Has EVERYONE gone Tonto?

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By Peter Arnott

I’m coming to the end of the biggest and most difficult piece of writing I have ever done. You’ve no idea how little I want to be writing this now.  But I’ve no choice, I went out for a walk this morning and came home via the newsagent.  Name of jumping Jesus!Has everyone gone mad?

This is a question you hear a lot from bewildered Labour canvassers when people who have voted for them all their adult lives won’t even take their leaflets for fear of radioactivity.  When Jim Murphy addresses “rallies” across the country …at 7 in the morning to the pigeons…flanked by the same group of volunteers who apparently live everywhere in Scotland.

While Nicola Sturgeon walks up Buchanan Street like Cleopatra arriving for a word with Mark Antony.  Only as a Queen Of the Catwalk who does convincing selfies. Without security men, without the need of message minders, why man, she bestrides this world like a five foot colossus.

It maybe can’t last, but I’ve never seen anything like it.  And those who fear what’s happening are right to see in this phenomenon something we’re not used to in this country.  Mass feeling.  A sense of the collective, of people valuing themselves because they feel part of something bigger.  This isn’t politics as a sales pitch, democracy as a choice from the usual catalogue of managed or unmanaged decline.  This is a movement. This is exhilarating to be part of, and scary as hell to feel left out of it, estranged from it. Threatened by it. People have been fed a totalitarian consumerist, individualist ideology that places all value solely in the satisfaction of personal desire, for wealth, power, stuff.  And it may be that what is happening right now in Scotland is the same as what has happened in lots of other places and lots of other times for good and ill.  The assertion that WE matter. Damn you and your offshore tax dodging. This time is ours.

But the sheer investment in Nicola Sturgeon right now of the people’s need for the sense of hope and collective worth and purpose that has so long been denied and ridiculed is only part of the “insanity.” The occasional excesses of random and unorganised cybernats pale into insignificance besides the desperate front pages of the nation’s print media doing FRONT PAGE screaming headline stories on unwanted haircuts for Dollies, for God’s sake.

It may seem like an annoying wee distraction right now, but the response in the dusty halls of power to the unprecedented popular political energy in Scotland may well be equally unprecedented. Both Nick Clegg and Teresa May have now explicitly said that a government formed by Labour with the support, in any shape or form of parliamentary jiggery pokery…by the SNP…will be illegitimate.

Let me put that another way. They are saying that the result of a democratic election in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the choice of the citizens of this precious Union of theirs, can be disregarded if we get it wrong.

The rumour is that they’ve already been to see the Queen to get the nod for an attempt to cling on to power after they lose the election,

Excuse the fuck out of me, but does that not sound like a coup?

Her Maj  (God Bless Her), is said to have sent them packing, and the whole thing may well be posturing bullshit designed to get the sad and angry twats of UKIP back in the Tory fold…but Hell’s Teeth!  Whatever happened to the family of nations?  Whatever happened to the Greatest Democracy the World Has Ever Known?

Pausing only to note that the pious fiction that all the nations of the UK are equal, and that all MPs are equally the representatives of equal British constituencies that don’t recognise (in UK elections) nationality at all, has been blown from the window, I can only read the Sunday papers now and wonder what the Hell will be there NEXT week when they begin to get the serious heeby-jeebies.

Will it say in the Sunday Times that Nicola Sturgeon is an Alien Baby Eater from Space?

Who can say?

All I know now is that on May 8th, the UK Labour Party may well find that it has to defend the legitimacy of an SNP victory in Scotland – that wipes them out –  in order to defend it’s own legitimacy to govern the UK.

Who’d have thought we’d get here as soon as this?

Breaking Up Britain was always too big a job for Scotland. When you want a thing done properly, send for the Tories.

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  1. Les Wilson says:

    Excellent, and well put, also the last line gave me a laugh!

  2. IAB says:

    Every MSM article advances the cause column inch by column inch

    1. oldbattle says:

      What this movement has demonstrated is the near castration of the British MSM-they rage like demotic madmen but the power of mass-produced social media ‘sends therm home to think again”!

  3. Drew Campbell says:

    I get the impression you actually quite enjoyed writing that, Peter!

    Beware, however, as the full scale of Nicola Sturgeon’s crimes against humanity are exposed. Sources indicate she SCRIBBLED with a BIRO over her sister’s copy of the ‘Jackie’, and on another occasion REFUSED TO HURRY in the bathroom when her poor oppressed sister was getting ready to go out. I fear these atrocities are just the tip of the iceberg…

    Clearly the “Most dangerous woman in Britain” is a huge understatement.

    1. epicyclo says:

      Plus horror of horrors, that demoness Sturgeon uses FOREIGN grown coffee in that expensive coffee machine she paid for herself. Isn’t English coffee good enough for her?

      1. Steve says:

        You would think the UK grows coffee!

  4. Wul says:

    It’s a democratic union, but only up to a point. I think we’ve reached it.

  5. bringiton says:

    We must remember when the English press say Britain,they really mean England.

  6. mike cassidy says:

    The election publicity I received this morning (Thatcher-imitator Gordon Brown’s old constituency) is still selling that “only Labour can stop the Tories” line.

    This was sent by the Labour Party in London urging me to vote Scottish Labour.

    They truly do not get it.

    We are all Tonto now, Kemo Sabe!

  7. Phil Robertson says:

    “This is exhilarating to be part of, and scary as hell to feel left out of it, estranged from it. Threatened by it. ”

    There are worrying aspects of the SNP campaign. We have seen deliberate disruption of other parties’ canvassing (aka hunting), intimidation online and some frightening language. The use of the phrase “community responsibility” resonates too much with strange fruit to be comfortable.

    There was also the party edict (passed behind closed doors at conference) that MPs and MSPs must toe the party line or face disciplinary action. Which runs counter to the notion that MPs, once elected, represent all their constituents.

    1. Darien says:

      You compare this alleged nonsense with the prospect of a UK coup d’état? For the Tories to completely write off the democratic votes of 2m Scots?

      1. Phil Robertson says:

        I think you got your typing wrong. Did you mean “You compare this with the alleged nonsense of the prospect of a UK coup d’état”

        I mention things that are reality as opposed to the meandering fantasy that is political analysis in the right-wing English press.

        And why are only 2m of the Scottish votes democratic?

        1. Ali says:

          “And why are only 2m of the Scottish votes democratic?” Because the Conservative party and Labour party have done everything they could to defend and maintain the first past the post system for Westminster. These parties main principle seems to be ‘when it works in our interests it’s fine when it works against us its undemocratic’. The result is they’d probably love PR for Scots voting for WM but not for England where it would give their rivals the Greens and UKIP more seats. The SNP are in favour of a proportional representation based voting system.

          1. Dean Richardson says:

            Nail on head about Westminster not wanting PR in England. As it is, the LibLabCon cartel gets near enough every seat in England, and they’ll get every English seat bar 5-10 (possibly) next week. If we had PR for Westminster elections, the main parties would see their share of seats of England fall to 80% or so, still the lion’s share, but a big drop compared to what they get now.

            British democracy? I think it’s a great idea. When does it start?

    2. Frank M says:

      “We have seen” – who has seen? Evidence. Did you see this? Or are you just peddling what others tell you? Take the planks out of your eyes.

  8. twochances says:

    excellent. like you say the only real surprise is the sped at how all this has come to pass. http://wp.me/p2uah0-8Z

  9. David McCann says:

    “When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.”
    Socrates.
    Never was this truer than now.

  10. tamdeanburn says:

    Great stuff but this is not the breakup of Britain. It’s the remake/remodel as the early days of Roxy Music says. The biggest beauty of all of this and Nicola’s mistress-stroke is to cast herself as the lead in the rewrite of Our Island Home. We are already nearly reimagining the relationship between these island peoples and that will really start to flourish when we see one of her red lines draw blood- the abolition of the House of Lords.

    1. twochances says:

      very well put, tam.

    2. Dean Richardson says:

      I can’t see Labour MPs voting to abolish the House of Lords. They’re all after tickets for that gravy train, the cushiest gig in politics. Do you know any other ‘job’ where you show up, clock in so that you get £300 a day, and piss off a few minutes later and spend the day at a West End club? Me neither.

      1. Portjim says:

        Aye, show up to pocket £300 / day, fit to govern the country even if too senile to stand trial!

    3. Frank M says:

      First class Tam!

  11. JPJ2 says:

    Phil-you will be telling us next that the other parties don’t have parliamentary whips, and that Ian Smart, the now “famous” Labour blogger, followed by virtually every senior Labourite in Scotland, does not exist 🙂

  12. Connor Mcewen says:

    The Golliwog is still on the jam jar.You know who you are.
    BBCscotlandshire did a nice piece on the above

  13. rabthecab says:

    Have to say I feel a little estranged, simply by dint of the fact that I live slap bang in “enemy territory”, but by God I’m loving what’s happening in Scotland right now.

    The End (of the Union, and so-called Scottish Labour) Is NIgh, and it’s all down to the fear & panic of the Westminster Establishment and their tame media.

    1. gralloched says:

      Rabthe cab. Me and you both. I’m English in the N/E wasteland. A veteran ” enemy within “.I’ve got Crawford’s shortbread and a good bottle of red biddy in for the long night of the somersaulting applecarts. Our news bulletins have become the ” here’s Nichola ” show. They are rending their garments, scourging themselves, and ululating down here. I’ve never been so thrilled since Sunderland won the cup. (1973). Consternation and despair to the fekkers. Don’t stop at derby this time eh ?

      1. Tony Steedman says:

        Courtesy of the late Ian Porterfield, ex of the mighty Raith Rovers if I recall correctly.

    2. Brian Fleming says:

      Rab, are you sure it’s not the other way around, i.e. the media (and their stinking rich owners) and their tame Westminster establishment?

      1. Brian Fleming says:

        It strikes me Westminster is merely the UK political wing of the neo-liberal New World Order.

  14. Clive B Scott says:

    Phil, With SNP’s opponents having the corrupt print and broadcast media all to themselves there is no alternative but to call out the unionists on social media or on the streets. Are you suggesting that as an SNP supporter you are forbidden to make representations in a public place or forbidden to call out lies and deceits online? I agree that “frightening” language is counterproductive but the worst excesses I have come across are far and away from unionists. Even the apparently moderated BBC website posts contain the most astonishing racist bile and foul abuse.

    Your point re party discipline is odd. You are either in a party or not. If you wish to campaign on this or that issue that the party has a fixed position on then you can hardly expect not to be invited to explain yourself to the party leaders. Very few MP’s are elected as Independents so they owe their position in parliament to the halo effect of the party they chose to represent when elected. Once elected they are of course obliged to take up the concerns of all their constituents and if they are so exercised about a particular issue that goes against their party position then they will need to take a deep breath, argue the case, and face the consequences.

    1. Phil Robertson says:

      “With SNP’s opponents having the corrupt print and broadcast media all to themselves”. Really? There is a long history of mutual affection between the Sun and the SNP.

      “Are you suggesting that as an SNP supporter you are forbidden to make representations in a public place ” No, but shouting down people with whom you do not agree is unacceptable.

      ” if they are so exercised about a particular issue that goes against their party position then they will need to take a deep breath, argue the case, and face the consequences.” If that is the case then why does it need to become a disciplinary matter?

      1. John Mooney says:

        The only person who is doing all the “Shouting”is mendacious Murphy to empty streets at 7am. in the morning,dear God,”Scottish” Labour,the comedy that just keeps giving!

      2. Hey plater says:

        Well Phil, it depends which ‘Sun’. Do you mean the English one which is Little Englander stuff, or the Scots edition which is two faced and seemingly less rabid?

        You will remember Essex man Kelvin Mackenzie who sneered at Scotland as the ‘call centre country’ – Jockland I think he called it.

        So please revise your SNP/Sun comment.

      3. “No, but shouting down people with whom you do not agree is unacceptable. ”

        Could you tell Jim Murphy that please?

      4. Brian Fleming says:

        with regard to your second paragraph, tell that to Jim Murphy. With regard to your third, because that’s how democracy works in a party system. It’s hardly a new development.

  15. Yes, but at least Nicola is OUR Alien Baby Eater from Space.

  16. Anton says:

    @ Peter Arnott: You say that Nick Clegg has “now explicitly said that a government formed by Labour with the support, in any shape or form of parliamentary jiggery pokery…by the SNP…will be illegitimate. Let me put that another way. They are saying that the result of a democratic election in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the choice of the citizens of this precious Union of theirs, can be disregarded if we get it wrong.”

    The only problem with this remark is that it isn’t true. What Nick Clegg actually said (see his interview with the FT on 24 April) was that if no single party achieves an outright majority in the election the LibDems would be open to talks with the leader of the party with “the biggest mandate” in the Commons, which had “a right to seek a settlement”. If in the event such talks failed, he’s said that he would be prepared to negotiate with the leader of the smaller party but he fears that any so-called “coalition of the losers” could lack “legitimacy” in the eyes of voters and as a result might undermine effective governance.

    I hold no brief for Nick Clegg, but I do think his position should be reported accurately.

    1. Peter Arnott says:

      Thank you Anton. Fair point. However, I do believe that his intention (and of the spin put on it thorough the media…at least on Saturday) was that I understand from it what I understood from it.

    2. Muscleguy says:

      Did he not also say that he would under no circumstances enter a coalition arrangement that included the SNP? And in doing so did he not give the reason in effect that was because the SNP are in some way illegitimate?

      1. Anton says:

        Yes you’re sort of right in that he did say that in the event of the possibility of a “coalition of losers” the LibDems would not support any formal deal with either Labour or the Conservatives which was conditional on the support either of the SNP or UKIP, on the grounds that the policy differences between such an alliance and the LibDems would be too great. But that’s a matter of principle, not of legitimacy.

  17. Darien says:

    The democratic outcome of May 7th would be for Alex Salmond to be Miliband’s Deputy PM and a group of SNP MP’s in UK cabinet posts, as with the outgoing coalition. Why should Scots be treated as inferior to LibDems? I’m sure SNP MP’s can hold their noses while working with red tories.

    1. Muscleguy says:

      Sigh, the SNP have said no formal coalition. Labour stopped ruling that out as some sort of threat about two weeks ago realising most people know that. It seems you are not part of that grouping.

      The most the SNP will commit to is a confidence and supply agreement which will not bring cabinet level posts. Such arrangements almost never do. A party offering only confidence and supply is free to vote how they see fit on other issues. Taking cabinet posts mean they will have to abide by collective responsibility meaning they cannot do this, rendering limiting themselves to confidence and supply pointless.

      Also Alex Salmond last week expressly said he has no designs on Angus Robertson’s position as head of the SNP group at Westminster. Note one of those MPs will be mine, Stewart Hosie who is the SNP Depute Leader. So on party matters he outranks Robertson. But he will accept the parliamentary leadership of Robertston in Westminster. You can however assume Hosie will get a front bench portfolio and will not be a back bencher. So that is two SNP bigwigs who will not supplant Angus Robertson. Do you have any others to put forward?

      1. Darien says:

        Alex Salmond for Deputy PM!

        1. If the SNP enter a formal coalition with Labour or take any formal positions within a Labour government I for one would end my membership of the SNP. If you lie with murdering snakes your soul will become as rancid as theirs. Seek to change and better the countries within the UK but not at the expense of your own political soul

  18. Janice says:

    Thanks, Peter. I work at home and sometimes think I’m alone in the feeling I’m going round the twist listening to the BBC and reading papers. Then I find stuff that makes me realise a lot of us must be thinking this right now, we just don’t know each other till we find some words…

  19. Muscleguy says:

    Someone has made the valid point that with all the attention being on us history will record this as the Scottish General Election. I expect in certain circles even mentioning it will be treated a unlucky as mentioning Macbeth is the theatre.

    1. Brian Fleming says:

      Aye, but the Scottish General Election’s next year.

  20. Isabelle Caskie says:

    Nailed it Peter!

  21. Richard Harris says:

    When the Mail, Mirror and Independent (our New ‘National Enquirer’) print Ian Brady’s “election thoughts” as important ‘news’, you know that the fifty legged spider squid has finally sucked the last dregs of brain fluid from Planet Earth.

    Vote Squid, or …

  22. Douglas says:

    EXACTLY, Peter, expect the coup…that is precisely my point, and you won´t avoid it by pussy footing about with the Pound and the Queen…

    …that s EXACTLY the point….

    There was a small country called Chile which dared to defy the established order, an insignificant country in the general scheme of things, which was later dismantled, tortured and made a laboratory of neo liberal experiments by CIA sponsored fascists….

    We have started something, and my question is whether Scotland has the bottle to see it through….

    1. Darien says:

      at least half us do.

  23. johnmoss2014 says:

    Funny, observant and what a great payoff;

    “Breaking Up Britain was always too big a job for Scotland. When you want a thing done properly, send for the Tories.”

    🙂

  24. Douglas says:

    Look, Bella left wing readers…the Left should be organizing RIGHT NOW to defend Scotland from the full scale assault of the British State which is about to come….

    …does anybody think the people of Chile were expecting a coup in ´73? Of course not, or not like that. There were plenty of Spanish intellectuals who supported Franco´s coup of 36, because they thought it would be a coup like Primo de Riveras in 1926…a relatively benign coup compared to Franco. They were caught dreaming…

    We are not just challenging English governance, we are challenging the intentional established order. We are challenging NATO, the Americans, the bland and heartless hegemony…and we might end up being an example to the world, and nothing can terrify Power more than that…

    …we better be up to it, we better be prepared…and the SNP are not going to go that far….they are part of the establishment too, and there are lots of great people in the SNP, I know that…..

    But we need a Left Scotland….and you´re all in the SNP…I despair….seriously, you are letting down the people of Scotland, for all your good intentions….

    1. I am sorry but you seem to be living in a dream world, the SNP got us the vote, it was the Labour Left in Scotland that betrayed everything you seem to desire, unless you are saying you want a war, then please go sit in a dark room until you come to your senses.

      The far left will achieve nothing because they always end up attacking each other, (see Militant tendency or other far left organisations) and this comes from one who is in his heart a communist.

      The world is not ready or enlightened enough for a communist state, far to many ordinary people filled with greed yet. Sadly though people like yourself Douglas fail to see that and always want to try and push to hard without a thought for reality.

      The SNP are doing what they can within a vile established British parliamentary system, we are not an independent country, in fact Westminster could legally shut down the Scottish Parliament with the stroke of a pen and there is nothing we could do about it, other than going down your road of a coup, I for one don’t want to see our streets run with blood, so lets just keep fighting for hearts and minds its much cleaner in the long term

      1. Douglas says:

        Craig, I am not on the far Left. I am not a Marxist and I am not a Revolutionary, because revolutions are always violent. I believe in a human rights based approach to society. In an indie Scotland, I would want to see the circle of human rights widened significantly….

        Remind me, please, what the SNP has ever done for Scotland…? Tell me….they didn´t get us the Parliament, not even that, and they took 100 years to get us a referendum, which they lost, and they lost it in part because they come up with a half baked version of indie…an indie for saps and for hedgers…has it ever occurred to you that Scotland has never had a strong nationalist movement, because for decades, the SNP have completely failed to articulate the case of independence?

        But it´s you guys that are naive, mate. You think that the Establishment is going to let the Scottish people decide its own fate, and very coolly walk away from Trident, say? Dream on, man.

        Peter mentions the word coup. I don´t think it´s so far-fetched. Of course, I hope I´m wrong…

        1. Douglas says:

          The SNP…HA HA HA…

          I pish myself laughing at the SNP….the country of Wallace, of Burns, of Davidson, basing indie on “we´ll give you free child care”…indie as a policy, not a belief… HA HA HA…seriously….you guys crack me up….you don´t even have the sense of humour to see how completely RIDICULOUS that sounds…

          …and, by the way, I would bet a lot of money that Scotland does not have the bottle. because the SNP have NEVER tried to articulate why Scotland should be independent, and there has NEVER been a pro Scottish Minister of Culture in the history of Scotland…so of course the Scots feel insecure about asserting themselves…

          …of course, anything other than counting money and laying your bets carefully seems extreme and alien to you people….

          The Canny Scot mentality…the blight of Scotland…

          1. John Mooney says:

            Douglas it appears that you are the one who feels insecure in regards to your early hours of the morning rants at the moon ,have you been on the red biddy perchance?Only asking.

          2. Douglas says:

            John Mooney, I´d say your asking me a personal question, and so, therefore, forgive me, because as far as I know, we are not acquainted, I have no intention of stooping to answer it. Who are you, sir, to extrapolate, hours and dates and patterns of behaviour? The Scientology wing of the SNP maybe?

            How come your minister of culture never uttered the words “John Davidson” or “Hugh MacDiarmid” or “George Buchanan” or….well. there is a very long list of illustrious Scottish names which the SNP bury under a shit tide of Burns….

    2. ian says:

      ?????????????? what……..sigh.

      1. Douglas says:

        Typical SNP man, Ian….lots of exclamation marks and nay content….

  25. I’m not following your comment, Douglas, that the SNP are part of the Establishment? Isn’t that the whole point of Peters piece, is that the Establishment are shitting themselves at what the polls are saying? The reason they are whining to her Maj no doubt trying to compel her to say something – and btw, how dare they whine about democracy?

    The Left are pretty organised in Scotland in the Greens and the SSP, Colin Fox was actually asked for a comment last week on BBC, changed times perhaps. I th I k next year will see a real emergence of these parties in Holyrood.

    Great piece, Peter, we are indeed witnessing a people led phenomenon, and I so hope the polls become a reality.

    1. Douglas says:

      I´m saying, if you want an independent Scotland, you have to realize two things. First of all, it will come at a price. No country has ever won indie without sacrificing something. Secondly, the SNP have hindered, not helped, Scottish independence – and I don´t mean all of the people in the party, I have lots of friends who are in the SNP – and you have to absolutely break with the British State for it to be worth the upheaval….the SNP are hedging…and they are about to throw the kitchen sink at us….well I can handle that, but not for the Queen and the Pound….I cannot vote for that….

  26. Hey plater says:

    Douglas, what you say re: Chile and now Scotland is very pertinent. And perceptive.

    But you’ll have to get real about the Scots Left. It’s too late – Labour blew it some time ago and a tipping point has been reached. ”You can fool some of the people etc etc”….And they did.

    As a socialist, you should really listen to the people.

    As the English bard said so neatly, so well,

    ”There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”

    Yes.

  27. Alison Kennedy says:

    Really enjoyed reading the article. The next 9 days will be interesting to see what they throw at the SNP, nothing is out of bounds from the Tories or Labour.

  28. leavergirl says:

    I am thinking, all this is hazing before they join the club as real players. Then they will be feted and plied with whatever it is that corrupts people who are already susceptible to power, wealth and status. Far easier than a coup.

  29. liz says:

    I realise the comparison with Chile is a valid one but the establishment of this country is very good at averting all out war – although NI might be a point against that arguement- so I think they will try very hard to come to some kind of arrangement which will suit themselves.

    They went so far with Project Fear that there is now no going back.

    The more they threaten us now, the more we laugh at them.

  30. macart763 says:

    Do you know, I don’t think Mr Cameron was being entirely honest when he said;

    “It’s only Great Britain because of the greatness of Scotland, and the thinkers, writers, artists, leaders, soldiers, and inventors who have made this country what it is. So a NO vote means faster, fairer, safer and better change. And this is a vital point: Scotland is not an observer in the affairs of this country. Scotland is shaping and changing the United Kingdom for the better … and will continue to shape the constitution.”

    Just a feeling mind, but I’m not feeling the love any more.

  31. mike cassidy says:

    Kemo Sabe speak with forked tongue.

  32. George Gunn says:

    dear Peter, great rant, boy, one of your best. Now go and lie down for a bittie GG

    1. Peter Arnott says:

      I am prone even as I type George. All the very best, sir.

  33. Big Jock says:

    Nicola is someone the whole of Scotland can believe in. I don’t think our nation has had someone like that in modern times. She representents the aspiration of our citizens ,who want something better. We are not beatifying her as some uninformed media types suggest.

    Scotland is with her together, we are family not sycophantic adorers.

  34. Alan McMahon says:

    “Both Nick Clegg and Teresa May have now explicitly said that a government formed by Labour with the support, in any shape or form of parliamentary jiggery pokery…by the SNP…will be illegitimate.”

    There are of course precedents for flinging the board in the air when the game is not going your way; any number of them. Most recently we saw the democratically-elected government of Mohammed Morsi in Egypt overthrown in a coup. Hamas’ massive electoral success in Gaza was also dismissed, as was Allende’s election in Chile, with murderous consequences. Mosaddeq’s Iran in the 1950s was overthrown in a coup with ramifications that are still echoing round the globe today. These coups were instigated by so-called democrats who howl about the great virtues of our ‘democracy’ – just so long as it produces results they like. Henry Kissinger famously said “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people.”

    When scoundrels like Clegg and May come out of the woodwork to remind us of the contempt of the ruling classes for the principles of democracy, they need to be fingered as dangerous anti-democrats. It needs to be pointed out that such people have more in common with Oswald Mosley than with Nicola Sturgeon.

  35. Donnie McNiven says:

    I remember traipsing round Inverness and Nairn canvasing in 1997 during the referendum. On the door step there was little to discuss, people had made their mind up, i.e. the settled will of the Scottish people.

    Roll on 18 years, I have formed the impression peoples’ minds are mostly settled now, difference is their numbers are growing and there is hope, ambition and confidence.

    Hope, ambition and confidence are three characteristics labour wish are never achieved by Scotland’s people. labour are still playing the old mantra, elect us and we’ll see you all allrigjt.

    labour is not working, but hey, that’s allrigjt, the SNP are, with purpose, honesty and determination!!!

  36. xsticks says:

    Hi ho Silver, awwwaaaayyyyyyyy!

    The silver bullet’s heading Westminsters way.

  37. Johnny come lately says:

    The worst is still to come from the establishment and their media cohorts. I hadn’t really taken seriously that the Westminster parties would form some sort of national government, whether formal or informal, but as the election draws closer I’m not so sure now. The unionist parties may play for different teams but they are still members of the same club. The present political system ending (being reformed) has simply too high a price for the unionists just to sit back and let it happen.

  38. Steve says:

    Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Are we not witnessing this now? Corrupt leaders demonising the poor and disabled and sick while lining the pockets of their rich friends aided and abetted by biased and corrupt media who sell stories to an unsuspecting English public, while praising opposition in Scotland. Sowing lies about ‘shovelling money over the Scottish border’. Duplicitous murmerings from both media and politicians. Lately, barely 6 months after the Scottish referendum where Scotland was love bombed and promised more autonomy, the hate fuelled election campaign, towards more than 50% of the Scottish electorate, is worse than WWII Nazi propaganda and our Vow has been trashed.

    Is it any wonder that Scotland turns their backs on such corruption?

  39. Douglas says:

    Anyway, friends, despite our differences, this is a great time to be alive, and to be Scottish, so let´s enjoy it. It´s fair to say we´ve got it right up them….it´s hilarious….

    Westminster, is now a runnable stag, a runnable stag, my freends, Westminster is now a runnable stag…

    “When the pods went pop on the broom, green broom,
    And apples began to be golden-skinn’d,
    We harbour’d a stag in the Priory coomb,
    And we feather’d his trail up-wind, up-wind,
    We feather’d his trail up-wind-
    A stag of warrant, a stag, a stag,
    A runnable stag, a kingly crop,
    Brow, bay and tray and three on top,
    A stag, a runnable stag….”
    (Davidson)

  40. Big Jock says:

    Scotland united against Westminster. Why not!

  41. Neil says:

    An interesting article. My feeling is that politics in Scotland have become a lot more like politics in Northern Ireland, which is a big change, but I don’t think that it really is as earth-shatteringly rad as it is made out in the more sensationalist media. At the end of the day, the current winners of the wind-change – the SNP – are another neo-capitalist party out of the revised clause 4 New-Labour mould.

    Maybe in order to survive, Scottish Labour will need to turn into something akin to the SDLP, with a DUP analogy for the Tories, or somesuch, depending on how parochial those in charge are willing to get. But I think this is more a sea-change in party politics in Scotland than ushering the breakup of Britain.

  42. Darien says:

    The British Establishment extends much further than Westminster, it pervades all of Scottish institutional life – from the civil service, media, the law courts and the universities to the many hundreds (if not thousands) of public bodies and quangos who spend Mr. Swinney’s budget for him, not forgetting higher level corporates and major landowners. It extends especially to the people who manage the election itself and we should not be surprised (again) by the postal vote outcome. Whatever happens after May 7th, Scotland still needs to reconcile the dominant control exerted by the ‘public school – born to rule’ centurions of the British state in our midst, for it is they who are the real enemy of the Scots and of Scottish nationhood, not their political mouthpieces at Westminster and Holyrood.

  43. oldbattle says:

    Scotland’s 5th Estate you are. But I really would like to hail the 6th.7th/8th estate of the mass social media army that has repulsed the British MSM with wit, humour and determined regularity. There is an iconic image of ancient imperial armies being repulsed by thousands of arrows delivered by ‘native’ resistance. The resistance forces using social media en masse is a modern force that MSM can’t defeat.

    1. bellacaledonia says:

      Hi – to be clear it’s not Bella that’s the 5th Estate – its everybody. The idea is that a 5th Estate is a citizenship ‘armed’ by media literacy and the ability to create and distribute content…

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