Scotland Is Ready for Independence Says Actor Alan Cumming

Alan Cumming, like every other Scot who’s voting Yes, is tired of being picked on by the English. But that’s not what Thursday’s vote is about, Cumming wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Wednesday.

The 49-year-old actor and novelist, famous for his roles in movies like Goldeneye and Spy Kids II, penned a passionate essay in which he lays out why he has been a vocal participant in the Yes campaign, why Scotland will be just fine without England’s support, and why some of his compatriots are afraid of breaking away from the U.K.

“There has never been anything so politically important to me,” Cumming wrote.

“This is not about hating the English. It’s about democracy and self-determination,” wrote the Good Wife star, who took a break from appearing in Cabaret on Broadway last week to fly to Glasgow for a campaign event.

Cumming further explained that Scotland is different (and better) than its southern counterparts with respect to issues like higher education and health care, and wrote: “We no longer feel at the mercy of a privileged elite hundreds of miles away.”

The political fearmongering that Scots are being exposed to (being told they cannot join the European Union or won’t be allowed to use the sterling as a currency, for example) confirms what many Scottish think, Cumming said, that Westminster sees them as “stupid and easily bullied.”

Contrary to the world’s perception of the desire to break off as a sudden phenomenon, Cumming concluded, Scots have been considering independence for a long time. “After 16 years of devolution, we don’t need training wheels anymore,” he wrote. “We can go it alone.”

[NYT]