Thrive by Lesley Riddoch sampler

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24 Introduction UK plummeting down World Bank governance rankings. In 2020 the UK was 19th, behind all the Nordic nations. Scotland can do better. What about losing our nuclear weapons at a time of heightened threat from Russia? Expert opinion agrees there is nowhere else in Britain to put the Trident submarines based on the Clyde. But the war in Ukraine means those nuclear warheads don’t just create local jobs, they made the west of Scotland a prime target for attack. Modelling suggests the detonation of a 100 kiloton nuclear bomb in Glasgow city centre would deliver potentially fatal doses of radiation and third degree burns to anyone within a 50 kilometre radius. Over 73,000 people could be killed and twice that number injured. In short, there’s a reason places like Milford Haven, Falmouth and Devonport don’t want Trident. They don’t want to become Britain’s biggest nuclear target. Back in the pre-Holyrood 1960s, Scotland could not object. That will change if we become an independent state and can finally do what nuclear Britain will not – move in the opposite direction to de-escalate the nuclear arms race, because advances in peacekeeping and disarmament often happen directly after wars and every nuclear state is struggling to feed and clothe its own people. After WW1, the League of Nations – set up to solve international disputes peacefully – morphed into the United Nations. After Cold War hostilities produced the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, a partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed, prohibiting test detonations in the atmosphere, space and underwater. Six years later, a non-proliferation treaty forced the Soviet Union and United States to reduce their nuclear arsenals. The end of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine could provide another opportunity for progress with more states signing up to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons 2021 (TPNW) which prompted billions to be disinvested from nuclear weapons by the Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Bank and financial institutions in the 85 other signatory states.
The New Case for Scottish Independence 25 But not Scottish banks, since Westminster plans instead to spend billions on a new system of nuclear weapons for the Clyde, opposed by 70 per cent of Scots. The future for the planet can be very different. Why would an independent Scotland not want to be working within that progressive vanguard? What about losing the monarchy? The latest poll suggests 55 per cent of Scots would be quite happy with that outcome, but it’s odd (and characteristically British) that big constitutional issues are considered piecemeal. We need a written constitution like every other normal independent country and a cross-section of the population drafting it. If such a Citizens Assembly suggests a president within a whole, new, written (at last) constitution, which is endorsed in a referendum by the people – then we’ll have a president. Andy Murray, you have been warned. Joke. Mebbe. What about folk who work across the British Isles and fear tighter borders and even Visa restrictions? If Britain didn’t close borders when the Irish Free State seceded in 1923, why would it shut Scotland out today? Yip, just six months after that monumental blow to British authority, common sense somehow prevailed with the creation of the Common Travel Area (CTA) between Britain, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Today, Irish and British citizens can move freely within the CTA with access to employment, healthcare, all levels of education, and social benefits on the same basis as citizens of the other State, as well as the right to vote in local and national parliamentary elections. Why on earth would an independent Scotland be treated any differently? It’s the same story across the North Sea where the Nordic Passport Union (modelled on the CTA) began in 1953, four decades before Schengen, and lets citizens of Norway, Sweden,
Page 3 and 4: LESLEY RIDDOCH is an award-winning
Page 5 and 6: Thrive The Freedom to Flourish LESL
Page 7 and 8: 5 Contents Acknowledgements 9 Prefa
Page 9: Our friends in the North 269 Not th
Page 13 and 14: 11 Preface Independence. For those
Page 15 and 16: Preface 13 gusty version of the air
Page 17 and 18: 15 Introduction The new case for Sc
Page 19 and 20: The New Case for Scottish Independe
Page 25: The New Case for Scottish Independe
Page 29 and 30: New England and Auld Europe 27 prod
Page 31 and 32: New England and Auld Europe 29 belo
Page 33 and 34: New England and Auld Europe 31 ofte
Page 35 and 36: New England and Auld Europe 33 down
Page 37 and 38: Scotland’s settled will 35 sell-y
Page 39 and 40: Does indy mean SNP rule forever? 37
Page 41 and 42: Does indy mean SNP rule forever? 39
Page 43: committed to publishing well writte

Thrive by Lesley Riddoch sampler

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