Wide ears and short tongues are best…..

I guess I’m no different from most folks; when I have a decision to make I have a hard time making it just with my head. Much of the process of actually reaching a decision involves my heart.

Now I wouldn’t say I’m much of a political animal. Well if I am a political animal then I would be something like a panda or an elephant rather than a pitbull or the likes. OK I confess I’ve been known to shout at the TV or radio when listening to Prime Minister’s question time. Actually come to think of it maybe the fact that I DO listen to Prime Minister’s question time makes me a bit of a political animal – so yes I do get caught up with it all, but that’s healthy, right?

At the moment there is a HUGE debate raging in the UK about whether Scotland should move towards independence. Being the good Scottish person that I am I feel I have a duty to inform myself about what this actually means should I get the opportunity to vote in a referendum. There is only one problem – tracking down factual, impartial information about what this may actually mean for Scotland and how, in reality, it might impact on little old me and mine.

I fidgeted uncomfortably on the couch watching the news last night because there was no attempt by the politicians (on both sides) to debate this in any way that didn’t sound like the process was less to do with independence and more to do with Scotland DIVORCING itself from England. Yep divorce is a good way to describe it…. because at the moment it’s sounding a lot like this…..

England to Scotland- “You’ll not be able to survive without me AND by the way you have no legal right to try.”

Scotland to England- “Is it a fight yur waantin? Of course there’s a legal process for this and we don’t need your say so. Oh and by the way we’ve always paid our own way. If you think we can’t survive without you think again pal. Anyway we’ve got loads of other pals, our tourist numbers are up by 8% in the last nine months.

England to Scotland- “You’re kidding yourself on you’ve not really thought about this have you?”

Scotland to England- “Whit – don’t be daft we’ve been thinking about this since 1707!”

England to Scotland- “Right well be like that then, so what are you going to do now?”

Scotland talking to itself – “Aye, what are we going to do now?”

Honestly if that doesn’t sound like a divorce then I don’t know what and this little Scottish person remains confused about the whole situation. I should point out that I’m in no way anti-English, but I guess I’m pro Scottish. I’m proud of my Scottish heritage and my heart truly sang back in 1999 when we finally got our Scottish Parliament. This however is a whole different ballgame.

What worries me though is that like divorce there seems to be a huge divide that has sprung up that means any sort of sensible discussion remains an impossible dream. It upsets me when I watch the House of Commons debate and see politicians, during really important debates, checking their ebay purchases, or whatever it is they are doing with their Blackberry. It makes me visibly bristle when I see them shouting at each other or laughing and making fun of a politician because of a statement they’ve made. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT ARE RUNNING OUR COUNTRY!

So I confess I am nowhere near reaching an informed stance on all of this but being the canny Scot that I am I know that ‘nae man can tether time or tide’ [1] so I will do my best to get up to speed and try to consider all of this objectively, engaging my head and not just my heart. There is an old Scottish proverb that says ‘twelve highlanders and a bagpipe make a rebellion’. I just hope that in the months to come when tensions are running high that we also remember something my granny used to say, “never let your feet run faster than your shoes!”

So a political animal is really not me you see but for those who we have voted into power – listen up, “these are really important times – put yur Blackberries away and pay attention!”

I think we need to be careful that our hearts don’t rule our heads on this one.

[1] Robert Burns, Tam o’ Shanter.