The democratic deficit: the idea that Scotland is being ruled by a Westminster government without a mandate. ibid.
Over the past two years Britain has been rocked and reshaped by referendums ... It was a rebellion against the elites which willingly gambled about the economic future and shook off warnings about Britain being too small and too poor to cope. Andrew Marr, Scotland and the Battle for Britain II
There are many parallels between the two referendums, the Scottish one and the EU one. ibid.
The unions went for the head with a barrage of terrifying, poe-faced warnings about the economy. ibid.
Project Fear is remembered without a great deal of affection in Scotland. ibid.
The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England. Samuel Johnson
O Caledonia! stern and wild,
Meet nurse for a poetic child!
Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,
Land of the mountain and the flood,
Land of my sires! what mortal hand
Can e’er untie the filial band
That knits me to thy rugged strand! Walter Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel, 1805
The knuckle-end of England – the land of Calvin, oat-cakes, and sulphur. Sydney Scott
1314: Two kings in one land is war. Battle of Kings: Bannockburn, History 2014
At the turn of the fourteenth century Scotland is a land without a king. England’s brutal King Edward I claims the country as English territory. Crushing the brave heart of Scottish rebel William Wallace. ibid.
Robert the Bruce’s quest to become King of Scotland has cost him everything. ibid.
On 8th February 1587 one of the most shocking events in British history took place. A forty-four-year-old woman, an anointed Queen, was led to the block and decapitated. Her death warrant had been signed by her own cousin. The Last Days of Mary Queen of Scots, Channel 5 2015
By marrying Mary, Bothwell was pursuing his ruthless determination to be King. ibid.
Mary had lost everything ... but she wasn’t ready to give up. ibid.
Mary arrived in England 16th May 1568. ibid.
Mary Queen of Scots had been held prisoner at the hand of her cousin Queen Elizabeth for nearly nineteen years. ibid.
Our streets chart momentous social change, the ebb and flow between enormous wealth and terribly poverty. They reveal the changes that have shaped all our lives, and make the story of our streets the story of us all. The Secret History of Our Streets: The Moray Estate s2e1 BBC 2014
On the western edge of Edinburgh’s eighteenth century new town is a street that has been home to Scotland’s elite for two hundred years. This is the story of Scotland's grandest street. ibid.
A single development with the longest Georgian terrace in Europe. ibid.
This is the story of how a group of neighbours took on the might of the Glasgow Corporation in a battle to save their homes. The Secret History of Our Streets s2e2 Duke Street Glasgow
The road is lined with stone buildings ... Duke Street may have been overcrowded but it wasn’t a slum. ibid.
The complete demolition of vast swathes of tenement slum housing. ibid.
The Fittie Squares – a purpose built enclave for fishy folk. They’re just a mile from the city centre but a world apart. The Secret History of Our Streets: The Fittie Squares, Aberdeen s2e3
As remote to outsiders as a desert island. ibid.
In 1969 oil was discovered 130 miles offshore in the North Sea. ibid.
The demand for housing grew. House prices crept ever higher. ibid.
Clyde Butchered! ibid. Record headline
In the early hours of 5th November 1605 King James I of England came face to face with a young man who had tried to kill him. That man had been discovered just hours from blowing up the Houses of Parliament and with it King James himself. His name was Guy Fawkes. The Last Days of Guy Fawkes I, Channel 5 2015
Guy listened as Catesby revealed a breathtaking plan. ibid.
The plotters had been betrayed. ibid.
The plot had finally been busted only hours from success. ibid.
Guy Fawkes is taken to the Tower of London. ibid.
In just a couple of months Scotland will vote on whether to become an independent country. This is a nation whose people are being asked to make the most momentous decision in their history. Scotland: For Richer or Poorer? BBC 2014
But just how would Scotland’s economy be affected by independence? What about the national debt? And what currency would the new country use? ibid.
Would it be richer or poorer? ibid.
‘The economic prize of independence.’ ibid. Salmon
Scotland’s oil ... How much is left? ibid.
We’ve already had forty billion barrels of oil and gas from the North Sea. ibid.
Oil revenues: famously unpredictable. ibid.
The oil revenues will eventually decline. ibid.
Nicola Sturgeon – until recently a name few outside Scotland had heard. Now it’s a word on everybody’s lips. Panorama: The Most Dangerous Woman in Britain, BBC 2015
All eyes are on her relationship with the prime minster. ibid.
Branded the ‘Most Dangerous Women in Britain’ [Daily Mail] ibid.
He is my mentor, my friend, he is to to me and to thousands of others an inspiration. I want you to give the warmest of welcomes to the first minister of our country – Alex Salmond. Panorama: Salmond v Sturgeon, BBC 2021, Sturgeon’s conference intro
When Alex Salmond stood down as First Minister of Scotland in 2014 there was only ever going to be one successor – Nicola Sturgeon, his long-term friend and protegé was the anointed one. ibid.
She led her party to new heights and in a landslide won all but three Scottish seats in the 2015 UK election. But cracks in her relationship with Alex Salmond began to show. ibid.
In 2017 as the Me-Too movement gripped, women everywhere broke their silence over the behaviour of powerful men. ibid.
The Scottish government’s internal investigation upheld the two women’s complaints … The investigation’s findings were quashed. But it wasn’t over for Alex Salmond. He was then arrested and later charged with 13 counts of sexual assault of 9 women including an attempted rape. ibid.
Nicola Sturgeon is accused of breaching the ministerial code by telling parliament the first time she knew of the complaints against Alex Salmond was 2nd April 2018 when he visited her at her home. ibid.
I’ve always been hopeful about Scotland's prospects. And I now believe more than ever that Scotland is within touching distance of achieving independence and equality. Sean Connery
I’m William Wallace, and the rest of you will be spared. Go back to England and tell them ... Scotland is free! William Wallace
I hate it when people romanticize Scotland. Alexander McQueen
All the cul-de-sacs are closed for Scotland. Joe Jordan
Eight miles north of the Scottish mainland lies the island of Hoy, the south-east corner of the Orkney Islands … In the early hours of July 30th 1914 ten soldiers from the Orkney garrison were dispatched here … To take immediate control of the telegraph station. David Hayman, War at Sea: Scotland’s Story, BBC 2016
For the Royal Navy this would be a war like never before. ibid.
A fighting force of forty thousand men. ibid.