Cute Cat Friday 2014-12-26: Dexter

Happy Boxing Day! Dexter is showing the way to have a peaceful and relaxing time.

Inequality and misleading statistics

This striking infographic on inequality in the UK has been widely circulated; but it takes an almost nonsensical approach to its subject data. The result is an interesting lesson in how to mislead with statistics.

A graphic which raises more questions than it answers.

Cute Cat Friday 2014-12-19: Belle

Plotting to capture the Christmas robin.

Waste of space: An open letter to Nigel Farage

Busy traffic on the M4.
Source: Bristol Post

Dear Mr Farage,

As an immigrant to the UK, I am very angry at your remarks that "immigrants" caused you to be late for an event in Wales on 5 December.

Cute Cat Friday 2014-12-12: Dexter

Enjoying the sun on a winter morning.

Pinups and teaching to code

I did an online programming course recently; in one assignment, the students could choose their own graphics, and someone thought it was a good idea to use "pinup" images of scantily clad women. This has obvious parallels to the incident known as Shirtgate.

It is another indication that Shirtgate wasn't an isolated incident, but part of a general background of sexism in science and computing. The course included peer assessment; one of the other students flagged the photos as offensive, notified the course organisers, and started a discussion in the student forums.

I'm intentionally being vague about the course and its website, so the participants can stay anonymous. I'd been meaning to blog about this for some time, but Shirtgate makes it more topical. (Example pinup graphic is below the fold.)

Cute Cat Friday 2014-12-05: Belle

This cat is not out of the bag.

Tebbit Test Redux

Lord Tebbit was a senior member of the government in Thatcher's era, and is known for his "cricket test" of whether immigrants are sufficiently loyal to Britain. Now, he has decided to update his test, and achieved the impressive feat of becoming even more bigoted and incoherent.

In the original test, any immigrant who supports a cricket team other than England is considered suspiciously foreign.

Having a sports-based test of loyalty is silly to begin with; but as I've written before, it is particularly absurd in a country with at least four different international sports teams. The Scots and Welsh support their national teams against England at football or rugby, and are largely indifferent to cricket. Do these native-born Brits pass Tebbit's test, or not?

Consider an Irish immigrant to the UK. Ireland north and south have a combined team in rugby, but separate ones for football. So is supporting Ireland at rugby permitted, while supporting them at football falls foul of the Tebbit test?

Immigration from Australia to the UK was about 26,000 in the year to June 2012. There are plenty of Australians in Britain who support their national cricket team; and New Zealanders who are fanatical supporters of the All Blacks. Does Tebbit have a problem with white, English-speaking Aussies or Kiwis settling in the UK? I rather doubt it.

Dangerously foreign if they wanted to settle in the UK?
Source: The Guardian

For the record, I have dual Canadian and British citizenship, but I grew up in Canada. I do not care in the slightest how the England cricket team performs. If Canada faced England at rugby, I would support Canada, even though their chances of winning would be remote. Having said that, the UK is my home and has been for more than twenty years. I am personally insulted if anyone thinks my sporting allegiance makes me a less responsible and productive citizen.

Oh no, I don't mean you, Tebbit would probably say; and that's the point.

Cute Cat Thursday 2014-11-27: Thanksgiving Edition

On this day, we give thanks for all the good things in our lives. For us, that includes sharing our home with two magnificent, infuriating, and much loved cats. Tonight Belle and Dexter will enjoy their share of roast turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate it!

Is the turkey ready yet?

A Shirtgate challenge to Boris Johnson

I am beginning to think NASA had the right idea, when they expected Mission Control engineers to dress like this:

Ed Harris in Apollo 13, wearing an uncontroversial shirt.
Source: toutlecine

At least it would have spared us the idiocy known as Shirtgate.

Cute Cat Friday 2014-11-21: Dexter

Having a well-deserved cat nap after getting back from the vet. (Fortunately his injury is healing well.)

The Rosetta shirt incident

This week, the Rosetta mission landed a probe on a comet; but instead of a richly deserved celebration of their achievement, a lot of discussion centred on one man's shirt. This is not just a failing of one individual, but of the European Space Agency as a whole.

The man in question is Dr Matt Taylor, a senior scientist on the mission, and this is the shirt:

"Covered with half-naked women" would be a fair description.
Source: BBC News

Cute Cat Friday 2014-11-14: Belle

It's my chair now. If you wanted to keep it, you shouldn't have gone for that cup of tea.

Edit: This is the 100th post to be published on my blog. Huzzah!

Interstellar: Review

Interstellar has definite flaws, but in its themes, ambition, and visual spectacle, it is a deeply impressive film.

Cute Cat Friday 2014-11-07: Dexter

Just another lazy afternoon.

Eavesdropping on the Springfield Republican Party

I've received an account of secret Republican Party discussions in Springfield, which I think sheds some light on the impact of Tuesday's election results in the USA. I feel it's worth breaking my self-imposed blog silence for Nanowrimo to share it.

######

EXT. SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN PARTY HEADQUARTERS. Lightning flashes. Bats flap around the turrets.

INT. CONFERENCE ROOM. RICH TEXAN, MR BURNS, DRACULA, KRUSTY THE KLOWN, and RAINIER WOLFCASTLE (aka MCBAIN) sit around a table.

RICH TEXAN: Yee-haw! We won Springfield's Senate seat.

MR BURNS: Oh, pish-pash. That seat was last contested in 2008, when Obama was full of hope and change. Now he's so unpopular, my cruel Republican grandmama could have won it, and she's been dead for eighty years.

DRACULA: I resent that remark.

MR BURNS: Resent it all you want. There's a reason why vampires don't stand for election.

WOLFCASTLE: Gentlemen, please. This is no time to bicker amongst ourselves. I think we need to look at the bigger picture.

MR BURNS: The moving pictures actor is right. What should the Republican party do, now that it has control of the Senate?

(Long, uncomfortable silence)

KRUSTY: We could stop Obama from appointing judges and federal bureaucrats?

MR BURNS: We were doing that before. Think bigger, everyone.

DRACULA: We could work constructively with Obama, and pass laws for the benefit of ordinary people?

(Uproarious laughter around the table, including from Dracula)

MR BURNS: That was a good one. But let's be serious for a moment. What can we do?

RICH TEXAN: We can repeal Obamacare. Yee-haw! (Fires guns at ceiling.)

MR BURNS: Stop shooting the ceiling, it's an antique. And no, we can't. There's no way we can get a big enough majority to overcome Obama's veto.

WOLFCASTLE: We control the Senate committees now. We can launch many investigations into Obama's dastardly wrongdoing.

KRUSTY: I haven't been paying attention. What wrongdoing is that?

WOLFCASTLE: It doesn't matter, everything he does is dastardly.

DRACULA: We can impeach him. He must have committed a high crime or misdemeanor somewhere.

MR BURNS: (Steeples fingers) Excellent. Let's get to it, gentlemen.

######

So, nothing much will change in Washington DC, except there will be even more partisan conflict and spurious attempts to find or manufacture a scandal for which Obama can be blamed. I can hardly wait. No, then again, maybe I can.

Oh yes, and content-free speculation on the 2016 Presidential race will now rise in volume. It's almost enough to make me wish Kang and Kodos would move in and take over.

Cute Cat Friday 2014-10-31: Belle

Belle watching the stairs for incoming prey. Happy Halloween!

Blog break for Nanowrimo

From now until the beginning of December, I'll be taking a break from my regular blogging to take part in Nanowrimo.

For those who haven't heard of it, Nanowrimo is National Novel Writing Month. Participants attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. It started in the USA (hence the "National" in the title), but has since spread around the world, and Cambridge has a large and active chapter. See the above link for FAQ's and other information.

The honourable emblem of Nanowrimo.

I've entered six times before, and reached the 50,000 word target four times previously, in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2013. The novels in question are... not great. Fifty thousand words in a month forces you to concentrate on quantity instead of quality. They were a lot of fun to write though.

Cute Cat Friday will appear as normal, and I'll get back to other blogging in the first week of December; or maybe the second, depending how long I need to recover from my fictioneering marathon.

If I see something which I absolutely cannot restrain myself from ranting about online, I might break blogging silence to do so; but it would have to be pretty spectacular. Otherwise, I will spend November in frenzied typing of another Nanowrimo manuscript.

Cute Cat Friday 2014-10-24: Dexter

Watchful cat on the windowsill.

A Song of Books and Television

A few weeks ago I became curious about how sales of A Song of Ice and Fire books compare to viewing figures for the Game of Thrones adaptation for television. I assumed the audience for a TV show with extraordinary levels of violence and nudity would far exceed that for George RR Martin's lengthy books, but this may not be entirely true.

Cute Cat Friday 2014-10-17: Belle

Studying how to achieve world domination, or at least proper respect and kowtowing from her human servants.

Debatable

UK broadcasters caused a stir this week, by announcing the UKIP leader Nigel Farage would be included in televised debates ahead of the 2015 General Election. The proposal is to have three debates between party leaders:

• Conservatives and Labour
• Conservatives, Labour, and Liberal Democrats
• Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, and UKIP

The 2010 election debate.
Source: BBC News

All party leaders not named Farage are furious. The leaders of the bigger parties want all of the smaller ones to be excluded, while other small parties want their own place in the debates. Can there be a fair and reasonable solution?

Cute Cat Friday 2014-10-10: Dexter

Enjoying a warm autumn afternoon.

Scotland's Vote 29: Frack on, frack off

The UK government has decided to loosen restrictions on fracking across Britain. This has met with fury from independence supporters in Scotland, particularly the SNP.

To be clear, I think fracking is a terrible idea. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves pumping material into wells under high pressure in order to force pockets of shale gas to be released. The risks are considerable and not well quantified; and if we are serious about combating climate change, finding new ways of extracting hydrocarbons to be burned should not be a priority.

Independence supporters have not been slow to exploit this issue. They claim a vote for independence was a vote against fracking. A casual observer might think Westminster has opened the gates to unrestricted fracking across Scotland, and the Scottish Parliament will be helpless as its most heavily populated regions become a landscape resembling Mordor.

Princes Street Gardens after fracking.
Source: lotr.wikia.com

Cute Cat Friday 2014-10-03: FLB

This is Furry Little B*****d, our neighbour's cat and a regular visitor to our friend Dave when he lived down the street from us. Apparently his owners call him Oscar, but Dave calls him FLB and as far as I'm concerned the name has stuck. He's a lovely cat really, just with a slight tendency to sink his claws into your thighs if you try to dislodge him from your lap by standing up.

Scotland's Vote 28: The Unthinkable

In his speech after the referendum result, Alex Salmond accused the UK parties of trickery in their offer of additional powers for the Scottish Parliament:

I think that vow was really important and the people who are really angry in Scotland today are not the Yes campaigners, our opinion of the Westminster elite is really pretty low. The people who are really angry are those people who were persuaded to vote No by that vow, by that solemn pledge and are now already beginning to feel let down, angry, disappointed because it looks like they have been tricked.

According to Salmond, the Yes voters were rightly sceptical of anything said by the UK political parties. Meanwhile the poor, trusting, childlike No voters accepted the word of Cameron and Miliband, and they will pay the price when (and if) the UK government reneges on its promises to Scotland.

Salmond appears to believe that on the one hand, the Scots are a proud and capable people ready for the challenges of building an independent nation; but on the other, a majority are craven, servile and gullible. Not for the first time, he displayed notable contempt for No voters.

Alex Salmond making his resignation speech.

If we take Salmond at face value, the referendum was decided by naive faith in the word of Westminster politicians. Are a majority of Scots really so trusting?

Cute Cat Friday 2014-09-26: Belle

Belle gives a regal wave of the paw from her throne on the sofa.

Scotland's Vote 27: Demanding the Impossible

The post-referendum article by Irvine Welsh, which I quoted in the previous entry, also has this to say:

A devo max that gives Scotland the power to raise taxes to pay for welfare programmes, but not reduce them by opting out of Trident and other defence spending, while maintaining the oil flow south of the border, without even an investment or poverty alleviation fund, is a sham, especially as it was denied at the ballot box. It may be perceived as setting up the Scottish parliament to fail, and undermining devolution. 

[Emphasis mine]

Opting out of Trident? How is that supposed to work?

Scottish voters have decided to remain part of the UK, and the armed forces are an intrinsic part of that package.

The UK government is responsible for defence policy in Scotland. It has chosen to make nuclear weapons part of that policy. Trident missiles are deployed by the same Royal Navy which recruits from Scotland, defends Scottish waters, and answers to a Parliament which includes Scottish MPs. It's a single organisation, and Scots can't point to the Trident submarines and say, "oh, no, that bit doesn't belong to us."

Vanguard-class Trident missile submarine.
Source: Wikipedia

This will be the case under any realistic form of devolution. Even in the most maximal versions being contemplated, Scotland would not have its own separate armed forces.

The most the UK government could do would be to offer Scotland a financial rebate, based on the estimated cost of the nuclear program. So the Scots would symbolically cease contributing funds to Trident, while still enjoying the (dubious) benefits and suffering the (considerable) infamy of having nuclear weapons deployed on their behalf. From a moral standpoint, this isn't much of an improvement.

Many English people are opposed to Trident, and many Scots are not. Why is it that each and every Scot must be paid off with money from England (and Wales, and Northern Ireland), to appease anti-nuclear feelings north of the border? Taxpayers in the rest of the UK would have very good reason to resent this arrangement. Trident is at least a relatively distinct budget item; how does Welsh plan to identify the "other defence spending" that is surplus to Scotland's requirements?

Moreover, if Scotland can pick and choose which parts of the UK budget it wants to fund, why not England? What if England decides it doesn't want to fund unemployment benefits for deprived parts of Scotland, and demands a rebate of its own? This would be an insane way to run a government, and nobody is going to put it into effect.

Irvine Welsh is the one setting up devolution to fail, at least from his perspective. By demanding the impossible, he guarantees the reality will be what he considers "a sham".

I know Welsh is a novelist, not a policy expert; and he speaks only for himself, not the independence movement at large. Even so, I suspect his views are not unusual among committed independence supporters. To the extent they agree with him, it casts into doubt whether they are willing or able to make a positive contribution to devolved government.

Scotland's Vote 26: Fear did not win

Referring to the No campaign as Project Fear started off as a clever bit of marketing by the Yes side. It has become something dangerously close to an article of faith.

Some independence supporters now put forward this reasoning:

1. The No side is Project Fear.
2. Anyone who votes No is a coward, at best.
3. Scotland's chance at independence was lost because of a lot of No-voting cowards.

For example, Irvine Welsh wrote (emphasis mine):

The no voters should take a bow: they delivered the UK establishment a reprieve the enervated, confused and weak campaign of their masters certainly didn't deserve. They have bought time for the union, and many of them, people who will habitually support the status quo at almost any cost, will simply be relieved.

The prominent Yes campaigners Wings Over Scotland are less circumspect:

... if the Scottish people willingly allowed themselves to be frightened and cowed they have nobody but themselves to blame.

In the language of the school playground: If you voted No, you're nothing but a great big jessie.

Source: USA Today

Scotland's Vote 25: Immediate Reaction

The vote is a decisive No:

Final result of Scotland's Independence referendum #indyref NO 2,001,926 (55%) YES 1,617,989 (45%) Turnout 84.59% pic.twitter.com/A6TZonWupd
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) September 19, 2014

The referendum has been a massive event. It will take weeks, months, and years for the consequences to be fully understood. Nevertheless, I'm going to add to the many sleep-deprived immediate reactions on the Internet.

Cute Cat Friday 2014-09-19: Dexter

Here is a double feature of Dexter, facing the news from Scotland with natural poise and style.

Scotland's Vote 24: Party On

Good luck, Scotland. I'm hoping for a good-natured and untroubled vote, with high turnout and a clear result for Yes or No. In the immortal words of Bill and Ted, be excellent to each other and party on.

For anyone still undecided, I have written a summary of what I see as the key issues. I'll be Twittering as @iainrobertsblog this evening / tomorrow morning.

On a personal note, thanks to all my readers, especially for the words of appreciation and occasional arguments.

(I don't know the original source for this photo, but it was too excellent to pass up.)

Scotland's Vote 23: Yes or No

We are close to the end of the road, where Scotland must turn one way or another. It's been more than three years since the SNP's election victory paved the way for this referendum.

It has been a long, exhaustive, and sometimes ill-tempered campaign. It has been commendably peaceful. Scotland has had a valuable, enthusiastic conversation about what sort of country it wants to be. No matter which way the vote goes, the Scots have given thorough and serious consideration to the question before them.

Source: Freefoto

I tried to go into this with an open mind. I'm from Canada, and I have no problem in principle with small, independent northern nations. I've followed the arguments closely. On balance, I do not think independence would make Scotland a better place.

If I still lived in Scotland, I am about 90% certain I would vote No. If I was 99% certain, then I might come out for the No side and be done with it; but I can still sympathise with the Yes campaign.

Some time ago, I promised to write posts making the cases for Yes and No. As it happens, I've been distracted writing about foxes and hedgehogs. Others have put the opposing cases as well as I could and probably better. The best personal accounts I have run across are by Alex Massie and Irvine Welsh for No and Yes respectively, and well worth reading.

For my part, I'm going to give five brief points, which strike me as the most powerful reasons to vote for each side.

Scotland's Vote 22: Fox and Hedgehog

A good friend of mine is a die-hard supporter of Scottish independence, and has become rather irate with me. I have reached some conclusions about why this happened.

I think the conflict here is fox versus hedgehog. Isaiah Berlin, quoting an ancient Greek, once wrote:

The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

Neither one is superior to the other, they are just different styles of thinking.

Source: Fotothing

There are foxes and hedgehogs to be found on both sides. In this debate, I would characterise myself as a fox and my friend as a hedgehog. I think Yes has more hedgehogs, and No has more foxes.

Scotland's Vote 21: Visions of England

The Yes campaign contains two extreme and opposing views of English politics. In my view both are mistaken.

The pessimists see the future of England as Tory and UKIP boots, stamping on a human face, forever. They believe the Conservatives and UKIP will win a majority at the 2015 General Election, and their government will be the stuff of nightmares. The UK will become a dystopian blend of Mad Max and 1984, and Labour will be powerless to turn it back. Scotland must leave before it is too late.

The optimists are represented by the singer and activist Billy Bragg. In their view, Scottish independence will revitalise the English left. The very fact of a Yes vote will show that the evil British Establishment is vulnerable; and a socialist dawn north of the border will provide a worthy example to follow. It may be that some optimists are secretly pessimists; they believe in the nightmare scenario, but feel guilty about abandoning their English comrades, so they pretend all will be well.

Source: STV

(Wales and Northern Ireland would influence the politics of a Scotland-less UK only a little, as England would have 92% of the remaining population. For the sake of simplicity, I will mostly focus on England.)

Scotland's Vote 20: Those effing Tories

In a speech in Edinburgh on Wednesday, David Cameron gave a remarkable demonstration of missing the point:

I hope [what] will really come across in the remaining part of this campaign is the scale of the decision that Scottish people will be taking in eight days' time. Sometimes because it is an election people can think it is like a general election. 

You make a decision and five years later you can make another decision – if you are fed up with the effing Tories give them a kick and then maybe we will think again. [Emphasis mine]

Scottish voters are well aware this is more serious than any normal election. That is why 97% of eligible voters have registered for the referendum.

Furthermore, the Tories received a thorough kicking from the Scots in every single election for at least twenty years, and it shows no sign of making them "think again".

David Cameron in Edinburgh on Wednesday. Source: The Guardian

Cute Cat Friday 2014-09-12: Belle

Did someone order a cat?

Scotland's Vote 19: My family and the forces of evil

The polls are close, and we are eight days away from the vote. Inevitably, the campaign is becoming more heated.

A major theme of the Yes campaign is that the UK cannot be reformed. As an audience member asked in the second debate, "Why aren't we already better together?"

The argument is that the British state is controlled by the forces of evil, and they are just too strong to be worth fighting directly. Power is held by corporations, including the media and above all the banks of the City of London, seeking to maximize profits at the expense of ordinary citizens. UK politicians in all parties are smooth, bland products of public schools and Oxbridge, and they want to perpetuate the system, not fundamentally change it. The archaic structure of Parliament makes it too difficult to reform. Scotland has a one-time opportunity to use an escape hatch, and try to build something better.

I have a lot of sympathy with this point of view. The British state has failed its citizens in all sorts of ways. Change has proved difficult, and the Labour government of 1997-2010 was disappointing at best. If Tony Blair and Gordon Brown represent the absolute limits of improvement within the UK, why not declare independence? (I will have much more to say about this in future posts.)

A second theme is that No voters are stupid. Or perhaps they are evil, or treasonous. According to Alex Salmond, the referendum is not a disagreement between Scots, but a struggle between "Team Scotland" and "Team Westminster". Clearly he does not think No voters are on Team Scotland.

In a way, this follows logically from the first part. Surely someone must be foolish, wicked, or both to support the continuation of a state which is so obviously beyond redemption.

A little bit of my family history is relevant here.

Scotland's Vote 18: Thorough Reality Analysis (Or Not)

Here is a much-needed distraction from the serious arguments about Scottish independence.

An opinion column in the New York Times had the following comment, from somebody called Chuck Brandt in Berlin:

I don't have any particular axe to grind in this contest, so I am merely passing along a bit of information that I came across at an after party. 

It seems that this particular date of the Scottish referendum, September 18, 2014, falls in an especially inauspicious period astrologically, that could terminally impair the vitality of the new independent Scottish nation likely to be conceived out of its aftermath. 

True, the actual process of independence would take place only circa 2016, but this 09/18/2014 is the critical relevant factor in the equation. Of course, you are free to go where your passions take you, but it would be far better if you sat down and did a thorough reality analysis. 

One more thing: if at all a new independent Scotland comes into being, and then when it goes to seed, a lot of us would've developed a healthy respect for the skills of that Berlin astrologer.

[Emphasis mine, grammar and American date format in original]

If Scotland votes Yes, it is alleged the positions of gigantic nuclear reactions billions of miles away give us a dire warning. Scotland will be befallen by some terrible doom: Unspecified in nature but possibly involving the Loch Ness Monster.

A man in the pub told me the SNP have denounced this claim. A druid has performed a reality analysis upon the entrails of a sheep (before making them into haggis) and pronounced the 18th of September to be an auspicious date for Scotland.

It would be altogether more interesting if Mr Brandt's friend had predicted the referendum result itself. I can't imagine why an astrologer would be reluctant to make testable predictions.

---

The column is by the Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman, and explains why it would be dangerous for an independent Scotland to continue using the UK pound sterling -- in an agreed currency union or otherwise. Krugman is horrified at the SNP's glib assurances that continued use of sterling would be good for Scotland. It's worth a read, although unlike the comment it is not funny at all.

Update 2014-09-09: Krugman has clarified the argument from his column in a short blog post.

Scotland's Vote 17: Poll Position

Today, for the first time, a mainstream poll has put Yes in the lead. The Sunday Times reports Yes 51%, No 49%, excluding undecided voters.

Here are my immediate reactions, in no particular order.

Congratulations are in order for the Yes campaign. Until a few weeks ago, No had a stubborn lead of between 10 and 20 points in the polls. It would have been very easy for Yes supporters to despair. Instead, they fought on with enthusiasm. It's impossible to know precisely what brought about this change in the polls, but some of the credit must lie with committed and energetic Yes campaigners.

The usual margin of error in polls is 3%. We will probably see some statistically illiterate commentary which claims any lead of less than 3% is meaningless, and the race is too close to call. In fact that margin for error is a 95% confidence interval, so with a 2% lead and 3% margin for error, there is a 95% chance that Yes is somewhere between 54% and 48%. Very roughly, there is less than one chance in three that No is still in the lead. These are not odds you would bet the farm on, but the chances are high that Yes is narrowly ahead.

No matter who wins the referendum, I hope the result is clear and decisive. A 51-49 split in either direction would be all right; but if this is settled by 100 votes, then almost certainly there would be legal challenges which dragged on for months. It would leave the eventual winner with a shaky and uncertain mandate to govern Scotland.

Back in July, I observed that about one-third of Scottish voters had expressed a positive opinion of the SNP government in Holyrood, but intended to vote No. I surmised they were willing to give the Yes side a fair hearing, but had not been convinced of the merits of independence. It seems the Yes campaign has convinced some of them. Not all but any means, but enough to make this into a contest; the SNP has had approval ratings of up to +23, while the current Yes lead is +2. By the same token, many potential supporters remain, so the Yes campaign could widen its lead.

If the No campaign wins, I believe a close win would be more beneficial than a narrow one. The former might just motivate the UK government into enacting serious reforms. These reforms could grant more autonomy to Scotland, and also protect its powers from being altered at the whim of the ruling party in Westminster.

The so-called devo max option entails greatly increased powers for the Scottish Parliament. If it had been on the ballot paper, it would have been extremely popular. If there is a very narrow majority for No, it might shock Westminster into implementing something like devo-max anyway.

I think the narrowing lead is a good thing. I don't want No to win by default. I don't necessarily want No to win at all, I am not committed to one side or the other. Let the winner be a group who had to fight for it. Let them try their hardest and deploy their very best and most persuasive arguments.  Let each voter make a positive choice, knowing that the result could plausibly go either way. Scotland deserves nothing less.

Cute Cat Friday 2014-08-05: Dexter

Next Monday the 8th of September, it will be exactly three years since we adopted Dexter. The Blue Cross animal shelter had found him wandering the streets of Cambridge, where he'd had a very hard time. Thankfully he is now happy and healthy in his life with us.

We'd never had a cat before, and I'm glad we were able to adopt Dexter. He is greatly loved and has brought us more happiness than I could have ever imagined. Here's to many more years with our furry little friend, who is pictured taking a cat nap in the garden.

Scotland's Vote 16: Scotland is not a colony

One argument for Scottish independence was expressed on Tuesday by George Monbiot in the Guardian:

Imagine the question posed the other way round. An independent nation is asked to decide whether to surrender its sovereignty to a larger union. It would be allowed a measure of autonomy, but key aspects of its governance would be handed to another nation. It would be used as a military base by the dominant power and yoked to an economy over which it had no control. It would have to be bloody desperate.

This ignores all the practical costs of creating an independent state; but let's leave that aside and move on to the point of principle. In a nutshell, Monbiot seems to be arguing Independence Is Always Good, so it should be taken whenever it is offered.

On the surface it looks plausible, because recent history has seen decolonisation on a vast scale. The empires of Britain, France, and other colonial powers were broken up, and later the USSR and Yugoslavia collapsed. The number of independent countries grew from 51 in 1945 to 159 in 1990 and 193 today.

These former empires were created and held together by military force. The colonies on the periphery were not given a vote in the central government. When the overlords in London, Paris or Moscow were unable or unwilling to apply enough violence to keep the empire together, it broke apart. Of course none of the new states created by this process want to go back to being subjugated.

In the heyday of the British Empire, how many seats did Australia have in the Parliament at Westminster? How many Indians or Nigerians served in the British Cabinet? None, and none.

When Britannia ruled the waves, Scotland was
imposing colonial rule, not receiving it.
Image source: Wikipedia

Scotland's situation is very different. It has 8.3% of the UK population, and 9.1% of the seats in the House of Commons. Scots have the same legal and political rights as any other citizens of the UK. They regularly rise to the highest offices of government; less than five years ago, the UK had a Scottish Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Scotland is not ruled by England; they are both components of a larger state, the United Kingdom.

Scotland's campaign for independence has been peaceful. The SNP won a free and democratic election. It wanted a referendum on independence, and that referendum is about to take place with the full cooperation of the UK government. Not a single shot has been fired. This is not the behaviour of an imperial power trying to impose its will.

Monbiot uses the language of colonialism to describe Scotland; but Scotland is not a colony. Pretending otherwise is inaccurate, and frankly insulting to genuine movements for liberation.

Conversely, there are many examples of smaller polities choosing to unite into a larger nation. Often the components have huge disparities of size; in the USA, California has 65 times the population of Wyoming. These unions include some of the richest and longest-lived democracies in the world: Switzerland, the USA, Canada, and the Netherlands to name a few.

The British state undoubtedly has serious flaws. In many ways it is undemocratic, and serves the interests of corporations and the rich rather than ordinary people; but these issues are not specific to Scotland. It would be grotesque to argue that a wealthy resident of Edinburgh's New Town is the victim of colonial oppression, while a single parent on benefits in the East End of London is not.

Is it better for Scotland to stay put and help to reform the UK, or seize the chance to leave? That is a much more interesting question which deserves its own blog post. But it is foolish and historically illiterate to say the UK should not continue to exist, simply because it is a union between nations.

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For: Review

I enjoyed the first Sin City film very much. It took every film noir and gangster cliche imaginable, and gleefully turned them up to eleven. Nine years later, the sequel Sin City: A Dame To Kill For is intermittently entertaining, but fails to deliver the swaggering good fun of its predecessor.

Cute Cat Friday 2014-08-29: Belle

Keyboard co-pilot.

Scotland's Vote 15: Why does currency matter?

The topic of currency has been well and truly flogged to death in recent weeks, so I'm going to leave it alone for a while. Before I do, one final question: Why is all of this important?

Scotland's Vote 14: Career advice from Salmond

An old friend of Alex Salmond was unhappy in his job, and asked him for advice. This is how their conversation went:

SALMOND: I think you should quit your job, then have them hire you back as a consultant, on exactly the terms you want. You will participate in only the projects you want and no others.
FRIEND: Sounds great, but what if it doesn't work?
SALMOND: It will work.
FRIEND: Yes, but what if it doesn't?
SALMOND: Why wouldn't it? You're good at your job, right?
FRIEND: Yes.
SALMOND: Then it is clearly in their best interest to work with you. You've helped build up the company, so you're entitled to their cooperation after you leave.
FRIEND: Yeah, but my boss doesn't see it that way. He said if I leave, he's never working with me again.
SALMOND: He will do what I say is the sensible thing, because that's what people in positions of authority always do.
FRIEND: That isn't strictly true. I need a plan B. Should I look for another job, start my own business, or take early retirement?
SALMOND: Yes, you can do one of those.
FRIEND: But which one?
SALMOND: You don't need to choose one, because your original plan is best for you and it will work out just fine. As long as your boss understands it's what you really want, he will agree.
FRIEND: It's not totally under my control. I really do need to think about which of these three fallback options is best for me.
SALMOND (getting angry): What is the matter with you? You have three different alternative plans! That's better than having only one! Plans are like buses, it's great when three of them turn up at once. There's no need to discuss it any further than that.
FRIEND (backing away slowly): OK, Alex. Thanks for the help, but I have to be going now.

Cute Cat Friday 2014-08-22: Dexter

Dexter watching for intruders from his favourite spot in the greenhouse.

Scotland's Vote 13: Arrival of the FoES

The 2014 Future of England Survey (FoES) is an opinion study conducted by Cardiff and Edinburgh Universities, surveying English attitudes towards Scottish devolution and independence. The report published yesterday by Cardiff University is well worth reading.

On the whole, the FoES supports my prediction that English public opinion would not be generous towards an independent Scotland. I'm not saying I approve of this hardline attitude or it is necessarily in England's best interest, but we can be sure it will influence English politicians who want to win the next election.

There is a lot of fascinating material in the report, but there are three particular findings I want to highlight.

Cute Cat Friday 2014-08-15: Belle

Relaxing in the evening sunshine.

Gin and Tacos: A Recommendation

I am not referring to the drink and the foodstuff. Although those are also good.

Gin and Tacos is a blog written by a political science lecturer somewhere in the midwest of the USA. The author is known as Ed; for professional reasons he is vague about his last name and location.

It is without a doubt some of the truest, funniest, angriest writing on modern America I have ever seen. It's mostly about politics, but Ed maintains a tradition of No Politics Friday in which he turns his keen observational eye and furious invective on more general matters. He has been posting five times a week since 2004 so the archives are vast.

It's fair to say Gin and Tacos is an inspiration to my own blogging efforts, and long may it continue.

A few of my favourite posts:

• NPF: Summer Grilling Primer, Part 1: Choosing Your Weapons
• NPF: Summer Grilling Primer, Part 2: Setting the Stage
• NPF: An Open Letter to Vegans
• The Hero's Tale (US elections in terms of mythical archetypes. Fascinating stuff.)
• Breaking News: Data Is More Accurate Than Making Shit Up
• There Are No Libertarians In Airplanes

I don't know why so many of them are food-related, since it's not exactly a major theme of the blog, but life is mysterious that way. The political stuff is great too.

Scotland's Vote 12: Castles in the Air

This is a follow-up to my previous post on the SNP and the currency issue. It looks at the SNP's claim that the rest of the UK (rUK) will accede to their demands; and statements from the SNP in the last few days.

An Offer You Can't Refuse

The SNP claim rUK will have no choice but to agree to a sterling union, for two reasons. The first is increased transaction costs between Scotland and rUK. On the SNP's own figures, these would amount to £500 million per year. This is 0.04% of GDP for rUK.

The second is the SNP plan to refuse to take on any of the UK national debt if rUK does not agree to a currency union.

Let us be clear: This is a deliberate policy choice by the SNP. It is entirely possible for a Scotland with its own currency to take on a proportionate share of UK debt, but the SNP have decided to rule this out unless rUK agrees to a sterling union. 

The SNP's figure for Scotland's share of UK debt interest is £5 billion per year. So, the SNP are threatening rUK with a financial penalty amounting to less than 0.5% of GDP, or about 1% of the rUK government budget. In SNP rhetoric, this will eclipse any other considerations. It is meant to bring the imperial British state to its knees and force it to accept whatever the SNP demands.

The difference is, refusing Don Vito's offer would leave you unable to make decisions ever again.
Source: www.pinterest.com

This is optimistic, bordering on delusional. The rest of the UK is perfectly capable of absorbing these costs. It would be prudent to take the Conservatives, Labour, and Liberal Democrats seriously when they say they will not agree to a currency union. They have reiterated their position again and again in recent days.

Scotland's Vote 11: Childish Reasoning

In recent days, Alex Salmond has reiterated his claim that Scotland and the rest of the UK (rUK) will retain a monetary union after Scottish independence:

It's Scotland's pound and we are keeping it.

It is entirely possible the rUK government will refuse its consent for such an arrangement. All three main UK political parties have said very clearly they will do just that. Salmond himself has tacitly recognised this, because he has threatened retaliation in the form of refusal to take on a share of the UK national debt.

Edinburgh Castle belongs to the people of Scotland.
Can the same really be said for a negotiated agreement between Scotland and the rest of the UK?

Let us suppose the UK government is not bluffing; and it regards increased transaction costs between rUK and Scotland, and taking on the entire UK national debt, as a price it is willing to pay. In this case, what is the SNP's preferred fallback option? Absolutely no one in the SNP is willing to say.

Cute Cat Friday 2014-08-08: Dexter

Enjoying a shady place on a hot summer day.

Scotland's Vote 10: Losing the Jackpot

The UK government recently published a snappy article containing "10 Myths and 10 Facts" about Scottish independence, and I considered writing a detailed breakdown.

I have not done this for two reasons. First, doing it properly would require a lot of work dissecting the financial claims and counter-claims; I don't have the time and others have already been over that ground. Second, I was brought up short by "myth" number 2:

Myth: We’ll still play the National Lottery and share much-loved national institutions with the UK.
Fact: It’s called the National Lottery – not the International Lottery. You can’t buy a ticket in France, so why would it run in an independent Scotland?

What in Loki's name is this? How did it get into the list? Why?

Scotland's Vote 9: Programming Notes

I cannot give a timely response to the Salmond/Darling debate, because I am visiting family seven time zones away from the UK. Instead, I am writing this a few days before the event.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and predict that the debate consisted of two middle aged men in suits. It covered talking points which they have rehearsed ad nauseam for months if not years, and it did not change many hearts or minds.

If the debate degenerated into hand-to-hand combat, ending with one participant triumphantly holding aloft the severed head of his opponent, I will have to admit I was wrong.

Either way, a post on an older referendum story will appear tomorrow and you may find it interesting.

Vacation notice

I am visiting my ancestral homeland in Canada for the next couple of weeks, so blogging will be a little light.

Fear not, Cute Cat Friday will remain on schedule. I might be late with social media posting, but the feline photos will go up automatically at noon on Fridays. I will also schedule a couple of midweek posts on non-cat-related matters.

Speaking of social media, my Twitter handle is @iainrobertsblog -- follow me for notification of posts and occasional other tweetings.

Cute Cat Friday 2014-08-01: Belle

Belle is bored and considering her next move.