Scottish independence is the very essence of an idea whose time has come

The announcement by First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon that she plans to hold a referendum on Scottish independence on 19th October 2023 could not have been made at a more propitious time.

Mired in corruption, a cost of living crisis exacerbated by the economic and social disaster that is Brexit — and with public sector workers across the entire spectrum agitating for industrial action over the summer in the face of mounting attacks on their pay and conditions — there is little if anything to commend the status quo of a post-colonial and post-industrial state other than flag-waving nostalgia for an empire the history of which should be a source of shame for every right-thinking person across the UK.

Whether on the level of democracy, decency, or an accurate and proper rendering of history, Scottish independence is the very essence of an idea whose time has come. And if the first referendum on the question in 2014 proved a tribute to the flowering of progressive ideas and hope for a future in which the values of the person supersede those of the machine, the second referendum must needs be fought on a bolder and more radical vision of transformative change than previously imagined.

In this regard the issue of currency is central, as is the issue of Trident — what…