*Readers! Meet Chris in person next Thursday as part of the Scottish Cartoon Art Studio. Tickets are FREE but you need to book in advance. – Ed.
This is Andy Brough, the Executive Director at Schroders Investment Management Ltd, discussing the referendum and currency on the Bloomberg channel yesterday.
He predicts a Yes vote in the referendum, and that Scotland and the rUK will share the pound, regardless of what George Osborne says. He predicts a “chaotic” aftermath, but seems rather relaxed overall at the prospect of an independent Scotland in a currency union. And for a senior City financier, he seems to have a very perceptive grasp on the reasons behind Scottish Labour’s backing for the Union.
Last week we highlighted the dismissive, contemptuous attitude of many Scottish Labour MPs and MSPs to questions from their constituents, an approach perhaps borne of the safe seats occupied by most of those concerned. However, some politicians from the three Unionist parties in Scotland do still deign to correspond with the electorate, and it would be unfair of us not to acknowledge and credit them for that.
Below, then, are the other responses that Wings readers received to a number of questions relating to independence that we suggested they might like to pose to their elected representatives way back in July. (We’ve given it six weeks, and it seems safe to assume that any who haven’t replied by now aren’t going to.)
It’s a lengthy read, but we think you’ll find it enlightening.
Here are two snippets from a couple of recent “Better Together” leaflets:
Curiously, that 16% increase has fallen to 13% in their latest “briefing” full of made-up numbers Blair McDougall has pulled out of – well, let’s be polite and say “thin air”. But since they’ve been specifically named, let’s just check the claim with Tesco.
…you probably write for the Express.
Yesterday we posted a couple of tweets observing the fact that the Scottish media had conspicuously ignored the phenomenon that is The Wee Blue Book. (We’d have made more of the total blanking had we been even a little bit surprised.)
Despite having extensively reported almost every other document published about the referendum debate (such as Sir Tom Hunter’s almost-impenetrable digital-only effort), the press saw nothing at all newsworthy about a 72-page book that’s been downloaded over 400,000 times online and which a small team of complete amateurs had managed to fund, print and distribute more than 250,000 physical copies of in a matter of days, with demand still far outstripping supply.
But it turned out we were being a little unfair.
Bill Leckie in the Scottish Sun, 4 September 2014:
“I still have a list of nagging doubts, not least over who emerges to lead this new state. It’s just that… well, whereas not so long ago these doubts were what held me back, today they somehow seem exciting.
All 250,000 copies of the Wee Blue Book have now left the printers and should have reached their destinations, from which they’ll be spread far and wide. Many are already in Yes shops and on street stalls and thousands are in the hands of the public.
If you’ve got one, please read it and PASS IT ON afterwards – we’ll print truckloads of souvenir editions after a Yes vote, so you don’t need to hang onto it as a keepsake. It’s no good adorning the mantelpiece, it needs to be in front of undecideds and soft No voters. (Or hard ones if you think there’s even a sliver of light in their minds.)
We don’t have a definitive list of where the books can be found – the Yes movement is an organic grassroots network and there’s no way of predicting where they’ll end up after the pallet comes off the printers’ lorry. We’ve shipped boxes to Shetland, Skye, Stornoway and Selkirk and all points in between. (Some not beginning with “S”.)
But we’ll keep you updated when we hear of sightings. The info hotline is our Twitter feed, and you can also keep an eye on the dedicated Wee Blue Facebook page.
Meanwhile, though, there’s other stuff you can do.
From industry recruitment website oilandgaspeople.com today:
Another 100 years? A trillion pounds? When will this curse be lifted from Scotland?
Here’s the BBC News website quoting defence secretary Michael Fallon today, on the announcement of a £3.5 billion order for almost 600 new armoured vehicles:
Let’s study that for a moment, shall we?
Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.
