A trident tangle

A couple of weeks ago Scottish CND voted at its AGM to support the Yes Scotland campaign.

I thought then and I think now that was a mistake, for two reasons.

First, it wasn't very wise for the widely respected single-issue campaign to affiliate itself to a different single-issue campaign which is promoting the platform of a particular political party.

Yes Scotland claims to be a broad church involving the Greens and the SSP as well as the SNP but the reality is it's a front for Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.

Scottish CND has a broad base of support built up over decades of vital campaigning.

Many of its individual supporters are members and supporters of parties which do not support Yes Scotland.

And many of its supporting membership organisations - I am thinking particularly of trade unions and the STUC - have not taken and probably will not take a view for or against either platform in the referendum, as it would be too divisive.

But the main reason is I think SCND is just wrong. CND has bought into the idea that simply by voting Yes in the referendum, Scotland will be on the way to getting rid of nuclear weapons - not just here but from the UK as a whole.

I've read SCND co-ordinator John Ainslie's pamphlet in which he argues that it would impossible for the countries in the former UK, or the FUK as we like to think of it, to build the equivalent of Faslane in order to keep the Trident subs.

Therefore, he argues, if Scotland kicks them out, they'll have nowhere to go and hey presto - end of the UK nuclear deterrent.

I wish I could believe that Salmond and Cameron - or their successors who may or may not be Sturgeon and Miliband - would actually deliver nuclear disarmament.

My cynical view is that the UK - or the FUK - will maintain its nuclear club card whether or not Scotland becomes independent and whether or not Scotland becomes nuclear-free.

And I think the "independence" on offer is not in any way the same thing as "nuclear-free."

It's a leap of faith too far to trust a party which has just dumped its anti-Nato position to really remove the weapons.

It is much more likely in the view of this cynical Scot that Salmond will deal with Westminster to get cash or another favour for the continued use of Faslane - "independence" or not.

• Scotland is famous for being the only place in the world where a double positive means a negative.

Just ask a Scottish person if they think David Cameron is making a good job of running the country, or if Donald Trump's hair is credible.

They'll say "Aye, right." They'll mean "naw."

Like the majority of Scots, I'm getting a wee bit scunnered of the 2014 referendum campaign.

Especially the tedious Yes Scotland campaign, for a Yes vote obviously, and possibly even direr Better Together campaign, for a No vote.

So I'm launching my own referendum campaign - the "Aye, right" campaign.

As in, "Do you think independence will lead to a socialist Scotland?"

"Aye right."

And "so you must be a supporter of the union then?"

"Aye, right…"

I'm as optimistic about the future as the next curmudgeon but I really think some of my comrades on the left need a bit of a healthy dose of Scottish cynicism.

As I keep on repeating as often as I can till everyone hears it - what's actually on offer with a Yes vote is the SNP's vision of "independence" - not any other programme.

And the SNP's policies for an "independent" Scotland won't lead anywhere near socialism.

Instead, we'll have a deep cut to corporation tax in a desperate bid to attract transational capital in to exploit our workers and our natural resources.