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Scottish nationals have two supra-national citizenships. One is UK citizenship, the second is EU citizenship. In democratic referenda over the past two years, Scots have voted clearly to retain both citizenships.
Unfortunately it is not possible to respect both democratic decisions of the Scottish people, due to a vote by other nationalities. So where you have democratic decisions which cannot both be implemented, which does democracy demand should take precedence?
It is not a simple question. The vote to retain EU citizenship was more recent and carried a much larger majority than the earlier vote. In addition it was made crystal clear during the campaign that it may require the overturning of the earlier vote. So on these grounds I believe the most recent vote must, as an exercise in democracy, have precedence.
In these circumstances the announcement by the First Minister that she is initiating the procedure on a new referendum for Scottish independence from the UK, in order to retain Scottish membership of the EU, is a sensible step.
Source: Craig Murray
Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was British Ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and Rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 25 2016, @07:48PM
The thing is, I found out this week that half of the british people are idiots. It's still better than the US, but I was actually shocked. Even you, who seem to have a very good grasp of the bigger picture, say you considered voting in order to send a message to some politician rather than voting in order to choose the best long term status of your country.
It's very scary, because you guys have the BBC and the BBC seems, to me at least, as the most sane thing on TV in the world right now (well, I actually just read their website, and I can't say I have any idea about any news outlet that doesn't use english or romanian). If the UK people, with the BBC present, and with world class scientists and universities spread throughout the island, can be brainwashed into this state, what chance do the rest of us have?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by theluggage on Saturday June 25 2016, @09:51PM
The thing is, I found out this week that half of the british people are idiots.
No, not idiots. Just people who were asked to make a difficult decision without the necessary information. The Leave campaign cynically addressed their fears and blamed them all on the EU, the Remain campaign bombarded them with patronising FUD and told them that immigrants pay lots of tax (but neglected to explain why the government hadn't used some of that tax to build the extra schools and hospitals etc. that the immigrants needed).
I've travelled to the continental EU (and the USA, for a glimpse of one alternative) - as part of my job, working with colleagues from those countries, not just to visit the local tourist spots. Strolled into countries that were enemy war zones when my parents were young, firmly behind the Iron Curtain (if they existed) and part of the Evil Empire when I was young. Now you don't even need to show a passport when you cross the borders by land - its wonderful. Even with Britain being outside the Shengen open-borders zone its just a wave of a passport when you first land (maybe you need to have stood for 2 hours in US immigration waiting to be fingerprinted and quizzed to really appreciate that). That's a privilege that many people haven't enjoyed or - if they have - its just been as a tourist (which isn't quite the same - it never feels quite real, and you're a customer to most people you meet).
... and, yeah, even I didn't find the decision a complete no-brainer. There are many, many things about the EU that need fixing - but we're not the only country that realises that now, and on reflection the one thing Leaving guarantees is that we won't now be able to play a part in fixing them - yet Europe is still reachable in a rowing boat.
But when I was much, much younger and I hadn't really set foot in another country, I'd have voted Leave, too. Funnily enough, the age profile seems to have reversed now - but then the young people are all having borderless conversations on social media.
It's very scary, because you guys have the BBC and the BBC seems, to me at least, as the most sane thing on TV in the world right now
Unfortunately, we also have a lot of right-wing newspapers who print endless sensational nonsense about the EU (and the EU does/says just enough genuinely stupid things to provide the necessary grain of truth).
...and the BBC are great, but BBC journalists are still journalists and will always let a headline about squabbling tories trading insults push any actual analysis down to the bottom of a page. They're also prone to "bias by balance" (making a minority opinion sound as if its a widely-held position) and "Headline Bias" (broadly balanced article, but with a one-sided headline).