When I read of Mhairi Black's letter to Alister "Union" Jack suggesting - nay insisting - that he devote himself to Scotland and Scotland's interests rather than the British state and the interests of the British ruling elite, my first thought was that it is a very foolish demand. A bit like ordering the leopard … Continue reading For Scotland?
Mentions of Groundhog Day (the movie) are now as commonplace and cliché as references to Orwell's 1984 or Animal Farm. Writers looking to spice a piece with a sprinkling of literary allusion might well want to avoid something so old hat. But the allusions noted only get to be old hat because they are now … Continue reading Ye Olde SNP
It can happen that there is a degree of mismatch between what politicians say in public and what they and their colleagues are thinking in private. Sometimes, we can only hope that their public pronouncements aren't an accurate reflection of their private thoughts. A case in point being the facile assumption which from the evidence … Continue reading Words and thoughts
This British Nationalist propaganda unit is not there to help spin Tory policy, although it may do so incidentally. Why would the British government need to 'spin' policies it has the power to impose regardless of what the people of Scotland want?
"Onward and onward! Then onward some more!"
Where did this Mhairi Black come from? The one who wrote this column in The National? Where is the rebel? Who is this Mhairi Black? The one peddling the party line for all she's worth. The one plying us with unctuous platitudes and condescending rationalisation of the SNP leadership's paralysed timidity in the face of the British Nationalist threat to Scotland's democracy.
We've had enough fine words to fill an Olympic swimming pool the size of Belgium and still those parsnips remain distinctly unbuttered.
Boris Johnson isn't even a symptom of the pestilent Union. Boris Johnson is a symptom of the malady which has afflicted England's politics. Being infected with the Union merely means that Scotland must suffer the symptoms of whatever ailment befalls England-as-Britain.
Whether in government or in opposition, the policies and positions of British Labour will always be formulated to appeal to or avoid offending the relatively tiny number of voters in England who actually decided elections within the managed democracy of the UK. The very same voters who are foremost in the minds of British Tories as they develop policy. They're both hunting the same beast. So they both use the same bait and the same traps - with different camouflage.
Sending a message to the Westminster establishment will have no effect at all. If Mhairi Black and others want to shake things up, they should be addressing their speeches to Nicola Sturgeon. They should be urging her to take a more assertive approach to the constitutional issue. They should be telling her the time has come to challenge the power of the Westminster establishment. They should be insisting that she defend the principle of popular sovereignty. That she assert the authority of the Scottish Parliament. That she defy the authority of the British establishment.
Peter A Bell 