This event, the final in a series at the Edinburgh International Book Festival (and almost the final one of the Festival itself), was also the liveliest, although perhaps not for the right reasons.
Chaired by Book Festival veteran Brian Taylor and with Lesley Riddoch speaking for a ‘Yes’ vote, it promised well. The lengthy queue, which required careful, if confusing, marshalling, suggested copious questioning from the floor. The latter promise was fulfilled, even though some of these bordered on the acrimonious.
This event was sponsored by the Electoral Reform Society, whose Scottish section have taken time and effort to study the effects of democratic deficit in Scotland, taking the unusual step of asking people what their vision of a democratic Scotland might look like.
Willie Sullivan of ERS Scotland pointed out that voter turnout in Scotland is as low as that in England, despite the introduction of STV (single transferable vote) to Scottish local government elections. This indicates that more democratic electoral processes do not of themselves encourage greater democratic participation.
Voter alienation may be a better descriptor than voter ‘apathy’, prompting the ERS in Scotland to seek, through groups carefully selected to give as comprehensive representation as possible of the Scottish electorate, to give voice to the clear discontent low turnout indicates.
This was achieved by garnering the opinions of groups of eighty people, self-nominated but then carefully selected to offer as wide a cross section of the Scottish population as possible.
What emerged from a one-day conference was a desire for purposeful engagement, a wish to define democracy fit for the 21st Century and consideration being given to a written or otherwise clearly prescribed constitution.
These proposals were further tested in public meetings and among the points which emerged, there was considerable desire for more power at the local level, for a form of citizen’s assembly, for greater transparency and accountability, and for lobbying to be a transparent process also.
From these, perhaps seemingly disparate aspirations, priorities and a campaign strategy to promote them will be drawn and a convention to place then mote fully in the public eye will take place next year.
Brian Taylor then invited Lesley Riddoch to put forward her case, and she proved eloquent and pertinent, offering a vision of a more engaged and compassionate society emerging in an independent Scotland. Her desire that we become more fully ourselves, rather than the ‘nest of fearties’ the late Edwin Morgan charged the Scottish Parliament not to be, was her clear wish.
One sensed that Alan Cochrane had somehow stumbled into the wrong gathering, so anxious did he seem to be to alienate as many parts of the audience as possible. Although Lesley Riddoch’s remarks placed a positive gloss on the advantages of independence, her optimism scarcely deserved disruption by the Demon King, the part Cochrane appeared to be auditioning for, somewhat ahead of the panto season.
Where Riddoch had been lucid and eloquent in setting out her aspirations for a future Scotland where social democratic values flourish in a fully engaged civil society, Cochrane leapt on the red button that might have induced knee-jerk unionist responses elsewhere, but clearly irritated rather than entertained the Spiegeltent audience.
Having chosen the nuclear option, there was little room for Cochrane to manoeuvre, leaving Brian Taylor to field stray audience remarks as best he could. This was a considerable pity, given that the majority of speakers in the preceding debates had managed to at least remain courteous and coherent. Sadly, as the time wore on, Cochrane could barely manage to be either, even managing to ‘dis’ the sponsors before his tirade was ended by time and Brian Taylor.