CALEDONIA DREAMING

All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray;

I’ve been for a walk on a winter’s day.

I’d be safe and warm if….

Kenny MacAskill MP spells out often in the plainest of terms that Scotland is a net exporter of energy; he provides official statistics on oil, gas, renewables, the jiggery pokery that is the UK deal whereby resources are diverted south and Scotland will become the only oil producing country without its own refinery – say, what ?

I’ve a friend in Abu Dhabi who relocated to a former desert rejuvenated by oil into becoming a successful prosperous country whereas his country of birth, Scotland, discovered oil and became a desert. Another first for us plucky rebels.

10,000 children in care in Scotland remain failed by a government with skewed priorities and funding pledges. Many will, without real care and dedicated support, suffer unnecessary hardships including homelessness, poor attainment and reduced life chances; for some early death. 

Hospital waiting lists grow; ambulances for emergencies can take 11 hours to arrive and are backed up in hospital car parks as beds remain blocked more than they were 10 years ago when pledges to reduce blocking were delivered.

Arguments abound on our Scottish education system with constant battles about CfE in this wee country which for hundreds of years was amongst the best educated in the world ! In the days of Sir William Wallace we had European exchanges which are now hibernating as the result of Brexit and, worse, by the inability of our reps in Holyrood to do better. 

Our justice system, again once the envy of the world, is tainted; we continue to hold on remand thousands more than other comparable countries; we jail too many more, mainly from our schemes, young men brutalised and traumatised by family breakdown, abuse and poverty. Little changes are underway for our female prisoners but while the trans rights issue blights common sense and safety and permits trans identifying males in prison beside women terrorised by men there remains much work for our vociferous female campaigners to do.

Every single citizen of Scotland can do better than this; each of us can contribute to the blueprint of the country we must become. We all have hopes and dreams ; capturing those dreams and turning them into reality – now that’s the challenge.

So if you can just imagine for a moment that you were for just one day a hero. The one who could not only rewrite history but also create the future – make it happen. What would it be? House building? Cheap gas and electric? Universal Basic Income ? School trips to Brussels and Paris and Rome ? The floor is yours – write the dream because the leaves won’t always be brown and soon the sky will be blue. Let’s be ready this time.