FOOL'S GOLD

Nothing exposes the politics of unionism in Scotland more than oil.

Deceit in relation to the economic importance of North Sea oil is thicker than 'Texan Tea'. How have Scots been kept informed about the enormous wealth off our shores? Have our authorities, politicians and newspapers given us balanced information?

Some words that describe unionist propaganda in regards to Scotland's oil wealth:

fraudulant, fallacious, dishonorable, dishonest, Janus-faced, duplicitous, double-dealing, fork-tongued, deceptive, hypocritical, insincere, disingenuous, underhanded, treacherous, deceptive, specious, unstrustworthy,scamming, propagandist, thieving, swindlling, game-rigging, cheating, defrauding, bluffing, embezzling, wangling, counterfitting, falsifying, phoney, faking, dissembling, betraying, double-dealing, sand-bagging, conning, feigning, simulating, oily....

Am I getting my feelings across here?

Over the years Scots have been told the oil was running out. We've been told that oil is nothing compared to the massive profits made by The City and that an independent Scotland would have a massive deficit even with the oil. The people have been lied to so much that they switch off when the subject arises. What a shame. With that oil money Scotland may well have become the richest country in the world. Instead, well we know about the life-expectancy of men in Glasgow being lower than war-torn Iraq, we know that our pensioners die of the cold, we know that hundreds in Scotland die of malnutrition each year..

We're not a greedy people, we Scots. Well, if you subtract the political and banking class - and I wish we would - that is. It wouldn't bother us an inch to see the living standards of our English, Northern Irish and Welsh cousins improving from our oil proceeds. The problem is that everyone in Britain PLC has got poorer. The oil money has been blown on wars, nuclear weapons, City bankers, in short; expanding the Ukanian/US empire.

So, what is the truth about oil?

Recently The Independent ran an article by Sarah Arnott interviewing John Gallagher, vice president of Shell's European upstream business.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/how-to-make-the-last-oil-pay-1800653.html

How important has North Sea oil been to the UK John?

"The North Sea is the UK's unsung industrial hero,"

So, what sort of contribution does Sarah tell us that oil has made during the economic crisis?: "The woeful state of the public finances will no doubt make it harder for the Government to rein back on a regime that produces an annual £20bn in taxes."

Now that oil is running out Scotland, a small nation of 5 million people, has no real asset that could propel our economy if Scots decide to vote for independence. That's obvious, no? What sort of money does The Independent think is left in the tank?: "Of the 25 billion barrels that are left, 10 billion are accounted for in commercial production plans. But the rest are not. If the last, hard-to-reach resources are too expensive to pursue, the difference to the UK economy – at an oil price of $70 – would be more than £1 trillion." (the oil price is around $80 now and rising).

Mmm, so the economy is still going to receive many trillions? That would buy Scotland some teachers, rail links, roads and trams, no?

Then yesterday another English newspaper tells it like it is:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/edmundconway/6505670/North-Sea-oil-is-dragging-us-into-the-red.html

The Telegraph's sub-header says: "Oil wealth was the secret saviour of the economy, but no longer". It seems, according to Edmund Conway that without oil, the UK economy is and was hugely subsidised.

Hey Edmund, has the truth been told about oil's contribution to the UK economy?

"One of the peculiarities of British politics – and economics – is the reluctance to take into account the critical contribution of oil to the economy."

A 'peculiarity' or crude propaganda? What significant is oil to Britain's recent economic history?:

"the industry that powered Britain towards prosperity in the 1980s"
"made us one of the most dynamic and successful nations in the Western world"
"described by a prime minister as "God's gift" to the British economy"

Oh stop gushing Edmond. Don't forget that Britain's economy was really built on financial services and not oil at all, right?

"the truth is that, for the past quarter of a century, Britain has been a petro-economy."

Yeh yeh. The oil off Scotland's shores is a mere drop in the ocean compared to what the Arab's have. The superpowers are all over there jostling for supply rights. That's real geo-politics!

"In 1999, we were producing more oil than Iraq, Kuwait or Nigeria."

Really? What about gas reserves?

"The following year, we pumped out almost twice as much natural gas as Iran – a country with reserves that are the envy of the world."

Hang on John, during the Thatcher years and since Scots have been told that it was London that was making us all 'rich' and that oil was insignificant and running out anyway. What exactly was fueling the British economy?

"..while we are apt to attribute the sudden spurt in Britain's prosperity in the mid- to late-1980s to a deregulated and reinvigorated City, it owed far more to the massive windfall from the North Sea. "

So, in a global context oil has helped Britain do things like be in the G7 and act like a big player on the world stage?

"Were it not for the cushion provided by oil exports, the deficit in Britain's current account – its international ledger – would have been one of the worst in the Western world."

What about all those international businesses that were established in London and the UK over the last 30 years. They performed well and international investors have shown confidence in Britain and the pound sterling. Surely they were the real reason for Britain's wealth during this era?

"much of the massive rise in business investment in the years before the financial collapse was due entirely to spending in the North Sea."

Waow. I wonder what it would have been like had Scotland had all that oil money to itself. I guess it would be like Norway which has the same population as Scotland?

"Unlike the Norwegians, who diverted a slice of their North Sea revenues into an investment fund designed to provide for them when the oil started to run dry, chancellors of every political hue treated North Sea taxes as current income."

So, the UK blew it. Maybe an independent Scotland with one-twelfth of the UK's budget spend could have invested for the future of Scots? Isn't that what Norway did?

"Norway's prudence has helped it withstand this crisis and establish itself as the Switzerland of the 21st century"

I don't doubt your indepth knowledge of oil economy but what are international investors saying. Do they think oil is important to the UK? Are they saying, like you, that without it the UK will suffer?

"Jim Rogers, a renowned investor, has predicted that the demise of the North Sea will send the pound crashing downwards, taking the UK into banana-republic territory."


Finally, someone is telling the truth about how Scotland's oil was keeping Britain plc in the black.

And that truth comes from English newspapers. What sort of shadow of ourselves are we that the articles above would never be printed in Scotland's newspapers? Why no TRUTH? Priorities of our democratic press towards Scots? Das Herald Sturmer's and Das Schottishman's priorities clearly lie elsewhere.

Rabbie, will you help me out here man?

"O wad, ere I had seen the day
That Treason thus could sell us
My auld gray heid had lain in clay
Wi Bruce an loyal Wallace
But pith an pouer, till my last hour
I'll mak this declaration -
We're bocht an sold for English gold
Sic a parcel o rogues in a nation!"