I’ve had a troubling weekend. The referendum result came as a body blow, our dreams had been crushed. On Friday I could hardly function, friends felt the same way and we consoled one another. The feeling was that it was all over. But, as the weekend progressed, those hopeless feelings gradually changed to anger. Then those feelings changed to a determination to not give up. I was reminded of the story of Robert the Bruce, hunkered down in a cave, watching a spider weave its web. He didn’t give up, so why should we?

It is now apparent that “The Vow” was no more than an empty promise. It has become a political football for the Westminster unionist parties. The votes had hardly been counted and the prime minister was standing outside 10 Downing Street moving the goal posts in a move designed to sink the Labour party, and tying the extra powers that were promised to more devolution in the rest of UK. The timetable that was promised by the has been Gordon Brown is now in tatters.

For Labour’s part they object to a resolution to the so called “West Lothian Question” since they have a large proportion of Scottish MPs sitting in the house of commons which could mean that Labour could form a UK government but have a minority when it comes to deciding English matters. These are interesting times and we’ll have to wait to see how things evolve.

One of the most striking aspects of the referendum campaign was the forces of the establishment which were pitched against us. Normally the establishment keeps to the shadows, preferring to pull the strings in the background. But they all came out of the shadows to fight the unionist corner. So now we know who they are. We had the entire mainstream media relentlessly pushing the No case, which they are entitled to do, with the honorable  exceptions of the Sunday Herald and the Shetland News.

We also had large corporations such as BP and Shell, we had supermarkets such as Waitrose and M&S, we had banks such as RBS and Clydesdale, there were many others who piched there tuppence worth into the debate too. These companies don’t even have a vote but they still felt the need to increase the fear factor in pursuit of the unionist cause. They were probably coerced into issuing statements at the behest of the Prime Minister. Readers may wish to research which companies felt the need to act in this manner and consider whether they wish to continue contributing to the fat profits that they make in Scotland. A Facebook page has been set up which will keep the reader informed: https://www.facebook.com/ScotlandsNOcompanies

But it is the BBC which has drawn the most ire, they have behaved in the most despicable way. They threw all pretence at impartiality away and relentlessly plugged the no side’s message. Why should we pay for that? There is now a movement to stop paying for the TV Licence. This can be done legally, but you should be aware of the conditions under which you can still view your televisions and stay within the law. This site does NOT condone illegal activity. Further information on ridding yourself of the TV Licence can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/activeresistancetothetvlicence?fref=ts.

One of the main reasons cited for the referendum result is the so called “grey vote”. It is claimed that they were afraid that their pensions would be cut post independence, it is also claimed that Better Together, among others, phoned pensioners up telling them these lies. Maybe so, but my mother voted No and she received no phone calls.

My mother is a bit of technophobe, she has a mobile phone but can’t use all of it’s functions. She doesn’t have an internet connection so she gets most of her information from the Daily Heil, sorry Daily Mail. I looked at this rag last Friday and I was totally dismayed by the amount of hatred, lies and scaremongering which covered most of the organ. Page after page of anti-independence diatribe. Page after page of demonisation of the SNP and Alex Salmond in particular. If this is what my mother was reading then it’s no wonder that she voted No. So I don’t think that it’s right to blame the pensioners for the result. They just didn’t have access to the information other than the mainstream media. So I have made a vow of my own; I’m going to get my mother connected to the internet and I am going to show her how to use it so that she can start making more informed decisions. At least that’s a practical step that I can take right now while we wait for the dust to settle.