MY OPEN LETTER TO NICOLA STURGEON. MAYBE THE TIME HAS ONCE AGAIN COME FOR SCOTLAND TO SHOW THE REST OF THE WORLD A WAY OUT OF THE DARKNESS. A SECOND SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT.......?

Hi Nicola.

We haven't met. In fact, we live in very different universes. I am a foodbank manager in Dumfries who writes novels and blogs. And you? Well, you're the First Minister of Scotland.

Since we are united by a shared dream of an Independent Scotland, I hope you won't mind me writing to you. And yeah, I know you're kind of busy right now so I will break the habit of a lifetime and do my level best to be brief.

Right now, we are both in the middle of the Covid nightmare. My part is trying to keep up with a demand for emergency food parcels which has gone from 120 a week to 500 a week in the blink of an eye. And you have your hands full trying to keep us alive.

Right now, everyone's attention is superglued onto a wearyingly familiar list of questions. Why isn't there enough PPE? Why can't we test like the Germans? When will the lockdown end? How many people died today? How many people are going to die?

Slowly but surely, one more question is going to be asked, and it will be asked a little louder with every passing day.

What next? What on earth will the world look like once this is all over?

What indeed? The only thing we can say with any certainty is that things are about to change. Change utterly, as the man said. Things might change for the better. Or things might change for the worse.

Our track record of coming up with a decent world to live in in the wake of catastrophe isn't exactly great. After the First World War, we prepared the well fertilised soil which produced Musollini, Stalin and Hitler. After the Great Crash of 2008, we climbed into a decade of austerity which eventually pushed us over the cliff and into Brexit.

The aftermath of World War Two offers us all rather more hope. The NHS and Welfare State. 

We are now just a few months away from some pretty stark choices. No doubt Governments all around the world will put their corporate donors first and attempt to drive us all back into business as usual. More cuts, more taxes. Let the poor pick up the tab. All over the world, governments have turned spending money like it's going out of fashion into an artform. And the bill which is about to land on the mat will be eye watering. Terrifying.

Unless another way is found, we all face endless years of desperate, grinding misery. Worse health. Spiralling crime. Stripped down public sevices. A mental health catastrophe. Addictions and riots and over flowing bins. Rats picking their way through potholes.

And all the while, our leaders will tell us the belt tightening is the only show in town. The bills must be paid. The credit rating must be maintained. The show must be kept on the road.

Agghh. Enough already. 

We know the story in advance because we have heard the story a thousand times before.

And when all is said and done, what on earth can Scotland do about any of this? We're just a small country of less than five million souls, miserably locked into a loveless marriage with our abusive partner of three hundred years. Surely we can't ever aspire to be anything more than a bit part player in the vast drama to come?

Well maybe not. Maybe we might take this chance to walk right out to the centre of the world stage to help steer the world towards a better future.

By this point you are no doubt starting to wonder what I've been smoking. 

Fair enough.

Well, here's the thing. Scotland has some previous with this kind of thing. You know. The whole setting the world onto a path to a better place thing. Two hundred and something years ago saw the world locked into a more of less permanant state of darkness. War, famine and plague were the norm. Life was barely worth living.

Then a few smart guys in and around Edinburgh started to see a better way forward. Why not focus on logic and facts and science rather than blind dogma and superstition? Why not indeed? So they turned their minds to a new way of doing politics and science and medicine and the world became a better place. The Scottish Enlightenment, right? Back then we were a small country hitched to the same abusive partner as today. And yet we found a way to change the course of history. 

For the better.

Well maybe we can do the same again.

Or more to the point, maybe you can.

Oh yes, Nicola. 

You.

Here's how. Every day you get to stand in front of the cameras to bring us up to speed on how the Covid-19 nightmare is hitting Scotland. You tend to do your thing a few hours before Downing St, so for a brief moment the airwaves of the rolling news cycle are all yours.

A whole bunch of journalists tune in, hoping there will be something new to talk about. Anything to escape from the constant issues which go around and around in a never ending loop. Where is all the PPE? Where are all the ventilators? How long with the lockdown last? Why can't we test like the Germans?...…….

These exploding levels of journalistic frustration offer you the opportunity to take that decisive step to the very centre of the world stage.

An opportunity to take the future by the throat and to shake it.

It goes something like this and it is kind of like pointing a military grade high wattage torch at the elephant in the room.

"I know all of you are worrying about the future. Will I keep my job? Will I keep my house? Will my business ever recover? Will there be any shops left on the High Street? Will anyone of us ever get the chance to go abroad again? So many questions. So many impossible to answer questions. But one question is bigger than all of the other questions. Much, much bigger.

'Who is going to pay for all of this? Are we all about to be plunged into an age of austerity which makes the last ten years look like a picnic in the park on a sunny day in May?

'Well I would like to suggest an alternative. Not just for Scotland. For everyone. For all eight billion of my fellow citizens of planet earth. Right now, $30 trillion dollars of wealth is parked up in off shore treasure troves. Let me say that number again. 

'$30 trillion. 

'It is a sum too huge for any of us to get our heads around. If this stash of wealth was shared equally among every man, woman and child on the planet, then we would all receive a cheque for $3750 each. The new born baby in South Sudan. The rickshaw driver in Delhi. The baker in Melbourne. The postman in Inverness. Me. You. Everyone. Those who horde the treasure are no more than a few thousand. I think the time has finally come for them to pay their way.

'I believe there must now be historic windfall tax. A 90% windfall tax on all offshore wealth. A windfall tax to bring in $27 trillion dollars: more than enough to cover all the bills of the nightmare we are living through. And before we shed tears for those who will be picking up the Covid tab, then we should remember they will still have $3 trillion dollars to keep them in the style they have become so very accustomed to. And believe me, no matter how many super yachts and Gulfstreams they buy, it will still be utterly impossible for them to spend $3 trillion even if they all live to 500 years old.

'Can we do this? Of course we can. Not Scotland of course. This is a task for the whole world. The UN maybe. Or the G8. Or the G20. If enough us demand it, then governments all over the world will be forced to sign on the dotted line. And then there will be more than enough money for us to build a better future: a brighter future: a pathway out of the darkness and into the light.

'This isn't the first time the people of Scotland have shown the rest of the world a way forward. The last time was two hundred years ago. The Scottish Enlightenment.

Well, maybe this can be the start of a second Scottish Enlightenment."

Just imagine saying these words. Just imagine how the news wires would explode. It's what happens when a politician says the unsayable. But this wouldn't be a Trumpian saying the unsayable. And then? Who knows. Maybe nothing. Or maybe a seed might just be sewn. Talked about. Discussed. Debated. Why shouldn't they pay the bills? Well? Why not...………..?

Politicians all over the world would be asked the same question. "The First Minister of Scotland has called for a 90% Windfall Tax on all offshore wealth. What are your views...."

What will they say? What can they say? The cat will be well and truly out of the bag. 

Out of the bag care of the people of Scotland. A pretty good look if you ask me.

The world finds itself in a dire moment. It is a time when the unthinkable is suddenly desperately needed.

Maybe it is once again time for Scotland to step up to the plate and show the rest of the world a new way forward.

So Nicola, it's over to you. Because there is absolutely no point in someone like me saying any of this. Nobody will notice. It has to be someone like you.

Lights .... Camera .... Action......