BY JAMES DELANEY (FW)

 

Dust tracks where roads used to stand lead up to a dishevelled looking mud hut, in which we find a family of 35, all huddled together under one sheet of A4 paper, desperately clinging onto the last remains of life they have left in their poor disease-ridden bodies. They wait for night to come, only to be kept awake by the raiders who come to take what little they have left back to the grinning warlord who sits upon his throne of human remains…...at Holyrood.

 

This is not a description of a war-torn developing nation, nor a overview of a life led by any post apocalyptic literary character. This is Scotland 2016, a broken down, desolate shadow of a country, wrecked by its own desire for independence.

 

As the two sides move into the final 365 days of campaigning, this seems to be the future the ‘Better Together’ camp is putting forward for an independent Scotland.

 

While the ‘Yes’ campaign seems to be gathering speed, the better together bunch - or ‘Worse Apart’ as would be a more apt name - are stuttering along far behind. October saw almost 20,000 yes supporters march through the streets of the capital city, with no opposition.

 

The lack of faith shown by worse apart is frightening. There’s been no march. There’s been no events organised. There’s been nobody running through the streets of Edinburgh shouting ‘No’ with any conviction. Worse apart seems to be relying on the fear factor of an independent nation carrying them to victory next September.

 

But it won’t, the ‘Yes’ campaign is well organised. While they are producing policies, making promises and backing it up with figures, Worse Apart are attempting to poke holes in the figures and they’re not doing it very well. Even David Cameron, the man who may or may not be in charge by the time Scotland secedes, is running scared, refusing to meet Alex Salmond in a live television debate.

 

Worse Apart’s main claim seems to be a ‘What If…’ scenario. What If it all goes wrong ?, What if Scotland wants to come back ?. At the last count, almost 100 countries have decided they don’t want to be governed by Westminster, and you don’t see Australia or India on the doorstep begging to be let back in.

 

The other claims, generally that society would simply grind to a halt in an independent Scotland, aren’t that well subsidised either. Scotland currently has a higher employment rate (72.4%) than the rest of the UK (71.6%). We contribute more tax per head compared to the rest of the UK, we have a smaller average yearly expenditure than the rest of the UK and, over the past 30 years, our finances have been healthier than the rest of the UK by a margin of almost £19billion.

 

The silence is deafening from worse apart and the message from the public is becoming clearer, shape up or you’re out.