CAMPAIGNING FOR SCOTLAND (Owned, Edited and Printed in Scotland since November 1926) "Promoting all that is best in Scottish Nationalism and all that is best in Scotland." Content of the Flag in the Wind Web Site is the copyright of the Scots Independent Newspaper. [ Issue 378 -  31st August 2007]

Compiled by Ian Goldie

MALCOLM SLESSER AGAIN 

I was out of Scotland when Professor Malcolm Slesser died, but I did manage to catch up on one or two of the obituaries.
 
I only met him a couple of times, but found him a delightful man – full of intelligence and common sense, very amusing company, a person who could make the arguments for independence with a twinkle in his eye.
 
The one thing I did miss in the obituaries I read was any mention of his 1972 book, The Politics of Environment with its subtitle A Guide to Scottish Thought and Action.

Although written thirty-five years ago, and drawing on circumstances of its time, it is still both readable and relevant.  If you can find it somewhere, snap it up!
 

 
OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION 

Our ‘national conversation’, instigated by First Minister Alex Salmond, has taken off. If you want to take part on the web, then google ‘a national conversation in Scotland’ and you get a variety of websites to choose from.

But while the national conversation on the web is all well and good, correspondence columns in the newspapers should also be used, not just in the so-called ‘heavies’, but perhaps especially in the tabloids and high circulation Sundays.
 
Churches of all denominations, mosques, synagogues and so on could also be encouraged to give platforms to speakers – they often do it at election times, and this debate is of far greater importance than the result of one election.
 
Maybe groups such as women’s guilds and men’s groups could also be encouraged to investigate the topic, with speakers from various points of view.
 
It would be good if I could say that web comment sections in newspaper articles were an enticing prospect, but sadly these tend to be dominated by individuals conducting their own personal and vicious wars.  All the same, there is the occasional gem of information or argument.
 
In the last section of this Flag I have outlined the main points against independence made by journalist Will Hutton, with comments following.  I just hope it’s not a bit lengthy for a web comment!
 
 

WHICH FLAG TO FLY ON THE CASTLE? 

Edinburgh Castle is one of the most potent worldwide symbols of Scotland.  It has been on its rock for centuries and has witnessed most of our history.  Folk come to see it from all parts of the globe and are variably impressed.
 
And yet the Scottish flag does not fly there.  Instead it is the Union flag that tops the castle.
 
Some years ago I remember William Wolfe, former chairman of the Scottish National Party, saying in a speech at a national conference that he looked forward to the day when the Saltire would fly in its proper place above the great rock on which the castle is built.  I have seldom heard any sentiment that got such a roar of approval.

And yet recently I read a report that Labour MP David Cairns was of the view that to fly the Scottish flag above the castle would be outrageous!
 
Incredible! The Scottish flag above perhaps our greatest national symbol – and it’s outrageous!
 
Any readers who know of any politicians who have similar views of their own national flags, please contact the Flag in the Wind and let me know!


 

THE BEST SMALL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD

I recently came back from visiting my son and his family in Norway.  The Norwegians mostly get on with life quietly and run, according to most of the statistics, a country that everyone else envies.

At Edinburgh airport I was greeted by the slogan – ‘Scotland – the best small country in the world’.
 
The boastful dishonesty of the slogan took the breath away.  Would no-one think of getting rid of this daft message, I wondered..
 
Well, I’m pleased to report that someone in the new SNP government agrees with me, and the slogan is to be discarded.  Thank goodness!
 

ANTI-INDEPENDENCE ARGUMENTS (2) 

Last time up I was bemoaning the fact that it was very difficult to get Unionists to come out and present their arguments.  I went on to analyse the pro-Union arguments of LibDem president Malcolm Bruce.
 
Well, since then of course, Scottish First minister Alex Salmond has made his call for a National Conversation, and I’m pleased to report that there is more to discuss than there used to be.
 
What first caught my eye was an article by journalist Will Hutton in the Herald of 15 August.  Here is a summary of his arguments.
 

1. The English, Irish and Welsh also ‘deserve a shout’ in this debate.
    

2. We fought for certain things together - for example ‘parliamentary democracy, freedom of the press, even the expansion of Britain overseas’.
    

3.  ‘We are one people, richly drawing from each other’s tradition.  The English got golf and whisky; the Scots rugby and gin.’
    

4. ‘None (‘the English, the Welsh, the Scots) could have done it by ourselves.  But as Brits we did.  (This follows on a discussion of the ‘Britishness’ of Canada, although it is not clear what he referring to by ‘it’ – probably the colonial empire)
    

5. Why not accept federalism, ‘the middle option’? After all, this ‘would in effect create a Scottish state in Britain rather like Alberta or Ontario within Canada.’
    

6.  ‘The notion that England or the British state is to blame for Scotland’s problems is to carry victimhood to new levels of self-indulgent unreality – and it is wrong to diagnose political independence as an antidote to all ills.’
    

7. It is wrong ‘ to imagine that the EU and its once generous subsidies will ride to Scotland’s rescue as they have done for other small west European states like Portugal and Ireland’.
    

8. The SNP is wrong to point to Brussels or dwindling oil reserves  … as sources of largesse that will insulate Scotland from the impact of independence.’
    

9.  ‘Perhaps Alex Salmond … recognises some of this even as he invokes the old certainties of the virtues of sovereignty.  He probably guesses that the federal option would be more acceptable to Scottish opinion – and to British opinion more widely.  It also makes more economic sense.’
    

10. ‘Globalisation … has to be managed by bigger units, not small.’
     

11. ‘An independent Scotland would be a helpless, voiceless bystander incapable of shaping anything in an era of globalisation and at the complete mercy of forces outside its control; a 19th century response to 21st century dilemmas.’
     

12. ‘A Scotland as part of a more federal Britain could get the best of both worlds.’

 
 

AND NOW FOR THE ANSWERS (2)

1. Scotland is a country and like all other countries should determine its own fate.    I don’t believe Will Hutton or any other English writer ever declared that the Baltic states, all with populations below four million, should invite the vast Russian population to vote in their independence referendums, or that last year Montenegro should leave it up to the much larger Serbia to vote in their independence referendum.  This is just a spoof argument designed to make the Scots feel that however strongly they may feel in favour of independence, they will always be outvoted by the English.
    

2.  Lots of countries have fought for different things together.  In World War 2 we fought with the Americans and others against dictatorship and to preserve democracy, among many other things.  That does not mean that we should enter into a permanent union with any of them.  This argument, like so many in favour of the Union, is merely a sentimental attachment to the past, masquerading as an argument for future political organisation.
    

3.  So we gave the English golf and whisky, while they gave us rugby and gin!!  Have you ever heard of such nonsense?  And yet some of the arguments we hear are on this kind of level – things you would never dream of unless someone actually believed they made sense.
    

4. Again, this harks back to the past.  The appeal to ‘we Brits’ has simply ceased to resonate with most people, who prefer to look to the future.
    

5. Will Hutton just does not get it.  To compare Scotland, or any people who consider themselves a nation, to one of the states of Canada, or to a mere region of England, totally fails to understand the sentiment of Scots (of almost all political persuasions).
    

6. It is a fact that the small independent countries of northern Europe, are far more successful than Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.  (See Flag 253, March 9, 2007, for the facts.)  It seems to be that independence brigs success, while dependence brings relative failure.  And no-one has ever claimed that independence is an antidote to all our ills: it is a disreputable way to debate to ascribe a position to you opponent that he does not hold, and then to refute it triumphantly.
    

7. Again, no-one claims that the EU will ride to Scotland’s rescue with generous subsidies.  To make such a claim is ridiculous.
    

8.  ‘Dwindling oil reserves’ really harks back to the old arguments of the 1970s, when Unionists claimed that North Sea oil was not worth very much at all.  Tell that to the Norwegians!  In fact, there is still quite a bit there, which is one reason the British government is so keen to keep us in the Union.  While more than 50% of the oil has been more or less squandered by Westminster, what remains would still be a great benefit to Scotland. And anyway, many small countries in Europe do very well without any oil at all.
   And we will need insulated from the impact of independence??!!  Tell that to the Marines.  What we need insulated from is the impact of a Union, which has left Scotland in such a relatively poor state.
    

9. Praying Alex Salmond as a federal convert is a desperate throw of the dice: the use of ‘perhaps’ and ‘probably’ indicate that even Hutton himself scarcely believes it.  Of course, right now it is probable that most Scots would not vote for independence – how could they, never having heard the arguments, and being subject to a blizzard of propaganda in the press.  And the idea that the Union as opposed to Independence makes ‘economic sense’ flies in the face of the facts – see some of these in Flag 253.
    

10. This is simply untrue.  There are more and more small units as countries win their independence.  They all manage, and many far better than Britain, especially he smaller countries of western Europe.  Mere assertion simply will not do nowadays.
     

11. This is typical of the hyperbolic mode of debate – full of sound and fury signifying.  Either Mr Hutton has never thought of testing his statements against the facts – just look at other small countries, Will! – or he has a simple gut feeling that it is best to be big and has nothing but contempt for the small. I wonder how he would react to a suggestion that Britain should scrap its own parliament and become one of the states of the United States, ruled from Washington?  After all, much better to be part of a really big, powerful country!
     

12. Part of a federal Britain – and still with Trident in our waters, still subject to military adventurism and London’s delusions of grandeur!  No thanks!