The Quest

As an English lass living in Scotland for the past seven years, the whole Independence thing has obviously been quite prominent in my mind. I'll admit that naturally (having not been brought up as a Scottish nationalist) I haven't been all that in favour of the idea. But I'll also freely admit that I (along with, in my experience, most people on either side of the fence) am not all that informed about the ins and outs of the subject. It bothers me that sometime soon people like me, who don't know the first thing about economics or politics or what makes a country successful, might be given the opportunity to vote in a referendum to decide on Scotland's future. How can any of us know we're making the right decision, when so many of our ideas about it come from, frankly, propaganda and a teensy bit of bigotry?

Lovely though many of my friends are, the nationalists among them tend to get pretty vitriolic on the subject of Scottish Independence (enough to make people like me feel pretty isolated for being brought up in England) and the main argument some seem to use is 'Scotland should be independent because it used to be'. Now, this clearly can't be the best reason for such a huge change to the status quo, but are there better, more persuasive arguments out there? Are there people who believe in Independence because it will throw Scotland forward, or is it all just a thinly disguised hatred for the English? I have yet to meet a nationalist whose views aren't tainted with some negative reasonings for getting out of the Union. But Alex Salmond, after all, must be quite bright to have got himself into the office of First Minister. There must be something in it, mustn't there?

On Thursday (5^th May 2011) Scotland will hold elections for its Parliament in which the SNP are predicted to make some pretty good gains. I won't be able to vote as I'm in Vietnam (see my other blog: http://paulandcharlottesworldtravels.blogspot.com if you're interested in reading about that!), but I'll be watching the result with interest. Now, more than ever, it is important to understand the issue of Independence and all its implications as fully as possible. Who knows when the great and good of the registered voters in Scotland will be called forth to decide on the matter once and for all? So over the next few months (or however long it takes – I suspect a lot longer!) I am setting out on a quest to really get to grips with what Independence will mean for Scotland, and try to discover whether it really it a good idea or not. And then obviously I'll tell you what I've discovered.

There are a lot of questions which spring to mind, and which I hope to put some research into, for example: Why is Independence even an issue? How long has it been an issue for? How has the movement evolved? What do nationalists want? Is everyone in Scotland an ardent nationalist? (I've met a lot of foreigners on my travels who believe this to be the case, which offends my non-nationalist Scottish husband.) What would independence mean for Scotland, practically? Will it be possible to live with nationalists and their smugness ever again if it really happened? (OK, that one's a joke. You may laugh if you like.) What would the process for becoming an independent country be? What would it mean for the rest of the United Kingdom left cold and alone? Will Scotland keep the monarchy? Will Scotland be able to survive economically? Is this the best time and will there ever be a better time? What's the history behind Scotland's 'un-independence' in the first place? What does Scotland get out of the Union as it stands? Should England, in fact, be seeking independence from Scotland? Is independence the only way to solve the political issue of a national Conservative government in Westminster when very few people in Scotland would be caught dead voting Conservative? What would happen to the SNP as a party if Scotland was actually granted independence? If there was a 'yes' vote in a referendum, would independence actually happen? Are cultural differences enough to say a country should be separate? Don't all countries have regional cultural differences (take the United States, for instance)? What are the sectarian dimensions to the Independence question? Would Scotland take the Euro?

So many questions, so little time! Time to ditch the bias and get on with it...