We watched both of these videos last night.
Aside from the specific arguments being presented, what struck us was how much time has elapsed since 'The Great Debate'. We have a vague recollection of watching it live on television at the time but can't be sure. The second video, produced by The Scotland Channel and released only days ago, is the best summary of the SALVO/ISP constitutional position we've seen.
Considering both, it must be plain, even to the disinterested, that the 'debate' has shifted somewhat over the course of the past three decades. Independence now feels more imperative than aspirational and there seems to be general agreement that that is largely down to the efforts of one man in particular.
But Alex Salmond has left us and his successor (who can be glimpsed occasionally in the background) is in disgrace. The SNP government is holding on by its fingernails and can't even be sure of passing its own budget, yet popular support for independence remains at/about 50%.
How the pieces of the kaleidoscope will settle remains to be seen.
"The Great Debate" took place in February 1995, and was a head-to-head between Alex Salmond and Labour's shadow Scottish Secretary of the time George Robertson (hosted by an unfamiliar raven-haired Lesley Riddoch) at the Royal High School in Edinburgh, which was then favourite to be the home of the still-notional Assembly.
Salmond argued that independence would allow Scotland to have a direct voice in Europe and control its own economy and social policies. He criticized the union with England, claiming it had led to the decline of Scottish industries and jobs.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=if-2A47U5PQ
Narrated by Hugh Anderson, 'The United Kingdom - The Biggest Con Trick in History' lifts the lid on how the fake state that is the UK was actually created and how this hoax which has gone largely undetected for over 300 years was perpetrated to allow England to effectively annex Scotland as a colony.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_X2H_IjnzY
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