Thrive by Lesley Riddoch sampler

40 Introduction
as well as my own. I sensed her reservations.
It sat in the stuff we didn’t talk about. The baggage
collected over centuries at the tail end of the British Empire
– the unaccountable but deep-seated belief that things which
can work in other countries will not work here. The instinct
not to get above your station, lest that invites mockery and
disaster – writ large across a whole country.
But here’s the thing.
Independent or devolved, we’ve got to get over it. Scotland
has made remarkable strides thanks to rising levels of selfgovernment,
self-knowledge and self-confidence – they do all
go thegither – much of it arising from community control of
land, energy and other assets. But we haven’t shifted the deepseated,
subliminal belief amongst many people that anything
driven by Scots will end up flawed, parochial, kitschy or
in some other way, unviable. The fear that Scotland is the
ultimate Slow Horse.
This mindset is (maybe unwittingly) fuelled by a profound
lack of trust in the capacity of ‘ordinary’ people amongst the
great and good – of every profession and every political party
including the snp. It arises from centuries of British elitism and
top-down control and a media preoccupation with large countries
that’s stopped us knowing more about the small Nordic states
which are also the world’s happiest, wealthiest and most equal.
So, to cut a long story short, this book focuses not on the
controversial cart of currency, but on the sturdy wee pony of
confidence. For one reason.
Scotland is already another country. We just need to
launch the lifeboat and sail away. But weed currently fouls
our propellers. So it’s time for a deep dive.