What do you do?

Song number 9 from the Proclaimers series.

This is another passionate, but slightly downbeat, nationalist song. The Proclaimers have been involved in the Scottish Nationalist movement for many years.

Here's what you have to understand about how things were in the 80s. (Scots who lived through it can turn away now.) In 1987, after 8 years of Conservative rule, Scotland returned only 10 Conservative MPs to the Parliament in London out of a total of 72 Scottish MPs. So, the national UK Conservative Government was not in any sense representative of the view of Scottish voters. Despite this, in 1989 the Poll Tax was imposed on Scotland, a year ahead of it's application to England and Wales.

The Poll Tax is widely accepted as having been a regressive tax (indeed the Conservative Party have since apologised for it). The previous system of local taxation, and the system that replaced it in 1993 were both based (in different ways) on property values: the theory being that if you lived in a big fancy house you could probably afford to pay more. The Poll Tax was a flat rate tax applied to each adult member of the household. If you were a student or not working, you paid 20%. But if any member of your household was working, you all paid the full rate.

I was at College when the tax was introduced in England. Still, my parents had several visits from local 'enforcers' demanding to know where I was and threatening to bring the bailiffs in if my parents didn't say where I was, so I could be billed there. (Actually, it had been in the local paper if only they'd thought to look there!) Needless to say my parents stood their ground, and needless to say I didn't pay (though I was bullied into it by a Labour Council years later). Where I was living then, the full rate was £500 per person.

In 1979 there had been a referendum on Scottish independence, which was voted down (but the vote was rigged, in demanding 40% approval, with any non-voters being counted as no votes). The referendum on devolution (a sort of part-way independence) in 1997 was voted through. So now we have a little democracy north of the border.

Well, there's a long history lesson, probably with countless inaccuracies, for those who missed all this through youth or distance. I know it seems mild compared to the iniquities of some governments around the world, but it is still capable of arousing strong passions here (even with those recently imported into the country, like me).

So, why the photo? Maybe a criticism of the 'Braveheart' style portrayal of Scotland: stirring no doubt, historically accurate no way. Or maybe just the props that came to hand.

You can hear the song, in all its melancholy fury here.

What do you do

Yes I know you're right
I see it in your fierce eyes
But me I've never thought straight
Since the day I had the first doubt

Yes I know you're right
And I'll back you to a point pal
But I'll never be constrained
By another man's ideas now

I spent too long on this road
Looking for the answers
But Poverty and Failure
Aren't what I'm after

I painted "Fight" on factories
But they closed the factory down pal
I want to find out where the Heart's gone
Gonna find out where the nerve's gone

What do you do
When democracy fails you
What do you do
When the rest can't see it's true?

Pat votes the Scots way
Just like her mother
But South always takes all
Just like her brother

The next time she might vote
So might the others
But time's running out pal
Cause they're giving up in numbers

What do you do
When Democracy's all through
What do you do
When minority means you?