...perhaps be grateful to Straw for his honesty. What he is effectively saying is that countries like Scotland and Wales are expected to give up their unique voices in the international community so England can enjoy ‘amplified’ ie undeserved international status. The case for union then is simple if, like Gordon Brown, you support England’s interests over Scotland’s then as Straw says there is an excellent case for retention of the union because it was designed to amplify England’s voice and it still does today. If however you support Scotland’s right to have our unique voice heard then the only logical choice is independence....

Since the clear indication is from opinion polls that support for the union is now in the minority it is a simple matter of democracy that the people of Scotland must be asked directly if they want the union to continue or not. Obviously this executive hope that they can ignore this issue and it will go away particulary if the press can be convinced to completely ignore it or treat it as a footnote. The Press Association covered the issue yesterday but almost every newspaper has completely ignored it. What a disgrace, the Scots ARE an oppressed nation but because of our biased media, they don't realise it yet.

It is Tony Blair and his illegal Iraq war against imaginary weapons of mass destruction which has made Britain a target of international terrorists who have come to believe that the West is waging a war against their culture and religion and are trying to steal their oil. Britain want us to 'share the pain' of their foreign policy which basically entails sucking up to George Bush without any benefits to Scotland whatsoever. Scotland is an energy rich country we don't need to interfere in the affairs of other nations in the middle east and we don't want to either. Scotland does not have an imagined post imperial role nor do we want to share in an American empire. We need our own seat in the UN and our own independent foreign policy.