

Clearly the answer to your question is YES, we can afford to lose this talent because we are already managing without it! If their talent had been invested here we might have had a case for independence proved by the prosperity they could have created here? Or have they just exploited the sytem created by others where they have settled?


Pity the First Minister came back! If all the ex patriate Scots came back and made a contribution of equal value to that of the First Minister we would really be up the creek without a paddle.

If they want a vote then let them come back here first. Perhaps like Sir Sean they would prefer to live in a warmer clime rather than put up with the cauld dark winter nights that we dedicated hardy Scots put up with.

Before Scotland can achieve 'full independence' it will have to extricate itself from the jaws of the EU. The "Treason(sic) of Lisbon" action by Bruiser Broon was another nail in Independence's coffin. This wolf in sheep's clothing is an Enabling Bill which means that all sorts of power will be ceded to Brussels when it's finally ratified and an EU President and Foreign Minister is sworn in (not elected, mark you) a year from now. An official EU flag and Anthem will swiftly follow, and a familiar pattern will unfold: " ...bought and sold for Euro gold, sic a parcel o' rogues in the nation..." (still!).

Been a while since i have replied, however it goes to show that there are alot of citizens of this Great nation which don't want to see it splinter in the face of scared nationalists. Britains future lies united, with a firm British union, a firm connection to the European continent (which needs reform to make it less of a intangible web of Rule and instead a community of common values and history combined together with an open attitude to the world) a revival of links with the Commonwealth and the rest of the Anglosphere and a rebalencing of ties with the United States.

United, we shall see past this century and cement our place in human history.

Divided we will Fall

If we do not know where we have been, how will we build a new future and not repeat the mistakes of the past?

I am so happy that as part of our growing journey to independance, the SNP as our Government, have recognised and will soon address, the problem of our terrible ignorance of our own history.

This imposed ignorance has been, until now, a highly effective part of the deliberate attempt to remove our identities and cover up a past filled with injustice and oppression.

We must have independance, and soon if we are to survive and thrive despite the sustanined campaign to denude Scotland of all of it's industry, fisheries and people.

We can do it....But it must be soon.