Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Saying Yes


It's harder than you imagine. Cast your mind back over the day and think how many times you said No. We say it a lot - to our children, partners, colleagues, clients, ourselves. "No you can't ..." "No, I don't ..." "No, I haven't..." No, I shouldn't" . Sometimes we need to say no - when something is wrong, or dangerous, or damaging for instance, but a lot of the time it's a  knee-jerk response. No is our default. Were we brought up to expect no for an answer? Is it a cultural conditioning? 

I thought of this earlier this evening, when my son rushed out after dinner to play football. "No!" I shouted "you haven't done your homework"
"Leave him" said the Crofter."He's been cooped up all Winter"
And so I watched him running and jumping about chasing after the ball in the light evening. He had great fun and happily did his homework later 

 It's so easy to say No - often it's out of our mouths before we realise and we might have missed the chance of something precious. It's such a narrow word. If I think about it, most of the time I say no, it's because I don't actually think - automatically saying no removes the effort of having to consider the question. When we say yes, then possibilities are opened up. There is an expansion in our thinking. It may mean more effort or responsibility, if we agree - it might be quite hard work, but who knows what wonderful opportunities we might find. 

We are being asked a big question this year. A question that only asks us to answer Yes or No. What will it be - a knee-jerk No, or a life-changing Yes?

I am voting Yes. You know that.  But I am feeling Yes too - I love all the positivity there is in the atmosphere  right now - the excitement is tangible. There is such a sense of openness - as if we are uncurling and reaching out to each other - finding that we are still a nation, but also a community. And more and more we are saying Yes.

We are not quite there yet - we need to keep this momentum going - lets practice - there's lots of ways to say it:

Absolutely, alright, affirmative, amen, aye, agree, by all means, beyond a doubt, bring it on, certainly, definitely, exactly, fine, gladly, indisputably, indubitably, granted, good enough, great, good, gladly, happily, just so, most assuredly, naturally, no doubt about it, of course, OK, positively, precisely, sure, surely, true, undoubtedly, unquestionably, uhuh, very well, willingly, yeah, yep, you bet

A little bit of rethinking and it will soon be second nature to us - then, come September, enough of us will tick that box marked Yes, and Scotland will open.


Tuesday, March 25, 2014

A different country


I've always wanted Scotland to be independent. For as long as I can remember, I have been aware of that. All those years of seeing my country short-changed by the London government, watching biased TV (it's not a new thing) wondering why the towns and villages round about me were decaying. I grew up in the 1970s - strikes, fuel shortages, planned power cuts - I remember bread being rationed at one point - two general elections in one year - 11 SNP MPs!   The first election I was able to vote in was 1979 - the year Mrs Thatcher came to power - I voted SNP, although I secretly wanted to vote for the Communist Party - if they had supported independence for Scotland, then I might very well have.
With devolution, the SNP vote grew, slowly but surely, and in 2007, they won the Scottish Election. I remember watching the tv with rising excitement - Alex Salmond, now First Minister, broadcasting to the nation, with the Saltire discretely in place in the corner of the shot.
But the thing I remember most about that night, was standing at the window in our old house, in West Lothian, looking out into the gloaming, at the familiar view, and suddenly feeling that it had changed, somehow - it looked exactly the same and yet -  it was like a different country. As if those 300 years had been rolled away, and the land stood, revealed, expectant and ready for what was to come.


By the time of the 2011 election, I was in a different country. Still in Scotland, but on the Isle of Lewis. The views around me were very different to the ones I was used too, although there were always the sheep. This time, the SNP won an overall majority, under a voting system designed to make such a thing impossible. With incredulous delight, I watched this drama unfold. That imperceptible shift I had felt at the other end of the country four years earlier had gained momentum.


And here we are now, still on Lewis, less than six months away from the Referendum on Independence, promised by the SNP after their election victory. If we vote Yes - two years from this very day, we will celebrate Independence Day.  
The steady movement is still there though, seven years on, that seed that we planted is growing taller, and spreading further, anchored by strong roots.
Today, people are being asked to state their reasons for wanting Independence. There are so many positive and hopeful ideas being posted on social media (look up #IndyReasons)
I have many reasons - a read back at some of my previous blog posts will tell you what they are. But, really, I have always known that it is natural for us to be independent. It has grown along with me and the buds are ready to blossom. Our land is ready for us - what a flourishing there will be. Vote Yes!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Yes in Ness

We went to our first Yes meeting on the island on Thursday. We nearly didn't go.  It was down in Ness, which is about an hour's drive away, and it was a wild stormy evening - again. I thought I would be going on my own, so was humming and hawing about it - should I drag myself out on such a night? It was a long way. What would be the point anyway - I already know I will be voting Yes, so I don't need to be convinced.

Then, the Crofter himself said he would like to go, and we could have our tea in the Borve hotel. Well, that was good enough for me, so off we went - on what was now a family outing. Seven year old Son was easily persuaded with the thought of dinner out and full use of the iPad during the meeting.
The meal was good - it's a lovely place, if you are ever over this way, then we headed the few miles further along to the meeting venue, which was the local Historical society centre. Of course, we arrived obscenely early,so I made everyone sit in the car for 10 minutes, while they laughed at my "early-event" phobia. Even so, we were first there.
No worries though, as we were warmly welcomed by Angus MacNeil MP, and Alyn Smith MEP, who were the speakers for the evening. People began to trickle in, and soon there was a fair number - maybe about 15 - certainly more than you would expect for a stormy night in the very North West corner of the island. 

Alyn Smith spoke about his role as MEP, with a particular interest in Agriculture. Most of those attending the meeting were crofters, and were keen to find out how independence would affect us. At the moment, Scottish interests are curtailed by those of the UK Government, and Westminster's priority is to protect their rebate. All the money that comes to the UK from Europe goes directly to the treasury and is subsequently divided up as they see fit. Fair enough - they are the government. But it comes at a cost to Scottish farmers and crofters who lose out on rural development funding. With our own seat at the Council of Ministers, Scottish MEPs would have much greater influence in determining policy and negotiating a deal that takes account of our own particular needs. A full Scottish representation could prioritise agriculture as it's funding priority.

Alyn Smith is the first politician I have heard who has talked about Food Security, and that when we hear talk of agriculture - it means food, and the production of food. We need to be a country which produces much more of our own food as we can - supporting sustainable communities. With a Yes vote we can begin to prioritise such things. UK farmers currently get the lowest subsidy in Eurpoe, and he drew a comparison between us in the UK, and Luxembourg (bizarrely) where there is almost a fourfold difference in the amount paid to their farmers - different priorities
Crofting is unique to the Islands and parts of the highlands of Scotland, but is dying out as people leave the land. Angus Macneil, himself a crofter, pointed to the photographs on the wall, showing the crofts of Ness, fifty years ago - every field was golden with corn. You'll not see any crop growing on the island now, but with the right kind of investment in our agriculture and food production, we could again. I'll vote for that.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Accustomed to mediocrity


The tumble dryer broke down just after New Year. It was a recurrent fault, and the repair man had made several visits over the previous few months, so we decided it would be cheaper to replace it. A new model was duly delivered and installed. I asked the driver if he would take away the old one and he said for £10 they would take it to the dump.
"Ach no" I said, "We pass that way most days, so we'll just take it in ourselves."
So it sat out in the kitchen for a couple of days, as for one reason or another, we didn't seem to be going into town. Then, I got fed up of manoeuvering round it, so made space for it in a corner. It meant that my thrifted vintage tea trolley,with various retro items artfully arranged, was squeezed up against a cupboard, and that the kitchen door didn't fully open. Every time I came in the door rattled off it and rebounded in my face  - I had to squeeze round between it and the table, and it looked messy - certainly not part of my ideal kitchen vision. I put up with it though, because it was  really only for a day or two Yet -those days came and went - and, here we are two months later and it is still sitting there. We were busy - the truck was full of other stuff - one of us was away - we forgot - lots of excuses for it. Mostly though, as the days went on, we noticed it less and less. We became used to it - adjusted our movements around it. It has actually become useful as a dumping ground for all those bits and pieces that don't have a place, or that we cant be bothered to put away properly. In fact the area round about it has become a bit of a junk pile, although we don't notice that much either. First world, middle class problems - eh?

In a previous life, I worked for the SSEB, in the dying days of the nationalised industies. In the lead up to Thatcher's privatisation of our public organisations, our far-seeing management decided we had to be prepared for our new role, ensuring profits for shareholders, so they sent every single employee to a "self improvement course" - honestly! We were bussed to Glasgow, in carefully selected representative groups, put up in the Hospitality Inn for two nights, while we attended this course. There we watched videos of an American self-help guru, had group discussions, where we were encouraged to say what we really felt, and basically were instructed in the language of "corporate-speak". What a jolly that was, I can tell you. Aside from learning about "positive affirmations" the thing I remember most clearly from this "experience" was a story about becoming accustomed to mediocrity, when we stop noticing things that used to bother us. (Our depot closed within a year of the sell off, and I was made redundant.)

I saw First Minister's Questions yesterday for the first time in ages. Not for the first time, however,  I was struck with the mediocrity of the questions asked by the leaders of the opposition parties. No imagination - no ideas, no vision that sought to advance the outlook and lives of the people of Scotland. Each one in turn focussed on the same headline from yesterday's newspaper and flogged it to death - three times! They each perpetuated the idea that Scotland too small to manage on our own and we are doing okay as part of the union - why change?

Everything is okay as we are.

Being okay means a quarter of our children live in poverty, while we pay for nuclear weapons to be kept in our waters. Being okay means that our elders, who have worked all their lives, find their pensions raided, and go hungry or cold, while the bankers and politicians who caused their hardship are rewarded with massive bonuses and lucrative speaking contracts. Being okay means that the wealth generated from our resources has been drained away to Westminster, where it has been mismanaged by incompetent governments.

It's not okay.

For decades, we have been moving around these issues, putting up with the inconvenience, having to struggle to get the door open, being used as a dump for nuclear weapons, listening to the corporate-speak.  It is beyond mediocrity - it is absolutely dire - but - there is something we can do about it. On September 18th - let us  just take that broken system, and throw it in the skip.  Then we can start to build a country that works for us - that lets us open the doors wide for everyone, that gives people the chance to flourish. We no longer need to be accusotmed to mediocrity - let us expect the best for ourselves and our children.

Vote Yes.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

In my Shoes: A post for International Women's Day

 

Today is International Women's Day - a celebration of the achievements of women around the world. I thought I would add my own tribute by inviting you to spend a day in my shoes.


The crowing of Elvis the cockerel gets me out of bed these lighter mornings, rather than the alarm I hunt around for my slippers and shuffle through to the kitchen to make the first cup of the day. Before too long, I hear the sound of small feet padding along the hall, and my son says a sleepy good morning.
Do you like my slippers? I bought them almost a year ago, on a shopping trip to Inverness. I got them in Primark - I think they cost maybe £2.99, but in real terms they are worth so much more than that. Just a few weeks later, a garment factory in Bangladesh, which supplied Primark with clothing, collapsed, killing over 1,000 workers - mostly women. Primark is not a place I usually go to – the 4 hour journey is probably a factor, but, anyway, I was in there,saw these, and well, three quid is really quite a bargain, and I needed slippers. They are soft and comfy and keep my feet warm on the cold morning floors.
But, I tell you this - every single time I put these on my feet, I wonder if the woman who stitched them, was killed in that disaster - who she was - did she have a son who came sleepily through to greet her in the morning? Did she and her colleagues even have time to spend with their children before they left for that sweatshop?  I remember these unknown women each and every day, and I wear these slippers with a mix of shame and pride.
85% of workers in the global garment trade are women, and the conditions they work in are terrible -" a daily grind of excessive hours, forced overtime, lack of job security, poverty wages, denial of trade union rights, poor health, exhaustion, sexual harassment and hazardous working places." Visit the Clean Clothes Campaign for more information and see how you can help.


Three mornings a week I go for a run, and this is a running day. Once J is safely on the school bus, I go and meet my friend and running mate - either down at the community gym, or up on the back road behind the village, and we follow our training programme. We are six weeks into this, and already beginning to feel the benefit. I have known for sometime that my fitness levels were going down, as my weight went up, If I want to remain active and healthy then it is up to me to do something about it. Women in Scotland are at risk of chronic disease because of obesity and lack of exercise. It is hard to find the time to look after your own needs when you have a busy life, working, running a home and looking after others. And lets not kid ourselves that years and years of being told we are too wee/poor/stupid, as a nation, to govern ourselves does not have an impact on how we see our personal choices - especially our own well-being.
I certainly did not think I had the time to fritter away exercising, and besides, I told myself that I had an active enough life. Yet, there were days when I felt myself hobbling around like  - well - an old woman - managing to get the chores done but with effort. It's the beginning of a slippery slope towards health problems though, and I can't afford to let that happen. Anyway, as it turns out - starting this programme - half an hour running three times a week, has hardly impacted on my day, and as my fitness increases, I feel so much better and have more energy - it's certainly worth it.


Back from the run, it is time to get the wellies on and the livestock seen to. The cattle need a bale of silage and some concentrate everyday, just now - there will be no real grazing for them until May at the earliest. Even though the ground is covered in surface water just now, after this horrendously wet winter, they still need their drinking trough replenished with fresh water every day. Sheep will happily drink from puddles and ditches, but cows like a good long drink of the freshly drawn stuff. Everywhere is just a sea of mud right now. The ewes come along and share in the silage bale, but they get their own feed of concentrate and flaked barley too.
The hens are always hungry, the way they come rushing up anytime I appear outside, but at least they are laying well again.
I am always a bit stuck when I am asked to state my occupation - the "What do you do?" question. I usually mutter something like housewife and crofter. I am not actually doing any "paid" work, although I have had many jobs over the years. At the moment I work around the home and croft, and take care of our mildly disabled son (he said I could mention that). I do sometimes feel guilty that I am not rushing back into the workplace now that he is in school, but it would be too difficult for us as a family. I read a lot about government pledges to increase childcare more and more, but that is not always the best thing for children and families - particularly in remote areas. Sometimes I feel a bit undervalued, but mostly I am happy being a housewife/crofter - its a fine job description, and I have acquired some very useful skills in the process,I can tell you.



Then it is back in, quick shower, and rush about, doing the dishes, tidying around and getting a washing on. It's a never ending job just now, what with dogs, mud and wet clothes all the time. Crocs are my default footwear - they are just the most practical shoes ever invented. In the Summer I practically live in them, and the rest of the time they are my indoor working shoes. 
It's strange that our division of labour has followed the typical gender stereotype - me doing most of the housework and gardening, and John tackling the heavier outside work, and construction. It just seemed to happen that way, once I stopped working - with a baby to breastfeed and later on a high needs toddler, it seemed easier for me to assume that role. But now that J is settled at school, I can get involved in some of the heavier tasks, and John has always been happy to push the vacuum around and wash up. The croft is our workplace as well as our home, though, and I suppose we have come to regard each other's role as equally valuable, as we gradually build it up to a sustainable level.  We try to see ourselves as a unit of production rather than consumption, though it doesn't always seem to work out that way...


The weather is about to take a turn for the worse over the weekend, so I decide to take a quick trip into Stornoway to stock up on a few things. A change into town shoes then, and off I go. There is a good fruit and vegetable stall in the square on Fridays  and Saturdays, so I am glad to catch them. Then a visit to the delicatessen, where, happily, there is a special cheese tasting going on, before popping into the supermarket on the way home. I've not been into Stornoway for a couple of weeks now, so I'm not doing too badly with my balance of consumption/production. 
 It's 20 miles to the town from where we live, so not very handy if you run out of anything. There is a garage about 15 minutes drive away, but the prices are high. A lot of things are more expensive here, because of the transport costs, and at this time of year, when the ferries have often been cancelled, there isn't always a great selection of food. The fresh healthy food sells out first - the fruit, veg and milk.We are used to making do though, and often turn to online ordering. Even then, many companies charge a high delivery premium for the Islands - some won't even deliver here at all! The privatisation of Royal Mail has had an impact here already, as more companies turn to couriers to deliver their goods, and the universal postal rate is threatened. 

There is a foodbank in town though. These have been springing up all over the country, caused, in great part,  by the UK government welfare reforms, Poverty and hunger have expanded now to encompass the "working poor" - those who work hard, but their wages are so low that they fall into poverty. A report published just a few days ago showed that 870,000 people in Scotland are living in poverty. That's nearly a million! 1 in 5 people are living below the breadline. In the last 6 months, 23,000 people have needed an emergency food package from a foodbank in Scotland. I find it so hard to get my head around the scale of this, that I end up despairing. 


So - anyway, back home and back into the crocs. It's time to put away the shopping, and start on dinner preparations. Not really much to do, as I had made a lamb curry yesterday and there are enough leftovers to heat up for tonight. I am still thinking about these statistics, and about the mothers of the 1 in 5 children living in poverty right now, who have no answer to the "what's for dinner, Mum?" question. Even if they have been given a foodbank donation, they may not be able to afford to turn on the electricity to cook it. Women in these circumstances are likely to be denying their own needs, so that their family can eat the food that doesn't need to be heated.  How desperately worried and miserable they must be. How amazingly strong they must be too. The Scottish government have recently passed a bill which will provide all schoolchildren in Primary 1-3  with free school  meals. That will ease some of the burden on some families, but it is only the tip of the iceberg, and 'astonishingly', there was and still is political opposition to it.



The end of the day, and I can relax by the fire, put my slippered feet up and have a read or do a wee bit of crochet,  maybe. But its hard to forget that there are women out there in the world, working in terrible conditions to keep my feet cosy. Nearer home, there are women struggling to feed their children and keep them warm, women who are worried about what the next day will bring. In a country as rich as ours, we should not even contemplate this as being the case,  yet, we seem to be in the midst of a real humanitarian crisis. How did we allow this to happen?

Over the years, Scotland has had to suffer the policies of a government we did not vote for. The current incumbents are wreaking havoc on the most vulnerable in our society, and they have pledged to continue! We need change urgently - and, in the Referendum for Independence, on 18th September, we have the chance to do just that -  but it seems that many of us are not likely to take it. Women in Scotland make up 52% of the population - we can make a real difference to the outcome, yet we are, apparently, the least likely to vote, and, most likely to vote no. I've no idea why that is the case, but what I do know us that, it's not about a political party, it's definitely not about one man, its not about size or lack of talent - it's about the opportunity to create a fairer  more equal society -

one where people work in decent, safe conditions and are paid a fair living wage,
one where we can feel good about ourselves and our society
one where our contributions are valued
one where none of our children go to bed hungry
one where families can enjoy life, without the constant stress and worry that poverty brings
one where all the people benefit from the riches that our country has, instead of a tiny percentage
one where the solutions to  the problems in our society are not too big to tackle.
one where we have the chance to get the government we, in Scotland, vote for.

I'm not saying that these things will magically appear after a Yes vote - but at least we will have the chance to build a society fit for our needs.  To make real change happen, we need to take control of that process - other questions can and will be resolved, but first - we need to step out in faith.

Today, on International Women's Day - imagine walking in the shoes of these brave women. Imagine all the women of Scotland reaching out to them, and to each other. What will we say? Let us say "sorry."  and let us say "We know this is wrong and we won't put up with it any longer!"

Make it real -make it happen - use your vote.

First published on my other blog www.thebarefootcrofter.com 8/3/14

Sunday, March 2, 2014

200 days

The Scottish Referendum will be held on 18th September - just 200 days away. The excitement is building as each day passes, and I am so aware of the incredible feeling of optimism. The sense of being caught up in such an historically significant time is tangible - spine tingling, gut wrenching, breath-taking moments of awe flood through me, when I think about the chance we have to choose our own path. It's scary - all change is, but like the book says "Feel the fear and do it anyway". I hope we do. In 200 days time we go to the polls. I will be voting Yes, and I fervently hop and pray that the majority will too. In this space, I hope to capture some of these feelings, and share thoughts about these  special days. I am not a political writer or thinker - there will be no deep analysis here - this is the diary of a wee wummin watching her world change.