The eyes of the world

The Scotsman has run an interesting story today (yes, really!) about the worldwide media interest in the Scottish Parliament elections.

Apparently, there has been an influx of foreign correspondents to Scotland, all keeping a watchful eye on developments.

What a breath of fresh air! Scotland has always attracted tourists from around the world, keen to experience our landscape, heritage and hospitality - but we are now on the political map too!

And this will just be a taste of things to come if Scotland chooses independence, and joins the world community on equal terms as a nation-state. With independence we will have our own voice in the world (not some muted distortion through Westminster), other countries will be able to hear what we have to say, and we will be able to play a full part in helping to address the challenges facing all nations and citizens on this planet.

The stage is set, the lights are on, the eyes of the world are watching - all we need now is every citizen of Scotland to play their part in moving our country forward to independence.

The reinforcements are coming!

So, Blair has dispatched his loyal troops up north to save Labour's faltering campaign for the Scottish Parliament elections.

How considerate of these New Labour politicians to take time out of their busy schedules to come to Scotland to remind us all that we are far too stupid and far too poor to run our own country. We should not want something better for ourselves and fellow citizens. We should certainly not aspire to be a normal country, with equal status in the world community of nations. The very idea! Just as well we have the likes of Hazel Blears to keep us in our place.

Does Blair actually believe that sending some New Labour ministers up here will do the Labour Party in Scotland any favours? Does he really believe that sending these people to deliver the same tired old message to people in Scotland will work to Labour's advantage?

All this does is reinforce the contrast between the Labour Party and the SNP. The SNP trusts the people of Scotland to shape their own future, a more positive future based on our country's equality with the other nations of the world. The Labour Party doesn't trust the people of Scotland to make the decisions that really matter, and they are not shy about telling us this.

The SNP wants the best for Scotland, the Labour Party wants to protect the union and the careers of politicians that depend on the continuation of this political union.

I have confidence in the people of Scotland that they will ignore Labour's scaremongering, and vote for Scotland's future.

Tunnel Vision

At last, I'm beginning to see the finishing post in this election campaign. When I first started writing this blog I mainly concerned myself with whatever issue exercised me most that day.

Ever since the campaign stepped up a gear my consciousness has become almost entirely consumed with organisational matters. Organising Jamie's schedule and campaign materials, leafleting, accompanying Jamie on visits and as he campaigns in the town centres and round the doors, and - the most of exciting of all - stuffing envelopes! That is one activity I certainly won't miss :o) My fingers have been shredded by paper cuts over the last few weeks, that was until I found a solution - pink rubber gloves! Great protection.

When you actually get a chance for a more in-depth chat with people about the issues that concern them most, it reminds you why you are turning your life topsy turvy and spending Saturday nights wearing rubber gloves while you stuff envelopes! Today, for example, we spoke to people on their doorsteps about Labour's plans to spend billions on nuclear weapons and disgraceful levels of child poverty in Scotland.

And that's why I remain motivated throughout election campaigns. At this election, the SNP has an historic opportunity to govern Scotland, and make real improvements to life in this country. Our plans to scrap the Council Tax and introduce a fairer system of local taxation, and our proposals to free young people of student debt, will make an enormous difference to thousands of people across Scotland.

But this will hopefully just be the start. An SNP government will give the people of Scotland the opportunity to shape their own future, with a referendum on independence. The people of Scotland deserve nothing less.

Right, back to those envelopes...

The truth will out

One of the strange things about 'fighting' a local election campaign is the almost complete lack of interaction with one's political opponents. Indeed, unless people in the local area take it upon themselves to arrange a hustings, then there is no opportunity at all for the different candidates to debate their policies with each other and, importantly, no opportunity for local people to quiz all of the candidates at the same time.

Until last night, we had not encountered candidates from the other parties at all in this campaign! We have seen a few activists round about while we have been campaigning in the town centres, but that's it.

Jamie had hustings tonight and last night - both in Cumbernauld - which brought together a wide range of candidates for the Scottish Parliament and local authority elections. They were organised by community councils and churches in the constituency.

Such meetings are really important in a democracy, because they allow for an opportunity to really debate issues in a transparent way, dig a bit further into the issues and allow voters to get closer to the truth.

One example of this has been the local Labour MSP's public comments on the closure of the A&E at Monklands hospital. She insists that she has been fighting this decision. However, tonight, we got closer to the truth. In fact, it was because she failed to fight the decision that one of the A&E's in the NHS Lanarkshire area would have to close in the first place, that it has come to this! It is no coincidence either that the other two A&E's saved from closure are both in PFI hospitals in the constituencies of the First Minister and Health Minister!

Without the forum of a hustings meeting, it is difficult to expose the truth behind Labour's political spin and bluster. The groups that organised these two hustings have done the voters of the local area a great service.

Scottish Borderer

I just have to comment on the remarks of Jeremy Purvis - Lib Dem candidate for Tweeddale, Etterick & Lauderdale - in today's Sunday Herald. He states that he was brought up as a Borderer, not as Scottish or English, and that national identity is somehow irrelevant in this part of Scotland.

He also makes a rather bizarre case against independence. He implies that his granny in Berwick, just across the border in England, would be denied access to the nearest large hospital, which is the Borders General Hospital in Scotland.

As a Borderer myself, I don't accept his analysis about national identity. It is true that there is a strong Borders identity, and that the Borders has a fair number of residents originally from England. So what? I had plenty of friends at school with one Scottish and one English parent, who both had strong national identifies and a strong Borders identity too. I think we can all accept that people can simultaneously possess a number of identities e.g. Scottish and European. What is wrong with having a sense of national identity, or regional identity for that matter?

The town of Berwick is very much part of the Borders community, and there is no reason for that to change with Scottish independence. Or does Jeremy believe that the high school rugby and hockey teams from Berwick will be prevented from playing with the other Borders teams by burly border guards?!? Surely, he would not peddle such ludicrous ideas...

And the same goes for his argument about the hospitals. With independence, will there be a 10 foot concrete wall erected at the border preventing ambulances from Berwick getting to the nearby hospital in Scotland? Of course not!

I doubt Jeremy believes this for a second, but it is all part of the desperate scaremongering that parties like his are engaging in for the purpose of protecting their own position and the union.

With independence, Scotland and England will not become strangers. We will build a new relationship, as equal nations and friends. No walls, no border guards.

I'm cool!

Well, according to a group of young girls I met while out delivering Jamie's leaflets in Cumbernauld this afternoon :o)

Why is this newsworthy you ask? Well, that would be because it's the first time anyone has EVER described me as cool! As the school swot, with an interest in politics, my level of street cred has always been subterranean. Perhaps I met a new generation of potential SNP activists this afternoon ;o)

Anyway, politics may not be cool (and I'm certainly not) - but it is worthwhile. And that's what is keeping all of us activists going at the moment, through the exhaustion threshold, and what drives us constantly - the thought that we are playing our part in moving our country forward, to the benefit of all of Scotland. Hopefully, in a few years, those girls I met today will be benefiting from an SNP government and independence.

Now, that would be cool!

We're not all the same!

Unfortunately I missed the SNP's manifesto launch yesterday because I was at work :o(
However, I have heard wonderful reviews of the event.

It's becoming abundantly clear that the SNP has the most momentum in this election campaign, and there is a real sense of anticipation and excitement about the prospect of an SNP government - and not just from SNP members and political journalists salivating at the prospect of change because it gives them something to write about!

This sense of enthusiasm is shared by people across Scotland. I have been struck by the number of people who have approached me, while out campaigning, to say that they will be supporting the SNP. There is an increasing sense of warmth towards us, and confidence in our ability to make the right decisions for Scotland.

Unfortunately, there are still a significant number of sceptical voters, but who can blame them? After a decade of Labour rule (with a splash of Lib Dem in Scotland), the preceding Tory years and the Westminster rule we have experienced all of our lives, politics must seem rather hopeless at times. I often meet people on the doorsteps voicing their concern that all political parties and politicians are the same. This is a charge I always find difficult to respond to, because I always feel that nothing I say to the contrary will convince them. I've been told "well, you would say that, wouldn't you!" too many times over the years.

But even among this group, there are a large number who are prepared to give the SNP their cautious support and vote for us at this election, hoping that we will prove their theory that we are all the same entirely wrong!

I am confident that we will.

If the SNP becomes the largest party in May, we will not betray the trust that the people of Scotland have placed with us. The overarching guide for any SNP government will always be to make the decisions that are right for the people of Scotland - not some out-dated political union or vested interests.

Governing is difficult, and many difficult decisions have to be taken by political leaders. But let me leave you with one thought. An SNP government won't find the choice between spending billions on replacing the Trident nuclear missile system or giving our older citizens a decent pension 'difficult'. Choosing between weapons of mass destruction, designed to kill millions, or a decent standard of living for our pensioners is easy.