THE leading Scottish writer and journalist Neil Ascherson will explain his decision to vote for independence at a literary event this weekend.
Scotland on the Cusp, at the Oran Mor venue in Glasgow on Sunday, will feature contributions from several leading literary voices, including the Makar Liz Lochhead, Aonghas Mac-Neacail, Kathleen Jamie, James Robertson, Robert Crawford and Alasdair Gray.
In The Genie's Oot The Bottle, Ascherson will explain the recent development of his political beliefs in regard to Scottish independence. He will say he once regarded Scottish independence as a "high green fruit, ripe maybe in the far future but not yet."
Two things changed his mind, he will say, the first being the war in Iraq and the "Blair-Bush Phenomenon". "I found I had lost the feeling of living in an independent country. That's a horrible numbness. But where unless in Scotland could I get that feeling back? The second thing was David Cameron's decision to strike the Devo Max option off the referendum paper. The choice was to be simply independence: yes or no. Everything or nothing. How can you wish nothing for your country?"
In the piece, he adds: "The argument for Scotland's return to independence has a pull and a push. Of all the 'yes' opinions I heard on an eight-day 'bus party' referendum journey this May, only a handful were about "push" - about perceived threats to Scotland if we remained in the union. Instead, people talked about the 'pull': 'what sort of Scotland do we want?'."
l The Sunday Herald will publish Ascherson's full text this weekend.
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