|
Back in 1983 Jim Lynch stated a simple
case for independence and it is still relevant today. Here is what he
said...
People
Skilled, inventive and hard working. The lifeblood of any country. The
world would grind to a halt without Scottish inventions.
Resources
Food: We produce more food than we can eat. We can produce even more and
the world needs food.
Energy: There is no other country in the world with the energy resources
that Scotland has - coal, oil, gas, hydro electricity and wind and wave
power.
Land
One third belongs to only 100 people and no London Government wants
change. The land belongs to you. A Scottish Government would put it to
better use. It is a beautiful land.
The Card
When you hold three aces and you're not winning, then someone's cheating
you. For generations, Scotland has been cheated by the
"British" political parties who talk glibly of "National
issues" when they mean "English issues" and who only
condescend to call the Scots "British" when we do something
good. These parties have to go by majority rule, and the majority is
English. That is democracy.
The Scottish National Party believes that
Scotland is a Nation.
The Scottish National Party stands up for Scotland's rights.
The Scottish National Party puts Scotland first.
 Jim
Lynch
Jim was born and brought up in Dundee, as was his wife Margaret. His
two sons were also born in Dundee. Jim was educated at Lawside Academy.
He did his National Service with the Black Watch in Kenya and then
studied accountancy. He still works as an accountant in Edinburgh
although now retired. Jim joined the SNP in 1966 while living in
Peterhead. He has been an active member ever since, and he was a
Parliamentary Candidate in 1974, 1979 and 1983. Away from politics, his
interests are reading, swimming, caravanning and football. Jim is a
Director of the Scots Independent Newspaper.
Note from Jim Lynch 31 August 2001
It was decided, by our Chairman, Peter D
Wright, that the Flag would use my election address from the General
Election of June 83 in Dundee West, to make a few simple points. The
basic idea was mine, but the artwork and development was done by a
friend and fellow member of Corstorphine Branch SNP, Percy Holton; Percy
was a commercial artist and he could turn ideas into reality, a great
talent. We were a good team.
At the time, the Sunday Standard was
running a campaign to find the best election address in Scotland, and we
decided to send ours in; we won it!
There was a downside; on the day I had to
go to Glasgow to accept the prize, which was £500, the decision was
taken to close the Sunday Standard, and when I visited the offices, the
staff were sitting around, thoroughly depressed, bottles everywhere, and
nobody was interested. So I had a brief meeting, picked up the cheque,
had a quick drink in commiseration, and ran. The Sunday Standard was a
good paper, the predecessor of the Sunday Herald, but it was before its
time.
During the Election, we also used the
idea in press advertising for all of Dundee and Fife and Tayside, even
although we had to change the wording to suit the Dundee Courier! The
£500 went some way to pay the bills we ran up during the election; we
got about 8000 votes, but came fourth as the Social Democrats were on
the rise, and they got three more votes than we did.
So, that’s the background, and as you
will see, I have aged somewhat in the 18 years, but the arguments are
still valid!
|
