Another Independence Referendum is on the Horizon – Next Time Scots Should Heed the Opinions of Those Who Believe in an Independent Scottish Nation

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Cameron: English Politician: “It would be wrong to suggest that Scotland could not be another successful, independent country.”

 

 

James A Froude: English Historian: “No nation in Europe can look with more just pride on their past than the Scots, and no young Scotsman aught to grow up in ignorance of what that past has been.”

 

 

Michael Fry: Historian: Broadcaster: Political Activist: “Scots can only solve their problems once they rule themselves and take responsibility for their actions as an independent nation.”

 

 

Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun- Opponent of the 1707 Union: “I knew a very wise man who believed that if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of the nation. The Scots deserve no pity, if they voluntarily surrender their united and separate interests to the mercy of a united parliament, where the English shall have so vast a majority.”

 

 

Daniel Defoe: English Author: Spy: ” The Scots are as diligent, as industrious, as apt for Labour and Business, and as capable of it, when they are abroad, as any People in the World; and why should they not be so at Home? and, if they had Encouragement no doubt they would. Scotland has had many an ill picture drawn for her in the world; and as she has been represented in False Draughts, no wonder the Injury’s she has suffered are intolerable. All the Spies sent hither have carried back an ill Report of the Land, and filled the World with weak Banters and Clamour as they know not what.” A spy repents: Written on his return to Scotland (a few year’s before his death) where he witnessed the abject poverty and starvation of a once proud Scottish nation living under the brutal yoke of the Westminster brokered Union.

 

 

Professor Nial Ferguson: Historian: “Devolution gives Scots the illusion of self-government but not the reality of it. The parliament cannot flourish while it acts as a mere channel for aid from England. Independence would be preferable to this half-way house.”

 

 

Winifred M Ewing: Politician: “We must push the Parliament to campaign for more powers and we must campaign for those powers out in the country. The concept of fiscal autonomy is one that is easy to understand and one which attracts widespread support already. The control of our own resources is essential for we are the only country to have discovered oil and still to have become no better off. We also have vast supplies of the key resource of the twenty-first century – water – whilst there is a scarcity of it elsewhere, including England, and we have a huge ability to generate power by wind and other methods. Far from coming to the end of our riches, we are just coming into them.”

 

Sir Thomas Farmer: Businessman: “Nobody in the C.B.I. nor any other organisation is in a position to say independence would be bad for Scotland. At the end of the day these comments are an insult to Scots and Scotland as a nation.”

 

 

Craig Ferguson: Television Presenter: “I’m more comfortable here in America than I was in England. America is a natural place for a person from Scotland. Culturally, it didn’t feel like that much of a leap for me. It just kind of works for me. But for better or worse I’ll always be Scottish. Perhaps I would never have exceeded my expectations if I had been born somewhere else.”

 

 

Winston Churchill: English Politician: “as to the future, we have to secure for Scotland a much more direct and convenient method of bringing her influence to bear upon her own purely domestic affairs. There is nothing which conflicts with the integrity of the United Kingdom in the setting up of a Scottish Parliament for the discharge of Scottish business. There is nothing which conflicts with the integrity of the United Kingdom in securing to Scotsmen in that or in some other way an effective means of shaping the special legislation which affects them and only them. Certainly I am of opinion that if such a scheme can be brought into existence it will mean a great enrichment not only of the national life of Scotland, but of the politics and public life of the United Kingdom.”

 

 

Sean Connery: Actor: “Over the centuries the Scots have accepted the fact of English domination. You’ve only got to look at the figures to realise Scotland is a perpetually depressed area. Why else do the Scots have to leave Scotland to make a good living?”

 

 

Sean Connery: Actor: “I’ve always been hopeful about Scotland’s prospects. And I now believe more than ever that Scotland is within touching distance of independence and equality. The first step towards this was winning Scotland the right to a separate parliament in 1997 and the second was electing an SNP Government last year. I believe we have what it takes to take the third step, and I am convinced it will happen in my lifetime.”

 

 

Edward J Cowan: Historian: “The Declaration of Scottish Independence, 6 April 1320 is the first articulation of the idea that a king is elected by his subjects and if he steps out of line he can be deposed by them. It appeals to universal values. It appeals to the freedom and dignity of the individual but it also appeals to the freedom and dignity of the nation.”

 

 

Donald Dewar: Politician: “And there shall be a Scottish parliament. I like that. For me, for any Scot, today is a proud moment. Another stage on a journey begun long ago and which has no end. This is not just about our politics and our laws.It is about who we are, how we carry ourselves. “

 

 

Robert B C Graham: Politician: Author: “I regret, as a Scotsman, because we have always had a good name for business, that those traitors who sold our country [in 1707] got so little for themselves. £26,000! Why, their patron saint, Judas, got almost as much, taking into consideration the greater purchasing power of money when he did his deal.

 

 

Voltaire: “We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation.”

 

 

Irvine Welsh: Novelist: “Swedes, Norwegians and Danes remain on amicable terms; they trade, co-operate and visit each other socially any time they like. They don’t need a pompous, blustering state called Scandinavia, informing them from Stockholm how wonderful they all are, but (kind of) only really meaning Sweden.”

 

 

Kevin Bridges: Comedian: “I think we should have an English vote first and let England make the first move – if they want us to leave, then we’ll stay.”

 

 

Frankie Boyle: Comedian: “I think half the country will have had their dreams and hopes destroyed, so it will be pretty much business as usual for everybody.”

 

 

Frankie Boyle: Comedian: “For 3 million you could give everyone in Scotland a shovel, and we could dig a hole so deep we could hand her over to Satan in person. (on Margaret Thatcher)”

 

 

Winston S. Churchill: English Politician: “Of all the small nations of this earth, perhaps only the ancient Greeks surpass the Scots in their contribution to mankind.”

 

 

James W. Robertson: Journalist: “But I do like Scotland. I like the miserable weather. I like the miserable people, the fatalism, the negativity, the violence that’s always just below the surface. And I like the way you deal with religion. One century you’re up to your lugs in it, the next you’re trading the whole apparatus in for Sunday superstores. Praise the Lord and thrash the bairns. Ask and ye shall have the door shut in your face. Blessed are they that shop on the Sabbath, for they shall get the best bargains. Oh yes, this is a very fine country.”

 

 

Samuel Johnson: Writer: “Oats. A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.”

 

 

Samuel Johnson: Writer:  “Freedom is an idea that no tyrant will ever crush.”

 

 

William McIlvanney: Poet Politician: “Son, it’s easy tae be guid oan a fu’ belly. It’s when a man’s goat two bites an’ wan o’ them he’ll share, ye ken whit he’s made o’. Listen. In ony country in the world, who are the only folk that ken whit it’s like tae leeve in that country? The folk at the boattom. The rest can a’ kid themselves oan. They can afford to hiv fancy ideas. We canny, son. We loass the wan idea o’ who we are, we’re deid. We’re wan anither. Tae survive, we’ll respect wan anither. When the time comes, we’ll a’ move forward thegither, or nut at all.”

 

 

 

Robert Burns: Poet and Political Commentator: “My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here; My heart’s in the Highlands a-chasing the deer; A-chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe, My heart’s in the Highlands wherever I go.”

 

 

Benjamin Franklin: US Politician: “Did not strong connections draw me elsewhere, I believe Scotland would be the country I would choose to end my days in.”

 

 

Evelyn Glennie: “Scotland has never ceased to amaze the world with its forward vision, bold action and great educational institutions. Nothing makes me more proud than to promote this wonderful land with all its richness and diversity wherever I go.”

 

 

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1836-1908): Politician: “Even good government can never be a substitute for government by the people themselves.”

 

 

Robert Carlyle: Actor: “The Stone of Destiny is about being Scottish. It’s not about moaning, complaining or crying about the fact that Edward stole it in 1296. It’s more about what it means to the Scottish psyche.”

 

 

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881): Writer and Sage: “It is noteworthy that the nobles of the country (Scotland) have maintained a quite despicable behaviour since the days of Wallace downwards – a selfish, ferocious, famishing, unprincipled set of hyenas, from whom at no time, and in no way, has the country derived any benefit whatever.”

 

 

Andrew Carnegie: Industrialist: Philanthropist: “America would have been a poor show had it not been for the Scots.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

King RobertThe Bruce