Quoted for truth #9
Posted on
February 24, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
A powerful reality check from Iain Macwhirter in the Sunday Herald:
“Scotland bailed out the UK economy in the 1980s with Scottish oil revenues, and received precious little in return except factory closures and the highest mortality rates in Europe. And it doesn’t take a genius to see that any improvement in the UK economy is going to happen in London and the southeast, rather than in Scotland. Like the high-speed rail link, it might eventually extend to Manchester but no further. Scotland is on its own whether it likes it or not.”
A great article from Macwhirter. I was just reading it through about the real state of the UK economy and how we’ve not had anything like this since the late nineteenth century and then the last two paragraphs just bring it all into focus and say yes there is a way out of this if we chose to take it.
And this is the guy who was saying only the other week that he could think of a dozen positive reasons for keeping the union together???
Is this more than the Herald or Macwhirter sticking a finger in the air?
His blog has a good article about energy and LGO (Light go out) scare story etc etc
link to iainmacwhirter2.blogspot.co.uk
@ Marcia
Close thing, but you get the prize for first posting.
Shades of Max Keiser in the language Macwhirter’s using – has someone rattled his cage?
I remember something about Macwhirter not as appearing as much,(seems not at all now), on Newsnicht Scotland because of his leaning towards independence.
I don’t think it was rumours, think it was official discussions within bbc scot.
I’ve regularly thought Iain McWhirter one of the more thoughtful commentators on the Scottish spectrum, although not always aligned to my own viewpoint… if he’s beginning to see things from a more positive “Yes” perspective, that can only be welcomed…!
ianbrotherhood says:
Shades of Max Keiser in the language Macwhirter’s using – has someone rattled his cage?
Max Keiser, will we get the likes of Keiser, Hartmann etc. on the Scottish broadcaster’s channel.
Really annoys me when l watch these people knowing we have nothing like them, in general, to inform/debate.
Keiser? I’d rather have someone credible who isn’t promoting a scam.
Scam?
Scam?, have no idea where that one comes from
He is promoting a questionable economic theory which furthers his own economic self-interest. Specifically GoldMoney.
Independence is a decision that’s going to hit a lot of Scottish people not because they support it, because for them it’s the only option. Iain McWhirter is coming to this conclusion, he now knows that further devolution or a federal UK set up is a pipe dream. It is hitting home now that the UK is sinking and the more that people realise that Westminster is only interested in protecting London, with its perpetual multi-billion £ projects and protection for the City bankers, then Independence for Scotland is the only choice. The consequences of a NO vote is becoming clearer in each passing month and is looking more horrific. There is a global battle going on with governments, treasuries and banks, but true to form Westminster will use Scotland as cannon fodder, stripping away every ounce of resources to prop up a failing State while the Scottish people will be left on the scrap heap for another couple of generations once again, being told to accept it because you’re British and it’s your moral duty.
I am no supporter of Keiser, but he is not a lone voice in the financial community. He is also quite open about his interests. Could I stick my neck out and suggest he has a better understanding of the issues than any of us?
Has neo-liberalism worked?
This is beginning to remind me of the early months of 2011. I had planned to go out campaigning for the SNP because that’s what I do. By the time April arrived, I realised it was more than that. I was literally terrified of what would happen if Labour got back in and Iain Gray was First Minister. Give me more leaflets, when as we campaigning in the town centre, is there anything else I can do….
I’ve wanted independence since I was a child. Now it’s more than that. I am literally terrified of having to go on living in the UK as it has become. I never, never thought I would say that.
MacWhirter has always been a unionist, but a soft unionist, and he thinks about the future more than most journalists in Scotland. For example he was warning about house prices beingunsustainable and a financial crash for two or three years before it actually happened. Got a lot of time for MacWhirter, I suspect he will eventually go the way of Ruth Wishart and declare for yes, anybody who thinks long enough about the issue tends to find that being the conclusion. He also ha a great phrase about the relationship between England and Scotland, still connected, he said, but being pulled apart like pieces of pizza connected by strings ofcheese alone…
Morag: “I’ve wanted independence since I was a child. Now it’s more than that.”
I’ve gone the same way, Morag though to and from different places. I’ve always vaguely thought Scotland should be independent, and not quite understood why we weren’t. But I always accepted that was just the way it was, and I never cared enough for it to be any part of my politial or emotional life.
But then after growing up with Thatcher, we finally got New Labour and they were dire – Iraq, house price bubble, debt, PFI, banking crisis. And the same preference for putting the rich over the poor as the Tories.
Now, it wouldn’t matter where in the UK I was based, I’d be despairing about the direction of the UK and Westminster’s ability or will to change anything, or shift direction.
In Scotland though, we have a chance for real change, to break away from that AND to do it by becoming the sovereign nation we always should have been. I could easily have been persuaded to federalism, purely to stop a divisise debate and not have to debate “independence” with friends and family in England who will be seeing it reported very negatively.
But that’s not on the table, so I just can’t understand anyone not being pro-indy now. Who would seriously argue Westminster’s doing a great job and independence isn’t a good thing for a country? So as time goes by, I find I’m getting more and more depressed by the thought of what waking up after a no vote would feel like. I dread that utterly, similarly to you, in a way I wouldn’t have imagined last year.
Morag says:
He is promoting a questionable economic theory which furthers his own economic self-interest. Specifically GoldMoney.
I know, that’s why China buys a couple of hundred tons of gold every few months, ( sell as little as 20% of what they mine),
Germany won’t their gold delivered out of the US fed vaults, (that’s if it is still there!!?),
India and others are buying/selling commodities using gold etc etc.
J P Morgan and their mates are being accused of manipulating the gold & silver prices; I wonder why they would be doing that!? (Self interest pertaining to the dollar, surely not)
Oh, hitch your wagon to his star if you like. Just don’t run away with the idea that he’s some respected guru.
I have no guru’s
Mr broon sold half our gold reserves, that’s clever ?
And he sold at an all time low in the market, really clever ?
Why not sell the rest, awfy clever
Aye right
Yes I am also not a wild fan of Keiser, but given the choice between his analysis, or the instiutions of economic governance that we have in the central bank and government, I know which I would be more likely to label a “scam”.
Slightly O/T – The link below – is what Westminster do not wish the Scots to know. The fact that an Independent Scotland would immediately get access to the funding and support to create the rail infrastructure that would provide direct access – (not change at London access) to an integrated Pan -EU railway network.
The European Commission today announced a comprehensive package of measures to deliver better quality and more choice in railway services in Europe.
Brussels, 30 January 2013
link to europa.eu
Vice President Siim Kallas, European Commission Vice President responsible for Transport said: “Europe’s railways are approaching a very important junction. Faced with stagnation or decline in rail in many markets across Europe, we have a simple choice. We can take the tough decisions now that are needed to restructure Europe’s railway market to encourage innovation and the provision of better services. Rail will be able to grow again to the benefit of citizens, business and the environment”.
Any chance of posting this article on your site? Can’t access it on Herald page.
“Any chance of posting this article on your site? Can’t access it on Herald page.”
This is what you need:
link to addons.mozilla.org
It is rumoured that Broon had no choice to sell the gold. The UK were in a bit of a fix because they had been looking after German gold and the Germans decided they wanted it back. Surprise surprise, it wasn’t there any more! Not sure about the exact detail, but the end result was a massive sell-off of British gold. Of course it was spun by Broon as a great move – all those valuable bonds and paper derivatives, worth much more than gold!
The EU aim (and has been for years) is that all member capitals are linked by a high speed rail network. Currently London provide that tick in a box. But an independent Scotland would require Edinburgh to be directly part of that network. Seperately, an independent Scotland provides the means (via a new link) for Dublin to do likewise.
Thanks Rev – cookies devoured.
Macwhirter is increasingly a voice of reason, shedding light on the debate. rUK heading down the pan – do we follow on the grounds of moral support, or save ourselves?
No brainer…..
My comment on his blog:
Iain,
While the Scottish government energy policy is by no means perfect, it is infinitely saner than the UK. You ask where price hikes are comming from, I will give you one of the biggest examples.
Please study the following map carefully. It comes from the EEA, the European Environmental Agency. I know the data are somewhat dated, but in the context of comparison and conclusions one might draw from it, that is not important. It depicts the expected cost per unit (kWh) of elctricity production from windpower which are largely a function of terrain type and average wind speed – in that order in NW Europe. It does not include grid support costs as that varies enormously due to how remote from centres of use the wind farms are.
link to i51.photobucket.com
What I want you to note is:
1) The British Isles, including England, is slap bang in the lowest cost band for ON shore wind production along with Denmark, Far North of Germany and Southern Sweden.
2) The cost of OFF shore wind power compared to ON shore British Isles is TWICE AS MUCH.
3) The Highlands of Scotland are not as commercially attractive even discounting extra griding costs.
OK, got that?
Next,I want you to look at the following chart. This is also based on EEA data but which are kept up to date so only about a year or two old. It shows the actual installed ON shore wind capacity of various countries in the Europe. To take account of the varying size of country, it has been normalized to population by calculating installed capacity per million people.
link to i51.photobucket.com
Note the extraordinary extent to which English NIMBYISM has been indulged.
It has been described by a European wind power expert as “Being like a Saudi Arabia which refuses to drill for oil”.
Now take on board the fact that England already has more OFF shore wind generation than the rest of the world put together and is planning up to 35 GW in total.
Think what that means for electricity prices in the UK.
That is why no other country, even Green Party lobbied environmentally mad Germany has considered serious OFF shore development until they had filled the place up with ON shore.
Note, I am not at all saying that it is not right that we should have OFF shore, but it is commercially insane to do so until you need to.
UK leccy bill payers (or tax payers if they disguise things by “subsidy”, “tariffs” or whatever ) will have a very high price to pay in order to indulge English NIMBYISM.
Nuclear, again is even more costly but we’ll leave the above to sink in for now.
@Luigi
It is the Federal Reserve in the USA which is suspected by some of no longer having the gold they were holding for Germany and other countries.
Brown, allegedly sold the gold at a 20 year low to depress gold prices so the main American traders who were exposed, could buy at reduced price.
@ayemacrihanish
Thanks for the link re the rail networks. That’s an incredibly important piece of information and invaluable in persuading the business communities of the benefits of independence. I’ve re-posted it on Facebook. We should all do that. It’s just one of those things Westminster can’t argue with as the money won’t come from them. Git postin!