Saturday morning, the sun is out so off we go to the Highland Games in Helensburgh. We were competing, but not with the hammer or the caber. Oh no, we were competing with the organisers of the games.
They refused to allow us a ‘stand’ for the YES campaign to court people’s opinions on Scotland’s referendum and answer their questions. Fortunately, one of our team has a house with a large driveway on the main approach road to the games – so guess where we set out our stall?
The games organisers claimed they did not want to politicise the Games – although they did play host to Jackie Baillie MSP the Labour MSP for neighbouring Dumbarton and a Director of Better Together. Let’s hope the games themselves were more even handed. Take the shame!
Along at our stall we had lot’s of handouts, a welcome for everyone passing regardless of their persuasion and a lot of volunteers on hand to answer any questions.
We also kept a running tally of voters who were willing to express their views. On the day there were more YESs than NOs by a healthy margin – but there was a lot of Undecided. For me, it is the Undecided that get out out there regardless of the weather – which incidentally held out very nicely.
A number of NOs we counted were actually people passing by who rejected our warm welcome, transferred their gaze to their shoes or the interesting pavement opposite and quickened their step. I was disappointed for them – their tunnel vision was not just practical it was also political.
I took great comfort from the several NO voters who stopped to express their views and were prepared to explain their reasoning. I had one chap who’s wife tried to drag him away fearing confrontation. He stopped anyway and we had a very good chat. When it became clear his mind was made up we resorted to explaining our views and respecting each other’s opinion. It was a shame his wife was no longer there when he offered me his hand as he left. I have no problem with anyone who has come to an opinion, is prepared to explain it and stick to their guns. I only wish more NO voters would follow their example rather than skulking away past us as if we were giving out a virus.
I did learn a lot from some NO voters. Generally, when they discovered that I,and we, were not SNP they seemed to be more at ease. I explained from my perspective, SNP got us to the referendum, which I feel was amazing. However, I did not want to talk politics and the SNP. I wanted to talk about vision, hope, passion and confidence – the reasons that have brought most folk to a YES.
Sometimes people want to take you down the road of politics. Often they have arrived at NO by focusing on the reasons why we are better within the Union. Invariably this is based on so called facts and figures, statistics and economics, projections and assumptions – all the things that are as changeable as the weather and open to abuse. They quickly make the leap from ‘better’ to ‘better together’.
At this point, they may not have realised, but they have painted themselves into a corner.
‘But of course, we cannot be ‘better together’ if we are not ‘together’? … This is hard to argue against as this is just common sense.
I, then, like to confront people with the question, ‘are we together?’ This is the corner they are in. All around us is clear and unequivocal evidence that we are hugely divided as a people, as a nation and in terms of our future. We are lost for choice with examples – everything from the wealth in the South East, house values in London, democratically being outnumber 11:1, being ruled by a political party we did not elect – all the way to HS2?
The great thing about these examples is there are no arguments with them – who could deny them – they are facts, not opinions, not statistics and certainly not something that is likely to change in the foreseeable future
I just hope that people will think about the ‘together’ argument where they can rely on the evidence and realise that this defeats the ‘better together’ argument.
I have a great deal of respect for people who are prepared to express they are Undecided. There is nothing intuitive about admitting that you don’t know yet.
Understanding the barriers between Undecided and a decision is what it is all about. In my experience, people who are Undecided are also good at expressing the doubts they have.
I passionately believe that Undecided is part of the journey to YES. If they get the answers that they believe to be honest and help them decide, then they are getting closer to voting YES.
Equally, I do not believe that people who are Undecided are looking for reasons to vote NO.
But, beware, if the Undecided do not get truthful and helpful answers they may not vote or they may vote NO.
Not unsurprisingly, some barriers have been the scare stories put out by Project Fear; especially currency sharing, getting kicked out of the EU and the depleting oil reserves. These stories – and I deliberately call them stories – have been broadly debunked. More and more people have had time to think about this, enquire about this, come to their own conclusions about this and some people are actually quite angry at the audacity of Project Fear and their attempts to scare them into believing something that is patently untrue.
For the avoidance of doubt, we cannot be stopped from sharing currency and we have never had a say on the pound, a future Indy Scotland may opt for its own currency if that is what is best for Scotland. We will not be kicked out of the EU. An Indy Scotland may take a view in future whether it remains in the EU under the current terms or opts for a different relationship with Europe depending on what is best for Scotland. Finally, on the oil reserves, they are vast and greatly untapped. Like Norway, they are a revenue gift. But unlike Norway, they have been squandered. However, an independent Scotland will exploit our natural wealth for the benefit of our people. If, on the other hand, the oil is running out, why does Westminster want so desperately to hang on to us – that question alone offends my intellect and it should yours too.
One of the inspiring developments that is rising to the surface is the Alex Salmond question. Alex is not universally popular – he seems a bit like Marmite. When you are running a country you will never please everyone. When you are running a country on 300 years of pocket money you will have a massive job squaring that with everyone. To his credit, he has stepped back a bit from the debate and left it in the capable hands of Nicola Sturgeon.
However, I do take pride in the knowledge that our First Minister scares the living ‘bejesus’ out of Cameron, Miliband and Clegg. Not one of them will debate with Alex Salmond in public. This can’t make the rUK particularly proud of their leaders? And why won’t they debate with him? Well, you know the answer to that – just as they do!
So, here’s the thing: I have heard a lot of criticism of Alex Salmond and the SNP. I have heard sweeping criticism of Better Together and Project Fear. I have heard massive criticism of the traditional media and especially the BBC. Over the past few months we have seen Blair Jenkins, the leader of the YES Campaign, raise his profile. He is now very much more in the public gaze and scrutiny. He has lectured, debated and answered questions. So tell me this:
I have not heard a bad word or a criticism or a single disparaging word said about Blair. Not from the politicians, not from the traditional press, not from the BBC, not even from Better Together. When I got down to thinking about that, Blair stands alone in that respect, and
I THINK THAT IS PRETTY AMAZING AND SIGNIFICANT