Scottish independence: new poll gives no vote six-point lead
I remember Neil Kinnock getting very excited just before an election when a poll predicted he had a lead and that all ended in tears. This “Scottish Play” is very hard to call however and I think it has made us reflect for the first time what a severed UK would look like.
I reflect from a rural perspective it would put in bold relief how well the Scots do on rural policy. They have a rural parliament, they have a cooperative and more locally focused approach to LEADER, they invest in rural communities and they have a very powerful link between, food, landscape and culture in terms of rural. Their proportion of rural dwellers is on a par with England but their history and landmass mean they take rural more seriously. Or at least I think so. Their national poet, the second best user of our language (barring only Shakespeare) is also the quintessential voice of rural.
Whatever happens next Thursday we have a lot to learn from those North of the border when it comes to rural communities. We should be working more actively across the Solway and Tweed on rural with them and reflecting on the mantra: “O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us. To see oursels as ithers see us!”