Scotland's Natural Wealth

The natural wealth of a nation can form the bedrock of its economic success. Having vast natural wealth to rely on makes it easier for a nation to properly invest in developing the other factors required to be a successful nation. Such is the case for Scotland. So how does Scotland's natural wealth compare with the rest of the UK, and even with Europe?

 

Isn't staying in the UK wonderful when you are ill? I am being sarcastic of course.

I have finally been able to complete an online application for Council Tax benefit this evening having been advised to do it online. This benefit was taken away from me at the time when my income related Employment and Support Allowance was taken away from me last year in April (2017).

I have therefore had to pay full council tax since then even although I had an even lower income (i.e. about £200 per month and the council tax was £130).

My Employment and Support Allowance was reinstated and upgraded on appeal in late January 2018. I mistakenly believed the council tax benefit would be reinstated without me needing to do anything, as Glasgow City stopped it without any word from me although I subsequently advised them of my change in circumstances. This is what had occurred on previous occasions.

However I became aware that they were still taking payments.

I finally had the energy to go into their office on 16th April 2018 where I was advised to make the application online. With ME I only get small windows when I can deal with things like this so I have finally done it this evening.

I have discovered the council tax benefit can only be backdated 6 months. Therefore I have lost money due to this, as my appeal was not heard until January, and also the delay due to my own illness for which I am receiving ESA in the first place.

This adds to the money I have lost because I was unable to apply for Warm Home Discount this year due to being taken off ESA. So all in all the UK Government and DWP have screwed me out of £300 or more due to me being taken off ESA through no fault of my own and certainly not due to an improvement in my health. Great isn't it. Isn't staying in the UK wonderful when you are ill?

You wouldn't need to be desperate for benefits advice with GEMAP

On 6th March 2018 I called GEMAP originally to request an appointment to discuss my DWP benefits, who have successfully represented me in my Employment and Support Allowance appeal in January and discovered that I now had to be referred by my GP somewhat oddly, thus needlessly adding to the GPs workload.

On 19th March 2018 I attended my GP who was happy to refer me.

I phoned GEMAP on 06.04.2018 to make an appointment for a benefit check after they had called me and left a message after the referral made by my GP at Bridgeton Health Centre.

I was allocated an appointment on Thursday 3rd May 2018 at 1130am, and the call would be made to my home telephone number.

When it became apparent to me that I would not be home on the above date and time I called GEMAP again on Monday 30th April 2018 around noon to ask the advisor to call me on my mobile number. I was told that most appointments are made to peoples mobile numbers so this would not be a problem.

I was available on my mobile number at the required time and received no call.

On returning home I discovered that the call had been made to my landline home number as originally arranged and not to my mobile number as per the revised instructions.

I called the office immediately and was advised that the only thing that could be done was to arrange for another appointment on Friday 25th May.

This new date is now 81 days or 2 months and 20 days since I originally needed and wanted the advice. I am most annoyed given that the recent delay is entirely due to their mistake and not mine. You wouldn't need to be desperately needing this advice would you?

Are you a Scottish voter who has turned back to Labour?

I completed a Guardian questionnaire today in relation to Jeremy Corbyn of the UK Labour Party touring Scotland at the moment.

This is a link to the story and questionnaire below...

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/23/are-you-a-scottish-voter-who-has-turned-back-to-labour

Why did I vote SNP at the UK General Election earlier in 2017, and vote for them as standard?

I believe Scotland is a country and therefore should actually be a real one i.e. the same status as all other countries in the world, not some underling status which means we get everything we want within the UK as long as fits with what England wants. Currently we can never outvote England in the UK House of Commons (don't get me started on the House of Lords!). I believe that Scotland has a different viewpoint that would positively add to the world, that it cannot do so whilst in the UK as it is not allowed to. I also strongly believe in social justice which requires to be combined with Scottish autonomy as what fits the whole of the UK will never completely fit Scotland as our land mass and population are distributed very differently. The UK is such a financial basket case with such a lop sided economy and far too much debt. In order to have proper social justice in the near future independence is a no brainer. I believe a country should not be conned - Norway has a £1 trillion oil fund with less oil than Scotland but Scotland has £0 and a supposed share of debt which it did not run up as part of the UK, so I shall never trust the UK to manage anything on Scotland's behalf ever again.

Do you think the Labour Party will make significant gains in the next UK election?

Hopefully they will in England as they are actually offering something for the whole population unlike the Tories who always just look after number one. I am unsure as to whether they will though as the Labour MPs seem to be hell bent on destroying their party so far under the Corbyn leadership. However in Scotland I would hope people will stick with independence supporting parties and politicians. The UK is such a financial basket case that social justice for the many not the few will be hamstrung by debt and other decisions like privatisation for generations. This will only be made worse by Brexit unless something earth shattering occurs. It is well beyond time for Scots to say good bye to the UK. It won't be plain sailing but it will be on our terms. We may not know the future but I would rather my country was in charge of its own future and not constantly being dragged along in another countries wake particularly when Scotland didn’t actually vote for what is happening.

What are the main challenges Labour face in picking up more seats?

1. Previous economic incompetence of the most epic proportions on almost the same scale as the Conservative Party.
2. Becoming the nicer wing of the Tory party since the mid 1980s and therefore a complete lack of trust as a result.
3. Voting for austerity over and over in the House of Commons.
4. Labour preserving the House of Lords even although they have been going to abolish it for about 100 years.
5. Taking over 100 years to give Scotland a parliament of any sort when this was part of its early manifestos, and then not even calling it one when it finally did! 
6. Labour constantly complaining that the SNP Government should be mitigating this and that, that is being enforced by Westminster when if Scotland was independent it would not have to. And to make these protestations said in seeming all seriousness even more ironic they fought for the powers that allow the Scottish Government to mitigate these things to be retained at Westminster! In other words they are crack pots!

I could go on and on. They are a party of great ideals but have largely failed to advance any since they were in power from 1945 to 1951 in the UK.

Confusing and frustrating experiences with Scottish Power website. What is new?

Why is it when I use the Scottish Power website trying to enter my meter readings it is always a confusing and frustrating experience? 

I transferred tariff at the end of May and my account still shows the old tariff name. In order to find out the actual costs for my new tariff it is like trying to find a needle in a haystack - I think I have found it by printing out 30 pages of price tables. And when I try to enter in my meter readings I must now go into several different screens. If you happen to enter a reading into the wrong screen the site allows you to do so but then rejects any subsequent readings made on the same date. I am also yet to find any way of contacting them except by telephone. And this from a company that states 86% of customers are satisfied with their online experience. One wonders what website these good folks are actually using!? 

And anyone that thinks I can just change supplier is wrong. Due to the type of heating I have I can have any electricity supplier I like as long as it is Scottish Power. In other words they can do anything they like and I am completely powerless to do anything. That is the privatised energy market in the UK for you. Wonderful isn't it?

#ScottishPower

Thanks England. Scotland enjoys its wee shots at your General Election.

I would just like to thank England for allowing Scotland to have a wee shot in your General Election. It was a needless election, just like last years European Referendum, both caused by internal problems within the Conservative Party and nothing to do with the good of the UK or Scotland.

For once though the additional Tory seats elected by Scotland seemed to have allowed Theresa May to stay in Downing Street with the help of the DUP (who seem more Tory than the Tories if that is possible). Usually it is a one way street i.e. that it is English Tory votes that mean we have a Tory Government in Scotland. 

It remains a mystery to me why any Scottish person could actually vote Tory however. They obviously don't know the misery the Conservative Party continue to cause across the whole of the UK and Scotland in particular, or even worse they do not actually care. #GE17

Scotland's Yes Movement for Independence

Ask yourself this question?

What is independence or self determination about?

Its about this...

 Scotland's vast natural resources being squandered....

It is about the weapons of mass destruction 30 miles from Scotland's largest city. Scotland doesn't want them but it has them and will continue to have them as part of the UK.

Its about being attached to the Brexit shambles which Scotland did not vote for. The UK still has no plan, and has ignored Scotland's input to the extent the Scottish Government found out when the leaving process was being triggered was by watching the BBC that well known UK Government mouthpiece.

It is about the EU and the European Economic Area...

Its about European open borders as Scotland needs European immigration to be a more prosperous country. Without it the Scottish Government will not have the tax income to provide so many services in future. Scotland doesn't control immigration. This is done for it currently by the UK Government who wish to drastically reduce it without thought for Scotland's future. ...

It is about being lied to prior to the Scottish Independence Referendum in 2014...

It's about the future. It is only thanks to the SNP that Scots get free prescriptions, free university and college tuition, free bridge tolls, etc.With a Tory Government in Westminster intent on constant austerity and cuts to spending and tax giveaways for the rich, how long will these advantages continue?

And lastly...

Shit Creek for the Scots. And it is entirely of their own making which is what makes it so sad.

Following the news this evening that MPs in the House of Commons have by majority, 498 to 114, voted to trigger the UK leaving the European Union I thought this cartoon is becoming more and more pertinent by the day.

Incidentally but of no real importance at this time (as we are talking about Scotland in the UK and it doesn't really count when it comes to votes) Scottish MPs voted 58 to 1 to NOT initiate plans to leave the EU. Scotland voted 62% to stay in the EU, but the UK Government as usual is ignoring the Scottish Government and the UK supreme court agreed that the Scottish Government and therefore the Scottish people's opinion can be ignored legally.

The harsh reality for Scotland now, at this juncture in its history, is that the governments of Estonia or Malta have more of a say about the future Scotland faces than the people of Scotland do themselves. And Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist branch office, wants to do all she can to ensure it stays that way, because in her universe everyone has the right to determine the path that Scotland treads except the people of Scotland .

And this is entirely due to Scots voting NO to their own country's independence in 2014. In September 2014 the question on the ballot may have said independence, but forget the terminology for a moment. What it meant was: Do you want Scots to have the power over their own lives or do you want to leave it up to whoever is in charge in Westminster?

UNEXPECTED COMMUNICATIONS and RESULTANT REVELATIONS FROM ENGLAND

Last week I was going about my business as you do when I received two communications from friends who reside in England and news of a third person who also resides in England.

What were these communications about? Was it something in their respective cities of Sheffield and Manchester (and also Nottingham)? It wasn't. It was about something happening in Glasgow and someone in particular and it was all good.

My first friend resides in Manchester. He has never understood my pre-occupation with Scottish independence and was against it, from the point of view (which I can understand from a person who doesn't know a lot of Scotland's position) of 'we should all stick together'. After all I have never subscribed to the view of independence for Scotland just because....

However Nicola Sturgeon's first speech at the SNP conference in Glasgow last week seems to have changed his views, although I had obviously working on him for some time. Recently it has not been that difficult to dent his belief in the UK, since he voted 'remain' in the recent UK wide referendum on membership of the European Union (when the UK as whole on the back of England and less so Wales voted 'leave'), he is a left of centre voter who is not a fan of Jeremy Corbyn and has no time for the Tories. He wishes Nicola Sturgeon was leader of a party which covered the whole of the UK as, he said, she is speaking his language as far as Brexit, services in Scotland, compassion and general style of leadership. If in Scotland she and the SNP would definitely be getting his vote in any imminent election. Unfortunately he can't vote for her however.

However this revelation was closely followed by another one, this time involving two people which made it even more amazing.

My second friend lives in Sheffield. He also voted 'remain' in the recent European Referendum and has been appalled by the fall out so far, from the xenophobic rhetoric of the campaign, to the rise in hate crime in England, and then on to the shambles afterwards. I have never 'worked' on him with any Scottish independence propaganda, as I never thought I had a hope of persuading him, although he is aware I am a member of the SNP and have been on and off since 1992 and was also aware of my involvement in the Yes campaign in the first Scottish independence Referendum campaign.

To quote...

Nicola Sturgeon has been very scathing about the Tories and she's right to be so. She is the best Prime Minister the UK has not had, yet?

He also has a close friend this time who stays in Nottingham which the next part of his communication was about...

I have a friend who is English from Nottingham and he has never had any faith in any of the political parties. When I called him today he had just joined the SNP and he said he was proud to be a card carrying member. He had voted 'leave' and now realised he had been conned into voting that way and had been sickened by the vacuum created by there being no plan of action to actually carry Brexit out.

He then went onto say of himself...

The SNP are the only way forward and I want them to be a UK wide party. Nicola Sturgeon is probably the only one who could help save the country. I don't agree with everything she says but I do agree with a lot of it and I am seriously thinking of joining the party myself. Theresa May is continuing the destruction of the country so we need Nicola Sturgeon to fight for our rights.

I am as astonished as anyone that an Englishman wants someone who stands for Scottish self determination to fight for everyone in the UK's rights. Not that I have any problem with it and indeed this is what seems to be her purpose i.e. in addition to protecting Scotland and Scots she is also trying to do the same for those in other parts of the UK.

I stated in response the obvious, i.e. that Nicola Sturgeon is leader of a party that only stands candidates in Scotland as the SNP is fighting for Scottish self determination and the best possible deal for Scotland as long as it remains part of the UK. Therefore Nicola could not without a major re-alignment be Prime Minister of the UK. His replied...

I would be happy if Edinburgh became the capital of the UK. People in the north of England have more in common with Scotland than London. Nicola Sturgeon is feisty and strong and knows her own mind. She isn't scared to fight her corner and would be a great UK Prime Minister. She couldn't do a worse job than Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Theresa May.

So there are my revelations from England! They definitely do set the cat amongst the pigeons.

UPDATE: As of 10.11.2016 I shared this article to my Google Plus account and was most surprised to have the hashtag #utterhorseshit attached by someone named Paul Baker. I want to tell him that I would not have believed the above if it hadn't actually happened! And therefore Paul Baker is in #truthdenial.

UPDATE: As of 14.11.2016 yet another English friend has contacted me this time from Somerset stating that as a Remain voter tired of the British Government's insular Brexit anti-foreigner rhetoric he too has come round to Nicola Sturgeon and her positive inclusive vision for Scotland and the UK and would have no problem the next time a Scottish independence vote comes around of being whole heartedly in favour of it. He just wishes he could be part of it with the same values in what would be left of the UK.

Yoga Classes in GLASGOW with Caroline Smart

I love yoga and it has been of considerable assistance with my ME and dispraxia even although I didn't realise I had either when I originally took it up about 15 years. It has made me much more physically flexible, and on the days I manage to do it in my flat it improves concentration, balance and generally makes my day better. 

Yoga Classes in Glasgow by Caroline Smart

Evening classes
I currently teach for Glasgow Life (the leisure centres) in Glasgow:
Tuesday (7.45pm to 8.45pm) at Whitehill Pool (best to book if possible)
Thursday (7.30pm to 8.30pm) at Whitehill Pool (booking necessary as it is a small room)
Friday (6pm to 7 pm) at North Woodside Leisure Centre.

Daytime yoga class
Thursday (2.30pm to 3.45pm) Gentle Hatha Yoga (£8 per class)
At In The Moment Centre, 72 Berkeley St, G3 (2nd floor studio).
Class focuses on energising and strengthening the internal organs which are so important for vitality and health. Ideal for older people, overweight people, anyone suffering from ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or digestive disorders such as IBS.The class takes place in a lovely studio with a padded floor and lift access.

Further details regarding Caroline can be found at this website http://www.yogawithcarolinesmart.uk.

Caroline has also co-authored a book with another yoga expert and it won't break the bank. It is available at Amazon on the below link, and all other good booksellers, 

• ISBN-13: 978-0007196845

Collins Gem Yoga, co-authored by Caroline Smart

Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it

It looks quite likely that Scotland will get a second chance at voting on the matter of independence from the UK and become a real country just like all the others in the world. This is because of the recent vote across the UK which decided it wants to leave the EU, and Scotland deciding to remain part of the EU, followed very quickly by the realisation amongst the UK public that the UK political establishment in London don't have a clue what a leave vote actually means. 

Complicating this further for the UK as a whole, is the clear vote in favour of remaining in the EU shown in Scotland. Scotland is a constituent nation of the UK that voted 55% to 45% less than 2 years ago to remain a part of the UK with many Scottish voters believing the Better Together claim that the only way to keep Scotland in the EU was to vote NO. Contrary to the confusion and power vacuum at Westminster Nicola Sturgeon current SNP First Minister of Scotland and leader of the devolved Scottish Government in Edinburgh has shown clear leadership in her desire to allow Scotland to remain a member of the EU. 

Read and commit the following to memory as a cautionary tale before voting to stay within the UK.

In 1979 the people of Scotland were given a chance to decide their future. But was this one of the cynical episodes of recent times? In my opinion it most definitely was. And the sad thing is it appears to be part of a pattern. 

This is tale of UK Government intrigue and double dealing and how the fallout changed the course of history. 

‘Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it’. A quote by George Santayana (16 December 1863 in Madrid, Spain – 26 September 1952 in Rome, Italy) was a philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist. 

The Scottish Covenant and the Stone of Destiny

The Scottish Covenant was a petition to the United Kingdom government to create a home rule Scottish parliament. First proposed in 1930, and promoted by the Scots Independent in 1939, the National Covenant movement reached its peak during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Initiated by John MacCormick, the Covenant was written in October 1949 at the Church of Scotland Assembly Halls in Edinburgh, during the Third National Assembly of the Scottish Convention, by a pressure group which evolved into the Scottish Covenant Association. The petition was "eventually signed by two million people".In the census of 1951, the population of Scotland was 5.1 million meaning the UK Government just ignored the choice of a very significant proportion of the Scottish population. 

In 1950 Ian Hamilton, an ardent member of the Scottish nationalist organisation, the Scottish Covenant Association, hopes to end what he sees as the political and economic subjugation of Scotland by England. Frustrated and saddened by the complacency of his fellow Scots who seem to accept the status quo, he looks forward to a time when Scotland is no longer merely referred to as "North Britain". After a petition to the British Parliament for the establishment of Scottish home rule is rejected, Hamilton decides to perform a symbolic act to put heart into the movement.This is the returning of the Stone of Destiny to Scotland. This has been made into a film which I would strongly recommend watching.

The world in the 1960s and 1970s

In 1969 Colonel Gaddafi had seized power in Libya in a military coup. He now controlled a substantial part of the world’s oil supply.

In 1973 the Yom Kippur war between Israel, Egypt and Syria erupted. The Americans supplied the Israelis with arms. OPEC responded by raising the price of oil. 

OPEC is the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and intergovernmental organisation made up of representatives from 14 nations formed in 1960 to maximise the power of these countries on the world stage. As of July 2016, OPEC's members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait,Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia (the de facto leader), United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. Two-thirds of OPEC's oil production and reserves are in its six Middle Eastern countries that surround the oil-rich Persian Gulf.

In the 1970s the UK was in serious economic trouble. It had widespread labour relations problems, workplace strikes, bad management of industry, and inflation or stagflation as the economy was flat-lining. On top of that it had  the crippling OPEC and oil supply crisis. The UK was so broke that it had to go to the world’s banker the IMF for a loan. The IMF loan had its price, spending cuts, and the impact of those cuts sent shock waves through Britain.

A ray of hope for the UK and for Scotland

With the discovery of oil in the North Sea in the late 1960s those people who believed Scotland should be a self governing nation received an unexpected boost. 

The black gold that has poured out of the North Sea has pumped billions into the UK Treasury’s coffers. In 2005 the amount of money totalled about 230 Billion pounds sterling in taxes from the oil companies on the oil they have extracted.

Why was the evidence suggesting that an independent Scotland could be amongst the richest countries in Europe and stamped SECRET and buried in the UK’s archives for 30 years? The ‘McCrone’ Report, as it has since been named, was only released under the Freedom of Information Act 2005. 

Please see this site for full details regarding this important document…http://www.oilofscotland.org/mccrone_oil_reports.html

An extract from the McCrone Report…

Large revenues and balance of payments gains would indeed accrue to a Scottish Government in the event of independence. The country would tend to be in chronic surplus to a quite embarrassing degree and its currency would become the hardest in Europe. The Scottish Pound would be seen as a good hedge against inflation and devaluation, and the Scottish banks would expect to see themselves inundated with a speculative inflow of foreign funds.

SNP Confidence surges on the back of North Sea Oil

In March 1973 the SNP felt confident enough to take on the UK Labour Party in their safe Westminster Parliamentary seat of Dundee East. The by election was caused by the sitting UK Labour member George Thomson being  appointed a European Commissioner. Dundee Harbour had become a base for oil rig supply ships. The SNP candidate Gordon Wilson believed that Scotland should get a share of the profits from the oil. Although the SNP didn’t win the seat on that occasion they came a close second to Labour much to the surprise of the UK Labour Party. Details found here.

Labour, George Machin 14411 votes or 32.74%

SNP, Gordon Wilson 13270 votes or 30.15%

Conservative, William Fitzgerald 11089 votes or 25.19%

Liberal, Nathaniel Gordon 3653 votes or 8.3%

Labour Party of Scotland, George MacLean 1409 votes or 3.2%

Independent, John S Thomson 182 votes or 0.41%

Majority 1141 votes or 2.59%

Turnout 44014

The SNP’s growing profile raised the prospect that Scotland may one day achieve independence and rest control of the oil from London and the Westminster Parliament.

It was a future scenario that attracted the interest of some powerful vested interests. 

In 1974 the USA State Department appointed one of its most distinguished diplomats to Edinburgh as Consul, Richard Funkhouser, who was also an oil industry professional. But the arrival of the senior diplomat and what he was there for caused some confusion.

'The American Consul General was negotiating in some way; I never knew the detail of it; with the SNP', according to Tony Benn, UK Secretary of State for Energy June 1974 to May 1979 and Secretary of State for Industry March 1974 to June 1975.

According to Gordon Wilson who became leader of the SNP in September 1979 and held the post until September 1990 ‘There were rumours that he might have been with the CIA which of course is the natural view of people in those days when Governments were being brought down by that organisation throughout the world’.

Whatever Funkhouser’s brief he listened to all sides. During an earlier visit to Whitehall in 1973 he had a meeting with a high ranking Foreign Office official who warned him that the Scottish Nationalists were a very serious threat. But the man from Washington DC was not swayed by Whitehall’s hard line. He adopted the pragmatic approach that the Nationalists may well some day be in control of the oil. 

Did Edinburgh Police deliberately encourage young Nationalists to commit bomb outrages and supply them with dummy explosives? 

In the past civil servants, MI5 and Special Branch were used by Westminster to obstruct and even sabotage the Scottish Nationalist movement. 

It seems likely the police force in Edinburgh and everywhere else in Scotland were given orders from the UK Government to take anything they saw regarding nationalism or devolution seriously.  It was their opinion that a close eye should be kept on everyone involved as much as possible.

They would encourage the weakest or most wayward of them to cause trouble. The operative would then inform the police where they could be found. This would result in the perpetrator being charged and bringing disrepute to their community or group.

Gavin McCrone states ‘There were those in the civil service who took a rather different view of this than they would normally do of political issues because they felt that they had to work for the integrity of the United Kingdom.’

The division line between Scottish and English waters in the North Sea

In 1977 Berwick upon Tweed became central to a new campaign by the civil servants of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. They wanted to redraw the offshore border between Scotland and England (subsequently done whendevolution was finally granted in 1999) so that it ran North East, not due east from Berwick upon Tweed. 

Writing to Prime Minister James Callaghan’s Foreign Secretary Anthony Crossland claimed that the recognised border due east of Berwick uponTweed would never stand international scrutiny and goes on to suggest ‘seeking to inspire articles’ with selected public opinion formers’ and briefing back bench MPs. 

Crosland’s civil servants advised the Prime Minister: ‘However the dividing line was drawn it would give England a considerable area of what are now Scottish waters. It might also have the effect of putting into English waters a certain amount, and possibly even a great deal of oil’. ‘Information Division has sought for a long time in briefing to undermine SNP claims to North Sea Oil. In the process it has played on the Shetland Orkney uncertainty, as well as the angle of any dividing line between England and a hypothetically independent Scotland’.The line ’Indeed it is part of my ‘standard sales patter’’ appeared in the same document.

Extract from the McCrone Report…

It is hard to see any conclusion other than to allow Scotland to have that part of the continental shelf which would have been hers if she had been independent all along. 

March 1^st 1979 Scottish Devolution Referendum Day.

Polling day opened. Both UK Labour and the Scottish Nationalists were supposed to be campaigning for the same goal i.e. a Scottish Assembly to be based in the Royal High School building in Edinburgh to deal with Scottish internal affairs.

According to Gordon Wilson, future SNP leader ‘The Labour Party in Dundee made no attempt to get out their vote and the same was true of many other parts of the country. They didn’t fight for it. They didn’t believe in it. They didn’t want it.’

There was also still the issue of the George Cunningham amendment to the Scotland Act 1978. He was a UK Labour politician from Scotland representing an English seat at the time. His amendment meant that 40% of the registered electorate had to vote in favour of a Scottish Assembly.

This important referendum was conducted on an electoral role that was substantially out of date. 

According to Jim Sillars ‘When you actually looked at that in detail the dead voted NO, because every electoral register dies about 1% a month. So the dead counted NO; anyone who had been placed on the electoral register like some of the American students in Edinburgh for example in the halls of residence; they counted NO’. 

James or Jim Sillars (born 4 October 1937) is a Scottish politician. He was married to Margo MacDonald until her death in 2014 who was another very famous Scottish Nationalist politician. He is a leading figure in the campaign for Scottish independence and generally regarded as among the best orators in politics. He founded and led the Scottish Labour Party in the 1970s, and was Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party.

The actual results of this referendum were as follows…

Western Isles 6218 Yes, 4933 No

Dumfries and Galloway 27162 Yes, 40239 No

Shetland Islands 2020 Yes, 5466 No

Central 71296 Yes, 59105 No

Fife 86252 Yes, 74436 No

Orkney Islands 2104 Yes, 5439 No

Border 20746 Yes, 30780 No

Tayside 91482 Yes, 93325 No

Grampian 94944 Yes, 101485 No

Lothian 187221 Yes 186421 No

Strathclyde 596519 Yes 508599 No

Highland 44973 Yes 73274 No

TOTALS 1230937 Yes 1153502

Therefore in spite of the majority in favour of a Scottish Assembly the terms of George Cunningham’s 40% amendment meant not enough had voted in favour. 

It was therefore fundamentally undemocratic. Why the people asked at the time is First Past the Post good enough for Westminster elections? Why was a good enough for the referendum on the EEC? Why was it good enough for those measures but not good enough for Scotland?’

Why was the evidence suggesting Scotland could be amongst the richest countries in Europe stamped SECRET and buried in the UK archives for 30 years?

Margaret Thatcher swept to power in the UK General Election of May 1979. For the next 11 years a committed unionist Prime Minister would be in power. There was no longer any doubt as to who had control of the oil revenues from the Scottish North Sea. She was. 

The money from the oil off Scotland’s coast bank rolled Thatcherism. The revenue from the North Sea allowed Margaret Thatcher to reverse the policies of the 1970s. She believed in the free market or ‘laissez faire’ economics. She even sold off Britain’s national oil company.

North Sea Oil increased the value of the pound and increased the exchange rate. The City rejoiced as foreign capital flooded in and boosted the financial services sector.

But there was a down side. Margaret Thatcher used that money to restructure the economy of the UK as a whole. But in Scotland few agreed with how she spent the North Sea Oil revenues. 

Throughout the 1980s there was escalating industrial unrest in Scotland as unions fought to keep jobs. Massive unemployment followed. Money that was at one time earmarked to boost industry was used to deal with the consequences of its disappearance. 

Gavin McCrone states ‘Looking back on it now you can say that a large part of the oil revenues were used to pay for the unemployment that was created in the early 1980s. That is not really what one would have liked to see if you look at it objectively. If there had been a special fund for North Sea Oil it could have financed all sorts of important things in Britain’s infrastructuren which could have been important for economic develiopment’.

Gordon Wilson says ‘Not only did we have an unsympathetic Prime Minister who was wiping out our industry but she was using money from Scotland’s oil’.

Extract from the UK Government documents…North Sea Oil revenues could be used for the improvement of the North and South circular roads to motorway standards and to build an outer ring road. Building of the proposed Channel tunnel might be reconsidered.

Further extract from UK Government documents…The notion that North Sea Oil revenues could used for the improvement of the north and south circular roads may very well appeal to the commuting civil servant, but it is impossible to present it as a measure to strengthen the UK economy as a whole and it would therefore be political suicide for any Government that was anxious to retain seats in Scotland.

Jim Sillars states that ‘What it brought home to us was that no matter what political decision was taken north of the border it didn’t matter unless it coincided with the decision taken south of the border. ‘

  

In this article I have sought to reveal how successive UK Governents have used, and at time abused their power to keep Scotland in the Union and sabotage the causes of devolution and independence. I have also looked at UK Government files that show…

1. How the Police were diverted from catching criminals to spy on legal and peaceful SNP demonstrations. 
2. How the will of 2 million Scots was defied by simply ignoring their demand for devolution.  
3. How the Edinburgh Police encouraged young nationalists to commit bomb outrages and supplied them with dummy explosives.  
4. And how evidence that an independent Scotland could be among the richest countries in Europe was stamped SECRET and buried in the archives.

For anyone that cares about democracy such behind the scenes attempts to undermine legitimate political movements are a cause for concern at the very least. At least we are now able to access these confidential files and documents that some politicians might have preferred to remain secret forever, so Scotland does never make the same mistake again.

Extract from the McCrone Report…

North Sea Oil could have far reaching consequences for Scottish membership of the EEC because of the tremendously increased political power it would confer. As the major producer of oil in Western Europe Scotland would be in a key position, and other countries would be extremely foolish if they did not seek to do all they could to accommodate Scottish interests. This paper has shown that the advent of North Sea oil has completely overturned the traditional economic arguments against Scottish nationalism. For the first time since the Act of Union was passed it can now be credibly argued that Scotland’s economic advantage lies in its repeal. 

Nick Robinson, BBC Political Editor and ex member of the Conservative Party in England states ‘North Sea Oil runs out very slowly whereas the flow of cash from the City can run out just like that’.

The SNP and subsequently the Scottish Government now that the SNP is in power in the devolved Scottish Parliament, would very much like to have control over the oil revenues  and has as a party consistently argued that there should be an oil fund.

Joseph Eugene Stiglitz, FBA (born February 9, 1943), is an American economist and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979). He is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank and is a former member and chairman of the (US president's) Council of Economic Advisers. He is known for his critical view of the management of globalization, laissez-faire economists (whom he calls "free market fundamentalists"), and some international institutions like the International Monetary Fund and theWorld Bank.

He argues that the Scottish Government are absolutely right on the matter of an oil fund. To him it is so upsetting and striking, and it must be particularly for the citizens of the UK, that in a sense the UK squandered that wealth and you mistook the success of the Thatcher era as a success based on good economic policy when it was really a success based on living off of your wealth and leaving future generations impoverished. 

This article explains exactly why I became a believer in Scottish self determination i.e. the incompetence of UK Governments to manage Scottish resources, and their ability to lie and cheat and use underhand methods to maintain the integrity of the UK at all costs no matter what the cost to the inhabitants of the whole of the UK or indeed in this case one part of it i.e. Scotland. 

I was a child in 1979 and could not understand why nothing was going to happen about a Scottish Assembly when a majority of people in Scotland voted for it. I was also aware in the 1970s that the UK was in deep trouble as we used to get power cuts. In the 1980s when Margaret Thatcher was in power I could never work out why the UK Government was reducing public spending when I thought they must be awash with money, with the oil money but also from all the public assets they were selling off, whilst industry was being wiped off the map. The other things I have found out subsequently.

Scotland is a nation subsumed within the UK nation state. I am yet to hear a reason why it cannot be a valuable but equal player in the modern world in its own right. Why anyone would want to maintain the UK after the above, no matter what the starting conditions for an independent Scotland is beyond me. I cannot comprehend it.

And that is before we start to create a different Scotland once Scotland's future is in Scotland's hands.

Much of this text is taken from the following video https://youtu.be/uzW63Qa18t8. It is so good I wish I had created it.