Heading for a Hung Parliament...

A super-belated Happy New Year.

I have left behind the urgent need to finish my entry on Fracking for the moment to point out a quick fact: it's a UK Election Year!

On May the 7th, the Coalition Government of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats formally ends and voting takes place across the country in order to determine what will replace it.

It's highly unlikely to be a repeat scenario... and for the first time in a good while, the result is really hard to predict.

This is arguably mainly down to the presence of UKIP, and their success in the May 2014 European Elections has without doubt scared the established mainstream parties. Also, despite the failure of the SNP to secure independence after the Scottish Referendum on 18th September, 2014, the party has found itself in a strong, indeed arguably stronger, position ever since, and it is possible they may hold the balance of power come the morning of May the 8th.

Whilst, as I said, it's hard to predict the outcome, and despite the occasional spats taking place in the various televised Leaders' Debates currently taking place, it is relatively easy to consider who may work with who (and who may not) in the case of there being no overall victor after it.

Labour have made it clear they are targeting an overall majority and do not wish to work with the SNP, but UKIP have said they would consider a partnership with the Conservatives... and Nick Clegg (as LibDem Leader) still has faith that his party will prove the Kingmaker, regardless of who that main (but not overall) victor is.

As a Greens' supporter for 2015, I have been happy with what I have heard from Natalie Bennett et al. Whilst a lot has been said of her "interviewing skills", she has performed well enough in the debates, and we must remember that, either way, we don't vote for people, we vote for parties. This is not The Voice, after all.

I suppose what really annoys me right now is that a lot of detractors (who, at best, 'skip read' the various Party Manifestos), are attacking the Greens for being potentially economically disastrous...

Now, no matter what you might think about that, or indeed whether you think it was US sub-prime mortgages, Gordon Brown selling gold or just plain bad luck that caused the economic crash of 2008 in the first place, you must admit that it is rather sloppy to worry about the Greens creating an economic mess when we are already in one.

I say: give them a chance! If they fail then we can at least all say that they had a go. It gets me down when people say "it's time for something different"... and then don't see it through.

Of course, saying that, I'd rather people voted Labour than UKIP... but then, I'm not bonkers.

So: 1. Remember to vote! It CAN make a difference no matter what Russell Brand might say as there is always a wide-range of options on a ballot paper. The last day to register to vote IS MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!

And: 2. Read the manifestos rather than just relying on TV performances to help make up your mind.

Cheers,
ZeeOx

Scottish Independance... why it's a bad thing. (A last minute opinion!)

Just a quick few, badly thought out, comments regarding the Scottish independence referendum, which is taking place today as I write this.

Basically, I'm not for it.

Not, of course, that I have a say in the matter... but a 'No' result WILL have an impact on my life in some form AND, in a sense, will also change my current/future attitude towards the country and influence the possibility of me taking future trips there.

My last three holidays have all been to Scotland. I love the place and also have many Scottish friends... But what's interesting there I suppose is that these passionately Scottish friends aren't allowed to vote in the referendum because they no longer live there!

Anyway, without going too deep, I'll just say that my main reason for thinking the Union is worth keeping is because the 'Yes' cause has got the wrong target in their sights.

The problem with the political infrastructure in this country right now, and its Local, Regional, Devolved and National Governments, is not that 'England' is too dominant...or that the Conservatives don't care for the average child born in The Gorbals... (even if that might be true!)...  it is the dominance of the capital of London. And.... the shackles that the Casino gaming-like world of stockbrokers and big banks has us ALL tied to.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29238037 

True, Scottish 'Yes' campaigners are encouraging their (possibly soon-to-be-ex)partners in the North, or Cornwall, or Wales to follow their suit and try and break free too, but let's be realistic about this: that is silly talk.

Cornwall does not need independence, it just needs help.

And Scotland does too.

These last minute 'MaxDevo' offers do smack of desperation, but the tactic might just actually win it for the 'No' vote as I type this... with more devolved powers than ever before given to Scotland to help them manage their own affairs.

I admit, I quite like devolution in principle. But surely it only comes about because we are useless at keeping a highly centralised, unitary government focused and organised?

But all that aside, I'm much more simplistic in my view about all this...

I think it's a storm in a teacup really and that we shouldn't in this day and age be saying things like "the Scottish are One People!" and that we, south of the border, are another. We are all the same and I hate seeing people drawing lines in the sand, whether it's trendy, tourist friendly 'Yes' campaigners in kilts or nasty, poorly-educated EDL marchers.

Indeed, and pathetic though this sounds, I personally long for a future where we all come together as one, with no fences between us... rather than a world where we retreat behind fences that we should never have built. I know that is basically the contextual and historical setting for the Star Trek universe, but so be it!

Further, I find it interesting to see how some, wildly contrasting, people have come together in support of the 'Yes' vote.

We all know that the 'Better Together' team is a very shaky partnership of various Tories, Labour MPs, Social Democrats, ASDA-Walmart bosses, environmentalists... even George Galloway... and so on, but just think about the various right-wing elements joining up with your Russell Brands and your Vivian Westwoods as well. It's just as odd a bunch!

Off topic, I wonder if Russell Brand has ever given any thought that his consistently-aired 'Trews' YouTube channel philosophy of suggesting that humans need to break down the corporate* and political walls and live in small communes world-wide is merely a semantic shift (plus a swapping of some Eastern Spirituality and falafels for some fundamental Christianity and guns) from what most Libertarians and Tea Party activists in the USA are also saying right now? "Just sayin'!"

(* I note with interest that his YouTube account is fully 'monetised'... so why is that? N.B Here's an interesting angle from Private Eye.)

Anyway, what I'm saying is that you cannot look at the whole background story and compare it to that of other historical struggles - for example, say, the Québécois movement in Canada... even if the story of the political campaigns are VERY similar.

Scottish people are British people. English people are British people. They speak the same language in the main, and they look the same, and they like the same things.

Quick question:

I'm not going to Google this to cheat so hopefully someone out there reading this can inform me: 

Has Alex Salmond ever spoken (at length) in Scottish Gaelic during any Scottish Parliament debates? I'm interested to know...

***

Talking of mixed(up)-cultural heritages, Braveheart is just a film by the way - and (although I think most people know) is wildly inaccurate (and I love it by the way)... so it still amazes me that some people cling to it as an inspiration for all this.

Moreover, the Union of 1707 is proof that Scotland and England has been tied by a friendship (of sorts, true) rather than the normal story of British Colonialism and land-grabbing that we see elsewhere. Indeed, one mustn't forget that England/Britain bailed out Scotland after its disastrous attempt at colonial expansion itself:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darien_scheme

What's amazing is just how many Scottish people have contributed to or enriched the country AS A WHOLE over the past 300-400 years. From inheriting a Scottish king in 1603, to having three consecutive Prime Ministers in recent times with strong Scottish bloodlines.

True, if they had stayed inside Scottish borders they may have helped their home nation just as well, if not more... but who's to say they wouldn't have left anyway?

***

There are so many un-addressed economic concerns (and not just with currency questions, oil reserve estimates and nuclear submarine bases) with the independence movement that I feel a 'Yes' vote would do more harm to the Scottish people overall than do good... but I do hope I'm wrong, whatever the outcome.

Oh... and one last thing...

I don't want the inescapable prison of consecutive future Conservative Governments, which may be the result of Scottish independence for us in what is left of the United Kingdom after the referendum.

Scotland brings balance to the political game in the UK, even if it doesn't quite do enough to break the current Centrist tumor of the two party domination due to the first-past-the-post scheme.

As much I believe that the SNP are just Scotland's version of UKIP (yuk!)... we need them... in a full and whole United Kingdom, rather than a broken one.

ZeeOx.