“In assessing the Scottish Parliament building, it is hard to separate the building itself from the extraordinary cost of creating it. At the official estimate of £431 million ($750 million), this amounts to a contribution of more than £100 from each Scottish adult, or more than £3.3 million ($6 million) to accommodate each of the 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament (there is a total staff in the building of 1,200).” [Galinsky]

However in the above assessment nothing is mentioned about the real cost of those who will occupy this building. If we compare the cost of the fraud of MP’s expenses and all the other sundries newspapers are keen to expose, and the cost of this building, we would come nowhere near the cost to the public of the Scottish parliamentary system itself. The figures would be to shocking for the public; so the public need to be kept firmly focused on the “expensive buildings”, and other popular icons of public derision, along with a few million of fraudulent MP’s expenses. This keeps folk away from the true cost of so called “independence”.

So long as we stay focused, and protest loudly on the harmless trappings and well away from business interests, while our sovereignty and land disappears out the back door, we’re fine. We can wave our flags, cheer on your local multi million pound imported football team; vote for a local councillor to represent us in our national parliament who; no matter what he or she has promised to get in power will toe the line; or will be browbeaten by the British national Government (where the real power lies) into conforming to the interests of multi nationals over people.

While we roar for our national football and sports stars along side of complaining about how much the parliament building is costing we are distracted from the real cost of the dealings of those inside who are fleecing the tax payer unimpeded.

“Scottish devolution, kind works on the same principals as what is called “free trade”. As the words describe free trade is the freedom to trade, but what the term describes, is not what it represents in reality. Devolution, (the allocation of authority or independence) in the context of Scotland works the same way.
Free trade only operates for powerful western states and the demands of the global market, not for the small businessman and individual. Free trade in the derogatory sense of course wipes out small businesses – What symbolises “free trade” in reality is basically what America and other rich nations agrees to.

Our solidarity should be with the British public, and in creating proper public participatory institutions. Not to create more lairs of bureaucrats, who will milk us dry and sell our land off to every Donald Trump, who flies in to colonise parts of our national heritage, with the blessing of many in our our national parliament.

Scotland’s new parliament has the same effect, claiming to represent a nations interest while lining the pockets of business, politicians and administrators. The new generic party line claims to be the “party representing the people”, not wrong, unfortunately the people they represent best are the heads of multi nationals. Again the symbolism remains (Big Society) but what it represents has nothing to do with ordinary people.

To change anything through politics one must attend to politics and ideas, and not rely on symbolic representations of politics, lest we surrender our sovereignty to multi nationals, and our politics to the impotence of flag wavers on the sidelines