The big decision

Sometimes I write what I think. Sometimes I write to find out what I think. Often, the process of writing is me debating with myself. There’s what’s on the page and what’s in my mind, and they don’t always match. It’s a constant battle to see which one wins. Lately, I’ve been having one of those debates with myself. I’ve written about the need for something to keep the independence move engaged over the next five years. Nothing much will be happening on the constitutional issue in the Scottish Parliament. So, there must be something happening elsewhere. The question is, what?

The argument in my head was between the rational, pragmatic me who argued that what was needed was the New Scotland Party (NSP) and the weary, dispirited me who didn’t want to do anything. The rational, pragmatic me won that argument. I intend to try and relaunch New Scotland Party.

I have spent the last couple of days doing some preliminary work preparing a new website and a membership system. In a day or two (or maybe three or four) I’ll open everything up and start publicising it. I aim to officially relaunch NSP on St Andrew’s Day—two years after the original launch—on the condition that there has been enough interest shown.

As ever, it’s partly a matter of money. If the party is to get off the ground, it’ll need to be properly financed. But it’s not only money. A party is its membership. It was always intended that as well as being the vehicle for a reframed approach to the constitutional issue, NSP would aim to be different from and better than the ‘traditional’ political parties. If we want better politics and better politicians, we need better political parties. NSP will be wholly owned and controlled by its members. I have a wealth of ideas on how the party should be structured and how it should operate. I’ll be honing those ideas as I prepare for the official relaunch.

I am firmly persuaded that Scotland’s independence movement needs a new party-political and parliamentary arm. The movement has stagnated due to the lack of a churn of ideas. The orthodoxy of the SNP and the independence industry are not being challenged. The colonised mindset has ossified. It is rigidly set in a conventional perspective that has not served Scotland’s cause at all well these past eleven years or more because it puts Westminster at the centre of the constitutional issue.

There is a different way of thinking about the constitutional issue. A new way. This new thinking needs a vehicle to carry its message into mainstream politics, there to be the good disruptor. I am convinced the SNP is taking Scotland’s cause in a wrong and dangerous direction. People have to know there’s a different way.

As I say, I’ve only just started putting things together. One of the things I’m considering is a separate Substack for NSP. For the moment, I’ll keep everybody informed here as well as my usual analysis and commentary. It’s beginning to sound like a job.