Not too long now

8/11/2019 Not too long now...

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A week til the Union might end

We all have our own very personal take on why this is a good or bad thing. Id like to simply share a

personal perspective on the vote. I know Im at least as biased as everyone else, but I think I mighthave a unique perspective (how predictable of me!).

Like most people my opinion is very heavily influenced by my mum and dad. Dad worked for a British

construction company and used to be in the RAF so no prizes for guessing which way his bread is

buttered! (Sorry Dad I didnt mean for that to sound disrespectful.) But a less predictable and more

exotic influence might be my mum, and I want to talk about her and where she comes from.

My mum came to Britain (or Scotland, if you like) in 1979 from Iran after a popular coup (an unlikely

combo of Marxists and Theocrats) swept an incumbent ruler (the Shah/King) from power. It wasnt agood time to be married to a foreigner in the aftermath of this, and she had a bit of a trek to get

here as the airports were all shut and they werent letting anyone leave, soshe went by bus from

Shiraz in Iran all the way to Ankara in Turkey (quite a long way when very pregnantand at the time

bandit country at the border), where she was able to get a flight to Glasgow. She had pretty limited

English and of course was culturally totally different to the west of Scotland village she suddenly

found herself in (in Winter too!). But luckily she got a warm welcome in Kilbarchan.

What on earth does this have to do with indyref? For me, quite a lot, bear with me! I think my mum

coming from a completely different country and culture has given me some pretty unique insights inmy life in general, and Im very grateful for that (though when I was growing up it wasnt so easy, as

there was a cultural gap between the two of us! Muslims dont like to drink and I was in the west of

Scotland.. go figure!). I also seriously respect her bravery and ability to adapt when she had to. It

simply wasntan option to lose herself in a homogenous expat community.. there wasnt one! And

thats sort of where the relevance to indyref starts..

Britain is a great place to live. Lets get that out there.. I think it simply isnt said often enough.

In Britain, you get free healthcare, you get housing benefit if you cant get a job, you get a good a ndfree education, you get a decent chance of getting a job of some kind (and I live in a household

where the former job titles have been: cleaner, factory worker, bookshelver, bingo hall assistant,

along with the more recent better paid ones). There is a strong streak of self-reliance in the British

psyche that is very admirable. I could go into the many other ways that living in modern Britain is

amazing (for example, ourfreedoms are amazingdont guffaw! I will talk about this in a minute).

All of the above, to me, seems to be taken utterly for granted. Ive thought this all my life, when

talking to friends who complain about how bad things are. Its not that I cant see that things should

be improved (they should). Its just I cant help but think about my relatives in Iran.. where girls have

to cover their hair, and men cant grow their hair long. If you want to have a party with girls and

boys present, you have to pay off the police to stand at the end of your street, have your party andthen go back to your life lived behind a veil


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Until recently this is something I could just mutter and chuckle to myself about (I mean, the fact that

we have it so good in the UK compared to so many other places, and that -as I see it- we take our

freedoms and economic stability for granted). But generally I keep schtum and maybe just complain

to Ellie a little about it (sorry Ellie).

But none of this should be taken for granted. And it seems to me that the Yes movement although

uniformly well-intentioned, really does neglect to recognize the basic fact that living in this country

for the vast majority is very, very good. Note that I do nt say perfect. I say very, very good. And its

not just the comparison with Iran (although I cant say Im an expert on other countries - Im going to

have a stab at it), its Spain (50% youth unemployment), its Ireland (all public servants wages cut by

10% without any consultation), its Italy, its Greece (dont know where to start with Greece, there are

so many Greeks in GlasgowI used to go out with one and they are all here because there are no

jobs in Greece! If its so bad here, why do you hear so much Greek spoken on the streets of

Glasgow?!). Try telling them you have it hard in the UK, and I expect they might look at you

quizzically, maybe raise an eyebrow, and perhaps do that thing with the two hands.

Again I stress not perfect. I recognise that when mistakes are made, often the poor suffer the

most. But in a world context, if you get your head up and look around.. the UK as it stands is simply a

great place to be. Please dont say it isnt, when it so clearly is.

I want to protect that. This is where my streak of social conservatism comes from (way to alienate

100% of your West of Scotland audience Dave). I do see that there are some wrongs that should be

righted. But when the government of the day does something designed to correct this (likeincreasing the income tax threshold from 6k to 10k like the current British government has the

best thing to happen for low earners for many years), nobody seems to notice. We are too busy

complaining about the bad state of the country.

One of my very good collaborators is from Alicante in Spain. He lives and works in Glasgow. He tells

me that youth unemployment in Spain is staggering. Im not trying to lord it over the Spanish. But

unemployment in Britain is really low compared to most other countries. Part of the reason for that

is that we are pretty competitive in terms of our taxes and wages. Its a really fine balance to strike,

in terms of good conditions for your population, and also getting private industry to set up shop.

And I think that is at the heart of many yes independence arguments. The idea that Scotland could

set its own course, and become both more competitive and more egalitarian.

Of course this idea appeals! But running a country is a balance. If you get the balance wrong, at the

wrong time, you need to deal with the consequences. And we are in the UK having to deal with that

in the post-crash era. But consider for a moment how much harder life is right now in Spain, Ireland,

or Iran for the average citizen. Of course there are many complex reasons for these differences, but

part of the reason Britain has weathered the last 6 years relatively well is that we are a well-run

country backed by a very large tax base.


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I feel strongly that this is very much taken for granted. To re- iterate, I dont consider the Scots to be

any less capable, or less clever than their rUK counterparts. But equally, I dont consider us any less

likely to succumb to corruption, or greed, or self-interest. These are not rUK, English, or Westminster

traits. They are human, and our system of government in Britain (generally) does a pretty good jobof keeping these in check. Again, I expect many to disagree with the last sentence. But trust me, we

have it good here (if we didnt, why are there such large numbers of people wanting to come here

from Europe, Asia, and the middle east? All my Iranian relatives would love to come here.)

Im not kidding myself, this note is primarily for me, so I can figure out why I think what I think (this

is the sort of thing you end up doing when you think differently to those around you, which Ive

found myself doing for most of my adult life, and especially in the last few months). But its also for

you whoever you are reading this. I hope that whatever you vote you can take a moment and

consider just how lucky we are to live in a stable, safe, relatively free country. Dont take it for

granted, and please.. please dont run the UK down. Its been so good to my mum, to me, and to my

relatives who have been lucky enough to make it here from another country.

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