There is no plan. There are only more or less evident trends arising out of the chaos as certain imperatives coincide with concentrations of power.
The beast stirs
Tag: Union
The Union abides
The purpose of the Union is to give England-as-Britain a permanent and significant advantage in the management of its relations with Scotland. Or, to put it another way, the Union serves to keep Scotland at a disadvantage relative to England-as-Britain. It does this in a number of ways, not the least of which is denial of the sovereignty of the people of Scotland.
Know your power
One would therefore be forgiven for supposing that he'd be aware that power is relative. What matters in the context of the constitutional issue is not the "sheer might" of the UK in relation to the rest of the world, but the power relationship between the British state and Scotland. From that perspective, the might of the Union is as sheer as it needs to be.
On with the show
In Edinburgh, meanwhile, it's very much the 'Nicola and Covid Show' - a freakishly popular daytime soap opera that has pushed 'Scotland's Cause' off the schedules completely and seems set to run for years.
As things stand, Scotland falls
Section 30 is all about denying and curtailing democracy. #ScottishUDI is all about enabling and facilitating democracy.
Here be monsters!
The Union ensures that whatever democracy we may have it will always be subject to the approval of England-as-Britain. We can always be outvoted. And failing that our democratic choices can be refused regardless.
A cancerous thing
Independence is normal. It is not normal that a nation such as Scotland should be purposefully and maliciously denied its rightful constitutional status. It is not normal that the people of Scotland should be denied the full and effective exercise of the sovereignty that is theirs by absolute right. It is not normal that Scotland should be forcefully prevented from freely negotiating the terms on which it associates with other nations.
March against the Union
What really troubled me about the marches last year was that they continued to direct public ire in the direction of London when it had become more appropriate to direct it towards Edinburgh.
The wrong question
The main lesson to be learned from the first independence referendum campaign is that we should not conduct such a campaign again.
The dilemma of conflicting imperatives
The trouble with saying that this isn't what it looks like is that it induces people to think about what it looks like rather than what it's being presented as. A bit like telling someone not to think about a pink elephant. Deferring the spring conference looks very like a pink elephant. The problem wouldn't … Continue reading The dilemma of conflicting imperatives
Peter A Bell 