Craig Murray: Ways Forward To Independence

On 3 July, Glasgow P4Indy group hosted a digital meeting to hear Craig Murray speak about Ways Forward to Independence especially those avenues available to us internationally. After his talk Craig took questions from the meeting. Sixty people joined us for the event from all over Scotland.

You can listen to the talk here:

And the Q&As after Craig’s talk are here:

STOP PRESS: We have moved to a new mailing setup and there have been a few glitches. If you emailed us to send you the link to Craig Murray’s meeting but then you didn’t receive a reply from us, can you email us now to info@pensionersforindependence.scot. It will help us sort out the glitch and make sure we have you on our maillist. Thank you!

Tim Rideout: the Timeline for Setting Up a Scottish Currency

Our Greater Glasgow Group are meeting via Zoom every couple of weeks in this lockdown period. This week they invited Dr Tim Rideout to talk to about setting up a Scottish Currency. The video below isn’t from the meeting today but it’s pretty much the same talk. There is a shorter version of the talk at the end of this post.

Tim lays out a timeline for getting ourselves from a successful independence referendum to a Scottish currency operating in Scotland for Scots and Scottish business and in the international foreign exchange markets. Here is his timeline, taken from the Scottish Reserve Bank website The website has been set up by Tim and it has a lot of information on it. Setting up a reserve bank is one of the first steps on the timeline. Well, after the referendum has been won and the UK PM has acknowledged the result.

  • Thursday 9th September, 2021 – Scotland votes Yes in a second Scottish independence referendum. 
  • Saturday 11th September, 2021 – UK Prime Minister concedes that Scotland has voted to leave the Union.
Last time that Royal Coat of Arms for UK will be seen. HM Government England and Her Majesty will have to change it appropriately.
  • Wednesday 15th September, 2021 – Westminster Parliament approves a Statutory Instrument to add Scotland to the Statute of Westminster 1931. This means Scotland joins Canada, Australia, etc., as countries for which Westminster will no longer pass legislation except with the full consent of the relevant Parliament, in Scotland’s case, Holyrood.
  • Monday, 4th October, 2021 – The Scottish Government introduces the Scottish Reserve Bank (Establishment) Bill into Holyrood, Stage 1.
  • 2022 The Scottish Reserve Bank Act receives Royal Assent. The new bank occupies the old Royal High School Building in Edinburgh. The Bank’s President and Directors are appointed.
  • 2023 Aims of the Monetary Policy Committee of Scottish Reserve Bank are agreed: First Priority: Full Employment; Second Priority: +/- 2% inflation
  • Mid 2023 Commercial Banks write to Scottish customers using a Scottish sort code or postal address to invite them to open a Scottish Currency account(s). Any other customers, eg., Scots in London or with English sort codes, may contact their bank to request a Scottish currency account. Companies apply to have sterling and Scottish currency accounts, card payment facilities, etc. Designs for Scottish notes and coins finalised after a national competition. Sent to De La Rue Plc for manufacturing.
  • Thursday 30th November, 2023 – Independence Day Queen Elizabeth I & II attends lowering of the Union Flag for the last time at Edinburgh Castle.
  • December 2023 Banks start to post new Scottish Currency bank cards and cheque books to clients.
  • Mid January 2024 Starter packs of Scottish Currency go on sale.
  • Saturday 27th / Sunday 28th January, 2024 Sterling account balances sold to the Scottish Reserve Bank. Replacement Scottish currency deposited to new accounts. Vending machines converted. Cash machines converted.
  • Monday 29th January, 2024 – Currency DayNew currency on public sale. New debit and credit cards go live.
  • Monday 4th March, 2024 Peg to sterling ends. ForEx trading starts. Bank charges apply to transactions.
  • December 31st, 2024 Scottish currency stands at £1.12, but more or less unchanged against the Dollar and Euro. Pensioner Guarantee in operation. Scottish Reserve Bank has £50 billion Foreign Reserves, now converted in a balance mix of Euros, Dollars, Yen, etc.

Shorter version of Tim’s talk:

Two Closes, a Referendum & Much More

Continuing our Podcast Series, this is part 2 of the interview with Mary McCabe on IndyLive Radio. It was recorded on 18 Dec 2019 with Val Gauld and Marlene Halliday.

In this one we cover :

  • how Mary came to write her novel “Two Closes & a Referendum”
  • was the referendum really as divisive as it is sometimes described?
  • what was meant by “once in a generation”?
  • Sir John Curtice’ recent views on Scotland going forward
  • writing letters to newspapers
  • when is a mandate not a mandate?
  • post-general election how are we feeling?

Here it is. It may take a few seconds to get loaded up. Patience is a virtue 😀

Mary McCabe, Veteran Indy Campaigner

Our podcasts are all listed on the dropdown menu at the top of the page.

This is our second podcast recorded on 18th December in the IndyLive Radio studio in Glasgow as part of the IndyLive Daily Show. It was an all women team that morning with Val on the mixing desk and me doing most of the chat with Mary McCabe. In fact it was not only a women’s takeover it was a P4Indy takeover, since we are all three of us involved with P4Indy. LtoR: Mary, Marlene, Val:

Val introduces Mary. We talk about how P4Indy came to be set up in the aftermath of the 2014 referendum and why Mary and I decided to get involved with the group. We talk about what approach Mary thinks works best to persuade more over65s to support independence. We find out about The Warblers entertainment group. All this in just 20 minutes. But Mary stayed on for the rest of the programme and there’s another podcast to come from our chat later on in the programme.

The podcast may take some seconds to load…. patience is a virtue.

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