IT'S A BRAND NEW DAY

I’m gutted, as I know most of you are.

But the people voted, the first minister has made a statement and we must accept the democratic process. There's an end to it and at the same time the beginning of something else. 

Scots voted in overwhelming numbers. They voted to be British. They voted for clout and nuclear weapons. They voted for being part of the 4^th most unequal nation in the developed world, and for the lowest pensions in that world apart from Mexico. That is what they wanted; that is what they will get.

They voted for neo-liberal governments of Conservative and Labour complexions for which money is the only god, and nothing else (most certainly not ordinary people) matters. They voted to be part of the least democratic country in the EU with an hereditary head of state holding and using real political power; a massive and expensive unelected house of parliament full of aristocrats, would-be aristocrat placemen, rich party donors, and the hierarchy of the Church of England, along with a corrupt house of parliament in which 66% of the seats are jobs for life because of the antiquated voting system used by Britain for ever, and that they just approved in a referendum. 

They voted for Iain Duncan Smith, Lord Fraud and Esther McVile. They voted for throwing the chronically ill off benefits and letting them die. They voted for the NHS to be privatised. I hope they never need it.

They voted for a country more or less permanently at war with countries to which is sells arms; a country where the troops sent to fight these wars (wars that increase rather than diminish the threat to our peoples) have substandard kit and rations, while the government boasts the 4^th largest military spend on unusable weapons of mass destruction. All so that the likes of David Cameron, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair can strut the world stage while in power and then enrich themselves after by sharing anecdotes of their times with the real leaders of the world.

They voted for a country where the money goes straight to London and its environs, leaving Scotland with third rate roads and railways, while billions, possibly trillions is spent on upgrading infrastructure in the south some of which will actively harm the Scottish economy. 

They voted for no voice in the EU and the very real possibility that the UK will leave the union, and lose millions of jobs in the process

Everyone will have had their own reasons for having no confidence in their own nation.

For some it will have been that they believed the lies of the BBC and non-Scottish owned press about not getting pensions or border guards with barbed wire fences and sub machine guns and a hundred other fabrications that were later disproved, but only online.

Of course the press may print what it likes. We needn't buy it. As for the BBC and their lying corrupt second rate journalists, who refused to seek the truth? Well apparently Scots voted for them too, so get paying for their salary increases.

Some may truly believe that they are British to the core and that no matter the realities of British life and the consequences of staying, they will not leave their queen and country. 

Difficult though it will be to comprehend, some will have believed the pledges of more powers from the likes of the arch liars of Cameron, Brown and Miliband.  (Frankly I find it hard to believe that anyone would have been stupid enough to do anything but splutter with uncontrolled laughter at the compulsive pledge signer Clegg.)

Some were just greedy, self serving, selfish individuals who believe that hungry kids and cold pensioners in an oil rich nation is a price worth paying so that they could go on earning large amounts of money, paying reduced amounts of tax. Their consciences can always be salved with an occasional donation to a food bank.

Whatever the reason, we must accept that more people voted for Britain than voted for Scotland.

So what to do now.

Well according to Cameron, the work on devolving more powers starts today. Mind you, according to the rest of his party, it doesn’t. So I wish them luck trying to persuade English MPs, whom we know are the vast majority in the London parliament, to agree to better conditions for Scotland, at a time that they are trying to fend off the Ukip threat in the run up to their general election and hang on to their soon to be increased salaries, fabulous expenses and unbelievable pensions. 

I wonder how the Labour Party in Scotland feels having manage to lose the four poorest areas of Scotland. They may be feeling very smug about having won overall, but it must strike them that they are no longer trusted by the people they were supposed to represent; they are no longer the people’s party. I'm not entirely sure they will survive this intact.

Just before we try to get off to sleep here, it seems appropriate to say thank you to the people who worked so hard over such a long time on this referendum. No names, because I’d leave someone out and be embarrassed, but I mean… the politicians, current and retired, the “celebrities”, the bloggers, the Sunday Herald and the few journalists who took a balanced view of the campaign, and the tens of thousands of hard working volunteers who pounded the streets day after day and night after night.

It was a life changing experience to be part of it all.

What will Munguin do?

Well, I think, after discussions with the furry one, that we shall stick around and poke fun at the horrible mess that will result of the conflicts of interest between Scotland and UK. There will be a continued campaign here for decency in the treatment of the poorest: a campaign against the Iain Duncan Smiths and Gideon Osbornes of this world.

Mr Cameron has said the matter is settled for a generation. I doubt that very much, Eton boy.  We shall all be watching you carefully. We can expect no help for the BBC or the English press. We must do it online.

It's a brand New Day.