Scotland and England-as-Britain have diverged in ways and to an extent evident from everything except the way we are governed. Two separate nations with increasingly distinctive and incompatible political cultures, but with one forced to accept the political choices of the other.
Tag: general election
Turnout is key!
Even among the combatants in the "gender wars" there is an underlying determination to elect as many SNP candidates as possible. We are at the stage where the SNP is the default choice for most people. There is nothing the British parties can offer that might win over these voters. Neither is there anything the SNP, or any faction therein, can do to deter them.
Not losing
As Boris Johnson has demonstrated, it is now possible to be a faux pas on legs that support a bloated bag of triple-distilled mendacity, yet remain in contention for the highest political office in the land. A malignant child-clown. The bastard love-child of Katie Hopkins and Mr Pastry. And quite possibly the British Prime Minister that will be imposed on Scotland for the next five years by English voters acting on the mindless idiocy of the mob.
Presumption of guilt
Trump is prostrate in the political gutter, awash with lies and deceit, proclaiming his honesty and sincerity in a manner that makes him less believable with every utterance.
Demands and threats
I doubt that many outside the ranks of irredeemable and irremediable Tory loyalists would take exception to anything in Sturgeons catalogue of demands. But are they attainable? Are they deliverable? How might British Labour respond were they to be handed this list in the course of post-election haggling among the parties at Westminster?
The dictates of conscience
But what if, having interrogated your conscience, you still believe Neale Hanvey is the best person to represent you and your community in the British parliament? What if you have serious doubts about his guilt? What if you have reason to suspect he has been maliciously targeted by some "darker group"? What if you believe in due process and the presumption of innocence? What if you have a well developed sense of fairness?
A poll worth heeding
Scotland cannot affect the outcome of this UK general election. The most Scottish voters might hope to do is slightly reduce the Tory majority.
The list
What Nicola Sturgeon doesn't seem to be aware of is that British Labour is no more likely to accede to her demand for a Section 30 order than it is to revoke Article 50 or dismantle the British state's nuclear deterrent. All of these belong on the same list as Nigel Farage's image appearing on a commemorative €100 note - the list of things that just aren't going to happen.
Not good enough!
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?
Confusion and betrayal
If people are confused it can only be because they're making the two-fold error of listening to what Corbyn and other British Labour mouthpieces say and supposing these utterances should be taken seriously. They hear the inconsistencies and contradictions and strive to figure what is true. The reality is very simple. None of it is true!
Peter A Bell 