...this argument comes from a place of political unreality.Andrew Tickell: Home Rule in this reactionary UK would not answer our problems Reading Andrew Tickell's column in The Sunday National this morning, the phrase "a place of political unreality" struck a chord. This, I thought to myself, could be the strapline for 'brand Scotland'. We are … Continue reading A place of political unreality
A clue to the underlying motive for the endlessly repeated effort to resuscitate the dead horse of federalism might be found in the fact that it is not only the LibDems who try to breathe life into the dessicated corpse. British Labour in Scotland have been known to attempt a bit of whip-based CPR from time to time. Which would seem to confirm that the federal solution is not a serious proposal. By which I mean not only that it is a proposal which we needn't take seriously but that it it is not intended as a serious proposal.
As British Labour is dragged along on the Tories' coattails, so BLiS is dragged along by their British Nationalist bosses.
Why am I writing about British Labour in Scotland (BLiS), Ian Murray, Gordon Brown, George Foulkes and the federalism fantasy when there's actual important stuff going on? To be honest, I thought I had a really witty opening - something about balloons trying to breathe life into horses that had long ago been flogged to … Continue reading British Labour in Scotland (BLiS), Ian Murray, Gordon Brown, George Foulkes and federalism
Independence precedes and is a prerequisite for the negotiation of any constitutional arrangement which involves the ceding or pooling of sovereignty. Only independence permits the full exercise of sovereignty which provides the rightful authority to cede or pool sovereignty.
Federalism either couldn't possibly be negotiated, couldn't possibly resolve the main issues or would leave an evidently better settlement which the people of both England and Scotland must surely aspire to and strive for.
The promise to ensure that Scotland has a "strong voice" in the UK has to be treated with great scepticism. Even if it was possible, why would we want a "strong voice" in the UK when we can have a strong voice in the world simply by dissolving the Union and becoming a normal country once more?
Kevin Pringle, a man who knows whereof he speaks, confirms in his final verdict on the feasibility and likelihood of a federal UK what many of us have been saying for a very long time, I think that independence is more realistic. The reason is simple. The things Kevin Pringle rightly identifies as the basic … Continue reading The impossible dream
Peter A Bell 