An Evening With Mr Carmichael

If you had asked me a year ago if i would like to spend an evening with Allister Carmichael, i would have probably compared the proposal to watching paint dry. He has the same charisma as a cardboard box. Rather appropriate then that he has become known as the "Cardboard cut out Scottish Secretary". He earned this nickname by never once standing up for Scotland whilst he has held the position. He allows his Tory overlords to dictate policy and nods along like some pet with the rest of the Lib Dems.

Despite all i stated above i chose to go along to a Scottish Office (and taxpayer) funded event with the man himself. I wanted to ask a series of questions and was joined by friends from @YesDivit (our yes group covering Inverkeithing, Dalgety Bay and Aberdour) who also thought it was worth giving up a Wednesday evening at home. This was in all but name designed to be a tax payer funded BitterTogether event, it was to turn out to be a much different affair...

As we entered the King Malcolm Hotel function suite in Dunfermline we were greeted by several very official looking people with suits and ties who checked our names off the list and then told us to help ourselves to tea and coffee. We found seats and quickly identified the people sitting in front of us were fellow separatists and struck up conversation, sharing tales of canvass and such. The seats had a booklet full of figures i don't believe that provided no source and we proceeded to discuss this. One of the officials was wandering round and ear wigging so we all quickly quietened up when he came within earshot. As one of the folks in front went for more tea as the hall filled up he overheard two of the suits talking and one saying to the other "we're fucked tonight, its full of nationalists!". As this was reported back to me i knew we were in for for some fun!




Red Tory and local MP Thomas Docherty did the introduction (and said "erm" about 1000 times in 2 minutes, a possible new world record) then Carmichael waffled on for about 15 minutes about a "successful union" that many of us struggled to identify with. He stated that we were better placed as part of a bigger nation to recover more quickly from a financial crisis such as the one in 2008, hang on a minute, aren't Ireland, Iceland and a host of other small nations recovering much quicker than the UK?! The fact is being part of the union gives us a much slower recovery timetable. The UK still has a big annual deficit in the budget and at time of writing is 1.5 TRILLION pounds in debt! Some successful union that eh? Another fun fact is that the only people who are better of after the recession is the wealthiest 1% of society. He stated the UK was a more stable economy, i take issue with this because the UK economy is based largely on the fickle London financial sector. In an independent Scotland our economy would be based more largely on actual products and far more diverse, fishing, agriculture, whiskey, oil, gas, manufacture etc etc etc. That seems far more stable than the city traders who plunged us into recession in 2008...

We were waiting for the opportunity to ask questions. Finally Captain Cardboard finished his speech and got a round of applause from perhaps 20 of the 80 or more present.





THE QUESTIONS:

The first question asked was about what the "guaranteed powers" are advertised on the BitterTogether billboards. We have no cross party agreement on a package of new powers for Scottish Parliament and powers may even be removed from Hollyrood. Carmichael was forced to admit that we wont have any idea what a No vote will actually mean for Scotland as no package will be specifically laid out and agreed on before the referendum. In his opinion its something we should wait and see what happens after a No vote... i smell a rat on that one folks! The Labour parties enhanced devolution package was also discussed, this lead to a revelation for me. Under this proposal the Scottish parliament would have the power to raise our taxes but not lower them again and if they did raise them this money would not be kept by the Scottish Parliament on top of what it receives from Westminster. So essentially if any Scottish Government ever raised the tax under this scheme then we wouldn't benefit from it at all and we would be unable to ever lower the tax again. Who's interest does that suit? Scotland's? No. Westminster's? Yep. We also know that after a No vote the barnet formula will be scrapped and we will lose up to £4bn a year. They aren't even offering jam tomorrow. A slap tomorrow maybe. Want all the meaningful powers in the Scottish Parliament? Vote YES.

With regards to a question on Defence, Carmichael stated that the Brittish Army was a force for good. Tell that to the people of Iraq who are tortured, degraded and sexually assaulted. Or maybe the people of Afghanistan who have Prince Harry flying about in a helicopter flying around killing shepard's and claiming they are Taliban warlords... The Union Jack is known as "the butchers apron" for good reason. Being part of the UK actually makes Scotland a target for other nations as if a war with another superpower was ever to take place then Faslane and Rosyth would be the primary targets and Scotland would be bombed back to the stone age. Tommy Docherty had a wee spell of scaremongering on Defence jobs in Rosyth, saying we would lose the maintenance contracts on the two new aircraft carriers being built to shipyards down south. I found this strange as no shipyard anywhere else in the UK has a dry dock capable of housing these colossal vessels and it would cost billions and take years upon years for them to be constructed. Someone also pointed out that much of the dockyard (dock one and dock two) is due, under plans that will commence in 2018, to be demolished and replaced with industrial units. At this point Docherty turned as red as a Labour rosette and started stammering... The fact is the Scottish Government has stated that Rosyth and Faslane would both be retained as naval bases, would build and maintain vessels to suit the needs of our own naval force. Also these engineering skills could be harnessed in the renewable energy sector in which the Scottish Government has pledged to create 28,000 jobs. Worried about your job at the dockyard? You better vote YES then!

He was asked a question on Europe and I was astounded that he told the truth, Scotland would certainly be able to negotiate EU membership. He stated that it may take a little longer than some have suggested but didn't see their being a problem. Much respect to Mr Carmichael on this point as many unionist politicians would have took the opportunity to scaremonger as we have seen in the past. I find it interesting too that UKIP are gaining a great deal of traction down south under the policy of pulling us out of EU and indeed the Tory's have relented to giving them a referendum on the matter in 2017 if they are in government, so we find ourselves in the position that if you want to remain in the EU then you have to vote YES.

Stevie Mac asked about why the Elitist Tory Government had sold off and privatised the Royal Mail and parts of the NHS south of the border. Two points stuck out in Carmichaels answer, he stated that we didn't have to "tear up the Constitution" to protect our NHS which i found strange as the UK is one of the backward nations of the world which doesnt have a written constitution. The comedy highlight of the evening however was when he stated that the current Tory government wasn't elitist! So a cabinet riddled with Etonians isn't elitist? 23 out of 29 cabinet members are personal millionaires! When he said this the hall erupted in laughter. I shouted out "tell us another one", others shouted "who the are you trying to kid?" and "is this a comedy show?" amongst others. It took a few minutes to settle the hall back down. They are tellin us lies! If he's willing to lie so blatantly about this then please question in your mind what else the unionists are trying yo get away with.... Vote YES.

A lady asked about Scotland's income tax raising powers under the Scotland act, this lead to a revelation for me. It would be a useless tool because it would only be inclusive of any income tax rise at Westminster. This was pointed out to cardboard man and he stammered a lot and then Docherty rushed on to the next question. Under Labours proposal for devolution the Scottish parliament would have the power to raise our taxes but not lower them again and if they did raise them this money would not be kept by the Scottish Parliament on top of what it receives from Westminster. So essentially if any Scottish Government ever raised the tax under this scheme then we wouldn't benefit from it at all and we would be unable to ever lower the tax again. Who's interest does that suit? Scotland's? No. Westminster's? Yep. We also know that after a No vote the barnet formula will be scrapped and we will lose up to £4bn a year. They aren't even offering jam tomorrow. A slap tomorrow maybe. Vote YES.

Then it was my turn to ask a question and i asked-
"As Scottish Secretary and an official representative of the UK government can Mr Carmichael give the official reason why both the McCrone report and the devolution papers of the 1990s were placed under the 30 year secrecy act?"
I got a round of applause from the audience and Mr Carmichael looked very troubled, he stammered a bit again and then blamed civil servants at the time. Also stating that he was just a young boy when McCrone report was compiled. Once again he hurriedly moved on to the next question and denied me the opportunity to further my line of questioning. Basically he refused to give any reason and then hurriedly moved on to the next question. The truth is they wanted to hide the truth from us as the knew it would fuel pro independence feelings if we knew what a wealthy independent nation we would be. Same reason the west coast oil was hidden from us. Vote YES.

He stated a complete lie responding to a question about business. He stated Standard Life would move all of their business down south, however this was contrary to what they themselves had said as pointed out by the chap sitting in front of me. He had took the time to ask them and had an email printed out with him stating their true position. Tommy Docherty tried to shut him up but he got his point across and offered to show it to anyone. With that the meeting was hastily wrapped up and he left with his tail between his legs.

I don't think anyone could have left this event as a No. Carmichael got picked apart by everyday members of the general public who had bothered to learn the facts about the independence referendum.

Vote Yes To Tackle Poverty

We live in the 4th most unequal society in the civilised world, where the gap between rich and poor gets wider all the time. Just let that sink in, then read on...

The fact that one in four children in Scotland are raised in poverty at the moment is an absolute disgrace. The British Red Cross for the first time since the end of World War Two are distributing aid in Scotland because of the austerity measures put in place by the current government. Oxfam, and remember this is an internationally respected charity who have no political allegiances, have called the current situation in Scotland a "humanitarian crisis". We have people in full time employment who are regularly faced with the stark and depressing choice of heating the family home, or feeding the family, that makes me feel sick. The current minimum wage is a complete and utter joke it doesn't rise anywhere near in line with for example energy bills which the government have allowed to double in the last 6 years while we have energy companies posting record profits. For the working poor, independence and the SNP's living wage promise is the solution. A proper wage for a hard days work.

I Would like to talk about the workfair system too, this is modern day slave labour. People being forced to work full time hours or face having their benefits taken away. I spoke to a young guy recently who had to work 12 weeks unpaid in ASDA. He was told by the Job Centre he might get a job at the end of it, he worked very hard and at the end of his 12 weeks his supervisor their noted this and asked if he wanted to do another 12 weeks. He said he would only stay on if they would give him a paid job. The supervisor laughed and said:

"why would we do that? ASDA get free labour and get £2000 of the government for each of you that are here."

Not only does this Workfare "work experience" force people into modern slavery and take away peoples dignity, it actually prevents proper jobs being created while giving companies taxpayers money and free labour to private companies! Independence will see an increase in public sector jobs with the setting up of Scottish versions of things like HMRC and the the DVLA. thats just two examples, there are many more. The renewable energy industry is predicted to create an extra 28,000 jobs in manufacture, construction and maintenance. Doesnt that sound progressive readers? Green energy and an employment boost!

Being on benefits isn't a choice for the vast majority. The unemployed and the disabled have been demonised by the likes of The Daily Mail, Daily Express and government ministers such as Ian Duncan Smith as scroungers. As if we have millions of people desperate to live on a pittance of a handout? We arn't in the situation where labour is a commodity that is hard to come by, ask anyone who has advertised a job on one of the main websites, they are immediately bombarded with more applications than they are capable of reading. A friend of mine applied for a hotel receptionist job in January and was told that they had recieved over 200 applications in just a few days. So i would suggest the issue is not that the majority of people in receipt of benefits do not want to work, its that does not have enough jobs to give them! In reality only 0.7% of benefits is claimed fraudulently according to official DWP figures. Our UK government however prefers to victimise the the other 99.3%. TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady said:

'People have been brainwashed into believing that the benefits system is riddled with fraud. In fact it accounts for just 0.7 per cent of the welfare budget and that proportion is not increasing.
'While benefit fraud is a problem, these figures show there is a significant issue with underpayment too, with one in ten housing benefit claimants being underpaid at a time when living costs are soaring.
'Instead of seeking to demonise those on benefits, ministers should be getting tough on tax-evading companies who are cheating the Treasury out of £25bn a year.'

Polling carried out by the TUC in January, showed that on average people think that 27 per cent of the welfare budget is claimed fraudulently. The government's own figure is 0.7 per cent.

The real, single most shameful tactics for me are against the most vulnerable group in society, our disabled. They have been harrassed and subjected to tests and assesments by a French firm, ATOS. They cost the taxpayer £1.6bn a year but many of you will never have heard of them. heres an example of what they get up to readers - http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/atos and Tommy Sheridan speaks about them in his now famous Kirkcaldy speech, something everyone should see before they make up their mind about the referendum, heres a link to that too- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6GsEKrCvgw For a private company employed by the government to act in this way is completely disgusting. An independent Scotland will never treat its disabled in this way but with care, compassion and understanding.

Matters will be made significantly worse by the recently passed benefit cap, supported by the Tories- LibDem coalition but shockingly Labour backed this too. I don't want my child to grow up in a county where their friends, neighbours or classmates could be going without basic essentials like food and heating. The benefit cap will also hit families with a parent in work who are entitled to benefits for being on low income. The SNP voted against the benefit cap and an independent Scotland would have a fairer benefit system allowing people a reasonable standard of living and give those on benefits their dignity back.


Danny Alexander grins gleefully as he opens a foodbank made necessary by the coalitions austerity policies forcing people into poverty to the extent they cant feed their children. Many more will be opening up soon with more cuts to come.

Anyone who thinks a Labour government in the next general election will help to tackle poverty is gullible and probably the sort of person that would fall for a Nigerian lottery scam. Remember, Labour voted FOR the Tory benefit cap and have vowed to make deep cuts if they get into power. These people expect us to trust them when they tell us to vote no? They don't have the Scottish peoples interests at heart! Jim Murphy, Margret Curran and the other 28 Labour MP's elected from Scottish constituencies are traitors to the poor and disabled people of Scotland. They towed the party line, pandering to the opinions of those in Tory/Labour swing seats in England rather than putting the needs of the people they represent first. Under normal circumstances i would advise you to send your labour MP a letter asking for an explanation but we have a unique opportunity here, lets send them a big loud YES on the 18th of September instead. Then we can make poverty a thing of the past in Scotland.

Issue #1 How i came to be a Yes Campaigner

If you had told me two years ago I would be sitting here typing up a (terribly written) political blog, I would have told you that you were madder than a box full of weasels on acid. The idea would have been utterly ridiculous to me. I am however sitting here now in the process of doing just that. So, how did it come to be that i would be slowly but surely bashing the keyboard to bring you my musings dear reader? (Assuming I get at least one)

I have been interested in Scottish Independence since 1999 when the Scottish Parliament was formed. I was coming up for 13 years old at the time and remember learning about it at High School in modern studies. They told us that although Scotland would have her own government, the big issues would still be decided at Westminster. I remember asking my teacher a simple but powerful question "why?". I cant remember what his answer was, but i remember that i wasn't contented with it. Looking back it amuses me that (unbeknownst to myself at that time) George "forces of darkness" Robertson had said a couple of years previously that "devolution would kill nationalism stone dead" but paradoxicaly in my case it had planted the seeds of nationalism in my mind!

Over the years I kept an eye on politics without ever being too interested. I've always voted for the SNP. My family are traditional Labour but i never trusted them after Iraq and the way they seem to abandon every one of their traditional principles to pander to the swing seats down south. I despise the Tory selfservatives for what Thatcher did to Scotland in the eighties; destroying all our industry (being from a mining village originally) and the way they refer to her as some kind of shining example and visionary when in reality she ruined a lot of peoples lives by forcing them to unemployment. I've admired the way the SNP have conducted themselves in government, protecting the NHS in Scotland while its being privatised one piece at a time south of the border by the Tories. The Labour government in the Welsh Assembly just now have grossly mismanaged its NHS, putting cuts as deep as £800 million in place, sadly the patients will pay the price. The SNP also vigorously supported our right to a free university education meaning someone coming from even the poorest background can go on to achieve greatness in any field they wish, nowhere else in the UK offers this marvelous opportunity.

When the referendum was announced I vowed to my partner I would campaign a few weeks beforehand to help YesScotland out a wee bit. That WAS all I intended to do. That was until late January this year when I decided to skim read the white paper, look at some pro union writings, start using twitter and watch a few speeches on YouTube from either side to make sure I would be doing the right thing supporting Yes. Ladies and gentleman, after a few days research I was so overwhelmed I joined the SNP and also put my name forward to volunteer for YesScotland. Not only was i hugely impressed with the vision for an independent Scotland but I was disgusted with BetterTogethers lies, bluffs, smear and negativity.

I remember my first Yes meeting, I had contacted @yesdivit (Divit being a local slang term for Inverkeithing) and I'd been invited along to a hall just a few minutes walk from my house. I really had no idea what to expect on that wet Tuesday night as i kissed my girlfriend goodbye and started walking up the road, the first person to greet me with a warm smile as we both walked in the door at the same time I now know was councilor Alice Mcgarry, a lovely lady i have been lucky enough to get to know a little since that evening. I was glad to get out of the rain and hall was packed and filled with a diverse crowd, old people, young people, men, women, English people who had decided to make a life in Scotland and most of the people like myself had never been involved in politics before. As the meeting started we were told about the plans for canvass and leafleting in the area by lead volunteer Les Wilson, a true gentleman. We discussed tactics and were instructed in the use of the wonderful Yesmo technology (a system that allows you to download and record canvass data on your smart phone or tablet).

The following Saturday I was rocking up to a front door with Derek Rossborough - @DRossborough (whom i'd recruited to the cause myself after badgering him on twitter a day or two before). We canvass in two's and Derek had drawn the short straw and been lumbered with me, the poor guy! I wasnt nervous, being from a sales background im very used to speaking to complete strangers (I find it much easier than writing a blog!) although this was a little different. I cant remember that first door but I remember as we walked back to the meeting point after we completed our assigned street that Derek and I were almost euphoric. We had recorded Yes's, No's and a lot of undecideds, we had shared a lot of truths and dispelled a lot of myths and lies created by BitterTogether, U-KOK and their media shills. We had a good laugh on that walk back discussing some of the strange people we had encountered and ridiculous things people had said like "will we have to drive on the other side of the road?". Since that day, my partner Kristy and I have found out we are expecting our first child in November, this has motivated me to canvass and leaflet every Saturday, Sunday and most weeknights only taking a break to attend public meetings or go to the occaisional Dunfermline match (the Pars being my first love).

This blog article hasn't covered a lot of the real reasons for independence, however those will be discussed in future articles perhaps, this piece is about my personal journey. I feel i have rambled on for long enough just now so i will leave you with Ross's final thoughts...

If we win on the 18th of September we will have beaten the establishment and the biggest, most relentless and one sided propaganda machine this country has ever seen (Yes i mean you BBC and pretty much every tabloid rag) and we will have beaten them with a million conversations on a million doorsteps by folk like myself who give up their time to bring about a change we believe in.

If it is Yes it will be a victory for every day people, a victory for grassroots campaigning, a victory for hope over fear but most of all a victory for Scotland and the generations to come. 

Get involved, donate, join your local Yes group and help in whatever way you can. Every little helps.