To be or not to be: why I am voting Yes for Scottish independence

I have been a 'yes' voter from pretty much the start of the referendum campaign. My response to those in favour of staying British has been mixed; on one hand I can understand their anxiety and doubts, there are very reasonable questions that need to be answered, but on the other hand I just don't understand why some Scottish people don't want to have their future in their own hands and govern themselves. If we do go independent there will indeed be problems and obstacles to overcome, but I think we are smarter and more capable than we give ourselves credit for and that we can work out these problems, whatever they may be. It will be a time of adjustment and uncertainty, but that is inevitable and nothing to be afraid of. One of the main reasons I want Scottish independence is that the Scots did not vote in the current Tory government, who I particularly dislike. I find them patronising and out of touch with the ordinary man in the street. The south of England voted in the Tories and it is the south of England who will therefore get number one treatment from the Tories. The Tories boast that there has been economic recovery in Britain. That is only a half truth; to be more accurate there has been economic recovery in the south of England, not Britain as a whole. If we have an Edinburgh government then that government will only have Scottish matters to contend with and can give their 100% attention on the people that voted them into power. Another major reason for leaving the UK is the state of the NHS down south, which by all accounts is in a terrible state. In the Glasgow Herald newspaper there has been many letters sent in by doctors and nurses who are very concerned that the NHS in Scotland will get dragged down with the NHS in England. Also, if we go independent then getting rid of Trident will save the Scottish economy in the region of £350 million a year, money that can be reinvested into education, the NHS, etc. Westminster dumped Trident on us, as no other city or town in England wanted a nuclear arms base on its doorstep. Trident is only about 30 miles from Glasgow and Edinburgh. Finally, when Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to a Scottish referendum he did not allow a third option, which was 'yes, to be come independent over a gradual period of time'. I think he did this because he knew that if the Scottish people were given this option they would have gone for it. Cameron should not have denied us this alternative. The devolved Scottish government should have had the final say on how the Scottish people were to vote. So, these are some of the reasons why I am voting yes this Thursday. It is also just a gut reaction, a feeling that it is natural to want to govern ourselves and that we are good and clever enough to do it. Go for it Scotland.  

Lucy (film review)

Lucy is much more than Scarlett Johansson defeating foes and overcoming obstacles in a sexy and cool way, although she does this very well and is a significant proportion of the film's success and enjoyment. Luc Besson writes and directs a film along the lines of Limitless but of course gives it his own rather far fetched twist; a drug is developed that allows human beings to access more of their brains capacity, currently assumed by the medical profession to be about only 10%. Scarlett Johansson's character Lucy accidentally absorbs a large quantity of this drug and as her brain capacity soon rapidly increases, so does her ability to retain and process information at a staggering rate and even control and manipulate certain external objects. The second part of that sentence, about controlling external objects, is indeed very far fetched and probably subject to scientific ridicule. But Besson has such fun with the themes and visuals that he almost gets away with it. I say almost, as the last twenty minutes of the film is way over the top and doesn't really make any sense. Morgan Freeman's character is very interesting. He plays a professor and scientist who is an expert in the human brain, and is soon contacted by Lucy with the hope of not only making sense of what she is experiencing but also to save her life. I obviously won't tell you what happens at the end but the underlying philosophy is a largely secular one; that we are merely a highly sophisticated collection of cells and that our main purpose in life is to pass on our genetics and knowledge to the next generation of human beings. That aside, it is a thought provoking and largely enjoyable film with an excellent performance by Johansson. 7/10