An open letter to proponents of Scottish independence
I've been living in Scotland for nearly six consecutive years now (around ten years in total), and in that time I've become increasingly open to the ideas that
However, proponents of Scottish independence (this guy, for instance - recommended) need to stop doing the following three things if they want to convince me.
Assuming that Scotland will have ownership of the North Sea oilfields. First off, from an environmental standpoint we should be leaving the damn stuff in the ground anyway. Climate change is here and it's real and it's scary, and if we want to stand a decent chance of avoiding 2C of warming then we can't afford to exploit all our known reserves, much less start drilling new deep wells (and we all know how well that turned out in the Gulf of Mexico, right?). Secondly, England will fight, and fight hard, to keep ownership of the North Sea oilfields even if they let the rest of the country go. I invite you to read the CIA World Factbook's list of ongoing UK territorial disputes. Would they go as far as military action? Not likely, but not inconceivable IMHO. Thirdly, North Sea oil peaked in 1999, and more than 70% of the oil had been extracted in 2006, so even if we get the oil, we wouldn't get it for very long.
If you want to talk about the phenomenal possibilities for wind and tidal power in the Pentland Firth, however², then we could be in business.
Assuming that Scotland's entry to the EU would be unproblematic. Here, England wouldn't be the problem (they'd want cross-border trade, and EU membership would make that vastly easier), but you have to explain why every European country with a small secessionist region (which, to a first approximation, is all of them) wouldn't blackball our entry pour décourager les autres. Plus, timescales matter, and it takes a long time for most countries to join the EU. Even a short gap between secession and EU accession would hit us hard economically.
Showing Sean Connery. Yeah, yeah, he's a big SNP donor, and I liked Thunderball too. But if he likes Scotland so much he should fecking live here.
¹ I was born here, so I don't think I'd have any difficulty qualifying.
² Not to mention the fact that we already have substantial expertise and plant for heavy offshore engineering in place right now.
- a viable independent Scotland is possible,
- in the event of Scotland becoming independent, I might well choose to become a Scottish citizen¹.
However, proponents of Scottish independence (this guy, for instance - recommended) need to stop doing the following three things if they want to convince me.
Assuming that Scotland will have ownership of the North Sea oilfields. First off, from an environmental standpoint we should be leaving the damn stuff in the ground anyway. Climate change is here and it's real and it's scary, and if we want to stand a decent chance of avoiding 2C of warming then we can't afford to exploit all our known reserves, much less start drilling new deep wells (and we all know how well that turned out in the Gulf of Mexico, right?). Secondly, England will fight, and fight hard, to keep ownership of the North Sea oilfields even if they let the rest of the country go. I invite you to read the CIA World Factbook's list of ongoing UK territorial disputes. Would they go as far as military action? Not likely, but not inconceivable IMHO. Thirdly, North Sea oil peaked in 1999, and more than 70% of the oil had been extracted in 2006, so even if we get the oil, we wouldn't get it for very long.
If you want to talk about the phenomenal possibilities for wind and tidal power in the Pentland Firth, however², then we could be in business.
Assuming that Scotland's entry to the EU would be unproblematic. Here, England wouldn't be the problem (they'd want cross-border trade, and EU membership would make that vastly easier), but you have to explain why every European country with a small secessionist region (which, to a first approximation, is all of them) wouldn't blackball our entry pour décourager les autres. Plus, timescales matter, and it takes a long time for most countries to join the EU. Even a short gap between secession and EU accession would hit us hard economically.
Showing Sean Connery. Yeah, yeah, he's a big SNP donor, and I liked Thunderball too. But if he likes Scotland so much he should fecking live here.
¹ I was born here, so I don't think I'd have any difficulty qualifying.
² Not to mention the fact that we already have substantial expertise and plant for heavy offshore engineering in place right now.