SNP: Reboot Required

This kind of delusional garbage undermines the Independence movement.

As a general rule people distrust politicians. We expect them to lie, or at least to mislead, and by and large accept that they will play fast and loose with words. Like adverts on billboards which have massive eye-catching offers and easy to digest slogans, our politicians proclamations come with “terms and conditions” attached, which work mainly in their favour. Sometimes though, those T&C’s have their limits, and in the I-Pad scandal, Michael Matheson has breached his allowance.

SNP politicians must know that they will be scrutinised microscopically, and should be on top of their game at all times. Everything that they claim for should be accounted for, and everything that they have claimed should be legitimate. No duck houses. No heated toilet seats, and certainly no £11,000 data bills. Yet Michael Matheson saw fit to submit that very thing, no doubt in the fevered hope that no-one would notice. Of course they were going to notice! Having then been found out he has flipped and flopped from one excuse to another, culminating in his lying to our parliament in Edinburgh and to the Scottish people. Once upon a time he would have done the decent thing and gone, but the SNP in their hubris simply do not permit such a thing, and instead we are stuck with a Health Minister who is now tainted beyond repair. Having been caught lying about the cause of the bill he is in the situation where no-one believes him anymore, and after every utterance we are left asking if this is another lie. Put simply he cannot be trusted. If there is to be any integrity within the SNP then he must be sacked.

Sadly, we are in a position where much of the independence movement, rather than getting angry and demanding better from our representatives, simply indulge in whitabootery. Pointing out the deficiencies of your opponents as a response to valid criticism is hypocritical in the extreme, and from a movement which once promised to build a better Scotland based on our hopes, not our fears, is simply not good enough. It’s selling out. It’s an acceptance that we will sell out for the same kind of incompetent, troughing, self serving politics, so long as it has our brand stamped on it. Well I’m sorry, but enough is enough. Scotland deserves better, and if we are to lead by example, and make independence the settled will of the Scottish people, then we need to clear out the stables. Our failure to do so will cost us dearly, and every day that this scandal continues is another straw which will break the Scottish electorate’s back. For once, the SNP need to put their personal aspirations to the side and put Scotland first. Like Matheson’s I-Pad, they require someone to change the SIM and carry out a reboot. Can someone please find the right button to press?

Edit: Published in The National, 23/11/23

Remembering Suella Braverman

The disgusting events of 2023’s “Remembrancing” season came as no surprise to me, as they have been building up for years. I’ve been saying for years that the poppy has become politicised since the passing of the last Great War veterans, and we with our World War 2 veterans diminishing year on year, the genuine reflection and remembrance has diminished with them. What we are left with now is a pale imitation of remembrance, wrapped up in union flag waving British Nationalism, or “patriotism” as those participating would prefer it to be known. The connection to the individuals is almost gone, and for most they are now remembering an idea, not individuals.

Watching footage yesterday of the National Front in England laying a wreath really does show how farcical this whole situation has become, where our modern day home-grown Nazis are openly accepted as participants in remembering the fallen, many of whom died at the hands of the original Nazis. Here in Scotland we are little better, with the far right and the British Nationalist extremists also gathering round the poppy as a symbol of Britishness. We see Labour MP’s and Tory councillors posing online in mock remembrance for the camera, all for a photo to be shared online for likes and comments. At our local cenotaph I observed sash-wearing Orange Order members placing wreaths, one of which was dedicated to the “UVF”, the other proclaimed “No Surrender”. There’s no humility or dignity involved anymore, it’s merely competitive staunchness.

“No Surrender”, a slogan used by the Orange Order

That Suella Braverman tapped into this market of extreme British Nationalism is unsurprising, after all it was the same “Little Englander” mentality which brought us Brexit, but she pushed just that bit too hard this time, and it has fuelled a rise not just in racist and xenophobic comment, it emboldened the thugs and put their jackboots on the street, snarling and spitting at those who aren’t white, poppy wearing British citizens, and leading to a wave of violence and arrests. Her sacking is welcome, but the words she used and the attitudes she displayed remain at the core of the Tory party, and may still pay off for them in the long run, what with an election coming in the next twelve months.

One thing I couldn’t help but notice on Sunday was that considering there is a sizeable and vocal element of Scottish society who display their poppy 365 days a year, and who are not slow at criticising anyone who fails to wear one come poppy season, their numbers are very thin on the ground come the actual day itself. Where are they at 11am on a cold, frosty November morning? Not at the cenotaph, that’s for sure. I guess they forgot.

Remembering the Ulster Volunteer Force