Andrew Tickell’s column in the Sunday National is always a good read. Particularly so when he writes to explain legal situations and processes. But his take on Scottish politics also tends to be well-informed and thought-provoking. What strikes me about his latest article, however, is a point that he seems to have missed as he discusses the dynamics of the Scottish Tories in the aftermath of Jackson Carlaw’s humiliating removal.
Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on troubled me as I read Andrew’s attempt to answer the question of whether Douglas Ross is anything more than Ruth Davidson’s sock puppet. It was not until I noticed the very first comment that I realised what it was.
Even a sock puppet would have the intelligence to know that the union is deed [sic] …
I read that line and immediately thought it horribly wrong. We are talking about Tories. Hard-line Unionists and British Nationalists. Sock puppet or not, none of them is ever going to admit even to themselves that the Union is deid.
And why should they? The Union is presently not in jeopardy at all. The only thing that could threaten the Union would be an SNP administration in the Scottish Parliament determined to pursue the restoration of Scotland’s independence by any democratic means available. What we have is just the opposite. We have an SNP administration which has not only let the constitutional issue slide over the past six years but is seemingly intent on reassuring the British establishment that the SNP will not resume its role as the political arm of the independence movement in the foreseeable future.
Why then would even a remarkably stupid sock puppet suppose the Union to be in its death throes? What do Douglas Ross and Ruth Davidson and Boris Johnson see when they look at the state of the Union in Scotland? Because it is that perception which will inform their current manoeuvrings and manipulations.
The problem with Andrew Tickell’s analysis is that it assumes a future in which the Scottish Parliament is functioning as before and Douglas Ross (possibly with Ruth Davidson’s hand up his arse) stepping into the same role as was briefly and unsatisfactorily filled by Jackson Carlaw. But is that what the Scottish Tories and their bosses in London actually envisage? Or should their current manoeuvrings and manipulations be analysed as preparation for a significantly situation?
British Nationalists do not think the Union is finished. They do not operate on that basis. They operate of the basis that they are winning. They have every reason to suppose that their plans for Scotland will proceed. They have no reason to think otherwise. Whatever the Ross-Davidson duo is being prepared for it is not business as usual.
The British political elite is assuming a Scotland in which the locus of politics has moved from Holyrood to Queen Elizabeth House (left). The British state is planning on a future in which the centre of political authority in Scotland has shifted from the Scottish Government to the UK Government in Scotland. Whatever Douglas Ross and Ruth Davidson are up to at the moment, it is with this in mind. They are being deployed for a role in the transition from devolution to direct rule from London.
Ross and Davidson serve a regime which is in the process of perpetrating what is effectively a coup d’état in Scotland. We must try to understand their behaviour in the light of this realisation. We must ask ourselves how a parcel o’ rogues might once again deliver Scotland to England-as-Britain. We must wonder what role they might play in the process of taking annexation to absorption. We should consider what might be their reward.
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Peter A Bell 
Very astute Peter, excellent article and for sure the real reason behind it all.
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The ‘union is deed’ comment is correct in one sense, the fallacy of the union and it being a union of equals is dead, does anyone (even Tories) believe the union of equals nonsense now. We are in effect an occupied country with a administration centre to be run from another country and by a government we will never vote for. Holyrood is unlikely to be closed but its power slowly piece by piece diminished, that was the Tory plan from 19th Sept 2014 if we didn’t voluntarily fall back into line.
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They will take the power away from Holyrood in the name of democracy and decentralisation. Ross has already set out his plan. What a joke,but really not funny 😦 https://dailybusinessgroup.co.uk/2020/08/ross-plans-holyrood-transfer-to-power-up-scotland/
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Not read it yet but my thoughts are:
Scotland will soon have a ‘Scottish Raj’ (Davidson) upholding English rule in Scotand.
There is a old Scottish word that sounds similar ‘Radge’ which means uncontrollable beast.
Scotland will soon have a Scottish Radge upholding English rule in Scotland
Scotland Beware
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I think you are 100% correct, Mr Bell. They don’t expect the Scottish Parliament to continue along its current lines. They fully expect it to be neutered. That’s chilling enough in itself but what’s even more chilling is that the Scottish Government – and the SNP – seem to have little to say about what’s in store for Scotland from January 2021.
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Reblogged this on Ramblings of a 50+ Female and commented:
And anyone who doesn’t think that the British (English) establishment has plants in the SNP to help them are very naïve.
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If anyone thinks engurland will ever relinquish its hold on Scotland they are kidding themselves. It’s only Scotlands resources that are keeping them afloat and some parts of the SNP seem ok with that. I , for one am not ok, In fact I’m very far from ok. While the leadership seem more concerned with trying to stop Joanne Cherry standing for Holyrood, Bojo and his cohorts are stealing our democracy from under our noses. Time to stop and smell the subterfuge and counter it with our rightfull demand for self determination. WE are a Nation, not a region of a failed union.
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Thank you for a very enlightening exposure of Tory plans which make total sense of their setting up of the “other parliament” building in the capital. I’m only mystified that Nicola is just sitting back watching this take place before her very eyes !!
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It is time we started making it difficult.
The SNP won’t move unless we light a fire under their arses, and they’re making sure all the firebrands in their party are doused, so it’s up to the general Scottish public now.
It’s time to stop being nice and start showing our anger at the Cold War being waged against us by the English Establishment.
For too long we have stood and taken the sneers and jeers on the other cheek, not protested about the lies and distortions, or the outright theft of our national resources.
Acts of civil disobedience are necessary now. It is perfectly possible to do so within the law, and in fact desirable.
For a start, if Jesus could go into the temple and flog the Usurers, perhaps we could take his example with the foreign anti-Scottish enemy media. There’s nothing wrong with them being opposed to independence, they are the enemy after all, but everything wrong with them doing so with lies and distortion. Time to make them feel the displeasure.
Time to make those corporations stamping the Butcher’s Apron over our foodstuffs realise that we view that as acceptable as swastikas. Let them start to fear the economic power of over 50% of the Scottish nation.
Tear up the Treaty!
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Oh Dear, this is a very bleak analysis!
We seem to be forgetting that, in Boris Johnson, Ruth Davidson and Douglas Ross; we are dealing with serial idiots, incompetents and losers. They really should provide no substantial threat to an awakening Scottish nation.
The part I (sadly) do agree with is that, for whatever reason, the SNP seem to be either asleep at the wheel or hell-bent on bungling a seemingly God-given opportunity to strike for independence in a gathering perfect storm.
However, there does seem to be encouraging signs that, as their government sleeps, the Scottish people are finally awakening to the grim reality that is engulfing them.
Politicians may delude themselves that they have the power to change history. They don’t. Only the people can do that.
Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson have been given the power to do as they are doing in England by the English electorate. They will only get the power to do what they want to do in Scotland if the people (or their elected representatives) allow it to happen.
The people are finally stirring and the siren from hell will alarm the rest to attention when England as the UK delivers her no-deal Brexit on Ne’erday.
We must stay awake and vigilant. We must elect an SNP majority next May but one with fire in their bellies and boots aimed at their arses. The price for governing Scotland is independence, nothing less, nothing else!
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“…in Boris Johnson, Ruth Davidson and Douglas Ross; we are dealing with serial idiots, incompetents and losers.”
Who have nonetheless got everything they wanted to date. You seem to be forgetting this.
“Politicians may delude themselves that they have the power to change history. They don’t. Only the people can do that.”
Sentimental drivel! The people have no power. The people have strength. It is the political class which translates that strength into effective political power. Commonly, they will seek to persuade the people that it was popular power wot won it. All too many will taken in by the stirring rhetoric. Strip away the deceptive rhetoric and what you find is that as an all but invariable rule revolutions are initiated by the middle classes – academics, artists, professionals, civil servants and minor politicians – who then enlist the strength of the people.
Were you to find any exception to the rule – a true popular revolutions which was successful – then what you would also and absolutely without exception find is that the success of that ‘people’s revolution’ came only after it engaged the same middle classes.
Perhaps more than anything else what Scotland’s cause needs right now is several heavy doses of hard-headed political realism. Fuck knows we’re not wanting for sentimental drivel.
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You just agreed with everything I said!
You say the people have no power, they have strength. Isn’t strength power?
Aren’t academics, artists, professionals, civil servants and minor politicians people too? However, they are nothing without the strength of other people.
When I say people have the power (or the strength if you wish to be pedantic), I mean all the people, of all classes, who believe in a common cause.
I also said we needed hard-headed political realism. An SNP majority with fire in their bellies and boots aimed at their politically correct arses!
I also realise and have not forgotten that the three people I mention by name have got everything they wanted to date. That’s the root of our problem and a call to action for those of us who oppose them.
Scottish independence will not happen without the support of the majority of the people of Scotland. With that support, Scottish independence cannot be stopped. It is currently delayed, but God’s delays are not God’s denials and Boris Johnson’s luck always runs out.
I am not being sentimental, Mr Bell. I am being politically realistic.
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“Isn’t strength power?”
No. Read what I wrote.
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History is repeating itself. In 1745 the Scottish citizens rose and blindly followed Charles Edward Stuart and got as far as Derby before turning back and losing it all at Culloden. This time we are following Nicola and we seem to have reached our Derby. I fear if nothing happens very soon we shall once again meet our Culloden.
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Culloden only became a disaster when that yellow bellied cur ran away afterwards…
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I’m coming to think that we need an alternative independence party to the SNP, one that really is committed to independence and will field candidates in constituencies as well as regions. One might say that that will split the vote and let the Unionist parties into government. Unless, however, the SNP leadership has a radical metanoia or the leaders are changed, that party will not lead us to independence. Something radical needs to be done!
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i would agree.
Either SNP abandon’s its present ways, or we will have to abandon SNP.
We can’t continue like this, any longer.
Obviously, we would rather SNP did change, but if it doesn’t, we must look elsewhere,.to others.
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What’s you estimate of the time it will take to get another party into the position the SNP is now? Don’t bother trying to work it out. The theoretical minimum is five years. A more realistic estimate would be 25 – 30 years.
If only people would think first we’d never hear mention of the inane notion of an alternative independence party.
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Then, if the SNP and its mandarins don’t change, independence is lost. A new party would take time to organise and develop, but the intention stated by Nicola Sturgeon is that independence is on the back burner until the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis are past. That looks like being 5 – 10 years. We may well be better off with a new party committed to independence.
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I’m not sure who you think Nicola Sturgeon is. But if you imagine it better to take a 25-year gamble on a new party than to go against her word then you must hold her in something akin to religious awe. But the truly intriguing thing is that you are far from untypical in being so enthralled by the lady. It is disturbingly common to find people who are prepared to believe in the feasibility of the most fantastical ‘plans’ rather than contemplate the possibility of persuading the SNP to change its position on the the constitutional issue.
“The intention stated by Nicola Sturgeon is…” So that’s the end of the matter! The 90 years it’s taken to get the SNP into the position of being able to provide the effective political power that Scotland’s cause requires is to be discarded because Nicola Sturgeon says! A political party change it’s position on something? Who ever heard of such a thing? Never been known to happen! Better just to go back to square one and start all over again!
Of course, The British won’t take advantage of this. They are famed for their fairness and generosity. We can surely expect that they will put their plans for Scotland on hold until the independence movement gets its fucking act together. Of course they fucking will! That’s just the sort of thing they do.
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I was almost fearful of reading this when it was flagged up – so after tracing the corroded numbers above my door, as planned, read it. It is the obvious point that we should all have been aware of since – well, longer that last week & Carjack’s announcement of departure.
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