Thrive by Lesley Riddoch sampler
Why won’t Scots simmer down? Why batter on about independence when folk voted No a decade back? After all. Scotland’s not as populated as Yorkshire, nor as wealthy as London. But it’s also not as Conservative, as keen on Brexit, or as willing to flog public assets to Tory party pals. So does Nicola Sturgeon’s departure terminally damage the case for independence? The answer, with all respect to her legacy, is no. Scotland has bigger fish to fry. In this book, Lesley Riddoch makes an impassioned call to action, weaving academic evidence with story, international comparison and anecdote to explain why Scotland is ready to step forward as the world’s newest state.
Why won’t Scots simmer down?
Why batter on about independence when folk voted No a decade back?
After all. Scotland’s not as populated as Yorkshire, nor as wealthy as London. But it’s also not as Conservative, as keen on Brexit, or as willing to flog public assets to Tory party pals.
So does Nicola Sturgeon’s departure terminally damage the case for independence?
The answer, with all respect to her legacy, is no.
Scotland has bigger fish to fry.
In this book, Lesley Riddoch makes an impassioned call to action, weaving academic evidence with story, international comparison and anecdote to explain why Scotland is ready to step forward as the world’s newest state.
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15<br />
Introduction<br />
The new case for Scottish independence<br />
What is it?<br />
It’s not which currency Scotland would adopt, if or how<br />
quickly we would rejoin the EU or whether the SNP would<br />
fade away or rule forever. Important questions that all we<br />
talk about. But not the case for independence.<br />
It’s not whether the Gender Recognition Reform Act, late<br />
delivery of Hebridean ferries, success or failure in shrinking the<br />
attainment gap, running the NHS or mitigating poverty reflect<br />
well or badly on the current Scottish government. These are<br />
relevant debates – but the SNP’s performance as a Scottish<br />
government isn’t the same as the case for independence, which<br />
pre-dates the SNP’s ascendancy and the Scottish Parliament itself.<br />
It’s not the identity or personality of the First Minister –<br />
though Nicola Sturgeon’s time at the top was eventful and<br />
her resignation unsettling – a condition compounded <strong>by</strong> the<br />
resignation, arrest and release of her husband as Chief Executive.<br />
It’s not even evidence that Westminster is a busted flush,<br />
Brexit is a disaster and Scotland-sized countries out-perform<br />
the UK. All these statements are true. But they do not – <strong>by</strong><br />
themselves – make the case for independence. Just as a recipe<br />
– <strong>by</strong> itself – doth not a clootie dumpling make. (Google it.)<br />
It’s not the vexed issue of borders and how much hardware,<br />
delays or queues would or wouldn’t exist when Scotland’s<br />
back in the EU and England’s still stubbornly outside, watching<br />
its economy fall apart, on its lonesome. There’s no question<br />
that managing a Schengen border would take energy on both
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