Strange days indeed in Scotland, waiting as we do for Alasdair Gray's better nation to arrive. I’m waking up early each morning, reaching for the phone and despairing at the latest revelation. Sure, there are the comedy camper vans, the titivating tents, the ill-advised First Minister one-liners, like improvised rehearsals for The Thick of It or Veep. But most of all, I feel sorrow. And shame.
Yes, nationalist pals, even as a Labour councillor, despair and sadness, because although the temptation for some is to go on party political attack, I think any Scot feels terribly upset that in the eyes of the world, our leaders and the dominant party of the past two decades are in a kind of fumbling freefall, pulling faces and juggling empty drinks cans as they plummet inexorably towards an unforgiving earth. You can tell the opposition parties’ hearts just aren’t in it as, gloves on, they circle warily, making aghast noises and murmuring about contempt of court. Already committed wholesale, notably by journalists who might be expected to know better.
I’m a former SNP member. I joined the party in the wake not of the independence referendum, but the Brexit one. I felt betrayed by a Westminster government consumed by graft, greed and the worst instincts of insularity. Labour seemed irrelevant. I didn’t last as a nationalist, despite the pandemic’s confirmation of Nicola Sturgeon’s consummate communicative skills and ability to appear empathetic. The much-trotted-out litany that the SNP administration in Scotland had been in place too long and was, in its desperate alliance with the Greens’ youth fellowship pseudo-politics, threadbare and stumbling, was confirmed by the leadership election.
(And I don’t think anyone in the central belt political bubble really understands how huge the failure of Scotland’s ferry services is for folk in the Highlands and Islands. The grotesque embarrassment of the Fergusons Fiasco is one thing, but calling in the Ministry of Defence to get folk to and from Ardnamurchan? Using pedalos? And then there’s the HPMA/Irn Bru tins/alcohol branding sagas. Don't even mention the NHS.)
Hell’s teeth, that leadership election. I never bet. Not ever. Well, except for Eshaness in the 1993 Grand National, which you may recall, finished first. Except without a rider attached. I did however, put a voteless tenner on Kate Forbes to become our new First Minister. Note - OUR First Minister, which is what she would have been and Humza is. Leader of Scotland, like the party or not. The one who’ll come and visit you in hospital when you single-handedly and at great personal injury save that schoolbus from driving through the road closed sign and over a cliff. There was a diversion due to technical issues with Calmac. Stromeferry/no ferry…
Even without the subsequent revelations, it looks like Kate had the leadership yanked from beneath her by the outgoing regime’s shenanigans. It was an internal party election with massive implications for the whole country. And outside of the SNP, the money, including mine, was on Kate. I mean, come on, a ferociously intelligent, economically brilliant, articulate young mother (baby in the background during interviews!) with an absolutely unashamed moral standpoint? A really convincing and able finance minister? From the Highlands? Gaelic speaking? Rode a motorbike when she was (even) younger? Committed to social justice and the alleviation of poverty? What’s not to like? Oh, I hear you say, what about the Wee Free Calvinist stuff - gay marriage, abortion and gender recognition? Right. Those elements of belief she said she would always recognise as subject to democracy within party and parliament? Because she’s a democrat who says what she means?
Anyway, I lost my stake and I couldn’t quite believe it. Because Kate may be many things, but she’s credible, convincing and she is most definitely not the ‘continuity candidate’.
Continuity, to be charitable, being the last thing the SNP needed or needs. I liked the idea of her as the First Free Kirk Queen of Scotland. She came very close despite the sabotage, and of course it could still happen. Is likely to, though I won’t put any money on it this time in case God decides to punish me (and Kate, and the country) for gambling. But hey, that's Calvinism! Anyway, she's currently Queen-Over-The-Highland-Line.
Meanwhile, the Comedia del Camper Van Cantata continues (see the various songs posted here for a mordant take on that all-driving-lessons-lead-to-Uddingston affair) and who knows who will be arrested next? Well, we probably do. The big questions surely are, will charges ever be brought, and will the SNP either be declared insolvent or auditors refuse to become involved? What happens then?
A Holyrood election might provide a necessary cleansing. In that eventuality, Labour will do better than before, the Greens will be pretty much wiped out but under a forthright Forbes, I ,(and the latest polling from Professor Curtice and co) expect the SNP to remain much the largest party.
Yeah, I know, I’m an official Labour councillor and ought to be a firebreathing campaigner for the excellent Anas, Jackie and our other cohorts. Kate would - will - be a far more formidable opponent than Humza. But just at the moment, seeing her as First Minister would be a relief. I'm sorry, but this is embarrassing us all. And dangerous for Scotland, with the sulphurous southern opponents of devolution circling, baying with rabid glee.
I was in the SNP when I was 18 until my early twenties until I went to college. This was from the late 80’s to about 1994. A Labour MEP came to Reid Kerr College in Paisley to give a talk by the name of Hugh Mahon who resided in Irvine . This was around the time just before John Smith the Labour leader passed away and was succeeded by Tony Blair. I joined the SNP because I hated Margaret Thatcher and her poll tax . I went on rallies marches against the poll tax, student loans , ban the bomb. I stood in at warrant sales in people’s houses who were about to have their assets frozen by the state and labour the biggest party in Scotland at that time being in opposition at Westminster being weak to stop these abominations against poor people within our own communities. It was disgrace . I used to write about the Tories trying to privatise the NHS and create a two tier system in a new hospital that was opened up in Ayr by the local NHS Trust . But the SNP told me to stop writing about the NHS just to concentrate on Independence. What the SNP we’re about was a one hell bent agenda on independence and nothing else they cared about. Now after the college talk I chucked the SNP and let some time lapse before I joined the Scottish Labour Party. I have no regrets on joining labour. I got called a turncoat by former members of the SNP. I didn’t care . Tony Blair was going to get elected and the Scottish people were going to get a devolved parliament of their very own and choose their own local government. I quite liked the idea of devolution. In 1999 it came and for some time it appeared to work successfully. Until Labour was back in the abyss and the Tories were back in Westminster and the SNP became the leading party in Holyrood. So the parliament in Edinburgh became a stumbling block and so vice versa Westminster also became a stumbling block. Life in Scotland at the start of the new millennium started to look different the country started to look good and it looked revitalised. Towards the end it all went pear shaped. I voted No in 2014 because I thought we were going to shoot ourselves in the foot by cutting us off from the rest of the UK . I believe that the UK is 4 participating nations joined together at the hip for the greater good, access to the UK and commonwealth markets as well as the EU . We have an NHS , Welfare State one MOD to protect and defend us from attack in alliance with NATO . We have the common travel area , live in any part of the UK without the use of passports visas. We could trade with our neighbours without import/export duties and tariffs being added to the cost of buying goods anywhere within the UK. We could get educated anywhere in UK if we wanted. I got a kidney transplant and the kidney came from someone who died in London. It’s lasted me 17 years so far it was flown up to Glasgow for me. If Scotland left the UK it would been very unlikely I would had got the new organ . Then of course Brexit happened and the whole country has downward spiralled into decline since not just Scotland but the carry on with Irish Border Question. Now things are expensive in the shops some items harder to find , my medicines that I rely on is getting later and later. But while that is happening the SNP are killing off our communities with policies that are killing off our high streets where we do everyday business. No banks no post offices, introducing charges to park your car in local carparks and wanting councils to charge you to drive and park your car in your employers car park. The SNP have concentrated on LGBT rights and stupid gender recognition nonsense instead of trying to sort out education the railways the economy and getting people back into work . Our high streets are a disgrace. Then the Tories are a bigger disgrace post Brexit pre Covid selfish to the core who won’t go to the country and let us pick a new government. They don’t want to give the Scottish people a say regarding their constitutional future. You don’t need to agree to independence or the status quo. I believe the referendum would put the question to bed . I would prefer a third option of more federalism where these great 4 nations share the things that work best together like the NHS , Defence, Embassies currency and each nation do their own thing that doesn’t work being together like EU membership. Can’t wait for a change of government at Westminster and in Edinburgh. I am waiting for two Labour governments one in London and the other in Edinburgh. Now I agree with Tom Morton on Kate Forbes she would turn her party’s fortunes around perhaps for the better. She speaks for me a Scottish Presbyterian ( not the wee free but Church of Scotland) to bring some common sense back to the Scottish Parliament instead of the circus it is now . It’s also to be noted that Westminster is a circus and it needs to be reformed too by axing the House of Lords. The House of Commons need Proportional Representation like Holyrood. It needs updated modernisation. It’s still very much a bear pit and a old Gentleman’s Club that’s well out of touch. It can’t treat its female MP’s with any dignity or respect. Also England needs a devolved government of its own for the English people to determine what goes on in their own country. The amount of English MPs to Welsh , Northern Irish and Scottish MPs is too high undemocratic . That’s my view. You might like or dislike my view of politics but politics is a dirty business. I am patriotic love both Scotland and the UK . Yes we have our problems within our borders on these shores but compare our country to elsewhere in the world it’s still a great place to live despite the weather. Throughout time we age and we become more resilient . I have traveled the world seen other countries but I still call it my home . All I want is the best for Scotland and the rest of our UK neighbours. In a changing unstable world with war in Europe I am glad we are all still together as now we need each other. It could had been a lot worse we could be in Ukraine under bombardment of Russian missiles . Here is to us and folk like is . Slainte.
Timely valuable and optimistic ( in a Scottish way ) piece .
Puts the self important witterings of the Hollyfeud and Worstminister bubble firmly in perspective .