How to Start a New Country

I only occasionally do book reviews, largely because I am not the world’s greatest reader of them and so do not often think about writing them. But there have to be exceptions. In the last day I have speed read two versions of the new book by Robin McAlpine from the Scottish think tank Common Weal entitled ‘How to start a new country’.

Let me get the necessary statements of conflict out of the way before going further. As I suspect many readers will know I have worked with Common Weal. I wrote a White Paper on Scottish taxation for them. You might expect me to be biased about this book as a result. And I am. But that’s only important because if I had not liked what they had to say I would not have given it blog time: there would have been better things to do.

I am writing because I think this book shows an enormous breadth of imagination in taking on massive issues that were not addressed in 2014 and which now lay the foundation for future debate on Scotland at a time when Brexit risk brings that very sharply into focus.

Almost inevitably I could not read this book without thinking about Brexit. As the book patiently addresses what might seem like boring and quite technical issues like the transition to being an independent country, the funding required to manage that process and the whole structure of the parallel organisations necessary to ensure Scotland would hit the ground running as a fully operational state you simply cannot help but think how extraordinarily beneficial it might have been if someone, somewhere who had proposed Brexit might have even had a couple of ounces of the sense the Common Weal team reveal in seeking to address all these issues in advance, which they have, and for which I applaud them.

And this thinking on their part is not broad brush. It’s detailed. Take for example the discussion on Scottish defence, which is an issue to which I had given remarkably little thought. Someone clearly has, and what is described is, for example, a Scottish navy with a clear sense of purpose. That’s considerably more useful than a Royal Navy with two aircraft carriers serving no known useful function.

Take too the economy. Here the detail is impressive. And for those with the time I suggest the longer of the two versions, simply because the detail addresses issues necessarily skimmed over in the shorter version.

Having addressed the transition in an appropriately robust fashion that I think soundly legally grounded the book makes four things clear. They are that Scotland must have its own currency. It must have a strong macroeconomic framework. This must work for everyone. And at the heart of making it do so there must be a robust tax system based on a proper understanding of the role of tax in a modern economy. I confess that the last issue, as addressed in the longer version of the book, appears to have been influenced by my thinking. This is a new state to be built on the understanding that MMT coupled with modern tax practice can deliver
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There will, of course, be issues overlooked in the book: in less than 200 pages that is inevitable.

And you can be sure that, like all plans written throughout the history of time, things would not quite pan out like this.

Neither of these facts are a flaw though. What this book does, quite magnificently in my opinion, is three things.

First it says there are people in Scotland who are willing to do the hard thinking for little reward. Nations are built on the back of such people.

Second it says that they don’t just have vision (although there is ample evidence of that): they also have the essential eye for detail the absence of which has blighted Brexit.

And third, the book answers difficult questions without flinching from the fact that they are hard. This is a book that says those who want an independent Scotland are realists.

I applaud all involved. Even if you have no interest in the issue of Scottish independence, this book, by looking at essential issues through a new lens, will make you ask questions in a refreshing way. It would be worth it just for that.

And as a footnote, I checked in the discussion of citizenship as to whether there was any way I might qualify. I don’t. That was my one frustration.

Buy your copy here.

Comments (9)

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  1. Rob Miller says:

    Thanks for bring this to my attention. I have just bought a copy online and especially look forward to reading the sections on currency and banking. look forward,

  2. e.j. churchill says:

    Will Amazon have these?

  3. Pete Hynd says:

    Richard, Scottish Citizenship really will require only one qualification: Residency. We need as many good people as possible, especially after we get Independence. We certainly want and need you. You are very welcome.

  4. Ed McCabe says:

    Hello, can I ask a seemingly bizzare question: How big is the typeface? I have bought books by Andy Wightman and Robin before but the minute type face put me off. Yes, I do have glasses.

    1. kate says:

      good point, esp if authors want 40 + people to read their books. Bad eyesight with aging is the typical pattern, older people with good eyes are freaks of nature.

      personally i use a large magnifying glass, as well as my reading glasses, for books like that. you can’t speed read it that way though.

      with books printed online you can probably increase print size using the computer zoom function

    2. Jim Bennett says:

      Ed, you’ve no idea how pleased I am that I’m not the only person who asks this type of question before buying a book!

  5. Les Wilson says:

    I will be purchasing the book after reading this, it is great to have people who can do this work
    diligently, and no point if people can’t see it. So I will read it and pass to others after I understand
    it well. Thanks for the heads up Richard, glad you are on our side.

  6. Jamsie says:

    So the book in less than 200 pages suggests those who support independence are realists.
    What does it suggest about the majority of the electorate who don’t?
    What you need to start a country firstly is an electorate who support the proposition and then a financial policy which will ensure that social policies are sustainable.
    Simply taxing the “rich” i.e. those earning £33k or more is not sustainable and will harm the economy overall.
    The truth of the matter is that regardless of the book’s suggestions the people of Scotland do not want independence.

    1. John McFadyen says:

      The point is not to demean those who have their doubts and objections but to inform and counter the plethora of misinformation and scaremongering that supersaturates every debate and every discussion on this subject. Being realists means that the aspirations of those who favour independence is not as painted by the Better Together camp.

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