Our current Prime Minister, who’s current in the same way as a rivulet in a desert, dried up and going nowhere, has once again been using Scotland as a threat in order to scare Middle England into voting how he wants. If the rest of the UK votes to leave the European Union, it could lead to Scottish independence, said Davie, only he said it like that was a bad thing.
Davie spent the last General Election campaign putting the wind up Middle England by scaring it with the prospect that Scotland might have an influence on the government of the United Kingdom which we’re supposed to be a valued part of. Now he’s scaring Middle England with the prospect that Scotland might not have any influence in British government at all, because we’ll prefer the company of Germans, Danes, Portuguese and Slovaks to the company of a xenophobic Middle England which wants to sail off into a mid-Atlantic isolationism and in which Scotland only exists as a scary monster trotted out by the British establishment to scare Middle England into line whenever they get a bit bolshy. By bolshy we of course mean voting in a manner that’s displeasing to that same British establishment.
That’s Scotland’s role in this wonderful magic United Kingdom. We’re just a fear in a British establishment project. There was us thinking that we were a loved and cherished partner in the most perfect partnership of nations in the history of the multiverse, only to discover that our role in the UK is to be a cartoon ogre to frighten the little boys and girls of Englandshire. Sort of like Shrek only with a more convincing accent. Or less convincing in the case of Frasier Nelson, but then his accent is a scare story all by itself.
We’re not allowed to have any influence on the makeup of the government of the United Kingdom, thanks to English votes for English laws, our representatives are second class citizens in what’s supposed to be the parliament of all the nations of the UK. The real scare that Davie’s indulging in is the scare that England might be diminished by losing one of its possessions, because that’s how Middle England views Scotland. Scotland’s needs and interests don’t enter into the equation, they never did before and they certainly don’t now.
Scotland only exists in the UK as a scare story in the Big Tory Book of Nightmares, and once the scare stories have been told and we’ve fulfilled our purpose of frightening the little voters of Middle England, the book is closed on Scotland and we’re put back on the shelf to be ignored until the next time that Davie or one of his pals needs a bogeycaledonian to threaten the English with. That’s the only way in which Scotland has any influence at all at a UK level. That’s not the future anyone with any sense could want for their country, but it’s the only future that the United Kingdom has on offer for Scotland.
What Davie’s latest scare story does mean however, is that the British establishment acknowledges that Scotland will have another independence referendum if it’s taken out of the EU against its will. Ensuring Scotland’s status as a member of the EU was a key commitment of the Unionists during the independence referendum campaign, and Scotland will ensure that they’re held to it. Alicsammin’s personal view on the referendum being a once in a generation event only holds true if the Unionists actually keep to the promises and commitments that they made to secure a No vote, and their track record on that has been pretty ropey already. Taking Scotland out of the EU even if Scotland has voted to remain a member, and moreover it’s likely that Scotland will vote to remain a member of the EU by a significantly greater margin than we voted to remain a part of the UK, will be the final fraying of the final thread keeping Scotland in the UK.
Theoretically the British Parliament could refuse to allow Scotland to hold another referendum. But then theoretically Donald Trump has a full head of hair. Westminster has to authorise a Scottish referendum, but they’ve already conceded the principle that the Scottish Parliament has the right to decide whether or not a referendum should be held. They conceded that with the Edinburgh Agreement between Holyrood and Westminster which set the terms for the last independence referendum.
A Westminster which was reeling from a vote to leave the EU would be in no position politically to refuse Scotland another referendum, although you can be sure that there will be plenty of bluffing and posturing beforehand. The reason they won’t refuse is because simultaneously with their negotiations with Holyrood on the terms of a new independence referendum, they will also be negotiating with Brussels on the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU. Since the entire raison d’etre of another independence referendum will be to allow Scotland to continue to be a part of the EU in accordance with the express will of the Scottish people, Brussels is going to take a very dim view of attempts from Westminster to block it. And any Scottish government worth its salt will be engaged in its own negotiations with Brussels to ensure just that. A weakened British goverment will be in no position to refuse.
Maybe it won’t happen. Maybe Middle England will after all vote to remain a part of the EU and this crisis will pass. There will be no second independence referendum, at least not on this issue. But that doesn’t mean there will never be another independence referendum. The position of Scotland as the bogeyman of Britain isn’t going to change, our nation’s role in this benighted UK will continue to be that of an ignored and side-lined northern province which only gets a mention in order to frighten the Tory shires. The lurching corpse of the British constitution will continue to find itself embroiled in one crisis after another.
Sooner or later, something’s going to give. My money’s on sooner. And then we can finally close the Tory book of nightmares and put it away on the history shelf.
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I’ve never seen Scotland in that light before, as a convenient constitutional bogeyman. Depressing!
I continue to try to understand. It’s confusing. I’ll keep reading your blogs.
Says the PM “Frankly, I do worry about a second Scottish referendum if we vote to leave and you don’t strengthen your country by leading to its break-up. So I’m deeply patriotic, I think this is a case for a bigger, greater Britain inside a European Union.”
You have to wonder why the opportunity to vote on this issue was ever granted, if there was such a strong/genuine? desire to ‘Remain’ – If the vote is to Leave, as the vox pop down south appears the case at present (perhaps realising now a victim of over application of Project Fear) – then the 77 billion pounds Project Fear tells us has left the country in recent days will seem like a drop in the ocean after the actual vote.
Despite the old Austerity, there does seem to be a lot of money floating about the place? – and there was Scotland (we were told) apparently being a mere 7billion short (pocket money then) if it had the nerve to run things locally.
People of these Isles generally don’t like being told what to do, or how they should vote. It should be a very interesting next couple of weeks ahead then.
What you seem to forget is that Scotland has no representation in the EU other than the Tory/Labour governments who see Scotland as nothing more than a bargaining chip to sacrifice for the greater good of England, We are not best represented in a “bigger Britain” we are USED as a valuable (to them) bargaining position, look at what Ted Heath did to our fishermen, and people now seem to want to blame the EU!
I didnt read that too well, ignore me, not awake yet. 😦
You have to wonder why the opportunity to vote on this issue was ever granted,
My take on this is as follows :-
The Tory leadership put the EU referendum in the manifesto in order to keep the Europhobic wing of the Tory party on board through the 2015 General Election. The expectation was that after the election there would either be a Labour, Labour+LibDem or Labour+SNP government (in which case Cameron was off the hook) or another Tory+LibDem government (in which case Cameron could ditch the referendum and blame the LibDems). Somewhat unexpectedly the Tories won a majority, thus leaving Cameron rather committed to holding a referendum that he didn’t actually want to hold in the first place!
Exactly. Don´t we just feel for them, hoisted by their own watsits?
The trouble with the Big Book of Nightmares is that you can put the book back on the shelf but you can’t put the nightmare out of your head. The time is long overdue that we gave them a real fright – by becoming independent and leaving them to the real nightmare, a Middle England outside of the EU run by competing Tory-Boy and UKIPper racist clowns.
“What a wonderful article, because it is the truth !
I’m pretty sure middle England isn’t that bothered.
At Indyref time, almost all the English people I spoke to said basically “we’d be sorry to see you go, but it’s up to you guys and if that’s what you want then good luck to you”.
I suspect they simply didn’t know what they were saying. A consequence of the widely propagated belief,that England supports and sustains the impoverished, dysfunctional Scots.
Except for some of the more enlightened who said, ¨can we come too, please¨ LOL!
That was not my experience, my friends and family in NE england were all quite insulting and contemptuous about it all, how dare Scotland think it could be better! They were spouting crap about the SNP, especially Alex Salmond, who they ‘couldn’t stand’. Maybe they were jealous, but it continued after the referendum and I suspect it is not that uncommon among some of our neighbours.
Someone on twitter said that the possibility of Scotland keeping the UK in the EU would almost make up for the indyref defeat, My response to that is NOTHING makes up for the loss of our nation, and the prospect of keeping England in the EU would give me nothing more than the malicious pleasure one gets from pouring salt on a slug!
ps the slug being the Tories not England
No, nothing ever will make up for that John. What they did and made others do in order to ‘protect the interests of the state’ is beyond unforgivable. Some short term schadenfreude won’t ever make that stain or that memory go away.
The Conservative, Labour, Libdem parliamentary parties and the media are all in the same box as far as I’m concerned. I see no difference between any of them whether there is a constitutional question on the table or not. They don’t give a shit for their public, for service, or their duty of care. Their job as they see it is to maintain the ‘order’ or ‘status quo’ and then argue amongst themselves about how best to run the union for a tiny minority.
I’m sure many of em even try to serve their constuencies when not putting unruly natives back in their place, or lying their asses off to manipulate public opinion. As of May last year though, and to underline exactly the point made above, those constituencies aren’t in Scotland. We are Johnny Furriner and no more proof need be required than the Scotland Bill debates of May-June 2015. What they truly think of Scots right there for anyone with two working fucking neurones to view.
EVERY SINGLE AMENDMENT put forward for consideration by the Scottish benches was voted down and binned by the rUK vote. That’s EVERY SINGLE ONE including Full Fiscal Autonomy. The vote on that one in particular was nothing short of a shameful farce of democracy. Empty chambers for the majority of the debate (only the Scottish representation benches full) and a completely full chamber for the vote which was a landslide victory for the rUK vote against FFA.
The Scots were being taught a lesson you see.
For the hard of thinking. There is NO UNION of equals. It never has been and it never will be. We’re an asset, a resource, disposable and useful only occasionally. The only people who actually give a shit about your future are already in power in Holyrood. For them to do their job effectively all you need do is give them permission.
Well said. The heartbreak continues every day.
Yep.
And we keep repeating it until we are wode blue in the face, Sam.
Not long now.
That is *totally* unfair to slugs (which I´ve always had a soft spot for).
Exactly so Paul.
I have been re- living our referendum via the scare stories of this and using a wee tick box for all those practised , down to the” love bombing “celebs.
It didn’t cheer me up in any way , just gave me a case of the ” told you so’s”
Ayup, it’s been a bit like playing indyref bingo right enough. How and ever, I somehow doubt that Farago, Bojo, Gove and IDS have democracy and a willingness to engage on the world stage as an entity in their own right as the driving force behind their argument.
Britnats in Scotland love being treated as dirt by Cameron. They know their place. They believe all the lies fed to them by the britnat media.
Thankfully the so-called united kingdom continues to disintegrate.
If we vote to stay in the EU and England opts out, and the concomitant Indyref II means that Scotland remains in the EU, will Dave still be allowed to come North and lie on his camouflaged belly for hours on end, stalking killing and disembowelling deer on his stepfather-in-law Lord Astor’s (yes, THAT Lord Astor, son of the Profumo Scandal ‘well he would say that’ Lord Astor) Jura estate, or would does he fear that an Independent Scotland would ban the blood sport?
And perhaps in a bloodless Land Reform, Scotland will at last wrest back these vast estates from the Lairds entirely, and put the land to the use of All Citizens, rather than a privileged few?
He has every right to fear the Scottish Backlash, on oh so many different levels.
Will there be a mass evacuation of English Born ‘settlers’, and ‘colonists’ who vote for Brexit back to the mother country when Scotland votes to Remain?
Will there be an equal and opposite migration North by Scottish ‘settlers’ in England who vote Remain?
Only two more weeks of this nonsense.
Reblogged this on Bampots Utd.
“The real scare that Davie’s indulging in is the scare that England might be diminished by losing one of its possessions, because that’s how Middle England views Scotland. Scotland’s needs and interests don’t enter into the equation, they never did before and they certainly don’t now.”
Exactly so, Paul, but why can’t our Murdo Proudscot-Buts see this? And everything Macart said at 8.01 is also true, but it doesn’t make me feel any better about my fellow “Scots”. Maybe whipped curs enjoy the process but it baffles me.
I don’t actually think there will be a Brexit because I’m sure those nice postal votes will come to the rescue in the end, just like in the Austrian presidential elections. I’m not even sure that we would win a referendum following a Leave victory and I don’t sense enthusiasm for it in the SNP. I think the FM thinks five more years of Tory cuts and contempt will have to be endured before the Soft Noes finally get the message.
So, suck it up, Sweaties, or grow a backbone and acquire some self-respect.
Not much of a strategy, but if you don’t control your media it’s pretty much all you’ve got.
While I agree it seems likely that Scotland will vote to remain a member of the E.U in the referendum, I think to a certain extent there is a mind-set developing that we will make the difference to the result. Maybe, maybe not.
I have no idea how it will all pan out, the only guide I have is the Scottish Referendum, and the disappointment we all felt at the outcome of that vote. I arrived at the count full of optimism, our area was one of the Yesses, only to leave shattered some seven hours later when it had become apparent we had lost.
The similarity between these two referendums? The Westminster establishment are involved in both, and they will do anything to avoid defeat. The registration deadline has already been extended due to “computer problems”, believe that if you like, because those in power think that that will gain them an advantage, because it supposedly is younger voters trying to register, and they think that that group are more likely to vote remain.
In reality, we are all pawns in what is a tory leadership referendum, and whatever the outcome, I doubt if it will be to Scotland’s advantage, because we don’t count, as long as they can keep plundering our wealth, and as a place to park their weapons of mass destruction, now to be left unguarded if todays reports are to be believed.
So however it all turns out, we will still have to fight every inch of the way to achieve our independence.
If they wanted to gerrymander a remain vote why didn’t they allow EU nationals and UK expatriates in other EU countries to vote?
They did. I am an expat in Europe and I’m registered to vote. You can do so for 15 years after leaving the UK but only in general elections and UK-wide referenda. Since I’m a Scot, I’ll vote for anything and everything that hastens Scotland’s freedom from Westminster’s ruling kleptocracy.
Thanks Alex. Saved me the bother.
That’s only a partial answer. Why exclude EU nationals in the UK and why exclude expatriates who have been out of the UK for over 15 years? (I knew about the 15 year rule but didn’t mention it for the sake of brevity. I’ve obviously been using Twitter for too long!)
Re Brexit and the EU. I would like to see some robust evidence that a Brexit makes Scottish independence a slam-dunk. After all in the event of Brexit there will be some uncertainty and just how deep is this EU lovefest among Scots. Aren’t some 30% of SNP voters Eurosceptic? In the scenario outlined in the article you would have the people of Scotland faced with which Union they most value – the EU or the UK. I really do have my doubts that when push comes to shove it’s the EU. Yes among the SNP there is an entirely uncritical acceptance of the ‘wonderful’ EU but I think to portray the average Scot as a raging pro-EU fanatic is in the realm of delusional/magical thinking.
After all what if the joining of the Euro was a condition of Scotland joining the EU, or none of the UK opt outs where on the table?
And the underlying political reality is the we voted for the Union. Yes it hurts like hell but telling ourselves fantastical nonsense that the 55% were all duped by the vow, or whatever (basically “we waz robbed”) fails to face up the the cold hard reality that even the independence lite offered up last time was “too much” for the majority and that probably has not changed in the period since the indy-ref.
How many times do people need to be told no country can be forced to join the Euro? We can make a meaningless commitment to join some day, but there is no mechanism to force entry, while there are definitely mechanisms in place to exclude membership.
Exactly Holebender. Indyref2 campaign should loudly.say that after independence the people of Scotland will have a guaranteed referendum on its future relationship with the EU. That will nullify any garbage uttered by the britnat media and eejits like barossa.
Perhaps a commitment to a Scottish currency might help? It wasn’t that long ago that Alex Salmon thought the Euro was peachy.
If the Schadenfreude scenario arrives and England is kept in the EU against its votes by Scotland and the other nations of the British state, will the English accept the “British” will and be good little Brits?
Somehow I doubt it!
England may be the first to break the 1707 Union- EVEL rules and all that.
Think how the yoons up here and the yoon Lords dahn sath will react! Repatriation for them all. Kicked out of Westminster – abandoned and discarded!
If that becomes the case, Holyrood should help to was the transition. Just think, Lord soandso with a HoL title will be redundant and some may even be on job seekers allowance!
The unelected will be loust.
“England may be the first to break the 1707 Union- EVEL rules and all that.”
John, I’m afraid England has been breaking the Treaty of Union with impunity since 1707. I can recommend the works of PH Scott and David Daiches on the subject.
Not good for the old blood pressure, though.
We need out, and quickly.
Okay – colours to the mast time – I don’t really care what happens on 23rd June. I would prefer on balance to stay in but either way it’s nothing more than a side show to me.
It’s a Tory civil war – boys in the dormitory having a pillow fight so they can burn off some testosterone.
I want Scotland to have independence and we can’t have that until a majority of our compatriots want it too.
I don’t think Brexit against the Scottish vote will do it and I don’t think pissed off Kippers who find the UK kept in on the basis of Scottish votes will do it either.
Instead, in or out of the EU, it will be the fall out from the generation of Bullingdon Boys rule that lies ahead of us that will do it in my view. And if not then frankly hell mend us all – we’ll deserve what we get.
We need to crank up the Yes movement once again – reignite the fire, especially with the younger generation; sign up to the Yes registry; get back out on the streets; set up stalls, Yes shops and Yes cafés;campaign now as though the Indyref 2 was on September 18th 2016 and then just keep going till we get there.
And it might take 2 years or it may take 10 but I truly believe that history is on our side.
We’ve been shackled to this Union for 300 years and more – what’s another 10 if it leads to our freedom?
We know what needs done and we just need to knuckle down and get on with it.
So vote how you like on 23rd June but don’t imagine that it will really make an iota of difference if Scottish independence is your goal.
nicola didnt half let rip to boris tonight. good on her,though the twitter messages are vile towards her..how very dare she speak about the uk and its role in europe…we are two separate countries, miles apart in ideology, but shackled together with iron handcuffs…and to think we had the key to open the lock in september 2014 but we voted to keep the restraints in place..warped, twisted with a touch of self loathing…why….
Honestly if you think Sturgeon’s performance was good your delusional. Avoiding the actual merits or not of the EU and screaming Tory/Boris bàaaaaaaaaaaaaaaàaaaaaaaaaàaad is not remotely impressive as an intelligent position.
There is a problematic conundrum in the opinion polls re Brexit and indyref2.
If the polls are accurate, it seems that many would not vote to leave the UK if Scotland is taken our of the EU against its Euro-vote!
There is a block in the mind in this mind set. It is beguiling that people do not see that their vote is paramount. If the EU is vital for Scots and they vote to remain, then they must follow that through logically. If many think that they can only stay in the EU as a UK, then one wonders what world many live in. If that is the case, then we are still a nation of subservient cottars! How many rebuffs and sleights and attacks on us by Westminster does it take before people see the Westminster set up is not in Scotland’s interest.
Are people mesmerised by the windsorama and balmorality in this ruritanian circus. Another round of this drawn out fawning antic is taking place today.
Sometimes I am saddened. Perhaps, the change in the generations can only bring about a change in Scotland. When the population consists solely of those who did not live through WWII; people who did not go to school where maps on the walls showed the Empire in red; people who did not do national service.
Or what?
Re Brexit and the Union. Perhaps Scots value a 300 plus Union more than a 50 year plus EU membership? I always thought it was a delusional fantasy of the SNP that a Brexit ipso facto results in the mass conversion of Unionists to the cause of independence. The SNP leadership might be bovine EUphiles (the EU is undemocratic, deeply reactionary and heading in the wrong direction – ask folks in Greece) but the average Scot is not.
You mentioned logical consequences of political positions. How about this? If the SNP is on board with Project Fear mark 2 (Brexit version) and indeed it’s all just too much of a risk/listen to the “experts” etc., for the UK (world’s 5th largest economy) to leave the EU people might reasonably infer “well if Brexit is ‘too risky’ the Scotland leaving the Union is way more risky”.
And it’s the idiotic buffoons of the SNP leadership which will have endorsed such an argument via their slavish pro EU position.
I come from a generation that, unfortunately, was brought up with an education system in which we were only taught English history, English language and English culture. We were, in effect, brainwashed to think like Englishmen and to “know our place”. However, by the time I reached around eleven years old, I spent a lot of my time in the local library reading up on whatever I could find on Scottish history, and I started to tune in to the pirate station Radio Free Scotland. I only had a smattering of Gaelic due to my parents dying when I was a child, though even that was frowned upon in school.
However, there are many people of my age who failed to escape their brainwashing and who, to this day, continue to “know their place” as insignificant colonials who are supposed to keep tugging their forelocks to their English masters. There are others who are so indelibly
brainwashed that they actually believe that the English are some sort of master race and who vie to be fellow members of such a master race. These are the people who well and truly deserve the name of Quisling. There are also a large minority of white settlers who will always believe in their mother country (and I do not fault them for that), but who, in my opinion, should not be allowed to vote in any referendum for Scotland to regain its independence.
Our only hope for the future of Scotland lies with the younger generation who, despite the English control of the media in Scotland, will hopefully have pride in their country and will realize that having Scotland controlled by foreigners is not the way forward. We, the older generation, have to assist them in this by talking and discussing with them how Scotland is capable of being a forward thinking independent country which has control of its own government, its own resources and its own money, and to stop allowing foreigners to own us lock stock and barrel.
Well said, and yes, far too many are mesmerised by the ‘windsorama’ and ‘balmorality’, except the morality bit of that word, has little relation to those in the seats of power in westmonster.
I think you are right, the empire is still in the minds of some, and their view of their own country is fashioned by that old idea of respecting ‘your betters’. Betters, it’s how people were brought up. Oh and regards national service, can imagine Boris, and IDS bringing that idea out of the cupboard again. All quite chilling, the whole thing really, going backwards, not forwards.
An excellent and thoughtful post, Guga, which describes pretty much my experience when growing up. I survived a typical Scottish education which ignored the history and culture of my own country. Like you, I had to find out things for myself and I probably value them more. A summer in Skye in the 70s talking to Gaels was my “finishing school”.
I feel some kind of residency qualification will be essential for any Indyref2 to stop temporary residents like students and holiday home owners skewing the poll. Postal votes should be restricted to the ill, the infirm and those who will be out of the country on polling day.
Our main task will be to chisel off the soft third of the No voters from the lumpen Yoon mass of O/O hard-liners and UKOKian flag-wavers: not easy.
Fortunately, our youth is the hope for the future. They don’t buy the dead tree press and circulate the debunking of the MSM by the likes of WGD and WoS instantly.
The next five years are make or break and it’s going to get very dirty but at least my declining years will be interesting.
Reblogged this on pictishbeastie.