What disappoints us about many aspects of the debate about Scotland is the simple lack of imagination and optimism.
No John Lennon song, Imagine, to stretch the mind. Little vision of what we could do in the future. A procession of negativism about running out of fossil fuels or not, having a poor balance sheet or being bust as a nation, lacking innovation, a dependency on subsidies or not, and being too small to compete for anything in this new world. Being a downer on most reports that suggests a way forward.
Some of these assessments may have elements of reality about them. Organisations such as These Islands certainly portray Scotland as being much more miserable without England and Wales and Northern Ireland than on its own. Perhaps they would have argued that about the Republic of Ireland as part of These Islands in a different era. A false claim in hindsight because Ireland has done very well ‘leaving’ These Islands, at least as the Roman geographer Ptolemy referred to them- Megale Brettania (Great Britain), and Micra Bretannia (Little Britain or Ireland), a politically unacceptable phrase these days.
I am not going to argue with These Islands about whether their thesis is true or not. That’s not the point. What I am going to argue against is their lack of any real imagination about the future. They argue from the past into the future and rely on nostalgia for most examples of success and reasons for the status quo being better.
Perhaps they fail to imagine the inherent future assets of Scotland- the potential revaluation of its ‘wet desert’ dealt with in another blog, the positive potential from allying with the Nordics and the exciting prospect of participating in the Arctic Regional Boom expected on their doorstep, the fantastic wind and tide that everyone in Scotland knows is ideal for renewables in the future, the unusual diaspora scattered throughout the world, the conservative financial prudence that is good for investment decision-making.
Imagine a revival of Scotland’s fortunes, with or without England, in or out of Europe. So, just for a moment how about shutting your eyes and letting your mind start from here instead………
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace, you..
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will be as one.
Imagine a positive future for Scotland no matter what. It isn’t hard to do!