Irvine Welsh brings up sex and says that the referendum is “carnal experience, a bit ‘like losing your virginity.” For the independence of Scotland, “we will express itself as being the” first time “, nervous and scared, but in the end it will be wonderful …”. The Scottish writer, author of “Trainspotting”, do not vote because now residing between Chicago and Miami, but in August, taking as an excuse the Edinburgh Festival, he improvised sponsor of the campaign for the Yes. Albeit bold metaphor has undoubtedly sense. The appointment of 18 September , a consultation which threatens to blow up not only the UK but the whole of Europe, touches the heart and stomach of many Scots even more than the head and the wallet. They see the victory of the “Yes Scotland”, at the time still unlikely, as a compensation for the 307 years of subjugation.
The campaign for the No and the program of all the major parties called “Better Together” (Better together) have a great support of the establishment in London and traditional media and were satisfied with the low profile.
Up to the second televised debate between the pro-independence Alex Salmond and the main opponent Alistair Darling, when the triumph of the first changed the cards on the table giving the alarm at Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, because in the polls front “Yes” approached (47 versus 53 percent) almost halving the disadvantage. Two weeks after the vote the tension is suddenly rising, with intemperance and intolerance little british. Jim Murphy, MP unionist, he took an egg in the face by a secessionist and decided to stop the campaign.
Toni Giugliano, coordinator of the “sectoral groups” (lobbyists) in favor of independence
During the riots in Glasgow, a pregnant woman was assaulted by a supporter of the No. Located in Inverness, Highland town literally plastered with posters small blue with white writing “Yes” and where the real monster is no longer Loch Ness but Westminster ( the parliament in London), Monday, Sept. 1 No two members of the waived at the last moment in a debate with two members of the opposite side in the district of Kirkhill. “We have informed the day before, when everything was organized,” complains a militant in the small headquarters pulled up in June to Union Street.
David Whitton, Labour politician and former member of parliament in Edinburgh, is now engaged in the fight to prevent the secession
And to think that it was all started quite quietly. A Westminster took for granted the outcome of the referendum and the same Labour, with governments that Blair and Brown (both of Scottish origin) had favored the devolution and the birth of the local parliament, perhaps felt a bit ‘of embarrassment. Scotland vote to tradition the party led by Ed Miliband today, has always been on the left, and the joke more widespread remember that there are more pandas to Edinburgh Zoo (two) that Conservative MEPs in the Scottish Parliament (one).
The referendum and the party that inspires him are two strange animals. Let’s start from the first, organized with the rules of the parliament in Edinburgh. They can also vote olds (elections instead must be at least 18 years of age), they can vote to foreigners resident in Scotland, about 400,000, but the Scots living elsewhere, including Britain, about 800,000. A gazebo “Yes Scotland” we meet a group of Aberdeen “foreign” propaganda that makes or collects material for independence. Alberto Mori, 25, Italian and anthropology student, vote yes in Scotland because universities are good and free and not dear as the English ones. 
Al Harry Naio his side, aged 21, an Italian father and a Scottish mother, a student of political science and a waiter in a popular restaurant in the harbor, vote yes because it is against nuclear power, the wars waged in Iraq and Afghanistan and all that has followed the Thatcherism: “My mother and my sister of 19 years instead vote No because they say they feel British identity.” The third is Christian Allard, 50, a member of the SNP, Salmond of the Scottish National Party. It has French origins, of Dijon, but has lived here for 30 years and accuses London have created unsustainable inequalities. “Aberdeen is the second richest city in the UK, but here there are 35 food banks, where the poor go to get food.”
If the referendum is abnormal, the SNP that promoted it appears equally singular in the European political landscape. The Nationalist Party was born in the thirties inclined to the right, nearly fascist in subsequent decades has had several transformations, ending today at the left of the Labour Party. Calls for social justice, solidarity, better welfare, is fighting against privatization, do not want no war or nuclear. Then there is the side of “Braveheart,” the fearless heart, the identity and consciousness of being Scottish, hostility towards the City of London. “I realize it is difficult to define this party,” says political scientist John Curtice, University of Strathclyde, often called on TV to comment on the polls, “because there are not similar in Europe, maybe a little ‘the Catalans. I would say that it is a national party house with two living souls, a Major and a more social democratic nationalist. Its main feature is the ability to reach different segments of the population, like those left disappointed by Labour, but also to the middle class of merchants and artisans. “
The great leader is Alex Salmond , 60 years old next New Year’s Eve, the first minister of Scotland with the second term, after having obtained an absolute majority in 2011, ousting the Labour Party in a sensational way. The first job after graduating in economics obtained at the Royal Bank of Scotland to make studies on oil, a matter which is crucial in the referendum, as we will see later. Always nationalist, was actually expelled from the SNP at the end of the seventies because too far left, was later readmitted and indeed it won the leadership in 1990, essentially keeping it up to date. In 1997 he gave a decisive contribution to the win the Yes to the devolution of Scotland favored by the Blair government, against whom he sided strongly about the war in Iraq.
like it because it speaks for itself and says things that many Scots want to feel say to bring out anger and pride. It’s unconventional, he also has a few skeletons in the closet, like a scandal revealed by a newspaper in 2009 that would have made purchases and expenses in restaurants up to 400 pounds a month without submitting receipts to Parliament.
Thanks to the charisma manages to bring in the streets thousands of volunteers. The comparison of mobilization by opponents of “Better Together” is palpable Saturday, August 30 at the Haymarket, one of the stations of Edinburgh. At ten o’clock in the morning, in a sunny day quite extraordinary (but it would also happen in case of rain), arriving twenty militants “Yes Scotland.” Short meeting for instruction, group photo and off with the flyers and hunting consent. A few yards away there three unionists have just prepared a banquet and hung a banner: “Vote no in 2014″. Ratio of seven to one, even if the 18 is maybe the one to win. Sheena Cleland is 47 years old and is a translator at the Scottish Parliament: “We want to control our home in Westminster we do not feel represented and if we were independent we would have more job opportunities, there would be up to 27,000 more seats.” On the other hand talks about Bill Scott, 74, retired after a lifetime of working at Unilever. “I’m against it because it is a leap in the dark. And, speaking of Salmond, I should mention that he was until yesterday against NATO but now he changed his mind … “.
The fear and uncertainty are the main future economic strengths of those who fight for secession. According to surveys, women and elderly people will vote for the most No. “The women’s vote,” says Curtice, “is related to uncertainties that independence may create in the public accounts and family, that of the elderly are two reasons, a heart that is British identity, and the other because of the portfolio concerned about the future of pensions. ” The youth vote seems oriented Yes, because it is believed there are more job prospects with an independent Scotland. They are in fact economic issues, as well as those of identity, to conduct the campaign. Welfare, oil revenues and currency. The most heated battle is against the privatization of health care carried out by the Cameron government. Salmond and colleagues point to a public welfare Scandinavian type, although it is not yet clear what the money could finance it, given that the ratio of the deficit to GDP is worse than the Scottish greek and that the only new taxes are provided on large corporation. With the risk, among other things, that the latter it from escaping to London.
The ace in the hole so the oil in the North Sea which, as shown by the map on page 61, is mainly area in Scotland. The Leader, elected in Aberdeenshire, knows the subject well and juggles the numbers with some grit. A few days ago is a war going on right of digits. How many barrels of black gold remain on the seabed from here on out? Thirty billion, says Salmond. No, from 12 to 24 billion, says a pro-government body English. Last week came on Ian Wood, businessman industry expert: could be 24 billion, but it is more likely between 15 and 16.5 billion. Economists and experts have replicated siding on one side or the other, a real uproar. Justified by the fact that the budget of any independent Scotland would be affected, positively or negatively, from oil revenue. “The critical issue,” warns Curtice, “is like Scotland can survive long-term bearing in mind a slow decline of oil reserves.” Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in the field to No, points out that 70 per cent of trade with England and Scotland is the separation from the psychological point of view also would not be good for anything. E-money ridicules Salmond, in favor of staying with the pound, talking about relationships from neo-colonialism with the rest of Great Britain, the pound since the Bank of England decides everything, and nothing could the independent Scotland.
But what will happen on September 19? If he wins the widely No, enemies as before. If success is relative, with a difference of a few points, Cameron, but also the opposition Labour Party, will have to understand and deal with next year’s elections, with the possible new advance of the right Ukip (which does not count in Scotland nothing, but in the rest of Britain a lot, as demonstrated by the recent European elections) and the referendum to stay or unless the EU announced by Cameron himself, in addition to continuing with the Scottish devolution. Were to win the Yes, against the main political parties, the economic establishment and almost all media, is preparing an earthquake in Britain and Europe. A Scottish shower with unforeseeable consequences.
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