Apologies folks, this is going to be another one of my politics posts so if this does not interest you stop reading now.
Last night the British government decided to renew its Weapons of Mass Destruction program called “Trident” at the cost of over £200 Billion over the next 30 years. The vote was roughly 3 to 1 in favour with one notable exception: 98% of Scotland’s MPs rejected the proposal, leaving the only Tory MP to vote in favour of it.
Leaving aside the astronomical cost of a defense system rooted in the Cold War and the horror of knowing that the new prime minister would not hesitate to press the Nuke button to kill hundreds of thousands there is one major thorn in this: Trident is currently based at Faslane, a naval base north of Glasgow, in Scotland.
Last month all of Scotland’s local authorities voted in favour of remaining in the +European Union while England did not thus forcing Scotland down a path it hasn’t chosen.
In 2015 Scotland chose to vote for 56 out of 59 MPs from the Scottish National Party in a bid to safeguard Scotland’s future. Since then all attempts to bring in legislation by Scottish MPs to strengthen the Scottish Parliament and bring more powers to Scotland were crushed down by the British establishment.
In 2014, the day after the Scottish independence referendum result, the main topic that the Prime Minister brought up for discussion was “English Votes for English Laws” which, regardless of the validity of the proposal, went the opposite way of promises just days before for Scotland to gain significantly more powers.
No matter what is being voted on, Scotland always votes differently to the rest of this United Kingdom. Again and again our voice is being shut down because we only represent about 8% of the total UK population. Yet we are a nation in our own right with our own parliament, our own laws and education system. We are prosperous and open to the world. This shunning cannot go on like this forever. Soon it will become too obvious that the only way our voice can be heard is for us to be independent from this toxic United Kingdom.
So where do we go from here? One of the strengths of Scotland as a country and something that the Scottish Government emphasises is the fact that here the people are sovereign so it’s up to us to ensure that independence gathers enough sustainable support to allow us to fly with our own wings.
I am reluctant to make predictions at this stage but I would not be surprised if a new referendum was held next year and independence declared before the end of 2018. First grassroots movements need to get to work and thanks to the lessons learnt from 2014, I think there’s a good chance that they can work far better now.
So far 2016 has been a terrible year on so many levels but there’s no reason things can’t change for us and for everyone else.
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Thanks for keeping us aware of what's going on there. I find some other countries' politics interesting.
Well, if the British description of "weapons of mass destruction" is the same as little georgie bush's was, then, they don't exist. I'm sure they do exist, unfortunately, he lied about where they were.
My heritage is from Scotland, a few generations back, so I am intereresed in what's going on there.
+Brian D Unfortunately they do exist and they pose a security threat to our country
I was dismMayed when the new PM said: "No second vote…Scots already voted to remain in UK".
As though nothing's happened since 2014.
+theodor cole I don't know how we'll manage to hold a legally binding second referendum if Westminster stubbornly refuses us everything but we'll find a way.
I saw the debate last night. All the SNP MPs spoke eloquently against renewal, to an almost empty Gov. bench.
Espero que un gran país como Escocia por fin sea , como lo que es un gran país que poco tiene que ver con él resto del Reino Unido .
TRUE H i s c h e l l e o t t e ARE T R U E
Anandika Nanda Setiawan
T R U S T me
HIGHLAND S c o t l a n d s
+sunset dyan lily Do you mean getting rid of WMDs? I would argue that's the opposite in fact. If you don't have WMDs you're more likely to be perceived as a peaceful and friendly nation.
+Jean-Loup Rebours-Smith I am not political . I have not read it all. I am of the faith J.W.. But when I lived in long Island friends of my husband and I told us that the UK got about 10mins for the Holy Loch if anything was about to go." He was an USA Sailor in the holy loch at that time. and the USA a bit more" This was in 1964 … so any ways we shall see . personally they need to clean up our streets and better homes and more jobs training for our young….. With the monies .. yes I have lived in 2 states and 2 provinces and my 3 children and 12 grandchildren are Native Indian and I am Canadian Citizen .So we shall see..
+Patricia Neary-Kelsey what's the holy loch?
The Holy Loch's outside Dunoon, in Argyll. The US had a submarine base there throughout the Cold War.
+Scotch Mist I did not know that. I see it's just across the water from Greenock and it's pretty small, thanks for the info
The base there shut in the early 1990s. Pretty much all the lochs in the area have been used, or are still in use, for subs.
+Scotch Mist Yeah I know, the top of Loch Long used to be used for underwater missile tests for instance O.o
The objection isn't so much the submarines but the nuclear weapons. The Scottish Government did (and perhaps still does) have plans to retrofit Faslane as the base of operation for a Scottish Navy when we become independent
Apparently the missiles are in the Hills around the loch and underneath .. the great Tribulation will come 1st then Armageddon .. So no hiding anywhere….
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+Jean-Loup Rebours-Smith They called it the Holy Loch in the Dunoon area .. I have resided most of life between USA And Canada..I left in Glasgow 1964 only been back and forth here since 2004 …
I grew up with the shadow of that base over my childhood. It could easily be turned into a conventional navy base.