Mel Gibson’s arse.

Aye or Naw? Scotland will soon go to the polls in a referendum on full (well…ish) independence. The vote may well result in Scotland leaving the United Kingdom and going it alone. The Oily Salmond likes to quote the fact that the North Sea oil reserves would belong to Scotland in the event of a split but often forgets that The New Scotland would have to take a portion of the huge national debt with it if the Scotties vote for a Mel-Gibson-Braveheart-Era type future. Then there are the UK nuclear submarine bases to consider; they may be needed to protect the oil fields if the UK is running out. I am not sure the average Glaswegian man in the street has actually thought this through. It is so easy to fall for the Hollywood driven Scottish-legend guff; men with big swords ‘n skirts, blue painted faces, hiding in the heather, defeating (or dying gloriously at the hands of) the Imperialist English invaders, the shameful Highland Clearances and Mel Gibson’s arse. As Oscar Wilde said “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel”, Salmond is calling for self-determination and a rabble rousing “Flower of Scotland” to unite the masses. The polls seem to suggest that Scots would vote Aye if they were an ipad buying £500 per year better off but that they would respond Naw if there was any suggestion that they would be financially worsened by the split. It’s a strange state of affairs when a sexist, racist, drunken Aussie actor could well be the difference between staying or going.