Our Politics newsletter is now daily. Join thousands of others and get the latest Scottish politics news sent straight to your inbox. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

SIR Bob Geldof is coming back to one of the places it all began for the Boomtown Rats – Glasgow – on October 20.

It will be an emotional return for a man deeply grateful to Scotland for helping the Rats get started.

“Glasgow was one of the first places where we could get a gig when people in London wouldn’t look at us,” Geldof said.

“It was the people of Scotland who bought our records, which got us up the charts.”

And Geldof hopes Scotland will have voted to stay in the UK by the time his tour crosses the Border.

A proud Irishman, he is a big fan of the UK – which he calls a remarkable political notion – and Scotland’s massive part in it.

“You two guys (England and Scotland) invented the modern world. Why go back from that?” Geldof said.

“Remember I’m Irish but it was the UK which gave me my life. The people inside this political notion are truly extraordinary.

“The English are an amazing people. Their history is just f***ing amazing.

“But it took the Scottish nation’s genius – and literally that is the word – to invent the modern world. That’s the truth of it.”

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

Geldof believes separation goes against the grain of the age we live in.

He said: “The logic of the 21st century and immediate future is towards co-operation, consensus and compromise, as opposed to the past and the murderous 20th century which was defined by competition. Why retreat into the past? Why regress to an imagined national idyll? It won’t happen.

“What interest does the world have in Scotland or England unilaterally? The nation state is dead. The 21st century is about interdependence.”

Geldof believes that in the modern world, bigger is better.

He said: “Things are always bigger than we are. Therefore the bigger we are, the better it is.

“Isn’t that what we learned from our labour struggles? Isn’t that what we learned from our wars? Isn’t that what we learned from football and families? That’s the way it just is. It’s not me just inventing it.”

Geldof understands national pride , but has a warning when politicians start using it for their own ends.

He said: “It’s a very healthy sense to understand who you are as a people and your place in this world. That’s a normal human instinct. We have a word for it – it’s called patriotism. But when it’s manipulated into the base metal of politics, which is nationalism – when political people on both sides of the argument do that – you have to be very wary. You really must think through these things.

“Nationalism is a very dangerous political animal. I know this – I’m Irish. It’s a cheap political trick which twists the understanding of who we are.

“I completely understand the emotional impulse towards independence. But always consider independence in inverted commas because what the f*** does it mean?

“We are entirely dependent on one another. None of us, in our private lives or our political constructs, are ever independent.

“We are all sovereign unto ourselves but we’re dependent on one another.”

Geldof also understands people’s unhappiness with the current political system , but says Scotland going it alone is no answer.

He said: “You think you guys are p***ed off with Westminster? What do you think it’s like living in London? F***ing Londoners are p***ed off with Westminster. The world is changing and needs different institutions, but not just removing ourselves from each other.

“Actually co-operating with each other – that excites me. That interests me more than the f***ing bagpipe playing. That sort of stuff drives me nuts in Ireland as well.”

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

Geldof is proud of Ireland, but says his country’s history is different to Scotland’s.

He said: “We were an occupied country for 700 f***ing years.

“We were never allowed to industrialise. You guys had the very opposite. You guys chose – very Scottish, very practical – you saw the way to utilise your genius was by joining up, together. F*** me

did you do it – and ran the f***ing show and still do.

“Look what you did. The NHS – Beveridge’s dad was Scottish. Blair and Brown brought in the minimum wage. The actual benefits of this country are actually only derived by cooperation together.”

Geldof also had a warning about currency.

He said: “Look at Ireland within the euro. F***ed up. Completely f***ed up.”

He is aware there are people with Irish roots thinking of voting Yes in the belief it might help lead to a United Ireland. But he urges them to reconsider.

He said: “There’s going to be an independent Scotland and a united Ireland and it will all be great?

“What will be great about it? Please explain that to me. Do you have any less pride in being Scottish or Irish than you will have next week? Seriously?

“It’s the manipulation of that pride and spurious arguments like that which drives me nuts.”

Geldof admires Alex Salmond as one of the most talented politicians in the country, but dislikes his sloganising.

He said, ‘Our time is now’ – what the f*** does that mean? The time is any time.”

Geldof dislikes the aggressive tone the debate has taken and urges Scots to go back to our intellectual roots, which changed the world.

He said: “We’re down to the thin bones of the argument when people have started shouting at each other. It’s very upsetting.

“People should be allowed to speak in any forum they like, be listened to and rebutted.

“That’s the way we do these things here, because ultimately modern civilisation was invented between these two peoples. That’s the f***ing truth. You don’t have the modern economy without Adam Smith. You don’t have the logic of liberty without David Hume and all those people. You just don’t.

“F***’s sake, you guys. You don’t have to listen to Darling and Salmond. Go back to the people you spawned, they wrote the text.

“They fully realised what they were doing when they sat in those coffee houses in Edinburgh. They were inventing the modern world.”

And Geldof believes the best future for Scotland, in the modern world, is to remain in the UK.

He said: “It’s only together, with a single shared sense of purpose, that we get to do things in the 21st century. There’s plenty to be done. Let’s get on and do it together.”