Well that’s the elections over and I managed to get myself elected and oust a Tory. It was a strange campaign because there was no door knocking with us as Covid is still rife here in the Borders. But a lot of online discussions with voters. The main thoughts were the Boris effect had angered a lot of people but the rising cost of food and energy was really the critical worry.
As so many said, why are we in Scotland suffering fuel poverty when we are rich in wind, hydro, oil and gas? Why has steel jumped from £600 to £2k when we have closed steel works in our own country? Why is the war in Ukraine having such an effect on food prices and why were the predicted effects of Brexit not listened to?
Then there is my own industry, Agriculture and, as The Scottish Farmer reported during the campaign with its headline, “Slipper Farming is alive and well”.
The truth is “millions of pounds of taxpayers money is still being claimed on Scottish land without the requirement for it to be productive with livestock or crops.” But in addition there is the boost in land prices due to large corporations buying up large tracks of Scottish land for offsetting their carbon credits. So in effect, Scotland is up for sale. Not for food production, but for excuses for tax and carbon benefits.
Scotland is well able to feed, house and support every member of its population. It has the infrastructure to grow a solid economy, and the medical and academic ability to nurture the generations, so why are we not convincing more to make that last leap to independence?
That’s easy, we are held back by our detractors, namely the Westminster cabal who cannot see past the comfort of their cronyism and private clubs. No solace in supporting the Scots and the Irish, and there is little discussion on Wales, though they are a force raising their heads now. But Northern Ireland, or Ulster as we know it, is going to be the benchmark for what is coming, as coming it is. There was a time reunification was a dirty word, when now, the change is happening. Who would have thought it, a Tory Prime Minister aka Boris, being the catalyst of change in Ireland.
It was Mo Molam, not Tory Blair, who did the impossible and forced everyone into a room and made them talk. She was replaced by Mandelson so she would not be able to take the praise, but the right people knew, and the right people have seen through our illustrious party boy, the buffoon without portfolio, because why would anyone trust him with one.
Let’s watch our Celtic cousins strategy, and wish them luck. Let there be no bloodshed, just bloody hard work. For there is nothing so tiring and frustrating yet invigorating as negotiations on the most complex issues, and when time comes, the timing, like the determination of the people, not the activists, has to be in that window of opportunity, which, even to a long toothed campaigner for Independence like me, is not there yet.
Meanwhile get the steel works fired up, stop selling our food producing land and get our energy costs down by insulating our homes, and building sensible affordable homes for purchase and rent. You would think the Westminster cabal really are trying to starve us out of our own country – let’s face it that worked before – or are we going to take the bull by the horns and stop asking for handouts, and become just simply Independent.