Automatically Norway
or “There’s only one Scottish Tory”
There’s been a lot of nationalist happiness floating around recently, in the forms of appeals to radical tradition, reminding folk of oor favourite piece of Scottish political culture – “the social-democratic consensus”, and an analysis that irked me, that of the “blank piece of paper”.
Some food for thought:
Gems from the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2010 –
- 28% of people felt there was sometimes good reason to be prejudiced
- 30% would be unhappy if a family member formed a relationship with someone of the same sex.
- For the most part, the extent to which people express discriminatory attitudes has changed little since 2006.
Some stats on inequality in Scotland:
- One in five women in Scotland experiences domestic abuse at some stage in her life.
- There is a 11% gap between men’s and women’s full-time hourly rates, and a 32% gap when you compare women’s part time hourly rate to men’s full time hourly rate.
- 46% of people think that Scotland would lose its identity if more black and Asian people came here. (2006 stats)
- Every day in Scotland, 17 people report being abused, threatened or violently attacked because of the colour of their skin, ethnicity or nationality. (2011)
- One in four of Scotland’s children are officially recognised as living in poverty
Everyone in Scotland is aware of Scotland’s problems, but sometimes, in defending independence, we lose sight of the realities of Scotland today.
We should avoid waiting for the Tartan Messiah. The time for radical ideas is now, not after the referendum.
