EVERYONE in the UK should be extremely worried. Theresa May and company are whistling in the wind – the EU must protect its integrity, above any other considerations.

We are told this is democracy in action, but incompetence abounds. This is not democracy. Democracy means some representation, some faith and belief. This is chaos in action.

We must take the reins of some sanity here and soon. I hear lambs may have to be slaughtered, patients may face delays, there may be shortages of vegetables. What are we thinking, what is Brexit for? Brexit is not about independence – Britain is already an independent, sovereign nation – it’s about leaving a successful trading and security treaty. All this shows us how one foolish decision can lead to another, and so on and so on. Just because some in England (not all) have decided to jump off a cliff, doesn’t mean Scotland has to follow.

Last week I read the McCrone Report on Scotland’s oil reserves of the 1970s. We could have been one of the richest countries. It was a distressing read. McCrone wrote later in a Guardian article in 2013: “They hadn’t reached a decision by the election of early 1974. And the Scottish secretary of state of the day was told to say that oil revenues from rent and royalties might be £100 million in 1980. Well that was ridiculous. In fact, they were in the order of £3000m in 1980.”

I recall meeting a Norwegian filmmaker in Edinburgh a few years ago. He asked me about the stewardship of Scotland’s oil. It’s an embarrassment to speak of – we gave our resources and wealth away, I told him. He spoke of Norway’s $1 trillion pension fund.

McCrone wrote of “narrow nationalism” and how Scotland should not be selfish: but rather give our oil wealth away to Westminster and to multi-national oil companies. He did say that some investment might be made to the West of Scotland to build infrastructure. Was it?

We continue to have cast-off mobile broadband, connectivity and trains. We continue to have the worst health outcomes and poverty in Europe. We must be the only country in the world asked to give its resources away. Sometimes some selfishness is a good thing!

Scotland has been colonised, and successful Scottish whisky or engineering businesses, for no good reason, have set up their head offices in London, and as a result many Scots fear for their jobs. We must stop behaving as a branch economy and start to protect our industries as most other countries do.

I believe in representative democracy and equal life opportunities, and in diversity and equal voices. I believe in Scotland having a unique voice, culture, resources and solutions. It’s a unique place.

Scotland is and always has been an outward-looking place with a history of travel and integration: it is a diverse and multi-cultural nation. I hope to be both national and international. It’s the balance of the two that matters.

Robert Burns wrote to Mrs Dunlop in 1789: “You know my natural prejudices in alas have I often said to myself, what are all the boasted advantages which my country reaps from a certain Union, that can counterbalance the annihilation of her independence and even her very name! I am fed up with English meaning British, what does this mean for Scotland. I feel attached to my sense of Scotland independence and to honour.”

We should be really worried over Westminster’s broken politics.

Here’s a more recent quote, from the popular TV series Outlander: “If the cause is just, it’s better to do something, than to stand by and do nothing, while the people suffer.”

P Keightley
Glasgow