Murnaghan: State of the Nation 26.01.14 Interview with Brian Cox, actor

ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Let’s talk now, I’m delighted to say, to the actor Brian Cox, who is a champion of independence for Scotland, he joins me now from London. A very good morning to you, Brian and I’ll explain for you why you’re in London and not in Scotland, because I know you are appearing in that excellent play, The Weir there in the heart of the West End, so we’ll excuse you that but what do you say to people who say, oh well Brian Cox and others, they really shouldn’t talk about Scottish independence because they don’t live here full time?

BRIAN COX: Well that’s a fair enough argument but the thing is I actually spent, I think in the last five years I’ve spent more time in Scotland during the time I was living there. I am the Rector of Dundee University, I spend a lot of time in Scotland, most of my time in Scotland when I’m here in these islands and as I get older I suppose I’ve got the homing instinct, I’m the homing pigeon that wants to come back. I grew up in Scotland, I think I’ve got a very good historical perspective on it because when I grew up Scotland was very much north Britain and we were just coming to … People always seem to forget that the 20th century was marred by two major wars which stopped any real progress happening because of the Depression of the 1930s, the recovery after the First World War and certainly the big opportunity was the wonderful things that the Atlee government achieved immediately after the Second World War but then that became eroded systematically over the coming fifty or sixty years. So in a sense I see a new Scotland as a new start and that’s why I think an independent Scotland is very important. What worries me is that it’s the apathy that worries me, I think people just can’t be bothered. They say, oh I don’t want to be bothered so let’s just vote no. I think actually yes is very positive. In every aspect – education, commerce, in every aspect we can have new beginnings.

DM: Talk to me … It’s interesting what you said there about your regrowing sense I suppose of Scottishness. I remember watching an interview with the late Richard Harris and he said that about his native Ireland, that as he got older, having travelled the world, all the different roles you actor play, perhaps you begin to slightly lose your identity but it’s coming back to you now.

BRIAN COX: I think, when you’re young, when I was a kid I couldn’t wait to cross the Tay, I’m from Dundee, I’m a Dundonian and I’m an East Coast Scot too, I couldn’t wait to cross the Tay. I crossed the Tay, I crossed the Atlantic and I’ve crossed many oceans since and I have got a sense of the world. Living in America certainly gives me a sense of what goes on in America and also living here part of the time gives me an idea of what’s going on here, so I’ve sort of gained experience and my experience tells me that right where I came from – it’s the opposite experience, I can’t wait to get home because of something that is particular to the Scottish character. It’s something that makes me incredibly proud and it seems to me the logical step is that we do have our own nation. We deserve it, it’s been a long time coming.

DM: But doesn’t Scotland in a way have the best of both worlds at the moment? Significant powers under devolution and perhaps more to come after this referendum, even if it is no, but still that link with – and you are kith and kin in many cases – that link across the border to England and not just England but to Wales and Ireland as well.

BRIAN COX: Dermot, it’s fine if the system is great. If the political system in the United Kingdom was great I would agree with you but unfortunately the political system in the United Kingdom – you just had Ken Livingstone on earlier and he was absolutely right, what is missing is a sense of the particular. In England, we talk about England, London where I am now, this isn’t England. Everybody says London, England but it’s not, it’s London, London. England is England and London is London, London has always been a separate principality and England gets the tap end of the bath quite frankly, politically and socially and economically. They are always talking about the great north and south divide, one of the best things that could have happened to the English parliament is that it moves to somewhere like Wolverhampton and we actually, like they have in Canada, like they have in America, Washington, Ottawa, Canberra in Australia. I think in a sense, I agree with you if that was the state but it isn’t the state. We have a broken political system and it’s been broken for a very, very, very long time.

DM: Just to clear this up once and for all, on the voting again, Brian, you have a residence in Scotland, are you going to be eligible to vote or what?

BRIAN COX: No, I can’t. I’m the Rector and I spend a lot of time there, but I don’t have a base in Scotland as such. Mind you, the hotel business does very well out of me in Scotland!

DM: But what about that argument then, and it’s been said of Sir Sean Connery as well, that when it comes to those honours, you’ve gained a CBE, that’s got British Empire in it and Sir Sean with his Knighthood, would you think if there was an independent Scotland you ought to hand them back?

BRIAN COX: Well no because we are still going to be part of the Empire. We’re not losing the Queen, we’ve got the Queen still so in a sense it’s the package.

DM: Okay, good to talk to you Brian, thank you very much for your time and best of luck with The Weir. That’s Brian Cox there of course with a rather novel recommendation there, moving the parliament to Wolverhampton. That’s one to conjure with.