Three things have happened to change my mind on this:
1. I have become really engaged in the conversation and debates on independence in the last couple of weeks. I really enjoyed the break we had from all the campaigning during the Commonwealth Games and as soon as it started rearing its head again I resented it. However, over the last few weeks I've watched the debates, listened to and read different programmes and articles on the subject etc and find myself now able to articulate the debate to friends overseas with a certain elegance and insightfulness.
2. I feel every time I have been out in the last few weeks I have had to justify my position in discussions so I thought I'd put it on paper and that way I can just refer people to it!!
3. This blog is partly intended as my diary to myself in years to come about how I spent 'that year' when I left my lifetime career to go on an adventure and try something new. I can't catalogue my year and not refer to this given the enormity of the impact it will have on me, my friends and family, my suburb, my city and my country (whichever way it goes).
So here are some prepositioning comments before I declare my hand:
1. With only a couple of exceptions I do not trust politicians especially those for whom it has been their career rather than their calling. They spin, they duck and they dive and I'm never sure they're clear on what their drivers are (with the exception of their careers). I actually believe for proper representation we should all be conscripted to parliament for a term in the same way we have to sit on juries but that's a point for another day.
2. I don't know what party I want to be in government. I'm not hard and fast in my political views especially as they all sort of meld in the middle somewhere, promise lots, deliver little, blame everyone else and then when they're in opposition blame the government for doing nothing - all very circular and not in a positive fashion.
3. Regardless of which way any of us vote we'd all have to agree that this has been a great referendum. I have never known engagement like it. Every day, multiple times in the day we are all in conversation about the 'issues' on the table, the 'what if's'. Not only are we talking about it but we actually are pretty informed. Neither side may be giving the answers and we may not be clear about what is actually on offer but we are aware of the issues and we can talk to them - something I've never known in my lifetime.
So with all that in mind, what way am I going? Well I am a firm YES voter....I know, I know I need to justify why (I have noted over the last few months that it is those who are voting YES who are held to account to justify that position rather than those who are NO).
So here is why:
1. I want change. I want something significantly different from what we have today and to do that we need a seismic shift, a new paradigm, a jolt out of complacency, a new outlook. The only way I think that will happen is to vote YES (No suggests more of the same with maybe the leash let off a bit but at the end of the day you're master still controls you and can reel you back in at any point).
2. I want democracy. I don't think we have it today. In fact I know (courtesy of a point proven by a recent blogger who finally got answers from all the parties and all the campaigns) that the way Scotland has voted in the last fifty years has not affected the outcome for who goes into power in Westminster. Is that democracy?
3. I want my vote to count as one in five million rather than one in sixty three million.
4. I want a different kind of government and I think we can be positioned to have that. This referendum has, as I say, got everyone engaged and I think that can be here to stay if we gain independence. I think we'll step up to shape our nation not blame the state for the way things are. We'll have taken a huge risk and, with that I think we'll take accountability for making sure we get a better country. A different type of government where whoever is in power will be truly accountable to its citizens. Novel!!!
5. I want Scotland to believe in itself (that seismic shift again) and to be great. It is amazing how many people are all about 'what does it mean for me', 'how will we survive without oil'. Well maybe this time it is bigger than 'me'. Maybe it is about turning 'me' on its head so 'we' create something amazing. No more resting on our laurels. No more pointing to Westminster or Holyrood for why things are the way they are. We have to step up and make this country successful. There are plenty of people out there who already are but I am also a great believer that necessity is the mother of all invention and that we can make something amazing out of what would no doubt be a shaky start focused on reuniting the nation and dealing with the issues of separation. These are important clearly but our biggest danger would be in letting them consume us because from the get go our eyes need to be on building the premise for the future not separating ourselves from the past. Having the wrong outlook on that will set us up badly from the start.
You'll notice none of my rationale is to do with tax or oil or currency or industry or defence or the NHS or Europe or NATO etc etc etc. I am not being complacent or naive when I say these things will work themselves out but they will. They are topics which have been used to polarise a debate and I have to say the thing I have taken most comfort from in the last few weeks was the Robert Peston documentary 'Scotland: For Richer or Poorer' which was a very balanced view of the situation and the matters of separation. It was fact based and it was non sensationalist. And what did it find when it spoke to many many experts across the UK with different outlooks? Well, that there may be small changes to how we're taxed or what it costs Scotland to borrow money, oilfields might be getting smaller but the oil companies are here to stay. Things will change but not to the extent we've been scaremongered into believing (or using as an excuse not to seize the moment).
So putting all these matters of separation aside (including the one raised on Jeremy Vine this am about whether Christ The Redeemer would have to be removed from Kelvingrover Art Gallery?!?!? (top of the list?)). Do you want more of the same or do you want something different? Do you want the chance to be a great nation in our own right - small but almost perfectly formed? In fact I saw this this week and it made me smile - my second home is where I get a lot of my inspiration from when it comes to being small and perfectly formed and this underlines the point perfectly to me:
So there it is, I'm on the record and I'm glad I am (most people think I'm mad for how I'm living my life at the moment anyway so I might as well add this to the list. NB that change in outlook and way of living my life is also inspired by NZ; by the entrepreneurship and balanced perspective of what is important in life that I see in NZ). Who knows, one day my beautiful nephews might thank me and those like me for the fact we gifted them a great nation and an empowered future.
One last point - regardless which way you vote on the 18th just make sure you vote. This is the one that counts after all.
Whilst clarifying my rationale for how I will vote I...
...HUNG OUT AT...Tennants Academy doing a course and sitting an exam to gain my personal license to sell alcohol - my second little venture but you'll have to wait to hear about that one - all will be revealed in due course. Lots of good connections made and opened my eyes to the size of the Tennants brewery and all the courses you can do there. Well worth a visit on a tour or for a wee leisure course...
...WINED ON...pretty much nothing as I was a sick puppy last week. You can tell that by the fact I wasn't even interested in drinking alcohol...
...DINED ON...a lovely selection of Ox and Finch small plates at lunch yesterday with some dear friends - a belated birthday celebration. Lovely to catch up and lovely to eat amazing food (again).
Until next week - have a good one (and try and still talk to me despite my voting preferences!!!!)
So with all that in mind, what way am I going? Well I am a firm YES voter....I know, I know I need to justify why (I have noted over the last few months that it is those who are voting YES who are held to account to justify that position rather than those who are NO).
So here is why:
1. I want change. I want something significantly different from what we have today and to do that we need a seismic shift, a new paradigm, a jolt out of complacency, a new outlook. The only way I think that will happen is to vote YES (No suggests more of the same with maybe the leash let off a bit but at the end of the day you're master still controls you and can reel you back in at any point).
2. I want democracy. I don't think we have it today. In fact I know (courtesy of a point proven by a recent blogger who finally got answers from all the parties and all the campaigns) that the way Scotland has voted in the last fifty years has not affected the outcome for who goes into power in Westminster. Is that democracy?
3. I want my vote to count as one in five million rather than one in sixty three million.
4. I want a different kind of government and I think we can be positioned to have that. This referendum has, as I say, got everyone engaged and I think that can be here to stay if we gain independence. I think we'll step up to shape our nation not blame the state for the way things are. We'll have taken a huge risk and, with that I think we'll take accountability for making sure we get a better country. A different type of government where whoever is in power will be truly accountable to its citizens. Novel!!!
5. I want Scotland to believe in itself (that seismic shift again) and to be great. It is amazing how many people are all about 'what does it mean for me', 'how will we survive without oil'. Well maybe this time it is bigger than 'me'. Maybe it is about turning 'me' on its head so 'we' create something amazing. No more resting on our laurels. No more pointing to Westminster or Holyrood for why things are the way they are. We have to step up and make this country successful. There are plenty of people out there who already are but I am also a great believer that necessity is the mother of all invention and that we can make something amazing out of what would no doubt be a shaky start focused on reuniting the nation and dealing with the issues of separation. These are important clearly but our biggest danger would be in letting them consume us because from the get go our eyes need to be on building the premise for the future not separating ourselves from the past. Having the wrong outlook on that will set us up badly from the start.
You'll notice none of my rationale is to do with tax or oil or currency or industry or defence or the NHS or Europe or NATO etc etc etc. I am not being complacent or naive when I say these things will work themselves out but they will. They are topics which have been used to polarise a debate and I have to say the thing I have taken most comfort from in the last few weeks was the Robert Peston documentary 'Scotland: For Richer or Poorer' which was a very balanced view of the situation and the matters of separation. It was fact based and it was non sensationalist. And what did it find when it spoke to many many experts across the UK with different outlooks? Well, that there may be small changes to how we're taxed or what it costs Scotland to borrow money, oilfields might be getting smaller but the oil companies are here to stay. Things will change but not to the extent we've been scaremongered into believing (or using as an excuse not to seize the moment).
So putting all these matters of separation aside (including the one raised on Jeremy Vine this am about whether Christ The Redeemer would have to be removed from Kelvingrover Art Gallery?!?!? (top of the list?)). Do you want more of the same or do you want something different? Do you want the chance to be a great nation in our own right - small but almost perfectly formed? In fact I saw this this week and it made me smile - my second home is where I get a lot of my inspiration from when it comes to being small and perfectly formed and this underlines the point perfectly to me:
So there it is, I'm on the record and I'm glad I am (most people think I'm mad for how I'm living my life at the moment anyway so I might as well add this to the list. NB that change in outlook and way of living my life is also inspired by NZ; by the entrepreneurship and balanced perspective of what is important in life that I see in NZ). Who knows, one day my beautiful nephews might thank me and those like me for the fact we gifted them a great nation and an empowered future.
One last point - regardless which way you vote on the 18th just make sure you vote. This is the one that counts after all.
Whilst clarifying my rationale for how I will vote I...
...HUNG OUT AT...Tennants Academy doing a course and sitting an exam to gain my personal license to sell alcohol - my second little venture but you'll have to wait to hear about that one - all will be revealed in due course. Lots of good connections made and opened my eyes to the size of the Tennants brewery and all the courses you can do there. Well worth a visit on a tour or for a wee leisure course...
...WINED ON...pretty much nothing as I was a sick puppy last week. You can tell that by the fact I wasn't even interested in drinking alcohol...
...DINED ON...a lovely selection of Ox and Finch small plates at lunch yesterday with some dear friends - a belated birthday celebration. Lovely to catch up and lovely to eat amazing food (again).
Until next week - have a good one (and try and still talk to me despite my voting preferences!!!!)
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