Economic stimulus meh

The part time Prime Minister did some work on Tuesday. He gave a speech in the English Midlands annoucing his big plan to boost the UK economy so it can recover from the effects of the pandemic. Although touted as a big speech, as major announcements, as the British equivalent of Franklin D Roosevelt’s American New Deal in the 1930s, the speech and its contents can handily be summarised in one short word. That word is ‘meh’.

The speech promised £5 billion in investment, but critics were quick to point out that much of this is not new money. It’s simply existing investment plans which have hurriedly been rebranded. This is despite the fact that the UK has suffered the greatest economic ill effects from the epidemic of any state in Europe. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/imf-coronavirus-economy-growth-global-uk-outlook-report-june-gdp-us-132759279.html The International Monetary Fund has predicted that the UK will suffer an economic contraction of 10.2% this year. The UK Government’s own figures published this week showed that the UK economy contracted by 2.2% in the first three months of 2020 alone. It was the sharpest fall in economic activity for over 40 years. It’s going to take a lot more than £5 billion in rebranded existing commitments to get the UK out of the hole into which the carelessness of the Conservatives has consigned it.

To put the UK Government’s much touted investment plan into context, £5 billion is less than one tenth of the amount that’s being spent on HS2, the high speed rail link between London and Birmingham. It’s a quarter of the cost of London’s Crossrail project. Compared to the economic damage done by the pandemic, the investment that is being promised by Boris Johnson amounts to a sticking plaster on a broken leg.

£5 billion comes nowhere near to giving the economy the boost that is required after a shock of the magnitude of the epidemic. Germany, which has succeeded in coming through the crisis with far fewer deaths and far less economic damage than the UK, has announced a new economic stimulus plan worth €130 billion – approximately £118 billion. The sum works out at some 4% of the entire German economy. https://www.ft.com/content/335b5558-41b5-4a1e-a3b9-1440f7602bd8 The German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier described the plan as “the biggest stimulus program of all time”. Unlike the boosterism of Johnson, he actually means it and he’s going to put the government’s money where his mouth is. France has already announced €110 billion of economic support for the French economy. These figures dwarf the paltry amount promised by Boris Johnson today. They represent the kind of government spending on investment and infrastructure which is going to be required to ensure that a depression is avoided.

Scotland’s share of the investment money promised by the British Government will work out at approximately £500 million. That’s but a fraction of the £6 billion plan that the Scottish Government announced last week, a plan which requires the UK Government to agree to extend the borrowing powers of the Scottish Parliament. Which is something that it’s not going to do. Given the relative sizes of the German and Scottish populations, the Scottish Government’s planned recovery borrowing and investment program would be of a similar magnitude to the German plan. Instead we’re going to be consigned to the slow lane and will get what the British Government decides. It’s going to be nowhere near what it required to give the Scottish economy the boost it needs in order to avoid large scale job losses and lasting economic damage. This must be one of those union benefits that they keep telling us about.

This is as clear an example of how Scotland’s growth and potential is being held back by the British state as you’re going to get. As an independent country Scotland would not be constrained by the need to ask Westminster’s permission – only to be turned down – in order to develop and implement an economic stimulus and recovery plan such as every other independent European nation has been able to do. The Scottish Government could have borrowed the money that it needed, just as other governments borrow money, or could have created it by fiat if Scotland had its own currency, and used that money in order to develop and grow the Scottish economy. The costs of borrowing would then be repaid by the increased economic activity and the increased revenues which the investment and stimulus program would generate.

Instead what’s going to happen is that Westminster will pass on the meagre £500 million or so in Barnett consequentials to Scotland and tell us that we’re getting a grant from the British taxpayer. The money will be added to the notional deficit that Scotland is told that it is encumbered with, and British nationalists will use it as yet more spurious proof that Scotland is too poor to look after itself. Already British nationalists are demanding to know how Scotland could have coped with the epidemic without the money ‘given’ to us by the British Government.

The truth is that the British Government hasn’t given Scotland anything at all. Any extra money will have to be repaid one way or another. All that the UK is doing is borrowing on the international markets, or borrowing from the Bank of England which is entirely owned by the UK Government, and then adding that money to the UK’s national debt. Watch out for the next set of GERS statistics, because they’re going to show that Scotland’s notional debt and deficit have increased substantially. British nationalists will crow about this and cite it as evidence that Scotland needs the UK. In fact it proves no such thing. All it proves is that governments need to borrow during a crisis. The point is not that governments need to borrow, it’s how that money is spent.

An independent Scotland could just as easily borrow for itself, then it would be in control of how much is required and how it is spent in order to maximise revenues and economic activity.  That increased economic activity and the increased tax revenues that it generates for the Scottish Government allows the borrowing to be paid off.  The choice for Scotland is not the choice between free money from the UK or independent penury. It’s a choice between being in control of Scottish Government borrowing and expenditure, or not being in control of it.

As a part of the UK Scotland will struggle to recover from the economic impact of this crisis. As an independent nation we’d be in charge of our own recovery efforts and could ensure that our economy received a stimulus package designed specifically for Scotland’s needs. We can have a British economic stimulus meh, or a Scottish turbo charged recovery.

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My new book has just been published by Vagabond Voices. Containing the best articles from The National from 2016 to date. Weighing in at over 350 pages, this is the biggest and best anthology of Wee Gingerisms yet. This collection of pieces covers the increasingly demented Brexit years, and the continuing presence and strength of Scotland’s independence movement.

You can order the book directly from the publisher. Ordering directly means that postage is free. You can order here –
https://www.vagabondvoices.co.uk/rants/barking-up-the-right-tree-2019

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Keeping us safe

A long time ago back in a lost and distant past when people still thought that the British Government was headed by serious people, even if we disagreed with those people viscerally, the notion that the prime aim of that Government was to keep the population safe from threats was widespread – and for the most part unchallenged. It was axiomatic that an independent Scotland would no longer enjoy the protection of the British state, and this was one of the main reasons why the idea of independence was not a mainstream one in Scottish politics. So much has changed. So many veils have fallen from our eyes.

The naked materialism of the Conservatives has been exposed by this epidemic. It was always there, lurking under a thin veneer of right wing populist British nationalism and disguised by bunting, flags, military parades and royal occasions, but the current crisis has exposed what is really important to the Tories. It is now as it has always been their bank accounts and their wealth.

As the seriousness of the epidemic became evident, many people in the UK were prepared to trust the British Government to do the right thing. They put ideological and political differences aside. But those people were betrayed by the Conservatives. The British Government toyed with the idea of herd immunity. It introduced lockdown too late, causing thousands of unnecessary deaths. It casually disregarded its own rules when it came to protecting Dominic Cummings, cynically rewriting the regulations to suit itself and making a mockery of the sacrifices of millions. And now it is lifting lockdown prematurely in England, when that country still has a significant death toll and infection rate, in order to protect the financial interests of the Conservatives’ backers.

On Monday, as she spoke to the press during her daily press briefing – the daily briefings that the British Government has abandoned – Nicola Sturgeon told us with relief that there had been no deaths from covid-19 in Scotland over the weekend. That’s now four days in a row without anyone losing their life to the virus in Scotland. Progress is being made, but that progress seems to be despite the British Government rather than with its assistance. It’s a fragile and delicate progress, and can easily be derailed by factors beyond the control of the Scottish Government. One of the biggest and most dangerous of those factors is the crass insouciance of the British Government towards further deaths from the virus.

The First Minister told the press that there have been no UK COBRA meetings for weeks. That means that there has been little in the way of planning and coordination at the highest level of the British Government. That same British Government introduces changes to policy which have a direct impact upon Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and the English regions without informing the relevant authorities in those places. There was no consultation with the Scottish Government when the British Government decided to introduce so-called airbridges with other countries, allowing people to travel without quarantine restrictions.

The British Government is willing to allow the virus to circulate in the population, whereas the Scottish Government is aiming at eliminating the virus as much as is possible. Those two goals are mutually exclusive. It’s the Scottish Government which is trying to keep us safe, and British nationalists resent it.

The thing about the Conservatives is that they’ve always been quite happy with risk as long as they can make other people suffer the consequences of Tory failure. What the Tories mean by keeping you safe is that they’re perfectly happy for you to contract a virus that can cause a life threatening disease as long as the number of cases isn’t going to overwhelm the NHS. It’s up to you to avoid the virus and keep safe from it, the Tories don’t see it as the job of government to protect you. In their eyes it’s certainly not the job of government to keep the public safe if that means risking their financial interests. Private property and private wealth come first and foremost for the Conservatives, even if it means you die. They’re a party which is happy for the kids to play on the motorway as long as there’s space in the hospital when the kids get hit by a lorry and there’s no disruption to the businesses that generate wealth for the party’s influential donors and backers. It’s a casual lack of care for other people’s lives, a lack of concern for how the actions that are beneficial to the Conservatives and their backers affect others. It’s the selfishness that rules the party, a selfishness that is killing people.

One reason for the Conservatives’ lack of concern is that they enjoy an 80 seat majority in the House of Commons and a Westminster General Election is a long way off. They hope that by the end of 2024 when the next General Election is due that the public will have moved on. We now live in a UK where General Elections are the only means available to hold the government to account, and those elections are imperfect and deeply flawed – allowing as they do a party like the Tories who won 43% of the popular vote to win a crushing absolute majority of seats in the Commons. That undemocratic system suits both the Tories and the Labour party. Labour only pays lip service to radical change when it’s out of office.

In Scotland we have an election due much sooner, in less than a year. We can hold the Tories to account. We can make sure that they suffer the consequences of the risks that they’re happy to inflict upon other people, poorer people, people without the resources and safety nets of the rich and the powerful. And we can make sure that Scotland votes to leave this dystopian mess of selfishness, greed, and avarice. Keeping the people of this country safe depends upon it.

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You can help to support this blog with a Paypal donation. Please log into Paypal.com and send a payment to the email address weegingerbook@yahoo.com. Or alternatively click the donate button. If you don’t have a Paypal account, just select “donate with card” after clicking the button.

If you have trouble using the button, or you prefer not to use Paypal, you can donate or purchase a t-shirt or map by making a payment directly into my bank account, or by sending a cheque or postal order. If you’d like to donate by one of these methods, please email me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com and I will send the necessary information.

Please also use this email address if you would like the dug and me to come along to your local group for a talk.

Gaelic maps of Scotland are available for £15 each, plus £7 P&P within the UK for up to three maps. T-shirts are £12 each, and are available in small, medium, large, XL and XXL sizes. P&P is £5 for up to three t-shirts. My books, the Collected Yaps Vols 1 to 4 are available for £11 each. P&P is £4 for up to two books. Payment can be made via Paypal.

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My new book has just been published by Vagabond Voices. Containing the best articles from The National from 2016 to date. Weighing in at over 350 pages, this is the biggest and best anthology of Wee Gingerisms yet. This collection of pieces covers the increasingly demented Brexit years, and the continuing presence and strength of Scotland’s independence movement.

You can order the book directly from the publisher. Ordering directly means that postage is free. You can order here –
https://www.vagabondvoices.co.uk/rants/barking-up-the-right-tree-2019

You can also order a book directly from me. The book costs £11.95 and P&P is an additional £3.50, making a total of £15.45. To order just make a Paypal payment to weegingerbook@yahoo.com, or alternatively use the DONATE button below. Please make sure to give me your postal address when ordering. Orders to be sent outwith the UK will incur extra postage costs, please email me for details. If you can’t use Paypal, or prefer an alternative payment method, please email weegingerbook@yahoo.com

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The millstone that is Westminster

Scotland is making significant progress in tackling the coronavirus epidemic. For the past three days there have been no reported deaths from covid-19 in the country. It’s a small but very hopeful sign that the efforts of the Scottish Government to get the virus under control are working. We cannot be complacent, although progress has been made it’s fragile and easily derailed. Unfortunately one of the biggest risk factors that Scotland faces in provoking a second wave of virus deaths is the British Government.

Scotland has an open border with England. Indeed, British nationalists insist that there is no border at all. Whatever progress Scotland makes toward containing the virus can all too easily be undone.

In England the British Government is cheerfully opening up the country paying far more heed to focus groups and favourable headlines than it is to scientific and public health advice. Despite the fact that Scotland and Wales remain in lockdown, people in England are being encouraged to travel, to meet up, and there’s nothing to prevent them coming across the border. There are already numerous anecdotal reports of holidaymakers from England arriving in parts of Scotland in large numbers. There is pressure to reduce the two metre social distancing rule to one metre. There are demands that the shops and businesses must open up quicker. The British Government shows every sign of acceding to these demands. It’s putting Scotland’s progress toward containing the virus at risk.

For all that Boris Johnson claimed that he was relying upon the common sense of the British public, events over the past week have shown that there are far too many people who have precious little in the way of common sense. We are already seeing the first ripples of a second wave, today there are reports in the press that the Home Office is considering the introduction of a localised lockdown in the English city of Leicester to deal with a spike in infections there. The crowded scenes on English beaches this week mean that there’s a very frightening prospect of a fresh outbreak of the virus in the communities that those sunseekers will return to.

In dealing with this crisis Scotland has additional problems that it would not face as an independent country. There are British nationalist idiots in Scotland who freely declare on social media that they will take their cue on how to act during this epidemic from the British Government in London and not from the Scottish Government in Edinburgh. In this action they are encouraged by British nationalist parties in Scotland who constantly undermine the Scottish Government and create public distrust in the advice that’s being given. When the advice given by those governments significantly differs, that becomes a serious problem.

Ireland doesn’t have to deal with a block of its population who say that they’ll follow Westminster’s advice instead of Dublin’s. It doesn’t have a significant chunk of its media which promotes the advice of Westminster instead of the advice of Dublin. Scotland has all these problems. As well as people in Scotland who openly and knowingly choose to ignore advice from the Scottish Government which conflicts with the advice from Westminster, there are many more who are bathed in a media sea which gives far greater prominence and publicity to the advice given for England and who are genuinely confused about what actions are or are not permitted in Scotland.

This problem is compounded because we have a British Government which doesn’t bother to inform, never mind consult with, the devolved administrations about changes to UK Government advice or policy regarding containment measures. Just this week Westminster announced that it was going to introduce so-called airbridges with certain European countries which will allow British citizens and residents to travel abroad on holiday without having to go into quarantine. This development came as news to the Scottish and Welsh Governments, which apparently learned about it from the press along with the public.

This is by no means the first time that the British Government has failed to consult with or engage with the governments of Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland. When she appeared before a House of Commons select committee, Scottish health minister Jeane Freeman told MPs that she had had almost no contact at all with the Scotland Secretary Alister Jack – yet he is supposedly the minister in the UK Government who is responsible for ensuring that Scotland’s voice is heard at a UK level. Time after time the UK Government introduces some change, most commonly driven not by scientific advice but by its desire to chase some good headlines, and the governments of the devolved administrations are left playing catch up.

The greatest problem that Scotland faces in tackling the coronavirus is a British Government which acts so irresponsibly. If Scotland was an independent country it would have been able to act far more decisively and effectively in tackling the virus. We would not constantly be having to look over our shoulder at what the British Government was doing. The Scottish Government would not have to defend itself against attacks from a media which accused it of undermining British Government advice by taking different action to Westminster. We would be able to introduce health checks and controls on our southern border. And the Scottish Government would not constantly be wrong footed by a British Government which introduced substantial changes to policy which affect Scotland without informing the Scottish Government.

When this epidemic started British nationalists confidently predicted that the biggest global crisis since WW2 would make people in Scotland realise that Scotland needs the UK. It would, they told us, signal the end of the independence movement. They were badly wrong. It has instead shown Scotland how we are damaged and held back by a British Government which has no interest at all in looking after Scotland or taking Scotland’s needs or concerns into account. It has shown us that we can do a lot better without the millstone of Westminster holding us back. The focus of the next independence referendum campaign will be how the British state is damaging us.

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You can help to support this blog with a Paypal donation. Please log into Paypal.com and send a payment to the email address weegingerbook@yahoo.com. Or alternatively click the donate button. If you don’t have a Paypal account, just select “donate with card” after clicking the button.

If you have trouble using the button, or you prefer not to use Paypal, you can donate or purchase a t-shirt or map by making a payment directly into my bank account, or by sending a cheque or postal order. If you’d like to donate by one of these methods, please email me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com and I will send the necessary information.

Please also use this email address if you would like the dug and me to come along to your local group for a talk.

Gaelic maps of Scotland are available for £15 each, plus £7 P&P within the UK for up to three maps. T-shirts are £12 each, and are available in small, medium, large, XL and XXL sizes. P&P is £5 for up to three t-shirts. My books, the Collected Yaps Vols 1 to 4 are available for £11 each. P&P is £4 for up to two books. Payment can be made via Paypal.

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My new book has just been published by Vagabond Voices. Containing the best articles from The National from 2016 to date. Weighing in at over 350 pages, this is the biggest and best anthology of Wee Gingerisms yet. This collection of pieces covers the increasingly demented Brexit years, and the continuing presence and strength of Scotland’s independence movement.

You can order the book directly from the publisher. Ordering directly means that postage is free. You can order here –
https://www.vagabondvoices.co.uk/rants/barking-up-the-right-tree-2019

You can also order a book directly from me. The book costs £11.95 and P&P is an additional £3.50, making a total of £15.45. To order just make a Paypal payment to weegingerbook@yahoo.com, or alternatively use the DONATE button below. Please make sure to give me your postal address when ordering. Orders to be sent outwith the UK will incur extra postage costs, please email me for details. If you can’t use Paypal, or prefer an alternative payment method, please email weegingerbook@yahoo.com

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Better than this

Some British nationalists, presumably for the bantz, decided to mount a banner likening Nicola Sturgeon to a Nazi on a fence close to the official residence of the First Minister. Complete with a faux Germanic font and a racist misspelling of English as spoken by the cast playing the Germans in ‘Allo ‘Allo, it was topped off with a photo of the First Minister with a Hitler moustache. It’s the sort of thing you’d only find funny if you have a sense of humour that makes Mother Brown’s Boys seem sophisticated and your politics are those of Nigel Farage. Which is a good description of a sizeable contingent of the British nationalist roasters who post regularly on Twitter.

On Friday Nigel Farage blamed the knife attack in Glasgow on asylum seekers, stirring up racism, and stirring up the racist thugs who have threatened to take to the city’s streets again over the weekend. By Saturday it was being reported that staff at the hotel had previously warned about the assailant’s mental health issues. The very night before the attack they had warned that he was mentally unstable. Other residents in the hotel warned that the man was suffering from severe paranoia and had threatened violence. Three of the victims of the attack were asylum seekers themselves. It had nothing to do with Nigel’s pathetic attempts at race baiting or warnings about terrorism, and a great deal to do with the despair into which vulnerable and damaged people fall once they become enmeshed in the UK’s cruel and heartless immigration and asylum system.

But the cruelty of the British state doesn’t stop British nationalists from blaming asylum seekers and migrants. The extreme fringe of British nationalism has been emboldened and empowered by mainstream British nationalist politicians, in particular a Conservative party which has adopted the politics of Ukip wholesale. We have a part time prime minister with a long and inglorious history of making racist, xenophobic and homophobic comments. Lying and cheating has become normal in British politics. The blame for this lies squarely with mainstream British nationalist politicians.

In Scotland we have in addition the constitutional dimension, and British nationalist politicians have never hesitated to characterise the entire independence movement and mainstream pro-independence parties with the views of a tiny and unrepresentative extreme fringe. It is commonplace for supporters of independence to face baseless accusations of anti-English racism, to be blamed entirely for stoking divisions. British nationalist politicians regularly paint a picture of a Scotland which is riven with hatred. In all this, British nationalists consistently regard themselves as innocent victims of a vile Scottish nationalism. By doing this, mainstream British nationalist politicians are creating the circumstances where British nationalist fascist thugs feel that they are justified in running riot in the streets of Scotland’s cities searching for migrants, independence supporters, or anyone who is different to attack.

Lib Dem MSP [insert blank space here] for Edinburgh tweeted a photo of the banner of Nicola Sturgeon and wailed “Aren’t we better than this?” [Insert blank space here] only succeeded in giving the banner and its claim that the SNP are Nazis greater publicity and in making the idiots who created it very happy indeed. The first rule of dealing with wilful idiocy in public life is not to amplify it or to publicise it, which is why Lib Dem MSP [insert blank space here] will henceforth be known as [insert blank space here]. Although this is a trifle unfair – a blank space would do a far better job of standing up for Scotland’s interests than [insert blank space here].

There’s a number of points here, the first of which is that [insert blank space here] wouldn’t respond to an offensive banner put up by independence supporters using the first person plural pronoun. Othering is the way they go when dealing with independence supporters, but when it’s British nationalists who are the issue, it’s “Scotland’s shame”. This is the nub of the problem. [Insert blank space here] and his party have been very good throwing a not inconsiderable quantity of mud themselves. Just ask Michelle Thomson. However the poor behaviour of British nationalists is not to be regarded as a problem caused by British nationalism.

‘We’ as in independence supporters are most definitely better than this [insert blank space here], because we don’t call our opponents in mainstream political parties ‘Nazis’. This is not unrelated to the fact that there is a considerable number of actual Nazis amidst the ranks of British nationalists as we have seen in George Square in Glasgow over the past few days and we need the word to refer to the British nationalist fascists who have been empowered and emboldened by the kind of language used by those of a more mainstream British nationalist persuasion.

Which leads us on to the second point. No, [insert blank space here], you are not better than this. British nationalism has a serious problem with the racists, sectarian bigots, homophobes, and out and out fascists who infest its ranks. The constant and unremitting SNPbaddery from the mainstream British nationalists has only fomented, fostered, and encouraged their extremist fringe. That much was proven by the response of British nationalists to [insert blank space here]’s tweet. They showed that no, they’re not better than this. They revel in it. They love it. They take huge pleasure from it. And let’s face it, it’s probably the only pleasure that they’ve got, what with British nationalism being the political manifestation of misery.

British nationalism has a sickness at its very heart. It’s a sickness that for far too long we have been discouraged from examining. British nationalism teaches us that it is normal for a country to doubt itself. It tells us that we are dependent and incapable, that we are risible, weak, and trivial. It tells us that we are infants who need to be looked after. It tells us that it’s normal to despise your own culture and languages. It tells us that it’s normal to allow bigots to parade down the streets of our towns and cities banging big drums and singing songs of hatred about a large minority of their fellow country men and women. It tells us that it’s not nationalism to believe in the British state, that being British is the standard by which all other nations are to be judged. Well it’s not bloody normal. None of this is normal. It’s a neurosis.

British nationalism blames the weak, the poor, the marginalised. It blames the poor for their poverty while the British establishment enriches the wealthy. It blames Scotland for problems that are visited upon it by the British state. It’s quick to take offence and it’s utterly shameless. Yet Scotland is better than this. It’s better than British nationalism. That’s the point that [insert blank space here] can’t bring himself to face up to.

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You can help to support this blog with a Paypal donation. Please log into Paypal.com and send a payment to the email address weegingerbook@yahoo.com. Or alternatively click the donate button. If you don’t have a Paypal account, just select “donate with card” after clicking the button.

If you have trouble using the button, or you prefer not to use Paypal, you can donate or purchase a t-shirt or map by making a payment directly into my bank account, or by sending a cheque or postal order. If you’d like to donate by one of these methods, please email me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com and I will send the necessary information.

Please also use this email address if you would like the dug and me to come along to your local group for a talk.

Gaelic maps of Scotland are available for £15 each, plus £7 P&P within the UK for up to three maps. T-shirts are £12 each, and are available in small, medium, large, XL and XXL sizes. P&P is £5 for up to three t-shirts. My books, the Collected Yaps Vols 1 to 4 are available for £11 each. P&P is £4 for up to two books. Payment can be made via Paypal.

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My new book has just been published by Vagabond Voices. Containing the best articles from The National from 2016 to date. Weighing in at over 350 pages, this is the biggest and best anthology of Wee Gingerisms yet. This collection of pieces covers the increasingly demented Brexit years, and the continuing presence and strength of Scotland’s independence movement.

You can order the book directly from the publisher. Ordering directly means that postage is free. You can order here –
https://www.vagabondvoices.co.uk/rants/barking-up-the-right-tree-2019

You can also order a book directly from me. The book costs £11.95 and P&P is an additional £3.50, making a total of £15.45. To order just make a Paypal payment to weegingerbook@yahoo.com, or alternatively use the DONATE button below. Please make sure to give me your postal address when ordering. Orders to be sent outwith the UK will incur extra postage costs, please email me for details. If you can’t use Paypal, or prefer an alternative payment method, please email weegingerbook@yahoo.com

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Dugcast fae the dughoose – with Anne McLaughlin

This week I am joined via Zoom by one of the nicest people in Scottish politics, Glasgow North East MP Anne McLaughlin. Anne won the seat from Labour’s Willie Bain in 2015 on the biggest swing ever recorded in a UK General Election. She lost it in 2017 to Labour’s Paul Sweeney, but regained it in the General Election in December last year. We chat about her experiences as an MP, how things have changed between her first stint in Parliament and the second. We also discuss prospects for independence, her confidence that we’ll get another referendum, and much more besides.

Direct link to the podcast if the embedding doesn’t work for you – click here https://soundcloud.com/user-291670852/dugcast-from-the-dughoose-with-anne-mclaughlin-mp

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You can help to support this blog with a Paypal donation. Please log into Paypal.com and send a payment to the email address weegingerbook@yahoo.com. Or alternatively click the donate button. If you don’t have a Paypal account, just select “donate with card” after clicking the button.

If you have trouble using the button, or you prefer not to use Paypal, you can donate or purchase a t-shirt or map by making a payment directly into my bank account, or by sending a cheque or postal order. If you’d like to donate by one of these methods, please email me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com and I will send the necessary information.

Please also use this email address if you would like the dug and me to come along to your local group for a talk.

Gaelic maps of Scotland are available for £15 each, plus £7 P&P within the UK for up to three maps. T-shirts are £12 each, and are available in small, medium, large, XL and XXL sizes. P&P is £5 for up to three t-shirts. My books, the Collected Yaps Vols 1 to 4 are available for £11 each. P&P is £4 for up to two books. Payment can be made via Paypal.

---

My new book has just been published by Vagabond Voices. Containing the best articles from The National from 2016 to date. Weighing in at over 350 pages, this is the biggest and best anthology of Wee Gingerisms yet. This collection of pieces covers the increasingly demented Brexit years, and the continuing presence and strength of Scotland’s independence movement.

You can order the book directly from the publisher. Ordering directly means that postage is free. You can order here –
https://www.vagabondvoices.co.uk/rants/barking-up-the-right-tree-2019

You can also order a book directly from me. The book costs £11.95 and P&P is an additional £3.50, making a total of £15.45. To order just make a Paypal payment to weegingerbook@yahoo.com, or alternatively use the DONATE button below. Please make sure to give me your postal address when ordering. Orders to be sent outwith the UK will incur extra postage costs, please email me for details. If you can’t use Paypal, or prefer an alternative payment method, please email weegingerbook@yahoo.com

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331 stabs in the back

What have Scottish Conservative MPs Andrew Bowie, David Duguid, Alister Jack, John Lamont, David Mundell, and Douglas Ross all got in common? There are so many possible answers to that question, none of which reflect well upon the MPs concerned. You could say that they’re selfish British nationalist shills who wouldn’t stand up for Scotland if their mother’s life depended on it, and during the coronavirus crisis it very possibly might. You could say that every single one of them believes that Scotland’s proper place in the UK is to meekly follow along with whatever England has voted for. You could say that there’s not enough bone in the lot of them to construct a single spine. And you would be perfectly correct in all of those characterisations.

However in this instance what they’ve all got in common is that every single one of this sorry shower of British nationalist apologists voted against a motion in the Commons which would have ensured that all NHS workers and care staff received weekly tests for coronavirus. What they’ve got in common is that in 2017 every single one of them voted against a pay rise for nurses. And what they also have in common is that all of them repeat the platitudes about clapping for NHS workers because they’ll make a show of supporting key workers, but won’t follow through with anything that actually has any substance to it. Yeah, this doesn’t reflect well upon them either, but then they’re Tory MPs so what were you expecting. Being a git is very much on brand for this lot. They don’t care. They didn’t care. They never cared. This is what you get when you vote Tory.
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/full-list-of-the-331-tory-mps-who-voted-against-weekly-testing-of-nhs-and-care-staff/25/06/
https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/all-of-the-tory-mps-who-voted-against-a-pay-rise-for-nurses-in-2017-1-6606825

The six selfish sook ups belong to the same branch office as Surname Surname, who has of late taken to any Scottish media outlet which will give him airtime or column inches, which is to say pretty much all of them, demanding testing for workers in care homes. Yet given the opportunity to vote in order to ensure that precisely that was made mandatory, his colleagues in London voted it down. Perhaps someone ought to point out to Surname Surname that he no longer has a leg to stand on in the demands he makes of the Scottish Government, but knowing the Scottish media they probably won’t.

The shiftless selfish six weren’t alone of course. 331 Conservative MPs voted against weekly testing for the most vulnerable workers in the UK. In doing so they ensured that something that millions wanted would not come to pass. It was like that movie The Spartans, where a band of 300 defied the will of the entire Persian Empire, only this time with arseholes instead of heroes. Tories gonna Tory. To tory, that’s a verb meaning to act like a complete and utter selfish dick. As in, we all wanted to watch a movie on the telly last night, but Alister toried the remote control so he could see some documentary about how rich arseholes can be bigger arseholes.

NHS workers and care staff are exposed to the virus in a way that few others are. Their exposure is regular, intensive, and often lasts over a protracted period of time, all factors which are known to increase the chances of a person becoming infected. A higher percentage of NHS workers and care staff come from black and minority ethnic communities, who for various complex reasons grounded in institutionalised racism have a higher likelihood of dying from Covid-19. NHS workers and care staff put their lives on the line in order to keep the rest of us alive and healthy during a pandemic, but the Conservatives don’t think that they merit priority when it comes to testing. They agreed to it for Premier League footballers, but not for NHS workers and care staff.

Clapping costs nothing, you can have that. A picture of a rainbow drawn by a schoolkid costs nothing, you can have that too. Mouthing platitudes about how black lives matter costs nothing, you can have that as well. A wage rise and a weekly test, they cost money, so you can go die in poverty. When all that was required was a spot of clapping for a couple of minutes once a week, all you heard from the Tories was NHS heroes. When it comes to doing something constructive and meaningful, something that will cost the British Government money, those same MPs reply with a contemptuous sneer. It becomes a case of may the best immune system win. But they’ll happily spend £1 million so that Boris Johnson can have a garishly painted plane that looks like it’s from one of the crappier budget airlines, a plane paint job that was rejected from a remake of the Austin Powers movies for being too tasteless.

We can’t expect a senior cabinet minister to answer questions about the decision to throw NHS workers and care staff under the genetic lottery bus, the one which has the lie about extra funding for the NHS painted on the side of it. The British Government has decided to end its daily press conferences. It will be brushed under the carpet as Conservative MPs work themselves up into a conveniently distracting froth of outrage about Labour’s Rebecca Long-Bailey sharing a link to an interview in the Independent that allegedly contained an anti-semitic conspiracy theory.

There can be no clearer illustration that the Conservatives do not care about ordinary people. They do not care about protecting those vulnerable and essential workers that they hypocritically clap for. They care about their money, their careers, and their party. But then that’s exactly what we should expect from the Conservatives, a party whose sole political ideology is the institutionalisation of their own personal greed and avarice. When there is the inevitable second wave in coronavirus infections and some poor care workers or NHS workers succumb to the disease, their deaths will be on the Conservative party. But the Tories still won’t care.

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If you have trouble using the button, or you prefer not to use Paypal, you can donate or purchase a t-shirt or map by making a payment directly into my bank account, or by sending a cheque or postal order. If you’d like to donate by one of these methods, please email me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com and I will send the necessary information.

Please also use this email address if you would like the dug and me to come along to your local group for a talk.

Gaelic maps of Scotland are available for £15 each, plus £7 P&P within the UK for up to three maps. T-shirts are £12 each, and are available in small, medium, large, XL and XXL sizes. P&P is £5 for up to three t-shirts. My books, the Collected Yaps Vols 1 to 4 are available for £11 each. P&P is £4 for up to two books. Payment can be made via Paypal.

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My new book has just been published by Vagabond Voices. Containing the best articles from The National from 2016 to date. Weighing in at over 350 pages, this is the biggest and best anthology of Wee Gingerisms yet. This collection of pieces covers the increasingly demented Brexit years, and the continuing presence and strength of Scotland’s independence movement.

You can order the book directly from the publisher. Ordering directly means that postage is free. You can order here –
https://www.vagabondvoices.co.uk/rants/barking-up-the-right-tree-2019

You can also order a book directly from me. The book costs £11.95 and P&P is an additional £3.50, making a total of £15.45. To order just make a Paypal payment to weegingerbook@yahoo.com, or alternatively use the DONATE button below. Please make sure to give me your postal address when ordering. Orders to be sent outwith the UK will incur extra postage costs, please email me for details. If you can’t use Paypal, or prefer an alternative payment method, please email weegingerbook@yahoo.com

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The inevitable no

Well that didn’t take long, did it. Not even 24 hours had passed since the Scottish Government announced its plan to boost the Scottish economy to assist in Scotland’s recovery from the effects of lockdown, and the British Government refused to consider any cooperation with the extra borrowing powers that the plan required. You’ll have had your economy, Scotland. It came even before Kate Forbes, the Scottish Government Finance Minister, had penned her official request to Westminster with the request for additional borrowing powers.

Asked by SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday whether he’d allow Holyrood to have the additional powers to borrow that would be needed, there was a flat refusal from the bloviating one to engage with the question, just a telling off about how much Scotland already gets, with the implication that it’s gratefulness that Johnson expects, not a request for additional borrowing powers. There was also an additional dig at the SNP, just for good measure.

It was entirely predictable, and in fact this blog predicted the refusal even as the plan was being set out. This is not to claim any great powers of foresight, predicting that this Conservative Government would refuse any extra powers for Holyrood no matter what the circumstances is a bit like predicting that Surname Surname will get humiliated at FMQs, or that the Labour party branch office in Scotland will take a wee look at strategies to get back into the good books of the Scottish electorate and choose the one that’s going to do it the greatest electoral damage. We all could see the contemptuous response of the part time Prime Minister coming.

British nationalists decry this as grievance mongering, when the Scottish Government asks for things that it knows it’s not going to get. This allows them to portray themselves as the poor victims of those vile nats stirring up trouble. It’s like an American health insurance company that refuses to pay for a much needed operation describing itself as a victim of grievance mongering from people with treatable medical conditions that will go untreated because of its intransigence. The Scottish Government is not asking for a luxury yacht – that would be the British Royal family – it’s asking to be allowed the means to haul Scotland out of a deep economic pit which the British Government’s incompetence has made even deeper.

So we now have yet another instance of Scotland being held back and damaged because of the British Government. Irrespective of what you think of the merits or demerits of the plan that was presented, we now have proof that Westminster will not permit Scotland to take any significant steps of its own to protect and develop its economy. The exact same blanket refusal from Westminster would have come irrespective of what the details of the plan were. The Conservatives do not want Scotland to succeed on its own terms. They demand that Scotland does what it’s told, even if that means we suffer economic damage, even if it means that lives are put at risk by the British Government’s reckless mishandling of the coronavirus epidemic.

In the absence of any Scotland-specific plan, thanks to the Conservatives, it is now likely that it will take Scotland’s economy years longer to recover from the blow delivered to it by lockdown. A report from the British nationalists’ favourite think tank that sounds like a knitwear college in Pitlochry, the Fraser of Allander Institute has warned that the Scottish economy will not return to pre-covid levels until 2022, and it could possibly take as long as four years. In order to ensure that the economy recovers as quickly and fully as possible, the Institute warned that there was need for urgent action from politicians. You know, action like the plan that was announced yesterday, the plan that Boris Johnson has dismissed without even examining it closely. There’s your union benefit right there. Stay in your box Scotland, the Conservatives will let you out on a short leash if you behave.

Boris Johnson’s refusal to allow Scotland’s Parliament the borrowing and fiscal powers that it needs in order to get the country out of the deep fiscal hole that the lockdown has tossed it into was of course the lead story on BBC Scotland on Wednesday evening. Ha ha. Don’t be silly. It didn’t even rate a mention.

This British Government has delivered the worst of all outcomes in its handling of the crisis. The UK has both the highest death toll from the virus, combined with the greatest economic damage. In his deluded imagination, Johnson continues to insist that the British response to the epidemic has been world beating. And so it has, just not in the way that he wants us to believe. His government is now telling Scotland that it can’t take its own measures to recover from the financial and economic effects of a crisis that has been made worse than it had to be because of the incompetence of the British Government.

Boris Johnson has a casual disregard for the truth. He has a casual disregard for how many children he’s got. The only thing he has not got a casual disregard for is his control freakery. The very notion that a part of the UK might wish to do things that aren’t all about him and that he can’t take credit for is an insult to his fragile ego. Instead of developing a plan to help its economy Scotland should instead take a leaf out of his book and sit and get pissed in Wetherspoon’s then get too drunk to worry about maintaining social distancing.

The territory upon which the next independence referendum will be contested is now being laid out. It’s very different terrain from the battleground of 2014. Now the focus will be on how Scotland is being held back and damaged by the UK. By refusing even to consider any sort of dedicated plan to help the recovery of the Scottish economy, Boris Johnson has just given the yes movement another powerful argument. The British Government holds Scotland back and prevents this country reaching its full potential. It would rather we were damaged and dependent than healthy and wealthy. Because if Scotland was able to develop its potential outwith Westminster’s control, we might just realise that not only don’t we need Westminster at all, but that Westminster is acting as a brake on our ambitions.

And finally … some Catalan music from the band Gossos. This is their 2008 hit Lliure com l’aire (Free like the air).

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You can help to support this blog with a Paypal donation. Please log into Paypal.com and send a payment to the email address weegingerbook@yahoo.com. Or alternatively click the donate button. If you don’t have a Paypal account, just select “donate with card” after clicking the button.

If you have trouble using the button, or you prefer not to use Paypal, you can donate or purchase a t-shirt or map by making a payment directly into my bank account, or by sending a cheque or postal order. If you’d like to donate by one of these methods, please email me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com and I will send the necessary information.

Please also use this email address if you would like the dug and me to come along to your local group for a talk.

Gaelic maps of Scotland are available for £15 each, plus £7 P&P within the UK for up to three maps. T-shirts are £12 each, and are available in small, medium, large, XL and XXL sizes. P&P is £5 for up to three t-shirts. My books, the Collected Yaps Vols 1 to 4 are available for £11 each. P&P is £4 for up to two books. Payment can be made via Paypal.

---

My new book has just been published by Vagabond Voices. Containing the best articles from The National from 2016 to date. Weighing in at over 350 pages, this is the biggest and best anthology of Wee Gingerisms yet. This collection of pieces covers the increasingly demented Brexit years, and the continuing presence and strength of Scotland’s independence movement.

You can order the book directly from the publisher. Ordering directly means that postage is free. You can order here –
https://www.vagabondvoices.co.uk/rants/barking-up-the-right-tree-2019

You can also order a book directly from me. The book costs £11.95 and P&P is an additional £3.50, making a total of £15.45. To order just make a Paypal payment to weegingerbook@yahoo.com, or alternatively use the DONATE button below. Please make sure to give me your postal address when ordering. Orders to be sent outwith the UK will incur extra postage costs, please email me for details. If you can’t use Paypal, or prefer an alternative payment method, please email weegingerbook@yahoo.com

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The three B’s party

The Scottish branch office of the Three B’s party, British, Brexit and Boris, is exulting today that it forced a u-turn from the Scottish Government’s education minister John Swinney on kids returning to school in August. For weeks now the Scottish Sychophants for Boris party have been campaigning to get children back in schools. Not because they genuinely believe that it’s safe, not because they genuinely think that the scientific advice shows it’s not a danger to either children, adult staff, or that children who themselves may be at low risk won’t pass the virus on to vulnerable members of their families.  No, it’s all about point scoring and SNPbad.

In pursuit of this goal they’ve put forward failed political candidates who have done interviews with an unquestioning Scottish media presenting themselves as concerned and angry parents. It’s noticeable that the Scottish media was happy to present us with party members posing as members of the public angry that their kids are not at school, but it couldn’t be arsed enough to go out and find some parents who are worried about their children returning to school too early. There are plenty of parents in that category, but their worries don’t fit the agenda of SNPbad, so the Scottish media isn’t interested. What passes for news in Scotland is all too often just grubby, dirty, and nasty political opportunism from the Tories, amplified and broadcast by a Scottish media that’s as terrified of independence as the Tories are.

You don’t have to be gung-ho in full support of the Scottish Government’s education policy to be disgusted by the behaviour of the BBBs. To which we ought to add a fourth B, for Basterts. James McEnaney, who is a trenchant critic of the Scottish Government’s education policies, is appalled by just how low the Scottish Conservatives have been prepared to go. In the Scottish Tories we have a party which is cheerfully prepared to risk people’s lives in order to score a few cheap political points against Thatessempee.

This is a party which would demand that the Scottish Government force everyone to march off a cliff if that happened to be the policy that Bloviating Johnson’s government was imposing in England. In fact that’s pretty much what he’s doing. He’s getting rid of the 2 metre social distancing measure, despite experts like Sir David King, a former senior scientific advisor to the British Government, warning that it’s far too early. He’s allowing shops to reopen, travel to be unrestricted, and households to meet up. England is courting the risk of a second wave of infections, but the British Government is more concerned about what it’s told in focus groups that by what it’s told by scientists.

The opening up in England is politically driven, not driven by science. This is the model that the BBBs want Scotland to adopt uncritically. They are so terrified that any difference between Scotland and England might translate into increased support for independence that they are prepared to allow people to die. It’s bad enough to have to contend with a lethal virus, but Scotland has to contend with a Conservative plague as well. Thousands of extra deaths is a price they’ll happily make us pay if it means that they can avoid a rise in taxation levels. Given a choice between protecting people’s lives or protecting the profits of Wetherspoons, it’s a no brainer for the Tories.

The truth is that the Scottish Government is not caving in to the demands of the Tories. Schools returning in August is contingent upon measures remaining in place to drive down transmission of the virus. Plans for what’s called blended learning will remain in place in case they are needed. It turns out, surprise surprise, that the Tories had previously supported this, but now that their bosses in England want something different they’ve changed their minds. But then lying, dissembling, and being generally irresponsible is very much the Conservatives’ USP these days. The BBBB’s in Scotland are merely taking the lead from the blustering bloviator in chief.

Today Lying Bastert Johnson once again lied shamelessly to the House of Commons. Defending the utter failure of the much vaunted contact and trace app – the one which the Scottish Conservatives had insisted that Scotland must adopt too – he breezily asserted that there’s no country in the world which has a functioning contact and trace app. Which must come as a surprise to all those countries which do have a functioning contact and trace app. Countries like Germany, Singapore, or Iceland. Germany’s contact and trace app has been downloaded over 12 million times. Reuters reported that the app employs existing Apple and Google technology and measures close contacts using Bluetooth short-range radio. Contacts are logged securely on the users’ devices rather than a centralised server. Similar technology is being used by Australia, Poland, Latvia, Denmark, Japan and Italy. Iceland has a track and trace app which relies upon GPS tracking rather than Bluetooth, as of this week it has been downloaded by 38% of the Icelandic population. https://fullfact.org/health/coronavirus-track-and-trace-app-boris-johnson/

Johnson’s casual approach to the truth is matched only by his casual approach to doing his job. He’s more concerned about being able to tell his voters that they can go to the pub than he is about keeping people safe. He’s more concerned about the bank balances of the rich than he is about the lives of the poor. Once upon a time Prime Ministers were expected to tell the truth in the House of Commons and to resign if they did not. Instead we have a part time Prime Minister who demeans and cheapens his office, using it as a means to burnish his fragile ego. He’s no different from Donald Trump. All those Scottish Conservatives who once mounted Operation Arse to keep him away from the leadership of their party now have their tongues so far up that arse that they can tickle his tonsils. These are the same people who appear on the Scottish news to lecture us about leadership.

This is a party which tells us that we need to protect statues because it’s important to not to erase history. Then we have senior members of that party like Norman Tebbitt writing columns in the Telegraph to tell us that it’s important to defend the statue of Churchill because he fought against that left wing extremist – checks notes – Adolf Hitler. I never expected that Norman Tebbitt and the modern Tory party would so willingly admit that they are to the right of Adolf Hitler, but this is where we are now.

The Tories are a mess. They’re opportunistic, cynical, and just plain nasty. They’ve always been that way, but Norman Tebbitt can at least claim that when he was in government the Conservatives were competent in their nasty opportunistic cynicism. Now they just flail about angrily, not caring who or what they damage or destroy as they pursue their selfish careerism. Some of us remember the government of Thatcher which Tebbitt was a part of. I can’t believe that it would ever have been possible to harbour greater contempt for the Conservatives than we had for Thatcher’s government. This lot have managed it.

Scotland does better than the British Government because Scotland is prepared to diverge from it. Scotland’s more cautious strategy appears to be working. Since May the statistics for coronavirus infections, deaths, and hospital admissions for Scotland and England have been diverging. Despite England having ten times the population of Scotland, Scotland now has an average of 20 new cases daily – England is reporting 1300. Scotland is reporting 5 daily hospital admissions, England is reporting 330. Scotland is reporting an average of 3.5 deaths daily, England is reporting 130. Surname Surname and the rest of the BBBs want the Scottish Government to throw away that progress in the name of preserving their preciousssss union. (For up to date statistics on infections, deaths, and comparisons with other countries see https://www.travellingtabby.com/scotland-coronavirus-tracker/)

Their problem is that increasingly people in Scotland are coming to the conclusion that a so-called union which forces Scotland to mindlessly follow a British Government which has no concern for human life, which is chaotic, incompetent, and led by liars and charlatans, is not a union that’s worth protecting.

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You can help to support this blog with a Paypal donation. Please log into Paypal.com and send a payment to the email address weegingerbook@yahoo.com. Or alternatively click the donate button. If you don’t have a Paypal account, just select “donate with card” after clicking the button.

If you have trouble using the button, or you prefer not to use Paypal, you can donate or purchase a t-shirt or map by making a payment directly into my bank account, or by sending a cheque or postal order. If you’d like to donate by one of these methods, please email me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com and I will send the necessary information.

Please also use this email address if you would like the dug and me to come along to your local group for a talk.

Gaelic maps of Scotland are available for £15 each, plus £7 P&P within the UK for up to three maps. T-shirts are £12 each, and are available in small, medium, large, XL and XXL sizes. P&P is £5 for up to three t-shirts. My books, the Collected Yaps Vols 1 to 4 are available for £11 each. P&P is £4 for up to two books. Payment can be made via Paypal.

---

My new book has just been published by Vagabond Voices. Containing the best articles from The National from 2016 to date. Weighing in at over 350 pages, this is the biggest and best anthology of Wee Gingerisms yet. This collection of pieces covers the increasingly demented Brexit years, and the continuing presence and strength of Scotland’s independence movement.

You can order the book directly from the publisher. Ordering directly means that postage is free. You can order here –
https://www.vagabondvoices.co.uk/rants/barking-up-the-right-tree-2019

You can also order a book directly from me. The book costs £11.95 and P&P is an additional £3.50, making a total of £15.45. To order just make a Paypal payment to weegingerbook@yahoo.com, or alternatively use the DONATE button below. Please make sure to give me your postal address when ordering. Orders to be sent outwith the UK will incur extra postage costs, please email me for details. If you can’t use Paypal, or prefer an alternative payment method, please email weegingerbook@yahoo.com

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The smart bomb

Nicola Sturgeon launched a quiet little smart bomb into the independence debate yesterday. It has created very little stir, but then that’s what it was designed to do. This is a smartbomb whose payoff will come during the next Scottish elections and during the next official campaign for independence. It is nothing less than proof that the British Government is denying Scotland the ability to protect and build its economy as the world starts to recover from the pandemic.

The preliminary findings of a report by a group of advisors to the Scottish Government was announced yesterday during the daily press briefing. The Advisory Group on Economic Recovery (AGER) has called for an accelerated timetable for Westminster to deliver more powers to Holyrood in order that the Scottish Government has control of all the economic levers it requires for Scotland to make an economic recovery from the epidemic. The AGER has found that the Scottish Government needs considerably greater powers to borrow than the £450 million cap which is currently imposed upon Holyrood by Westminster.

Benny Higgins, the former chair of Tesco Bank, presented the report to the press. He pointed out that it’s likely to take 4% of economic output in investment to stimulate the economy in order to ensure that Scotland recovers properly in the months and years ahead. That works out at some £6 billion. The current cap on borrowing comes nowhere near that figure. The aim, he said, was to build a strong and resilient Scottish economy which is prepared for the next crisis, and not just to recover from the last one.

The report said that allowing the Scottish Government greater borrowing powers would benefit both Scotland and the rest of the UK. It would allow the Scottish Government to design a recovery programme tailored to the specific needs and requirements of the Scottish economy, and build much needed flexibility into the over-centralised British system.

The plan would see broadband delivered to every home in the country, a significant increase in capital investment, a guarantee of a job for 16 to 25 year olds, and investment in Scotland’s natural environment. It’s an ambitious plan, but it’s well within the capabilities of Scotland to deliver it.

Of course the details can be quibbled about. The plan is not exactly to everyone’s liking. The Greens for example want it to go further, faster, and to ensure greater emphasis on renewables and sustainability. Others have complained that there’s no provision in the report for a universal basic income scheme. Others consider that it’s too timid and too conservative. There is a great deal about the plan that doesn’t please everyone.

However if we were an independent nation, there is no question that although some details may differ this plan represents the sort of route that our government would be pursuing in order to deliver a recovery from the economic shock of the pandemic. Whatever the details of that plan, it would certainly involve borrowing requirements. And it’s those borrowing requirements which Holyrood lacks as a devolved parliament. That’s the key point here. It doesn’t really matter what plan the Scottish Government’s experts present to it if the Scottish Government as a devolved administration lacks the powers in order to deliver it.

You can read the report here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/towards-robust-resilient-wellbeing-economy-scotland-report-advisory-group-economic-recovery/

We are not an independent country. This report was presented to a government which doesn’t have the economic, legal, or financial powers to implement it. It’s like a plan to install a ladder in order to climb out of a deep pit which is presented to someone who has both hands tied behind their back. Scotland is dependent upon the willingness of the British Government to take off the handcuffs. There’s no indication that they are disposed to do so. They like keeping Scotland locked up. They are afraid of what we would do if we were unleashed. It just might convince people in Scotland that this country is after all perfectly capable of dealing with its own issues, and that would never do. Scotland must be kept dependent, and it’s only by tying Scotland’s hands that the British nationalists can continue to insist that Scotland is incapable.

There are few things that are certain in this post-covid world. Except that is that Ant n Dec will continue to pop up on every single ITV programme, Love Island contestants will continue to be as airheaded as a Scottish Conservative backbench MSP only considerably less malign, and that the British Government won’t give any extra powers to Holyrood, never mind on an accelerated timetable. This is a British Government which has taken powers away from Holyrood. It’s not about to start strengthening a devolution settlement that it utterly despises. It’s not about to start treating a Scottish Government with respect when up until now it has shown nothing but contempt.

Johnson and his swivel eyed Brextremists are certainly not going to give Scotland greater financial freedom so that it can take a different path within the UK. When Conservatives talk about strengthening the union, what they mean is that Scotland must be compelled to adopt and follow whatever political decisions have been taken by England. They are not about to give up any power, far less power over the economy. It is noticeable that the Scottish Conservatives have yet to make any official response to the publication of the report. They’ve not had their instructions from Westminster yet. But it’s a safe bet that the response from Westminster to a demand from Holyrood for greater borrowing powers is going to be no.

That means that when we are campaigning in the next Scottish elections, and campaigning for independence, we will be able to show that being a part of the UK is holding Scotland back. Scotland is unable to make a full economic recovery from the virus because the British state refuses to allow Scotland the powers to do so. That’s a powerful argument in our favour. We will instead be dependent upon whatever rewards the British Government chooses to bestow upon the rich, the powerful, and those global corporations which have former Conservative politicians on their boards.

And this is why the report is really a smart bomb aimed at the heart of the British nationalists’ arguments against independence. It’s going to explode their claims that Scotland is incapable of recovering from the effects of the crisis without the UK to look after us. We will now be able to show that it’s the British Government which is preventing Scotland from having the means to recover from the crisis, and then telling us that we need it. There’s a word for that sort of behaviour, a word that has recently become very popular. That word is gaslighting. A Scotland where there’s already majority support for independence won’t take kindly to being told it can’t have the powers it needs to recover from the biggest global crisis since WW2.

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You can help to support this blog with a Paypal donation. Please log into Paypal.com and send a payment to the email address weegingerbook@yahoo.com. Or alternatively click the donate button. If you don’t have a Paypal account, just select “donate with card” after clicking the button.

If you have trouble using the button, or you prefer not to use Paypal, you can donate or purchase a t-shirt or map by making a payment directly into my bank account, or by sending a cheque or postal order. If you’d like to donate by one of these methods, please email me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com and I will send the necessary information.

Please also use this email address if you would like the dug and me to come along to your local group for a talk.

Gaelic maps of Scotland are available for £15 each, plus £7 P&P within the UK for up to three maps. T-shirts are £12 each, and are available in small, medium, large, XL and XXL sizes. P&P is £5 for up to three t-shirts. My books, the Collected Yaps Vols 1 to 4 are available for £11 each. P&P is £4 for up to two books. Payment can be made via Paypal.

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My new book has just been published by Vagabond Voices. Containing the best articles from The National from 2016 to date. Weighing in at over 350 pages, this is the biggest and best anthology of Wee Gingerisms yet. This collection of pieces covers the increasingly demented Brexit years, and the continuing presence and strength of Scotland’s independence movement.

You can order the book directly from the publisher. Ordering directly means that postage is free. You can order here –
https://www.vagabondvoices.co.uk/rants/barking-up-the-right-tree-2019

You can also order a book directly from me. The book costs £11.95 and P&P is an additional £3.50, making a total of £15.45. To order just make a Paypal payment to weegingerbook@yahoo.com, or alternatively use the DONATE button below. Please make sure to give me your postal address when ordering. Orders to be sent outwith the UK will incur extra postage costs, please email me for details. If you can’t use Paypal, or prefer an alternative payment method, please email weegingerbook@yahoo.com

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Grabbing Westminster by the balls

The Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat is very worried by the opinion poll this weekend showing that support for Scottish independence has risen to 54%. He tweeted that the “end of union would destablise our whole nation and – because of our size – many others. It would leave families in trouble as our economy faltered and undermine our ability to help others. Our allies would be weaker and our enemies stronger.”

“Our nation”. The reason we are where we are is precisely because the Conservatives have treated Scotland not as a nation but as a possession. Our nation, that would be the Scottish nation Tom, is in trouble because our economy is threatened by the Brexit that we don’t want which your party is imposing upon us. If you believe as you claim to believe that this really is a union, then you need to explain why your party has treated it as a unitary state in which Scotland has been incorporated into Greater Englandshire.

It’s a shame that Tom’s party never thought about any of that when it poured petrol on the independence fire with its pursuit of Brexit at all costs, Tom. For the last six years since the first independence referendum the Conservatives have banged on and on about the importance of their precioussssss Union while their actions always undermine support for it. The Tories act as though they believe that people in Scotland won’t notice. All they have to do is to keep telling us how important the supposed union is to them, and they think that they can consistently act as though it’s only the political interests of England that matter and Scotland has to toe the line and do as it’s told. The party keeps antagonising undecided opinion in Scotland and moderate no voters as if it doesn’t expect there to be any consequences. But there are consequences. Scotland is a land of great patience, but it’s not infinite patience. That patience has now worn thin. The Conservatives have only got themselves to blame for that. This is your fault, Tom. Your fault and the fault of every other member of your party of selfish careerists.

You don’t get to demand that your national rights are respected and sovereign by dragging Scotland into a Brexit that it never wanted. You can hardly complain if Scotland turns around and says – well bugger this for a gemme o sodgies. Only you’re a Tory MP so you do get to complain. Hypocrisy is the only thing your party is any good at.

British nationalists – Scotland is a failed backwater and an economic burden with a £12 billion black hole. Also British nationalists – England’s economy and financial stability depend upon Scotland as does global peace and security. In the space of a series of opinion polls that have gone from showing majority support against independence to majority support in favour of it we’ve also gone from Scotland being an economic basket case that’s utterly dependent upon the good graces of the English taxpayer to Scotland is an economic basket case but the rest of the UK will be screwed financially by Scottish independence. There’s an inconsistency there. Still, I’m sure that someone in Scotland in Union will produce a graph about it for Scottish journalists.

Meanwhile Perth MP Pete Wishart has opened up the Plan B debate again by dint of appearing not to understand what the point of a Plan B actually is. He warns that strategies other than persistently asking Westminster for a Section 30 order only to be refused repeatedly would risk leaving Scotland in some sort of constitutional limbo. But that’s precisely where we are with the current strategy of asking Westminster for a Section 30 order. Westminster says no, and in response the Scottish Government says, “Oh OK then.” Then the SNP asks the independence movement to keep doing what it has been doing only to do more of it because just one more mandate to add to all the others will do the trick.

The entire point of Plan B is to break the current impasse. It’s about creating a set of circumstances which forces Westminster to pay heed, because at the moment there is absolutely no downside for Downing Street in refusing to agree to a Section 30 order. The point of a Plan B is to ensure that there are consequences for Johnson and the Conservative government if they refuse to listen to the democratic will of the people of Scotland. The point of Plan B is to force them to the negotiating table.

A plebiscite election, which is one possibility for an alternative to the current strategy of asking nicely for a Section 30 order, is not a de facto declaration of UDI. The point of a plebiscite election is to create sufficient political capital for independence within Scotland and in the wider world that the British Government is unable to ignore it. This is not Catalonia. There is nothing illegal within what passes for the British constitution in a plebiscite election. Winning that election allows the Scottish Government to use it as leverage to force Westminster to the negotiating table, and to use the legitimacy it grants in order to deal directly with third countries and international bodies to get them to put pressure on the British Government to negotiate.

The same applies to a lawful consultative referendum without a Section 30 order. It creates political capital both domestically and internationally which Westminster cannot ignore and which will force it to the negotiating table. Independence which is negotiated with Westminster is not UDI. It’s really that simple.

What does consign Scotland to a never ending constitutional limbo is to keep doing the same thing that we’ve been doing, without ensuring that there are any political consequences for the British Government, and expecting the British Government to act differently. If nothing else changes they will refuse a Section 30 order after the next Scottish elections and we will still be stuck in that limbo Pete warns about.

That said, I do agree that the next Scottish elections need to be fought on the basis of a mandate for another referendum. Not just the SNP but also the Greens and any other pro-independence party must have the demand for an independence referendum front and foremost in its manifesto. The manifesto commitments must be clear and unarguable.

Winning that election creates an undeniable moral and political legitimacy for the Scottish Government to pursue an alternative route to a referendum when it receives the inevitable refusal from Westminster and ensures that soft yesses and the more moderate no voters will support any alternative strategy. It’s vital that we ensure that an alternative strategy has as broad support as possible in order to give it the greatest chance of success. That can be a referendum without a Section 30 order, having tested its lawfulness in the courts. Or it can be a snap Scottish election called in order to provide a mandate for independence that Westminster cannot ignore.

The more that support for independence grows, the more of an incentive there is for Westminster to refuse a Section 30 order, while at the same time there are no consequences for them in refusing. It’s a perfect set of conditions for denying Scotland’s democratic will. That’s what Plan A does. What it does not address is the reality that at some point the intransigence of Westminster will have to be confronted head on.

The only way that Scotland will regain its independence is to be bold, to be brave, and to be imaginative. You don’t change the world by asking nicely. You change it by grabbing opportunity by the balls and squeezing hard. Plan B is a means of grabbing Westminster by the balls and squeezing hard so that they can’t continue to ignore us.

Update: It appears that Pete Wishart is getting a lot of hate on social media from independence supporters who disagree with his views on Plans A & B.  This is reprehensible and uncalled for.  A difference in opinion about strategy does not make another independence supporter your enemy.  Hatred directed toward other independence supporters only plays into the hands of our real opponents. Our issues are with British nationalism and its supporters.  Please remember that.  They’re the ones preventing Scotland regaining its independence, not other independence supporters with whom you happen to disagree about tactics.

And finally … dogs.  Just because.

 

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Gaelic maps of Scotland are available for £15 each, plus £7 P&P within the UK for up to three maps. T-shirts are £12 each, and are available in small, medium, large, XL and XXL sizes. P&P is £5 for up to three t-shirts. My books, the Collected Yaps Vols 1 to 4 are available for £11 each. P&P is £4 for up to two books. Payment can be made via Paypal.

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My new book has just been published by Vagabond Voices. Containing the best articles from The National from 2016 to date. Weighing in at over 350 pages, this is the biggest and best anthology of Wee Gingerisms yet. This collection of pieces covers the increasingly demented Brexit years, and the continuing presence and strength of Scotland’s independence movement.

You can order the book directly from the publisher. Ordering directly means that postage is free. You can order here –
https://www.vagabondvoices.co.uk/rants/barking-up-the-right-tree-2019

You can also order a book directly from me. The book costs £11.95 and P&P is an additional £3.50, making a total of £15.45. To order just make a Paypal payment to weegingerbook@yahoo.com, or alternatively use the DONATE button below. Please make sure to give me your postal address when ordering. Orders to be sent outwith the UK will incur extra postage costs, please email me for details. If you can’t use Paypal, or prefer an alternative payment method, please email weegingerbook@yahoo.com

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