
The plan for government introduced by the First Minister yesterday caught everybody by surprise, both her detractors and her supporters. Nobody but nobody was expecting it,and it caught everyone on the hop with its vision, its breadth of intent, its boldness and might we say even a bit of Scottish gallusness and audacity. It really was quite breathtaking, almost like the glow of the lights of the Saltire bridge was reflecting off it.
Who would have thought that in the midst of a Brexit calamity which threatens to tear apart the whole of these Isles that such thinking would be thought possible? Certainly not the floundering opposition who could only come up with feeble worn complaints about the constitution.
I wont trawl through all of the proposed 16 bills which have been widely reported elsewhere, but rather look at the implications of it all. In particular that of the development of a Scottish Investment Bank, for right there we see another intent and preparation altogether. We see the groundwork being prepared for a Scottish Central Bank and a new Scots currency for an Independent Scotland.
To quote the First Minister:
“This Programme for Government is our plan to seize those opportunities.
To build the kind of Scotland we all seek – an inclusive, fair, prosperous, innovative country, ready and willing to embrace the future.
It is a Programme to invest in our future and shape Scotland‘s destiny.”
Only once during this plan for government did the First Minister allude very briefly to IndyRef2, and that was to say that It would be looked at again after the result of the Brexit negotiations were known. As far as the Brexit process was concerned, any attempts to remove Scotland from the European Convention of Human Rights would be firmly resisted and steps taken to codify it in Scots Law. Otherwise it was a full on programme of innovation and promise.
Of course the Brit Nats who had already been spitting feathers through clenched teeth at the praise and worldwide approval and coverage the Saltire bridge had been getting were not in the least happy, and certainly it wasn’t too long before the BBC sought to downplay it, and the chattering press began to spout sour grapes at it, however the damage had already been done because the whole of Scotland already had been speaking about it. Organisations in every field were singing praises.
This of course is ultra bad news as far as the Proud Scots Brit Nats are concerned, and the howling on Social Media has been delightful to behold.
As an aside… Isn’t it funny how these Proud Scots must proclaim they are Proud Scots….But.
When every real Scot who is actually proud of their Country never ever feel the need to pronounce they are Proud Scots, because it is taken as a given that they are. So absolutely no need to make any such pronouncement as they are the Real Deal.
Whereas Proud Scots hate the Saltire and want it removed at every opportunity and replaced with the Union flag and joyfully cheer on any perceived Scottish failure and deflect and dismiss claim of any Scottish success. They really are a strange bunch.
As if the Saltire Bridge was not bad enough, they had been confounded by a whole load of other Scottish successes in quick succession.. The World tidal energy record generation on the Pentland Firth, The success of Glasgows satellite technology sector, Glasgow University coming up with potentially better ways of combating cancer than radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Edinburgh University with a whole body scanner which can see through the whole human body. The opening of the National Sports Training Centre at Inverclyde. And Now this programme of government…. And of course being voted the most beautiful Country in the world.
How they must have hated it!
And just when they maybe thought things couldn’t get any worse from their perspective, what happened? The leaking of the Westminster governments secret draft plans with regards to European Citizens is what happened. The contents of that 82page draft document proves how despicable they are, and the imposition of effectively a Nazi type apartheid regime which will cause untold damage to us all if implemented is not worth contemplating.
Not only that but European citizens who have long since made their life in this country and married and settled down may find themselves being asked to leave.
The damage which these measures alone will inflict on the Scottish economy, particularly in sectors like our hospitality and tourist industry, food processing, our NHS sectors alone are incalculable.
On top of that is the news that many of us suspected, the Government officially did the dirty on the promise they had made to the Clyde ship builders on the remaining 10 frigates they were assured of if they voted NO to Independence..these are now to go out to contract piecemeal across the UK.
Ruth Davidson gave an Interview where she stated that Brexit could do irretrievable damage to the British economy, but she still will not oppose it.
David Davies the Brexit minister again refused to meet with the Scottish and Welsh governments to discuss the negotiations.
What they assuredly will be extremely unhappy about is that Michel Barnier the EU chief negotiator is coming to meet with Scottish MSPs to discuss Brexit negotiations, that really is a 2 finger salute to Westminster and a clear indication that the EU are not prepared to leave Scotland behind and adrift.
So all in all… 2 very different sides to the Scottish constitutional coin..
Where is all this leading? I would suggest straight down the road to Independence.
For Scotlands own sake we have to get out of this British Union which is threatening to strangle us and throw us all over a cliff edge and the way to do that has already begun.
By showing that Scotland is both humanitarian and progressive and “To build the kind of Scotland we all seek – an inclusive, fair, prosperous, innovative country, ready and willing to embrace the future. ”
“It is a Programme to invest in our future and shape Scotland‘s destiny.”
In my opinion Indyref2 will be sometime in the next year or 18 months…no later.
We all know for all our sakes how we must vote then.
*I hadn’t realised until I published this, that this is my 500th article here… It seems like an eternity since I began in 2011. How appropriate that this should be that article for that milestone….. The early days of a better nation has begun*