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Scotland’s secret constitution

Posted on December 12, 2011 by

We don’t intend to make a habit of punching holes in the Herald’s new paywall for people to have a free keek through, but an opinion column in today’s edition deserves a much wider audience, including those among us who live in places it’s not possible to buy the paper at all. It’s a piece by W. Elliot Bulmer, author and the research director of the Constitutional Commission, and it’s about the little-known draft document drawn up by the SNP for the written constitution of an independent Scotland. (Almost alone among democracies, the UK has no formal codified constitution.)

It’s an absolutely fascinating read, both in purely technical terms and political ones, and if you’ve already used up your free preview on the site you can see it below.

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5 to “Scotland’s secret constitution”

  1. Bugger (the Panda) says:
    12 December, 2011 at 4:49 pm

    I am not so sure that this "Constitution" is so secret.
     
    It is only a draft.
     
    LPW has spoken of on more than one occasion and linked to it.

    Reply
  2. Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
    12 December, 2011 at 4:56 pm

    Well, I'd never even heard of it, and I'm really interested in Scottish politics, so I have to assume an awful lot of other people haven't either. (The headline was also partly in reference to it being behind the Herald's paywall.)

    Reply
  3. Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
    12 December, 2011 at 4:58 pm

    [Moved from another comment page]

    Iceland is currently drawing up a new constitution. Their method is interesting. A panel of 25 ordinary citizens is collating input from anyone who wishes to contribute. See link to participedia.net

    Could Scots do this?

    Reply
  4. G. Campbell says:
    13 December, 2011 at 10:08 am

    You can view as many articles as you want on the Herald Mobile site if you disable javascript. Deleting the site coookie after every 5 page views also works. Some web bod will probably work it out it eventually, but at the moment you can still read stuff for free.

    link to heraldscotland.com
    link to heraldscotland.com

    Reply
  5. Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
    13 December, 2011 at 3:39 pm

    Hmm, they must have worked it out already, because those don't work for me even with Javascript off.

    Reply


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