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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Does indy mean SNP rule forever?<br />
39<br />
dig where we stand and fix our own country – to adjust to<br />
life as modest winners and not the world’s best-loved losers?<br />
I’d give anything, truly anything to find out.<br />
So, what do you feel? If Scotland becomes an independent<br />
country, what will happen? What is your instinct about<br />
Scotland’s capacity to manage itself? Does the idea scare you<br />
rigid? Is it too hard to believe a small country can be a success<br />
– or just THIS small country? Do you fear retaliation from a<br />
wounded England? Does belief seem too much like hard work?<br />
Do differences with ruk seem too trifling and the prospects<br />
for improvement, too remote? Above all, does Scotland look<br />
like a pup – too barren, difficult and empty a country to be<br />
successful?<br />
All these fears, presumptions and anxieties lie between<br />
Scotland and any rational consideration of the case for<br />
independence – together they produce a hesitation much<br />
deeper than the old trope about Scots being too poor, too<br />
wee and too stupid for independence.<br />
That today is easily refuted. But others lurk beneath,<br />
unspoken and infinitely more powerful. That Scots are too<br />
angry, too disputatious and too Celtic. Too disorganised,<br />
too chippy and too hesitant. Too much like the insubstantial<br />
side salad beside England’s meaty steak. Too unaccustomed<br />
to leading. Too lacking in drive. Too keen to consult, too<br />
indecisive. Too accepting of raw deals. Too comfortable,<br />
risk averse and unwilling to endure the early hardships of<br />
independence. In other words – too complacent and too feart.<br />
Is that who we are?<br />
I remember a conversation about independence with my<br />
late mum who very probably voted No in 2014. She left school<br />
at 14 without qualifications but was, like many of her formally<br />
under-educated generation, sharp as a tack. When I asked what<br />
she was thinking about the big vote she pondered awhile and<br />
said, ‘Yes Scotland has come a long way, but…’<br />
There was no need to finish the sentence. I was my mother’s<br />
daughter. I was brought up to see the world through her eyes
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