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JUST ENJOY THE MOMENT
Great day in the morning. Or at least the late evening of the morning after.
“Have you heard?” asked my old colleague Robbie Dinwoodie of The Herald when he phoned me late on Friday afternoon. “The Nats have done it.” I could scarcely believe it and was afraid to do so. Years of experiencing brave failure inculcate a foreboding at such moments. But tonight the cause prevailed. There has never been such hope for the independence cause for 300 years.
To be frank I had prepared myself overnight for another heroic near miss after the results in Cumbernauld and Galloway. Then we had Gordon and Govan and – well, the rest is glorious history.
I said in my previous blog that I was pinching myself to believe some of the Scottish press, whose hostility to independence is visceral and unanimous, were actually advising readers to vote for Alex Salmond. Today I am pinching myself to believe that the independence cause has triumphed. But it has. And this is the biggest political earthquake since 1707 and will send a message around the world.
Labour’s rancid reaction is a treat to watch. Talk about bad losers. You might think – for a millisecond - that after 50 years of misrepresenting the independence cause as separatism, division and economic ruin, they might just have had the decency to pause and voice respect, however grudgingly, for the decision of the people. But all we got was a promise of even more enmity. This can only assist the independence cause.
Tonight a new debate begins in Scotland and throughout Britain. Perhaps we can now hope if not expect the political commentariat and the English press in particular to engage in serious debate. I would like to see an end to the constant distortion of the Scottish independence movement and a mature and sensible discussion. We are not Anglophobes, separatists, insular or isolationist. We are just voters, not just in the SNP, who see independence for our ancient European nation as common sense and the norm. Let a more responsible debate on Scotland’s future begin this morning. But right now I know we all just want to enjoy the moment.
Comments
Iain MacLaren
07/05/07 |
what now, with no coalition deal likely?
But why should the constitution be at the whim of the politicians? Why should they have the power to negotiate away the sovereign rights of the people of Scotland?
Now more than ever there is a need for Civic Scotland to move towards a claiming of the right to have a referendum.
Let's work on it now, redoubling our efforts.
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Joe Middleton
07/05/07
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SCOTTISH PEOPLE SHOULD DECIDE ON INDEPENDENCE NOT LIB DEMS!
(Letter to the Editors)
Given that anywhere between 60% and 80% according to opinion polls support a referendum on Scottish independence and given that the SNP have won the Scottish elections, while the Liberal Democrats have been beaten into fourth place by the Tories, the moral legitimacy of a referendum being held on independence has now been won.
The SNP and pro-independence parties did not win an overall majority of the Scottish Parliament. The SNP in those circumstances cannot make any direct moves forward to independence and everyone accepts that fact. However it is clear that the Labour party made independence the central plank of this Scottish election and that their negative campaign which flowed unimpaired through a compliant media has been rejected by the voters.
If the unionists believe in their case for the British union they should be willing to put the straight question of Scottish independence to the Scottish voters. If not, why not? Is it that they don't trust the public to decide in their favour? Labour have already tried to launch legal action to overturn the result of the elections, despite the fact it was their own decisions on the ballot papers that left the voters confused!
The fact is that independence support crosses all parties, including people in the traditional 'unionist' parties and their voters. The Liberal Democrats have no right to deny the Scottish people a democratic choice on independence. An independence referendum does not guarantee independence, it only guarantees that the Scottish public will decide on the future of their nation.
What's wrong with that?! |
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