Scotland the Bruised

Like 45% of my countrymen and women I am disappointed today. Honestly I can't quite gather my thoughts right now to put it into words but I am bitterly disappointed at the outcome of the referendum. However what we needed more than anything else was a decisive win on either side and we got it, the sovereign will of the Scottish people is to remain in the UK and if we receive meaningful powers as promised then we have much to celebrate.

So what now? Well earlier today a friend of mine said that she was ashamed to be Scottish and as is often the case in trying to cheer someone else up, my words of comfort to her were words of comfort to myself: Do not feel ashamed. What we did was amazing. We spoke up and while our voices were shouted down, they were heard. You can't argue with the result, our countrymen and women decisively opted to remain in the UK so we owe it to them and ourselves to honour that and work together to make the dream of unity a reality. But the past few weeks, the street parties, the way the yes campaign have composed themselves has been incredible and moving. Look to our Irish neighbours and their history to see how things could have been, we chose discussion, debate and democracy over death and destruction. We chose the ballot box over bombs. We should be proud, not ashamed.

The decision to vote yes or no was an easy one compared to the next vote which is WHO we vote for, as the choice is not inspiring. But if one great thing has come out of this referendum it is the uprising of the young, the future politicians were born out of this debate and that is what we desperately need. A new breed of politician of the people, for the people and by the people. I am confident that the future is in safe hands.

So please Yes voters, do not feel ashamed, do not get angry and do not disrespect the will of our fellow countrymen for having a different view from us. We live in a democracy that is the envy of many parts of the world and while the world is watching do not undo the amazing work that has been done in the last two years, hold your head high and pull together with the energy and positivity that we all know we are capable of. We have to now work together to make the United Kingdom and all of it's composite parts truly better together.

In the run up to the vote I shared an adaptation of Charlie Chaplin's speech from The Great Dictator which was adapted to support Independence and I post the original below in support of our fellow countrymen and the Union to which we still belong. Yes or No, the motivation was always to build a better future so let's focus on that, come together and get building.