Thrive by Lesley Riddoch sampler

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38 Introduction there’s no way one unionist party can seriously loosen the SNP’s grip on power. But what about the ‘Rainbow Parliament’ of 2003 when Solidarity, Scottish Socialists, a Hospital candidate, a Senior Citizens’ MSP plus independents Margo MacDonald and Dennis Canavan all made their mark? The salience of the constitutional divide has steam-rollered independents and small parties right out of the system. But there’s no use girning, no way around our current democratic reality and no way back. The most effective direction for those who want to ‘lose’ the SNP is independence. I don’t imagine the party will wither on the vine overnight – if Labour opposes self-determination right to the bitter end, voters may not immediately jettison the biggest party that wanted to reach ‘the promised land’. Successful independence parties in other countries have generally been ‘rewarded’ <strong>by</strong> their electorates – just as Scottish Labour was rewarded for delivering devolution. For a while. But once the new landscape becomes familiar and the constitutional divide has gone, Scots will finally vote as they want. Not for the least worst party, not holding their noses (as many Scottish Labour, Tory and Lib Dem voters currently do every General Election) and above all, not ‘wheeshting’ for indy or for Keir Starmer in Number Ten. Very rapidly our proportional voting system will deliver a parliament that resembles other small European independent neighbouring states with no automatic majority for any one party, no expectation of anything other than coalition government. In short, if you’d rather have the SNP in power indefinitely, keep backing the status quo. Still, unaccountable fears remain. What happens if the Tory Scottish Secretary Alister Jack cannot swing in with a steadying/undemocratic Section 35 veto, on legislation they don’t like? What happens when there’s no other stifling/ steadying hand on Scotland’s tiller? What happens when history starts again, on our watch? What will it be like to drop the bravado and the temptation to give up and follow our ancestors elsewhere? What will it be like, at long last, to
Does indy mean SNP rule forever? 39 dig where we stand and fix our own country – to adjust to life as modest winners and not the world’s best-loved losers? I’d give anything, truly anything to find out. So, what do you feel? If Scotland becomes an independent country, what will happen? What is your instinct about Scotland’s capacity to manage itself? Does the idea scare you rigid? Is it too hard to believe a small country can be a success – or just THIS small country? Do you fear retaliation from a wounded England? Does belief seem too much like hard work? Do differences with ruk seem too trifling and the prospects for improvement, too remote? Above all, does Scotland look like a pup – too barren, difficult and empty a country to be successful? All these fears, presumptions and anxieties lie between Scotland and any rational consideration of the case for independence – together they produce a hesitation much deeper than the old trope about Scots being too poor, too wee and too stupid for independence. That today is easily refuted. But others lurk beneath, unspoken and infinitely more powerful. That Scots are too angry, too disputatious and too Celtic. Too disorganised, too chippy and too hesitant. Too much like the insubstantial side salad beside England’s meaty steak. Too unaccustomed to leading. Too lacking in drive. Too keen to consult, too indecisive. Too accepting of raw deals. Too comfortable, risk averse and unwilling to endure the early hardships of independence. In other words – too complacent and too feart. Is that who we are? I remember a conversation about independence with my late mum who very probably voted No in 2014. She left school at 14 without qualifications but was, like many of her formally under-educated generation, sharp as a tack. When I asked what she was thinking about the big vote she pondered awhile and said, ‘Yes Scotland has come a long way, but…’ There was no need to finish the sentence. I was my mother’s daughter. I was brought up to see the world through her eyes
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 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: Does indy mean SNP rule forever? 37
Page 43: committed to publishing well writte

Thrive by Lesley Riddoch sampler

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