a guy looks at the thistle

They're pretty, right? Prickly, but really beautiful when they fully flower. Also, Scotland's national flower and as we are into double digit figures in the countdown to the referendum I thought I'd share a little of my thinking on Independence.

I'm a YES. I have been for quite a while. The economic and fiscal arguments about better together or not don't really impact my decision making. No-one knows the economic future whether as part of the UK or independent.
It's also not really a Nationalist thing for me either. It's a governance thing. Since Devolution I've like the way that successive Scottish Administrations have been able to try and tackle specific Scottish (and even more local) issues. In Health and Education in particular. It's by no means all there yet, but this left leaning agenda is one that I - and many Scots- are turned on by and feel it is important. So Indepenence, for me is the best way to try and bring about a more social and equitable society.
I also like that the movement for Independence isn't an "ethnic" one , if I can use that term. It's about who and what Scotland is now and paints an inclusive optimistic (to me) outlook for the future.
I'm against Nuclear weapons. Growing up living across from Faslane Nuclear Submarine base was really frightening during the Cold War tensions. If there was to be a strike then the West coast of Scotland would have been the first to go. I clearly recall the existential dread of it. Also, the missile guidance systems are done by USA satellites, so they're not really "our" weapons. Just our danger.
Finally, for now, I'd just say that I want a change to the politics of Westminster and its isolation from any meaningful connection to what I'm concerned about. I want the real chance of a change and I think Independence is a pretty good shout at this particular time.

Okay. The other thing about thistles is that they remind me of my time in Spain. Artichokes - part of the thistle family, were produced in the area where I lived and seeing thistles in bloom remind me of their larger cousin who, if left to flower, look much the same. So what comes to mind is late evening walks along the caminos around El Saladar with the Sun setting behind Sierra Callosa and swallows and swifts darting, like x-wings attacking the Death Star, along the channels of the irrigation canals.

I'm heading back there for a fortnight in July and just writing this is already making me excited about it. I can see myself right there among the fields of artichokes blooming purple in the cooling summer evening. Roll on July!