[in a sadsack scottish accent] Hulllohhhh...
welcome to the troooooz...
troooz uz nooz uff nooz wurr troo thus is tha trooo...
[back to his english accent] WHA' APPENED THERE THEN??
[laughing]
It's a bit disappointing, isn't it?
because, uh, well, people go
"No! pthtsniffnff..."
"This proves democracy DOES work!"
"Because there was an 80% turnout!"
That shows you what ain't worth voting for,
like, y'know, independence.
People will vote.
But because it seemed like a lot of people might vote "yes",
the media went into overdrive
to push people towards that "no" vote.
The brilliant George Monbiot...
i hope i said that right, you... it's a hard word to read,
i read his stuff all the time, George Monbiot,
he wrote this excellent article that you should check out for yourselves in the Guardian,
pointing out how there was not one newspaper, other than the Sunday Herald,
at a local, national or international level,
that supported scottish independence.
Check out this.
In the Spectator, Monbiot points out
that Simon Heffer (journalist) maintains that
"the Scots are addicted to welfare,
and embrace the something-for-nothing society"
That's takin' the piss, isn't it?
How do you feel now?
Now you're stuck with the people,
you've let them people win!
Democracy exists within certain conditions.
If people don't have access to proper information, then what value does their vote have?
I mean, like, Westminster politics,
we've seen time and time again
what narrow parameters it exists within.
All 3 main parties, and, y'know, the dodgy racist geezer,
they all went up there to say the same thing, didn't they?
I saw a brilliant tweet this morning, cant remember who it was,
says that, like,
when there's more options that Wanker A, Wanker B, Wanker C, and Racist Wanker,
you get an 80% turnout.
We don't normally get those kind of options down here.
Let's have a look at a little bit of news coverage of the event
as we attempt to understand this, and attempt to understand the world we live in.
[reporter] ...and that means...
that we are approaching the moment
where we can say exactly what's happened in this referendum.
And that is it, Scotland has voted no in this referendum on independence,
the result in Fife has taken the no campaign over the line,
*and the official result of this referendum is a no."
Hugh looks like he's been cryin his eyes out,
hey, where's he from, he's Welsh, isn't he?
[welsh accent] "well there it is... oh... blast... we're all doomed, there's no chance for Wales now."
Um, yeah i must admit, i'm sort of... i'm sort of amazed
that in any election where people can go "Do you want to fuck david cameron off or not?"
people went "No!" [laughing loudly]
How do we get there???
The only way you can get there is through terror and dread.
Surely... that's why i tweeted that thing...
"Fear is more powerful than faith"
i didn't necessarily mean religious faith,
i mean faith that we as human beings can change,
faith that we as human beings can build a different society.
The yes vote posed so many questions...
oh god so much uncertainty,
[Scots accent] "what'll happen to trident [missiles]?!"
"What'll happen to this? What'll happen to..."
Y'know, that people were able to play on those fears.
That's why we tolerate this society,
because there's so much fear of change.
[Alex Salmond] "...Scotland has by majority decided not, at this stage,
to become an independent country.
Thank you to scotland, for 1.6 million votes for scottish independence.
[loud cheers]
I feel a bit like crying when i listen to that.
I'm not even Scottish or anyfing.
It's really affected me...
because... i suppose...
part of me thinks maybe democracy CAN work,
maybe people WILL vote for whats best for them,
but we can't because we don't have access to the proper information,
and not enough people felt hopeful that things could be different for them.
There's no one can convince me that that "no" vote was like
"NO! Let's definitely stay in the union!! It's going fantastic!! We love it!!*
We love david cameron!! We love what's happening to the NHS!!
We love being on the brink of another war in the middle east to represent corporate interests!!
We vote for that!!!
It's fear, isn't it?
Alright well let's have a look at what our leader -and people of Scotland, YOUR leader-
david cameron, has to say on the subject.
[david cameron] The people of Scotland have spoken.
and it is a clear result.
They have kept our country of 4 nations together.
And like millions of other people, i am delighted.
As i said during the campaign,
it would have broken my heart to see our united kingdom come to an end.
I hate the fact that one of the smuggest people, ever to have lived as far as I can work out,
has got an opportunity to be smug.
[snooty English accent] As I've said all along,
whilst i was at Eton as a little boy, wearing a top hat -
something a little boy should never be wearing, unless he's Lord Snooty-
what i say is right.
And even if it isn't right, we'll make it right
by throwing money and fear at it.
[cameron] So now it is time for our united kingdom to come together and to move forward.
A vital part of that will be a balanced settlement,
fair to people in Scotland, & importantly, to everyone in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as well.
This fellah here, he's just a rich bloke,
he's a rich bloke representing other rich people.
Poor people in scotland voted yes, rich people in scotland voted no.
Actually not just rich people. Rich and scared people.
Cause this is scary, it is scary.
ISIS is scary, poverty is scary, there's loads and loads of reasons to be scared.
It's hard... [big breath] it's hard to be optimistic these days.
So I suppose if you're looking for optimism,
one of the things we can feel optimism about
is that 1.6 million people voted yes.
And I think... look... on the bright side...
I don't reckon it would've been a government that was totally ... y'know...
it's not gonna be a utopian government,
but like, the [Rupert] Murdoch press
said that they didn't back the Scottish independence campaign
because they feared that there'd be too much welfare, too much interest in the environment,
I mean, exactly the kind of policies that we need.
I'm not suggesting that Alex Salmond is some sort of political messiah,
I'm just saying that those sound like better pledges than the shit that we're gonna get stuck with.
[cameron] I am a passionate believer in our united kingdom,
and i wanted more than anything for our united kingdom to stay together,
but i am also a democrat,
and it was right that we respected the SNP's majority in Holyrood,
and gave the Scottish people their right to have their say.
Interestingly on this day, it's kind of micro-cosmic,
but there's been a campaign on the Southbank to change the famous skateboard park there.
That wasn't saved democratically.
That was saved by non-compliance, disobedience, and activism.
That's what I'm telling you.
When I'm saying "don't vote",
I'm not saying [in a crotchety English accent] Don't vote!
Sit indoors and have a wank over your xbox...
I'm saying "don't vote", "disobey", "disobey!" "do not comply!"
Scotland, USE this energy!
I know in you, every one of you that voted yes, you're now thinking
"Oh no! It didn't work! We got shafted!"
Remember that feeling.
My opinion is that this result shows you the power of the media and the limitations of democracy.
As long as people live in a state of fear,
it's very difficult for them to have faith in a brighter future.
The media, the financial industry, and our governments
keep us in a constant state of fear,
so we are limited in our freedom.
When it comes to the ballot box,
what's the point?
What power have we got?
We're making uninformed decisions within very narrowly defined and confined parameters.
That's why I said that thing before...
it ain't worth voting, cause you don't get to vote for things that are worth while.
Look at the results of activism, and disobedience, that's where results will come from.
That is the troooooz!!!
So-o-o-o-rry scotland...