When independence comes...
...I want to ban 2 words from our language in Scotland:
The first is 'small'.
Scotland is referred to as a 'small country.' Not by the people who live here but, I suspect, by people who only see Scotland from weather satellites or photos from the International Space Station - and who maybe (wrongly) compare Scotland to the distorted map used to show the rest of the British Isles on TV weather forecasts. I like the International Space Station photos of Scotland, but I have doubts about the kind of image that people have of my country just from seeing these photos.
In physical terms, Scotland is no smaller than many of its neighbours in Europe. We need to start putting ourselves on the same level as Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark. Sovereign states. Independent. Making decisions - good or bad - for themselves.
The other word I want to ban is 'remote.'
I doubt if there's still an inhabited place in Scotland that could be described as remote. Most Scottish islands and a lot of the mainland can be reached by ferry or plane. The furthest ferry port is about 5 hours from the mainland. The nearest - Cumbrae, Dunoon, Gigha, Bute - are about 25 minutes away from the mainland. Campbeltown and Islay are 35 minutes from Glasgow by plane. Tiree is about 45 minutes away. Stornoway is about 50 minutes from Glasgow, although you may have to fly to Lewis from Edinburgh, which is a total pain in the a*se for a lot of us in the west.
Argyll runs its own plane service, dropping people off at places like Colonsay where they can do a day's work and then be picked up and taken home at the end of the day, whereas before people could be on the island for up to 3 days, depending on the ferries and the weather.
I've been to Norway and Sweden and have come to the conclusion that the words small and remote don't exist for the people who live there. In Gothenburg, I sat in a waterside cafe and saw a man wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase come down the pier, where he jumped onto a wee boat, dumped his jacket and his briefcase and set off (I imagine) for home. That would be the ideal lifestyle for many people in Scotland - and I hope it happens or will happen in the near future.
Water is the main means of transport in Scandinavian countries - as it should be in Scotland. That's how our Irish and Viking ancestors got here. We need to invest in our infrastructure, especially our maritime infrastructure.
Our seaways should not just be for tourists: tourists are very welcome but if we want our rural communities to prosper (that's half the population of Scotland), we need to spend money. That has been lacking in previous decades.
The first is 'small'.
Scotland is referred to as a 'small country.' Not by the people who live here but, I suspect, by people who only see Scotland from weather satellites or photos from the International Space Station - and who maybe (wrongly) compare Scotland to the distorted map used to show the rest of the British Isles on TV weather forecasts. I like the International Space Station photos of Scotland, but I have doubts about the kind of image that people have of my country just from seeing these photos.
In physical terms, Scotland is no smaller than many of its neighbours in Europe. We need to start putting ourselves on the same level as Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark. Sovereign states. Independent. Making decisions - good or bad - for themselves.
The other word I want to ban is 'remote.'
I doubt if there's still an inhabited place in Scotland that could be described as remote. Most Scottish islands and a lot of the mainland can be reached by ferry or plane. The furthest ferry port is about 5 hours from the mainland. The nearest - Cumbrae, Dunoon, Gigha, Bute - are about 25 minutes away from the mainland. Campbeltown and Islay are 35 minutes from Glasgow by plane. Tiree is about 45 minutes away. Stornoway is about 50 minutes from Glasgow, although you may have to fly to Lewis from Edinburgh, which is a total pain in the a*se for a lot of us in the west.
Argyll runs its own plane service, dropping people off at places like Colonsay where they can do a day's work and then be picked up and taken home at the end of the day, whereas before people could be on the island for up to 3 days, depending on the ferries and the weather.
I've been to Norway and Sweden and have come to the conclusion that the words small and remote don't exist for the people who live there. In Gothenburg, I sat in a waterside cafe and saw a man wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase come down the pier, where he jumped onto a wee boat, dumped his jacket and his briefcase and set off (I imagine) for home. That would be the ideal lifestyle for many people in Scotland - and I hope it happens or will happen in the near future.
Water is the main means of transport in Scandinavian countries - as it should be in Scotland. That's how our Irish and Viking ancestors got here. We need to invest in our infrastructure, especially our maritime infrastructure.
Our seaways should not just be for tourists: tourists are very welcome but if we want our rural communities to prosper (that's half the population of Scotland), we need to spend money. That has been lacking in previous decades.
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