An Open Letter to David Cameron

Mr Cameron

On Thursday the 18th of September, I will be voting Yes to Scottish Independence.  Nothing you, your party, your coalition, or your cronies have said has been able to discourage me.

I am an ordinary man, who loves his family, none of whom would be here if it were not for a free NHS.  I will not allow you to destroy it if this is the one small thing I can do to save it, at least in Scotland.  I have a modicum of intelligence, and I can see through your lies, and your misdirections.  Times have changed, the internet and social media have given us the opportunity to ignore the biased mainstream media, and seek out better versions of the truth.  We can now hear the voices that are usually silenced, we can read the documents that are usually hidden, and we can see and hear your words and conduct, over and over again, and share them with the world.

I don’t know if you have an inkling what it is like to grow up in a poor Scottish household.  To be treated as scum by the system that is supposed to be there to protect us, to be treated with casual contempt by our neighbours, mostly based on propaganda fed ignorance.  To be taken for granted and scorned by the very people we elect to represent us, if we bother to vote at all.  Lets face it, we never vote Tory, and here you are, barging into the high seat like you won it, when you couldn’t even secure a majority in the House.

We are worlds apart, you and I, and therefore it is impossible for us ever to be able to represent each other.  I’m content not to speak for you, whereas you have the audacity to speak for me on a global stage.

I have a severely disabled wife Mr Cameron, we had to close down our fledgling company when she got too ill to work, I have to remain at home now to care for her, to take her to the local hospital when we finally get to the end of the very long waiting lists.  I had to go to the dreaded food bank to ensure that my family could have food on the table, while I waited and waited for ATOS to look at her paperwork.  Tell your friend Mr Duncan-Smith that a safety net is supposed to catch you as you fall, not scoop up the bits that are left when you hit the bottom.  Do you know that your government machine grabs pennies from the poor while giving pounds to the rich?  Do you know what that feels like?  Do you know that your departments default stance is “when in doubt, don’t pay them”.  Another default stance is to use the courts as their credit control department, handing out CCJs like sweeties for debts that are still current.

Do you have any idea how expensive it is to be poor Mr Cameron?  All the perks and bonuses that aren’t available because we cannot afford them.  Paying more road tax because we can’t afford a full year, missing out on the best deals because we daren’t sign up for a direct debit, because we’re still trying to pay back the charges and accrued unauthorised overdraft interest from the last time we bounced something at the bank.  (Is £35+ a reasonable fee for a computer program to make a yes/no decision and automatically send out a letter?).  Do you know what it is like to see the bank manipulate your transactions to make sure it charges you the maximum it can, and be powerless to prevent it.  To watch it fail to make the days deductions, before it then adds the receipts.  To have them reject a £12 TV licence direct debit, and then put you in unauthorised overdraft with a £35 charge and start billing you by the day for the pleasure of doing so.  Do you know how impotent that can make a man feel?

And that’s the crux of the matter Mr Cameron.  For too long the people of Scotland have felt impotent, so now, when we are given this one small chance, while you give us this tiny bit of power, we are going to rip your bloody arm off and take the lot.  You’ve had our country, our pride, our blood, sweat and tears and you pissed it away, and shat on the remains, laughing as you did so.  No more Mr Cameron.

A Scotsman and his family.