Independence is important for the future

of Scottish education

but the future of Scotland.

Why 16 & 17 year olds should have a vote in Scotland's #indyref by Iain Shepherd

The people of Scotland have always held true to democratic principles. The ideals of
freedom and liberty have been advocated in Scotland for many years. The Declaration
of Arbroath, 6th April 1320, was a document which promoted the virtues of liberty
and from that day the Scottish people have followed in the path of these ideals.
Today we are faced with the greatest decision our nation has had to make for over
300 years: whether Scotland should be an independent sovereign nation or not.
Given the commitment of the Scottish people to the virtues of liberty and
democracy is it fair that in the holding of this referendum the UK Government
should force us to ignore our commitment to these values?

I speak of the exclusion from the right to vote of 16 and 17 year olds. A basic
principle of democracy is that those under the authority of a law should have a
say in shaping and changing that law - Government by consent. Under Scots Law
any person over 16 years of age is held legally responsible for themselves and thus
bound to follow the law.

Consequently, is it not democratic that they should then have a say in the forming
of this law? Unionists will tell you that the SNP did not change the law to allow
anyone over 16 to vote in the Local Council Elections. There is a simple reason for
this, the SNP do not have the power to do so. That power is still reserved to the
UK, this is a problem incidentally which independence could solve. The SNP did
however allow 16 year olds to vote in the election of health boards as per the Health
Boards Bill, showing its support for the values of Democracy.

Why then will the UK Government not follow, and accept that as a democratic principle
16 year olds should be allowed to vote in the shaping of the most important law in
centuries, the constitutional status of our nation?
Those aged 16 years and above are able to get married, pay taxes, and fight in the
armed services. It is un-democratic for the UK Government to prevent those above
the age of 16 voting in the referendum as they are held accountable by Scots Law
and therefore should have a say in shaping it.

I call on the UK Government to practice what it preaches and if it is a democratic
institution then allow Scots aged 16 and 17 year old their democratic right and
not attempt to block them voting in the Independence Referendum.

Iain Shepherd studies at University of the West of Scotland

Adamson MSP, Aileen McLeod MSP and many many more delegates about what
independence means to them and what they'll be doing in the campaign for a fairer,
more just and more equal independent nation.

Below is David Linden of SNP Youth's speech to delegates at
Annual SNP Conference

The YSI and FSN have been touring the country, talking about

moving Scotland forward and I want to tell you about the

amazing results we’re getting on the doorsteps.

We’re out on the doors and university campuses asking the

independence question and delegates, the answers are mind

blowing. The people of Scotland are ready for freedom and the

people will deliver it.

Our movement has been in existence for over 75 years and

delegates, independence is coming.

In Glasgow, polls show university students voting in majorities

of fifty and sixty per cent to support independence.

In Stornoway they’re asking why Scotland is powerless on

pensions and benefits. Not with independence.

In Dundee they’re asking why, in winter, pensioners have to

choose between heating or eating. Not with independence.

In Renfrewshire 17 year-olds are asking why Scotland doesn’t

get a say over illegal wars. Not with independence.

In Edinburgh Telford College students are asking why we don’t

have the economic levers to decide our own finances. Not with

independence.

And just last week - in East Dunbartonshire – they were asking

why we have the abomination that is trident nuclear weapons

on the River Clyde. Delegates – not with independence.

Not ever.

Friends, we – the independence generation – are ready to

deliver independence for Scotland.

Between now and referendum day we will not rest, and we will

keep chapping doors, keep speaking to students and keep

winning yes votes for Scotland. We owe it to the people who

have gone before us.

Tam Dalyell once said devolution is like a motorway to

independence with no exits.

Friends, let this once in a lifetime campaign be an autobahn

with no exits. Let’s put the accelerator to the floor and onwards

to independence.

Fraser Dick of Edinburgh University
Student Nationalist Association
(EUSNA) investigates:
The Deadliest River on Earth

The dangers of nuclear

weapons cannot be overstated

You might not be immediately aware of it, but a force far deadlier than the alligators in the 
Nile or piranhas in the Amazon lies in the still grey waters of the Clyde. The United Kingdom’s
nuclear ‘deterrent’, Trident, is based at Faslane, just 25 miles from our largest city. Four 
submarines glide silently in and out of the Gare Loch, barely hinting at the terrible power
within them. That’s 200 nuclear warheads, a stone’s throw away from over 1 million people.
The Scottish people have repeatedly shown their opposition to these weapons being in
Scottish waters, but UK governments of Unionist parties have repeatedly refused
point-blank to withdraw them.

Nuclear weapons are the most destructive objects ever devised by mankind. In their only
wartime use so far, two of them killed over two hundred thousand people in Japan, most of
them innocent civilians. They make no distinction between enemy soldier and innocent child.
They lay waste to cities and leave whole areas drowned in radiation for years. And with the
fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the chances of their being deployed
has reduced considerably.

When the United Kingdom first obtained nuclear weapons in the early 1950s, the then
Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin said ‘We’ve got to have one and it’s got to have a bloody
Union Jack on top of it’. The world has changes utterly in the last 60 years, but,
unfortunately this attitude persists in Westminster. The government of the United Kingdom
will never give up its nuclear weapons as long as they guarantee it a permanent seat on the 
United Nations Security Council. Weapons with the capacity to kill millions are an
extravagantly expensive vanity project so United Kingdom Prime Ministers can
strut on the world stage as if the Empire never went away. Billions of pounds of 
taxpayers’ money spent in service of a dead ideal and to massage the egos of those who
still see the UK as a Great Power.

Estimates vary, but one source puts Trident’s cost at £12.9 billion in 1996 and £280 million
per year to run. That is a staggering amount of our money for an immoral weapons system
that is nearing obsoleteness in the post-ideological world where threats are just as, if not
more likely to come from non-state actors, such as Al-Qaeda, than an opposing country like
the Soviet Union. It boils down to about one billion of that is Scotland’s share based on
population. Think about how easily that sort of money could be put to better use. We 
could buy more state of the art equipment for our hospitals and schools. We could upgrade
our roads and infrastructure. We could invest even more in green energy to provide
the successor to the nuclear age.

This is one of the many reasons why we need independence. To break away from
the ridiculous posturing of the United Kingdom on the world stage and
concentrate not on weapons to kill millions but on finding solutions to the
problems that blight the lives of our people. A country that can afford to spend
billions on nuclear weapons and millions on the monarchy but claims it can’t afford to pay
for free university tuition in England or free personal care for the elderly as we have here 
in Scotland is not one that I want to be a part of.

Fraser Dick is from Linlithgow and studies Maths at Edinburgh University.

Thank you to all who attended our conference yesterday. 

The newly elected office bearers for 2011-12 are:

National Convener - Gail Lythgoe ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
National Vice Convener - Calum MacLeod ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
National Secretary - Angus MacLeod ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
National Treasurer - Daniel McLeman
Director of Publicity - Kerry Flett 
IT Officer - Andrew Barr
Ordinary Executive Members - Dan Paris & Fraser Dick

Our previous Honorary President Alyn Smith was reelected this year, 
with our Honorary VPs being Derek Mackay MSP, Kevin Stewart MSP 
& Marco Biagi MSP.

Our guest speakers were Alyn Smith MEP & Robin Parker, NUS
Scotland President. It great to have Robin there discussing policy areas
of note and ways to get more involved with NUS. We wish Liam Burns
the best of luck in his new role at NUS UK President and hope he takes
the lessons learned from Scottish politics of consensus and the
principle of free education with him.

We also spoke at length about our goals for the next year so you'll see 
them coming into action in the next few weeks.

If you want an SNP students at your college or university freshers fair
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