Better Togethers Surrealist Turn
Douglas Alexander is frequently put forward as the thinking mans Unionist. He is, like his sister, credited with being the ‘great intellects’ of the Scottish Party. Whilst others like the Red Baron or ‘Raving’ Ian Davidson might rant on, Douglas is calm and reflective.
It’s a curious phenomenon though his speech-making being almost void of actual credible content and, on closer examination are revealed as akin to a Surrealist Manifesto. Witness his concept below that only within the Union can you have the freedom to support any football team you like. Damn him and his huge intellect for picking that up from the White Paper. The SNP were trying to sneak that through in the smallprint.
Are Better Together trying to induce some sort of free association trance as a desperate tactic in the war against independence? Watch this clip and reflect on that thought? It might also be worth Douglas considering the idea that you can support ‘Barcelona’ as an argument against self-determination. You can, of course. Just don’t approach their fan base for backing. I think they’ll be more Nou Camp than No Camp.
Alexander’s mind-twisting interview begs the question: is Dougie the Union’s Dali?
There appears to me to be a common theme running through the meanderings of Alexander, Curran, Sarwar etc. Most of what they have to say is couched in clichés at best, and incoherence at worst.
As Pilger in one memorable quote said ”We must be prepared to clear out decrepit myths and other rubbish while stepping angrily over the babbling brook of bullshit.”
Why are the Unionists so fixated on this politics of national identity? “I’m proud to be Scottish…and British”. Good for you. Big deal. What do want- a round of applause? Are they seeking a sense of recognition from what they perceive to be the real seats of power? Are they bewitched by the trappings of power and the “best of both worlds” hypothesis they posit? For most of us this has nothing to do with being Scottish, English, British or Venusian- it’s about Democracy, self-determination and the progress of social justice and a more equitable society. Do people like Alexander really believe this is possible under a Westminster system? Look at the evidence of the last 30/40 years. Are the unionists really interested in those values I’ve just mentioned? These are a set of values at the very heart of the push for Independence. Or is Alexander’s mind data resistance?
Why are these basic values that drive the Yes campaign so difficult for the Unionists to comprehend? Has the cirrhosis of Westminster politics turned so many Scots that cynical they have lost the flexibility to embrace alternative possibilities? This is not about nationalism: are the British nationalists so blinded by their own jingoistic chauvinism that they cannot see this? Is it a case of projection?
People in general are now sick of watching these jackal headed Westminster career politicians snarling over the parched bones of a dead politics: people are now realizing that the scraps of deadened meat from the bones offer nothing resembling satisfaction or nutrition, in any democratic, economic or socially just sense.
I think some of the Unionists really don’t understand the difference driving politics in Scotland.
Westminster’s argument is all about the past, honouring old rich families, old traditions, trying to recreate the old days of Empire.
Whereas the Independance argument is all about the future: “We can build a better world. Lets.”
It doesn’t hurt that the Labour Party changed to Tory ideology with Blair, and is still trying to out-Tory the Tories.
The reason Labour’s unionists are so entrenched in their constitutional position is I believe quite simple, they put The Party before all else, including their country. The Party is their religion.
Where this brain washing comes from I could speculate but it would be boring. It definitely does not apply to any other of the political parties on either side of the constitutional debate. The Tories as we are witnessing are more than prepared to loose an election to get what they want. You might not agree with The Tory Euro sceptics but you have to admire their principles.
This is why Scottish Labour feel so uncomfortable in fighting the No campaign through Better Together, because they now find themselves standing in the battlefield shoulder to shoulder with their traditional enemy readying themselves to fight their fellow countryman.
Is it any wonder wee Dougie sounded confused yesterday. They are sick in their stomachs at the thought of the next 8 months.
Actually, I think they put their jobs before anything else. The great thing about their party allegiance is, the party can go from being fairly left-wing, believing in social justice and disarmament to starting illegal wars, pushing for the expansion of nuclear weapons, and the Alexanders, Stairhead Currans, No-show Sarwars and Sincerity Jims will be unswerving in their support. Yes, it looks like career trumps policy.
Scottish unionist politicians will do anything for a made-up title and a seat in the house of lords.
Oddly enough. The image above made me think of Blair McDougall…
I quickly realised how superficial Douglas Alexander’s supposed intellectual approach to politics was when I saw how quickly he was prepared to drop his opposition to weapons of mass destruction and how he was also prepared to remain silent as the Blair government, of which he was part, was involved in covert extradition of political prisoners to years of imprisonment without trial at Guantanamo Bay.
Principled politician? Humbug more like.
I like wee Duggy, I think he’s very funny.
Bet his sister doesn’t.
My brain hurts from the trenchant analysis Alexander brings to the neg’s campaigning. An apparatchik to the tip of his nose I do wonder what he plans to do with his great talent when we kick him and his mindset in the intellectual fundamentals. A possible constitutional rule for the new Scotland might be a time-limit set on how long someone might operate as a politician. He seems to have been around a very long time. Must be quite exhausted, poor thing.
Odd to see Danny Alexander include a quote from Robert F Kennedy in his ‘Network Generation’ waffle that is doing the rounds in the MSM. I believe it was from Kennedy’s ‘Ripple of Hope Speech’.
In this speech, Kennedy also set out a ‘World Vision’:
“I think that we could agree on what kind of a world we would all want to build. It would be a world of independent nations, moving toward international community, each of which protected and respected the basic human freedoms. It would be a world which demanded of each government that it accept its responsibility to insure social justice.”
I wonder what Kennedy would make of an independent Scotland seeking to work towards a more equal society and an agenda to improve social justice. He could contrast this to a UK government that is considering abandoning the EU and the convention of human rights while actively discriminating against the most vulnerable people in our society.
He must be really very intelligent as I cannot understand what he is talking about.
One of the best one worders about him was when he was reported to have an intelligence of planetary proportions
Uranus.
Douglas Alexander drops comments in like little fear grenades and when challenged obfuscates and diverts from the comment. I was very disappointed that the 50p tax band was left to the end, because in reality, it is about sound bite politics. Dragging everyone into it together rather than trying to actually reduce inequality which could have been done a hundred different ways…..The BBC and STV really do need to up their game on questions to these guys.
As best I could judge, MP Alexander was saying two things:(1) I like being important and if YES wins, I won’t be important for a while and (2) Identity doesn’t matter. The first is consistent with his previous statements on everything. The second one is more interesting. The reason (according to his statements) identity doesn’t matter is because everyone has one, people could have more than one and the one we have now (British) is much bigger. Since being important is the first thing that matters, a bigger identity means a bigger importance. Ergo post hoc propter hoc…or something like that.
As with all the new labour MPs, in Scotland and elsewhere, the general good is taken to me their own convenience and most of all, remaining important on the ‘bigger stage’–the bigger questions and the bigger rivers of you know what