Scottish Republicanism (Or: Facepalm 101)

I read Kevin McKenna’s latest National column regarding the House of Windsor’s relationship with Scotland and found myself nodding along in agreement with everything he said. Then, with the finishing line in sight, he made the cardinal mistake of saying that as a republican the Queen had “charmed him to the top of his green, white and orange socks” at which point I winced. Kevin’s statement simply went down like a cup of cold sick, treading old lines in Scotland which link the word republican with Ireland. It’s dog whistle stuff in the central belt and immediately brings in sectarian undertones to the conversation which I feel are unwelcome and which ultimately work against us in our attempt to win over converts from the unionist side to support an independent Scottish republic. Across much of Scotland the term republican is completely misunderstood and the baggage it drags with it makes an open and adult discussion of it all but impossible. To many, republicanism immediately triggers images of Irish flags and balaclavas, just as unionism now triggers images of union flags, orange marches and street violence. Just enter the term “Irish republicanism in Scotland” into google and see the images it throws up. It’s a conversation stopper and no mistake. If we are going to talk about what a republic is in its most basic term; that being a country where ultimate power is with the people, not a monarch, then we must not make the mistake of shooting ourselves in the foot by closing off the argument using preconceived images which work against us.Just as the word nationalist has its issues, so does republican, and in the context which we use them they are far removed from the negative image they are sometimes used to convey. Most countries in Europe are republics, it is an entirely normal state of affairs, yet here in Scotland there is a large swathe of the population who do not seem to understand that. Going forward we need to be more aware of the language we use if we are to convince our fellow Scots that independence is normal and that being a republic is normal. To fail to do so is to fail completely. It really is that simple.

Poetry Corner: Wee Willie Windsor

Wee Willie Windsor Flies intae toon,

And all the clingy coat-tail hingers obediently kneel doon.

Done up in their finery, in kilts and fancy frocks,

And Wee Willie Windsor smiles upon his good house-jocks.

The Hypocritical Anger of the SNP Membership Should Be Put To Good Use

In the wake of Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacAskill being replaced from their Westminster committee positions by SNP MP’s there has again been online outcry from SNP supporters who are up in arms at the fact that two former SNP MP’s are now sitting in the UK parliament under the Alba banner. Leaving aside the fact that Mr Hanvey was elected as an independent, I do find it a tad hypocritical that people who celebrate when someone defects from another party to the SNP should become apoplectic with rage when someone defects from the SNP. I do not recall SNP supporters demanding that Anne McTaggart resign as a councillor and force a by-election when she resigned from the Labour Party and joined the SNP in 2019. Indeed, Nicola Sturgeon herself tweeted that it was “great to welcome her” to the party. Likewise, Glasgow Councillor Russell Robertson. So, can we perhaps park the hypocrisy for a wee while?

I fully agree that should an MSP, MP or Councillor be elected on a particular party ticket then should they no longer represent that party for any reason then a by-election should be automatically triggered, but this has to be a legal requirement applicable across the board, and not one which is subject to the weight of party outrage on the day. I would welcome the SNP leading the way on this matter and at least introducing legislation to make this the case across Scotland, Westminster of course being outside their remit. However, let’s be realistic. Any such changes to legislation will not be agreed to easily by the professional political class who draw a wage from the public purse and they will have to be dragged kicking and screaming by the party membership to even consider making any changes to an area which they often benefit from and use to their own ends when it suits them. Had Scotland had such legislation then we would not have had to watch as the likes of Mark McDonald and Derek Mackay were allowed to run down the clock on their political careers on the public tab, and we would have seen instead by-elections and proper representation for the constituents they formerly represented.

Scotland’s electoral system may only be a touch over 20 years old, but it still requires a serious overhaul to make it fully accountable and fit for purpose. The longer we allow bad practice to remain in the system the more embedded and normal it becomes and the more difficult it is to remove it. The list system itself for example should be done on the Single Transferable Vote system to give the electorate the final say over which list candidates sit in our parliament. We should also stop the farcical practice of allowing sitting MSPs to use the list as insurance against the will of the people.

Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas though, and as I say, our elected representatives are unlikely to dismantle practices that suit them well. As the governing party, SNP members are in the position of perhaps being able to influence their leadership (and I stress the word perhaps), although having seen the leadership’s emasculation of the NEC I truly doubt that they can. But if the SNP members truly want to build a better Scotland then they should perhaps turn their anger at Alba to good use and instead reform Holyrood, and create a fair and level playing field so that we, the people, are never disenfranchised. The ball is in their court…

Time to Consign the Monarchy to the Dustbin of History

It must now be blatantly clear to anyone with a pulse that the royal family have abandoned any pretence of neutrality over Scottish independence with their decision to openly campaign for the union. In 2014 the Queen, at the request of David Cameron, made comments in support of the union to a well-placed “well-wisher” which were plastered across the media within minutes, and which at the time were presented as nothing more than an overheard chance remark. Now instead the royals are going to speak more positively about Scotland so that we abandon our ideals of building an independent nation and instead revert to the forelock tuggers they clearly love and remember from yesteryear. Prince William was the first to have a go, arriving in Edinburgh to an umpteen gun salute before regaling the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland with tales of how his family love visiting Scotland and shooting the local wildlife and roaming the hills or some such waffle. I love visiting Italy every year but I don’t go there and lecture the Italians on their politics. Yet Willie Windsor thinks nothing of coming here and lecturing us about why we should remain part of his family’s domain, and it sticks in the craw to see him pictured with an apparently awestruck Nicola Sturgeon gazing adoringly up at him as they exited church service in Edinburgh. The royals have picked a side and it isn’t ours. They have dropped the pretence of appearing to leave things to the people of Scotland and have now openly sided with our opponents. As such the SNP and indeed all supporters of independence must now reassess independent Scotland’s relationship with the royal family. In 2014 it was stated that we would keep the monarchy if we became independent. In 2021 we must now be honest enough to say that we do not want a figurehead monarch from a neighbouring state who we are supposed to bow and scrape to whenever they breeze in. Our country is much more than the occasional holiday home for an ultra-rich family. An independent Scotland must be a republic, and the monarchy must be consigned to the history books. To retain them in any way, shape or form is an insult to modern democracy. 

SNP Tactic of Shooting the Messenger Must Stop

I was sorry to see that Stuart Campbell of Wings over Scotland had decided to call things a day and wind up his website after almost ten years of campaigning for independence. The work he did in the run up to the 2014 referendum was utterly immense; his forensic dissection of the unionists’ arguments was above and beyond anything that the official Yes campaign were capable of. I recall seeing SNP MSPs handing out copies of the Wee Blue Book and singing its praises, and I am certain that many of those elected in the wake of the 2014 defeat were put there in part through the good work done by Mr Campbell, which makes it all the more galling to see them turn on him in recent years. There will be many in the SNP who will be glad to see the back of Mr Campbell, in the main because he has felt the need to turn his critical eye over the SNP themselves. Their attempt to shoot the messenger, a common trait I am seeing more of, has done nothing to disprove the message he has been delivering, namely that the SNP have grown comfortable in semi-colonial government, that they have failed to push forward on independence and have misappropriated the ring-fenced money raised specifically for a future independence campaign. I can fully understand that he is unwilling to go on repeating the last five years and at least is honest when he says that he does not want to go on taking money from the independence movement when there is clearly no chance of there being any movement in the right direction. I do hope that he is wrong as regards progress towards independence, but my feeling is that his assessment is honest and accurate and that we are in for another five years of dangled carrots and miniscule progress towards independence, while at the same time watching as Westminster holds the levers of control and slowly bolts the door against us.Like Stuart, I am getting tired of repeating myself. The SNP and their supporters need to remember who is on the side of independence and who is against it, and in future turn their attention to them, rather than against their own lines. Otherwise, we will ensure this cycle of behaviour for years to come.

Stephen Paton in the National: Nasty & Brutish

Stephen Paton’s article in today’s National, where he gleefully celebrated the death of the Alba Party, was, to use his own words, nasty and brutish. The only thing worse than a bad loser is an ungracious winner, and Mr Paton joins the ranks of Stewart McDonald and Mhairi Black who took to social media with some rather unsavoury opinions about the Alba Party and Alex Salmond in the wake of the SNP’s election win . It’s easy for Mr Paton to get the dog whistle out to try to simply smear the members and representatives of Alba as a bunch of anti-Trans malcontents, but that really says more about him than those voters. In May last year I had a letter published in this very paper where I pointed out the folly of the “both votes SNP” campaign, and welcomed the arrival of the ISP as a list only party. In February of this year I wrote to this paper to point out that with the arrival of AFI, the strategy of switching votes on the list became extremely difficult, and I had also called for one or the other (I had no particular preference) to stand aside as the logic, the maths and the polls all pointed to the need for one dedicated pro-independence party on the list. Neither ISP nor AFI had the profile required to have an impact, and it was to their great credit that both stepped aside in favour of Alba, headed by Alex Salmond, who undoubtedly did have that profile required. Many people within the independence movement held their noses and voted SNP as they were encouraged to do so by Alex Salmond. However, the olive branch he offered the SNP was grabbed from his hands and used instead to whip him. Some of the sickening behaviour and vile online comments I have seen against Mr Salmond and Alba rivals that which we saw from the darkest fringes of the unionists in 2014. In some areas those votes lent by Alba voters may have helped the SNP take the most marginal of constituencies. I doubt may will be so eager to do so in future, and in its hubris the SNP may be sowing the seeds of future defeat.
For many people, “both votes SNP” was discredited in 2016 and any defence of it now has been utterly destroyed. While attending the count in North Lanarkshire I watched as the Tories tallied only Labour and Tory votes for the list – knowing that SNP votes were irrelevant anyway. It really was sickening to see all those wasted ballots piling up. Had the SNP not been so relentless on their both votes strategy then perhaps some other pro-independence party could have seen the benefit. That could have been the Greens for many or even Alba. Instead, we stood and watched as Labour and Tory fought it out over the peach-coloured ballots and celebrated as they waltzed back in to Holyrood, and we now watch as sneering SNP politicians and hacks celebrate with them.As a realist I saw the logic in not voting for the SNP on the list, and was supportive of getting other independence voices into our parliament. For me, it would be nice to have someone represent my views in parliament, and to have someone steer the SNP back towards independence as they veer off into semi-colonial comfort. Whether or not Alba gained a seat, much has been achieved. Primarily the lie that SNP 1&2 is required for a strong majority has now been put to rest, despite the gaslighting by the likes of Mhairi Black in her columns in the National. Alba now has 5 years to get a message across that they failed to do in 6 weeks, a far more reasonable task. With the SNP being more glacial than gradual I fully expect that we will have not moved forward an inch towards independence by 2026, and that with that in mind the Scottish electorate will next time vote smarter and ensure that smaller independence parties take their place in our parliament. I suspect reports of Alba’s premature death have been greatly exaggerated, and going forward the SNP should have the good sense to remember which side they are on and who our real enemy is.