Strap yourself in it’s going to be a hell of a year!

There’s a lot to look forward to in 2014, but also a lot which needs to be fixed.

Jings, crivvens, help ma boab I don’t believe it! It has actually happened!

No, I’m not talking about my Hogmanay appearance in The Broons which was the best start to a New Year anyone could wish for but that 2014, the Year of the Referendum, has actually arrived.

I don’t think any year has been so hotly anticipated since Ally MacLeod took the Scotland squad to Argentina in 1978. Nor have we been so anxious, bitter, argumentative or, for many, just plain bored.

I said last year it was probably best we slept until this year began as the debate between the Yes and No camps had already become a hell on earth and another 18 months of petty posturing, glaikit gimmicks and silly scaremongering would surely see the end of us all.

But we’ve arrived safe, sound and ready for this momentous sporting, cultural and political year to get underway.

This is also the Chinese year of the horse, but will the Scottish people have the legs and confidence to jump over the final hurdle in September, showing the rest of the UK a clean set of spurs? Or will we bottle it and fall at the first fence?

Well, at the moment the odds are pretty stacked against the Yes camp securing a famous, nation-changing victory, but that doesn’t bother me as I prefer being an underdog.

I’m quietly confident that on Thursday, September 18 the Scottish people will be brave and vote positively for Independence. If it’s a No then we’ll just have to bide our time until we get another chance and that day will not be too far off once we realise how destructive the biased and divisive policies of the South are on the electorate of the North.

The Referendum aside, Scotland has golf’s Ryder Cup at Gleneagles and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games to look forward to. Some wags have already titled the Games the ‘Bucky Gemz’ because of the city’s love for a certain tonic wine. But hopefully they’ll be remembered as the ‘Friendly Games’ and the legacy will reach millions of Scots and those around the globe for generations to come.

In other sporting news I noticed the bookies are already running odds on which sporting celeb will be first to greet upon winning something this year. My money’s on Andy Murray again after he wins Wimbledon for the second time.

As for music, well, the Hydro has landed so 2014 will see the MTV Europe Awards and a feast of acts attracted to this brilliant arena.

There are, of course, all the usual festivals to look forward to, from Belladrum to T in the Park, and I’m looking forward to the Scottish Music Awards and Scotland’s Album of the Year, which both support Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy in Scotland.

There’s much to look forward to. But we shouldn’t forget there is still a lot to do, a lot to be fixed.

There are still too many people needing help from food banks, too many long-term unemployed and too many businesses folding or being castrated by the banks. Indeed many in those institutions have still not learned the folly of their economy-busting ways.

Same with a lot of our London-based politicians, and for public confidence to ever be restored that problem has to be dealt with urgently, which it won’t given Cameron and Co.’s love for their ain.

Then there are those who are allowed to inflate the cost of bus and rail travel and the companies that are allowed to heartlessly ramp energy tariffs rises that almost certainly cause a great many deaths. It’s a sick practice that must be stopped as soon as possible.

Still, at least 2014 offers some sort of hope. It already feels more positive than 2013 ever did, with even Scottish football fans having something to look forward to . . .

That’s right England getting pumped at the World Cup in Brazil. Ha ha!