Future in your hands
Some of the young people attending the Fife Talks lecture are pictured with Professor Tom Devine, Gordon Brown MP, Lindsay Roy MP and Jayne Baxter MSP.
SCOTS historian Professor Tom Devine gave the second lecture in the ‘Fife Talks’ series in Kirkcaldy recently.
The speaker, from the University of Edinburgh, spoke about ‘The Reinvention of Scotland’ to a full crowd at the Glebe Park Neighbourhood Centre on December 13.
The event, organised by Kirkcaldy MP Gordon Brown, was aimed specifically to get first time voters involved in the Scottish independence debate.
Young people, aged 14 and over, were invited to attend the lecture as they will vote for the first time in the referendum.
And a number from local schools attended to hear Professor Devine and were made very welcome.
Others attending included a number of Fife’s councillors.
Professor Devine is the author of a number of books on Scotland, including a prize winning history of Scotland as a nation and more recently a book on Scottish emigration.
Principles
Speaking before Professor Devine took the floor, Mr Brown said: “2013 must see the debate on Scotland’s future go beyond talk of procedures, processes and personalities and instead address and answer questions about principles, about what is best to meet people’s needs and aspirations as Scots - not least the needs and aspirations of today’s 14 year olds who will have a vote for the first time in the referendum of 2014.
Reckoning
“2013 will thus be a time of reckoning and a moment of truth, particularly for ‘yes’ campaigners who have yet to address and answer detailed questions about what happens to Scotland.
“To our interest rate policy, to our fiscal policy, to our taxes and our public services, to our pensions, to our banking policy, to our defence, and to our relations with Europe - if it ever becomes a separate state.”
The ‘Fife Talks’ series is taking the debate on Scotland’s future into local communities.
The first in the series, given by Mr Brown, was attended by over 250 people in Templehall Community Centre.
Other future speakers in the lecture series will include leading Scottish historians and experts on the constitution.
The aim is to help young people ask the questions they want to know about Scotland’s future.
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Weather for Kirkcaldy
Thursday 23 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 30 mph
Wind direction: North
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Sunny spells
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