Today I see an article in the
Daily Record talking about the different viewpoints put to women, by women on the independence issue.
The first is traditional Labour. Cherry pick the stats, don't compare like with like and go on about "great strides" made by Labour. Then it goes on about how, if the Scots stick together, they can stick it to the Tories in the next election and things will be "so much better" under Labour.
The Scots have a word for this. Shoogly. Half truths made to fit a picture which is all about fear and possible chances in a future dominated by England but maybe, just maybe the Scots can make a difference.
The second is a former Labour advisor. She talks about opportunities there to be grabbed. About previous failures driven by England and impacting Scotland. She talks about people making this decision for themselves and not for any political party.
For a moment, forget the research, forget the private polling, forget the lengthy political treatises about what wins elections and what doesn’t. Just think of your own life. Do you want to surround yourself by the folk who tell you that “you cannae dae that” and “it’ll never work”? If women had listened to these folks in years gone by, we’d never have won a smidgen of equality and we’d certainly never have won the right to vote.
But we didn’t because, simply, we can’t afford to. So the unsurprising news is that scare stories – great, small and at times downright ridiculous – are pretty poor substitutes for genuine, engaging, down-to-earth conversations.
Then there is the "Stay and get Labour to Fix It all".
There is an argument that we should “stay and fight”. Wait for 2015. Work hard for a Labour victory and all will be well. Except it won’t. Not with public commitments from the UK Labour shadow cabinet that they will, in government, continue the economic model that has brought so much misery to so many.
That last part is particularly stinging for a No campaign led by Labour. No Scot has forgotten that one of their own, a Labour leader, created an economic environment so unstable as to almost default the UK economy. These arguments about labour "Fixing It" are not going to work with many Scots as they know Labour F'd it big style in their last 13 year run. Scots may not like the medicine, especially as they can afford more for themselves when independent, but they certainly don't want the architects of the disaster back.
And she continues, just to hammer the point home
Not while they insist they will maintain, and indeed increase, the cuts in welfare support taking the feet from under thousands of families across Scotland and pushing more children – now one in four – into poverty.
When talking about grass roots women's movements on independence and the change they have wrought, she says
A quick look at what folk have come up with so far shows a remarkable degree of agreement. But, more than that, it shows that when the question is asked, no one needs to go away and ponder for weeks before they answer. People in Scotland know the kind of country they want for themselves and their families.
The she continues.
They just need to be asked. Then, through grassroots activity, they gain the confidence to put their answers into practice. And the first step in that is a vote for independence.
She finishes with one of the strongest messages that, to me, came out from the televised debate last week.
Independence isn’t about having more of the same but with tartan round it. It offers all of us the chance to create a country built on values of fairness, social justice and equality.
Is it any wonder that Women (and we know that the undecided are predominantly women), are coming off the fence and down on the side of Independence?
Saying that the bulk of the Scots have become Anti-English is extremely unfair. The bulk of the Scots have been given a chance to become Pro-Scots. If the tables were turned I have no doubt that the English would do exactly the same but with less angst and in larger numbers. Something everyone might want to stop and think about. Because whilst Independence will mean a large jump in finances for Scotland, that same vote for England would bring the opposite, almost disastrously so. Yet the English would jump into that fire without a second thought.
Food for thought.
