Glasgow's Air Pollution

Glasgow's air quality has further deteriorated in the last three years, amid increasing evidence of the damage this does to health. Microscopic particulates cause heart disease and strokes and are a factor in cancer. At the last elections my Green councillor agreed to pursue a "low emissions zone" in my area. Since then there has been little progress; all the council does is monitor the increasing pollution. Other cities have introduced electric taxis, parking penalties for high polluters, and pedestrian zones. But not Glasgow. The Greens seem more interested in independence other issues.

Scottish Independence

Lord Wallace, a Liberal Democrat, was invited to speak to Loganair at a dinner. When the SNP heard about it they contacted Loganair and told them it would not "be in their interests" to invite him. So they rescinded the invite and asked the SNP Transport Minister instead.

Britain's role in the world

Mr Salmond is very keen to deride Britain's influential role in the world. Probably because he realises how little influence an independent Scotland would have. Do you think our membership of the International Monetary Fund is a waste of time? How about the United Nations? We are members also of the G8 and G20 groups of nations. We were also influential in the climate agreements such as Kyoto. Not eveyone loves NATO, but they have managed to prevent all out nuclear war, and we are members.
Obviously we are an important member of the Commonwealth group of countries. If the British Empire was so unpopular, why did so many members offer to fight for us during the Second World War?

Scotland's Credit Rating

Britain is one of the countries with a AAA credit rating. Considering that the USA and France lost theirs, that's a feather in our cap. Having a AAA credit rating is valuable; it means our government can borrow at low rates of interest, currently less than 2%. Italy and Spain have been paying about 7%. That means their governments pay billions more in interest, money that could be used for public services.
In explaining Britain's strengths, the ratings agencies said" Britain is a large diversified economy, it has a large domestic investor base, there is a willingness and ability of the central bank to undertake monetary policy".
These are three attributes an Independent Scotland would not have. We would not get a AAA rating.

SNP Green Credentials

I have heard it said that the SNP Government has a good record on the environment; well that's news to me.
They spent over £500 million building a new motorway through Glasgow. I notice that traffic congestion has got worse since then. Their transport minister seems to go everywhere in his limousine, apparently he has only made four train journeys since elected. Hardly setting an example.
They have a target of producing all of our electricity by renewable energy by 2020. I would say that is not realistic. Not enough has been done to reduce our consumption of electricity.

Scotland's health record

Some believe that independence might be good for your health, I don't think so. Scotland has some very serious health problems; we are world leaders in heart disease, strokes, bowel cancer and obesity. To add to this record, our cities have about the worst air pollution in the United Kingdom. Why is this?
It is because our Government shows little interest in health. For example, other British cities have taken positive action over air quality. London introduced congestion charging, a bike hire scheme and electric taxis. Even our Prime Minister takes an interest in his health and goes jogging, I don't see our First Minister following his lead.

being anti-Scottish

Members of the SNP Government accused those who disagreed with them of being anti-Scottish. It shows they have lost the argument when they say that. I note that the first minister has failed to rebuke them, evidently he agrees with the sentiment. I wonder how long it will be before  Mr Salmond introduces a law which penalises being anti-Scottish, with a spell in prison? I will have to watch out, I must be anti-Scottish for not agreeing with the SNP.

North Sea Oil

The SNP say that Scotland would be a rich country if it was independent, because of our oil. The fact that oil is running out is ignored, estimates are that we have perhaps 30 years of oil left and output is declining. How can you base the future prosperity of a country on that? Also, revenue from oil is very cyclical; and a country needs stable earnings. The is no mention of the fact that most of the companies drilling the oil are international, listed in the London Stock Exchange. Few are Scottish. If the Scottish Government tries to increase taxes; oil companies may well move operations somewhere else.

Finally, we know the damage being done to the climate by fossil fuels. We have to stop using them, the oil should remain under the sea. Our First Minister is always going on about his green credentials. He wants to have all our needs met by renewable energy. He can't have his cake and eat it. (Although by the look of him that is what he is doing)