Everything in Moderation

Glenn Campbell, What will Prime Minister Truss mean for Scotland?

The operation of the human subconscious is often more visible to observers than the human subject. 

So when BBC Scotland’s political editor notes that “There are certainly dangers for unionists in adopting a more “muscular” approach – it could alienate moderate opinion in Scotland and boost support for independence”, observers will be naturally curious about Glenn’s view of independence supporters in relation to the concept of moderation.

Some that I know personally are really quite responsible people. They are, for example, invariably law-abiding. They’re good parents, and caring in behaviour with elderly relatives and siblings. They treat neighbours as equals. They don’t litter; or mistreat their cats. They debate thoughtfully and respectfully. 

They hold balanced views about the nature of the universe, or the relative merits of meat-based and vegan diets. They do not insist that bands are defined as boy bands or girl bands, being entirely happy with gender neutral bands, and are equally open to the promise of opera, no matter what the language of the libretto. When driving they avoid alcohol, and have read all the new advice in the current version of the Highway Code. 

Moderation in a whole range of views and behaviours is one of their chief defining characteristics. They are generous in their support of charities. They are members of the National Trust for Scotland. When hill-walking they keep to the paths. In other ways too, they are model members of civil and civic society.

They will be dismayed to know that their support for independence, a concept which through human history has actually had quite a positive rating outside Scotland, distinguishes them from ‘moderate opinion’ in their homeland.

These independence supporters, in Glenn’s view, share another odd characteristic. They regard the UK government’s ‘tough talk’ on a future referendum as ‘anti-democratic and disrespectful’.

Now, we might wonder what else we could call speculation about setting the threshold for a Scottish independence vote at a quantum step higher than that for every other UK election, not least on EU membership, which some of the more sentimental among us recall every council area in Scotland having voted to continue. 

Put this another way: talk of polling at 60% support as a precondition for ‘granting’ another referendum, or yet other egregious threshold levels for measuring the validity of a future vote, is by previous standards of what is considered acceptable in UK elections, ‘anti-democratic’ irrespective of whether the view is held by independence supporters or others. 

We note likewise from Glenn’s piece that Ms Truss may be wary of giving ‘a high-profile photo call to the First Minister’ by visiting Bute House. He probably has in mind Ms Truss’s view of the FM as ‘attention-seeking’, as distinct from the new inhabitant of number 10’s habitual cloak of invisibility. Whether or not they meet, discussion of Ms Truss’s triumph with a proportion of the electorate best measured with an electron microscope is likely to be off the table. Everything in moderation.