Clive Ponting says Yes. Clive Ponting is the original British whistleblower. Long before Assange and Snowden, Ponting leaked details of a cover-up that shook the British political establishment. Working as a senior civil servant at the heart of power, Clive Ponting grew increasingly uneasy by what he witnessed. The Belgrano affair was the final straw and Ponting’s leaking of documents to MPs sparked a scandal that would lead to his arrest, trial and eventual aquittal. Clive went on to pen books on the affair, an insider’s view of Whitehall and is the acclaimed author of works on the green history of the world and deconstructing the myth of Churchill.
In a live event and interview Clive reflects on his time at Whitehall and offers an insight into the murky and often chaotic world of British state which he sees as essentially corrupt. Clive has had a long standing admiration for Scotland and its values since his youth and moved from France to Kelso in 2016. Clive considers independence as the obvious choice for Scots as well as a way to escape the amoral British system. Brexit is both an opportunity and a danger for Scotland as Westminster may well use emergency measures to centralise power and dissolve the Scottish Parliament. The battle for independence may get nasty but it can and must be won.
