Why the political union simply doesn't work.

Many people think that in the UK, Scotland is as equally represented as any other member nation in the UK. There is a parliament which is elected by the people, for the people, by the proportion of the population in each area of the UK, right? Well, yes, but the problem of the political framework of the UK does not lie in the system of voting, it is the nature of the parliament and union itself.

Everyone will agree that Scotland and England have one thing we both seem destined never to agree on, politics. England is traditionally a Conservative voting nation, whilst Scotland is traditionally a Labour voting nation (well, SNP now, but Labour's a better example for the time being). You would think that these conflicted views would be represented by the elected government. Unfortunately that is not the case.

Time and time again Scotland has received the party which we never vote for, and probably never will vote for, but we have been still been governed by the Tory's on lot's of occasions. When looking at this from an objective viewpoint, this seems a bit off. A country which is meant to be an equal member of the UK, gets the government it is bent on avoiding, and only plenty of occasions has shafted Scotland to the point of obscenity (think Ravenscraig-esque).

The best example of this would be to look back onto the Thatcher years. Did we vote for the Tory's then? No. Did our vote for the Tory's increase whilst they were in power? No, it actually fell year on year. Margaret Thatcher's philosophy of free-market capitalism, privatisation and greed is good totally collides with the common psyche of the Scottish people.

This is a prime reason why the modern Scotland we live in needs independence, our political views are almost the complete opposite with the views of the ruling nation of the UK. (Let's face it, it is.) In the current political framework it is impossible for us to get the government we desire is our votes are swamped by English votes south of the border. It is only pure chance which sometimes gets us the government we actually  want. 

An independent Scottish Government would be able to be fully representative of the votes of its people. Not filtered and swamped out by the votes of another nation which almost has completely different views from Scotland. An independent Scottish parliament would be able to work directly for the Scottish people, and not be used as a mere stepping stone for other parties in England, to gain power in Westminster.

It would also be a good opportunity for Labour to start fresh, and re-discover its roots which made the party connect effectively with the Scottish people, and would really be able to benefit the Scottish society, as it would be a Scottish party working for Scotland, not Sullyhill.

It is important that Scotland looks to its future now, and does not dwell on the mistreatment of the past. We have always been a nation that has been able to be innovate and intuitive when faced with harsh times. It is time for a Scottish Government which can make it happen for the Scottish people. 

New Investment Plans for North Sea Oil Industry.

There has been recent heavy investment into the North Sea oil industry, as the Norwegian state-owned oil giant Statoil has announced it will a total of £18 billion in total into the industry to keep their fields pumping up until at least 2057.

In terms of the employment in the industry, the new investments plans will provide a massive boost. It is expected that 300 new jobs will be available in a new operation centre in Aberdeen, and a further 700 will be created in the process of the investment plans being implemented.

The plans came to light when David Cameron was on a visit to Norway. Some may say that this is a sign that the oil wealth will go to helping all areas of the UK, as it was the UK prime minister which signed the deal. That, unfortunately, is not the case. It has been shown that throughout the course of the North Sea oil history that Scotland rarely sees the effect of a £1.5 trillion industry, as all the revenues goes straight down to the London Exchequer.


The oil revenues raise an average of £30 billion per year across the whole of the UK, and since Scotland has 90% of the reserves, that means we should be getting £27 billion of the revenues surely. Again however, that does not happen. What we receive is a budget that gets shrunk each year; the budget we received last year amounted to £23 billion, which means Westminster gets £4 billion of the revenues Scotland made.

This recent heavy investment into the industry once again proves that the Scottish economy is thriving, and no doubt has the potential to prosper even further if we gain independence. As it means that the revenues we accrue can go directly to helping the people, industries, infrastructure and the society of Scotland as whole.

These recent events also should trump any argument saying that our oil industry is not profitable enough to help our nation survive on its own, or is dwindling fast. Unfortunately though, no amount of heavy investment into the industry will block out the scaremongering from the media, government and unionists.

It is only with full independence form Westminster that Scotland can truly show what it can do when competing on the global market, and to truly provide a secure and viable economic future for Scotland that will benefit the welfare of our society, which is undoubtedly the most important issue in any nation. Not fighting pointless wars or keeping needless weapons of mass destruction on our doorstep.

New Oil & Gas Industry Long-Term Plans.

The First Minister, Alex Salmond, has today revealed that he plans to put forward a long-term plan for Scotland's oil and gas industry, which to date is the largest industry sector in the UK. The industry contributes a fifth of UK corporation tax, and supports 440'000 UK-wide jobs. So it is vital that a long-term strategy is made to secure its future so it is a viable industry for Scotland, especially in the case of independence.

Although much speculation has been drawn to the viability of Scotland's oil industry by our unionist friends, there is still no doubt that the industry is a thriving one and has contributed much more to the Scottish economy than anything else has in recent years.

The industry has been functioning for the best part of 40 years now and has pumped an estimated 40 billion BOE (barrels of oil equivalent) worth approximately £300 billion in terms of revenue, into the London exchequer. Whilst some may think the oil fields are drying up, there is still an estimated £1.5 trillion value of revenue still to be found in Scotland's geographical share of the oil fields. That figure has risen since the last estimate of £1.2 trillion. The UK-wide debt stands at £1 trillion, to which our share of the debt would be £100 billion.

Out-with the UK, the government is also investing heavily in securing investment from foreign markets. The organisation Scottish Development International (SDI) is to be expected to invest in growing markets in such areas as, Norway, Brasil & West Africa. The investment in those areas is to be built on the success of the establishment of an SDI base in Calgary, Canada.

What this proves is that Scotland, as a whole. Does have the potential to be an international leader in the markets we pursue, forget the arguments that we are too wee and too poor to possibly compete with larger nations around the world. All it takes is motivation and ingenuity, a trait which the Scottish people have shown their fair share of throughout history.

Under the current status quo however, Scotland is very limited in its ability to invest in our industries, with our constantly shrinking budget provided by Westminster. Some may say that it is the budget we receive which keeps our economy afloat. The reality however is the complete opposite, Scotland contributes £50 billion a year into the exchequer in terms of tax and revenues, yet we only receive on average, £23 billion back each year. 

The plan aims to further the astronomical success delivered by our North Sea oil revenues, and to secure a future for the industry when new fields are discovered. The plan draws up six main points that need to be addressed:

* Strengthen domestic supply chain - with greater focus on resource recovery and targeting £30 billion in total annual sales by 2020;

* Increase proportion of sales from exports - so international activity, having risen from 31 to 46 per cent from 2002 to 2010, reaches 60 per cent (£18 billion) by 2020;

* Identify clear priorities for innovation and accelerating technology deployment - including long-term research & development plan and greater co-ordination of public funds to support rise in recovery rates with a minimum long-term target of 50 per cent;

* Promote new and emerging opportunities for supply chain companies - for example in offshore wind, carbon capture & storage (CCS) and decommissioning;

* Ensure sector attracts young people and supports increase in skills availability - emphasising long-term nature of industry and, through closer liaison between sector employers and with education institutions, better-identify specific needs for provision;

* Continue to promote Scotland as key location for O&G investment - through communications and support for key infrastructure projects.

BBC bias demonstration - Pacific Quay, Glasgow.

For those of you who of not know, and that may be quite a few due to the media blackout, there was a BBC bias demonstration on Saturday. The purpose of the demonstration was to highlight the blatant, but subtlety done, anti - independence bias which gets thrown out by the BBC on a daily basis. I for one, attended the demonstration. And although there was not it was only a small first time event, it surely shows that the people of Scotland are starting to take notice of the bias at the BBC, and are no longer willing to tolerate it.

You might think this is a rather odd claim that the BBC are politically partisan. After all, they are publicly funded (£3 billion from us a year) and are always championing their impartiality. That sadly however, is not the case. For however great the BBC's shows and documentaries are (especially Sherlock), their news coverage is not as fair as it always claims to be.

The part of the BBC news reporting that is usually seen to be most prevalently biased is the slanted coverage often given by their reporters and presenters, were looking at you Paxman. usually whenever an interview comes up with a pro independence supporter comes up, the BBC almost always wheels out their. presenters who are most famously anti-independence.

Now, I do not need to go into every instance about BBC bias, you can check that out on this brilliant website here: http://biased-bbc.blogspot.co.uk/

Picture of the demonstration I took. 

Without going on too much a rant about the BBC (believe me I could), I would just like to encourage every Scot to attend these demonstrations, as it sends a strong message to the BBC that, we the people who fund their existence, will no longer tolerate bias coverage on our nations issues.

Economic awareness for Scotland.

It has became increasingly apparent to me, and I am sure many other Nat, that the vast majority of the Scottish population do not actually know the state of their own economy. 

This is very detrimental to the success of the YES campaign, as Scots who will not vote yes in 2014, could of very well otherwise been swayed by learning about the truth about their own economy.

As you know, it is money which is at the back of everyone's minds when they make decisions about their future, and perhaps the biggest question which is on everyone's minds concerning the independence debate is, will we have enough money to survive? 

Despite what rhetoric and scaremongering we are told on a daily basis by Westminster and the London-centric British media, the Scottish economy is actually thriving as we speak and we could do far more without the current economic constraints imposed by Westminster which we live under day by day.

I was just wondering if any Nat's who are interested in the economic side of the debate like I am, would like to collaborate to produce a report on the Scottish economy. Detailing such aspects as; how we are doing now, and what we could do with independence. 

I have already made a 3000 word report for the monthly independence newsletter which will be coming out in June, but I think if we all pull together we could produce something which would shoot down any unionist economic scaremongering on sight. And hey, you never know it might get somewhere. 

Reply on this post of email me at: robertboy1@hotmail.co.uk , if you're interested.

 thanks. 

"YES Scotland" campaign kick off this Friday!

Today it has been announced that the YES campaign for Scottish independence will take place in Edinburgh on Friday (25th May) in Edinburgh in the Cineworld complex. The campaign is entitled "YES Scotland." and the campaign will try to put across the positive case for Scottish independence.

The campaign will include a host of notable Scottish celebrities (Sean Connery to not just one), musicians and of course politicians, and will attempt to connect with the Scottish people on a personal level by introducing people to the debate who are recognisable to the every-day Scot.

The main focus of the campaign however is not to appeal to those who are already in support of independence, but to swing those 20% something per cent of Scots who are undecided. The campaign will also have an anthem written by Dougie McLean, famous for his "Caledonia".

A wide-range of pro-independence parties will join alongside the SNP in the campaign, these include the Greens and the SSP, but more parties are believed to join up once the campaign gets rolling. One of the visions of the campaign which I personally agree with most is the slogan "vision versus scares".

 This is a vital aspect of the campaign as it is know all too well by pro-independence supporters the extent to which pro-unionist parties & media broadcast effectively scaremongering claims on a daily basis. The problem with the scare-stories is that the vast majority of the Scots watching the mainstream media do not know any better, as anything on mainstream media is taken as gospel effectively.

Angus Robertson who is the campaign leader for all of the SNP's elections, commented on how effective the campaign could be at winning over the undecided Scot through positivity:

“These are exciting times for Scotland as we work to build a better nation.  The Yes Scotland campaign will be about the people of Scotland, and how being independent can make life better for families and individuals across our country.

“It will be the biggest community-based campaign in our history and will take the case for Scotland being independent into every community across our country.

“Yes Scotland stands in stark contrast to the anti-independence parties' emerging No campaign, which we are led to believe will put the politicians front and centre.

“The people of Scotland are open to voting yes as never before and that is a great starting point for the Yes Campaign.  This campaign will be about the positive benefits of being independent, enabling us to build a Scotland that will be fairer and more prosperous than today.”

As to be expected, there has been a major backlash from the unionist parties, downplaying the campaigns effectiveness and credibility. One Conservative MSP Jackson Carlaw said that the campaign was a "Braveheart cry for 'yes' to separation". There's a few problems with this: First of all, he automatically loses the debate by mentioning Braveheart as a case for independence. Secondly, I woonder if Mr. Carlaw would apply the term 'separation' to any other country which sought independence from Westminster. 

Newsletter article

Just a quick update here, I have just finished writing an article for a monthly independence newsletter which should be coming out around the middle of June. It amounted to a little over 3000 words and covers every aspect of the Scottish economy, even the McCrone report ;)

Be sure to check it out.