I have been much criticised for referring to Unionists – and No voters are precisely Unionists – as evil or stupid. I have given this much thought, as a number of very well-intentioned people have urged me to apologise. After a great deal of angst, I have decided to offer a heartfelt apology. Not all Unionists are Evil or Stupid. Some are just Cowards. There, I think that covers it.
My analysis runs thus:
Evil
The United Kingdom has become a force for ill in the World. In invading Iraq against the express wishes of the UN Security Council, Blair and Bush did to the United Nations what Hitler and Mussolini did to the League of Nations. The UK was up to its neck in complicity with extraordinary rendition and torture. Its foreign policy is based on resource grabs for the benefit of a few wealthy corporations. Even this year it is in Court still defending the atrocious deportation of the entire population of Diego Garcia to make way for a US airbase, and still preventing their return. It is actively preparing to do the same to the Ascension Islanders. It supports the hideous dictatorship of Bahrain and was implicated in the overthrow of Egypt’s only elected government by the CIA’s General Sisi. It constantly works against the interests of the Palestinians at the UN.
This week the UK has been passing still more laws attacking fundamental liberties in the name of “counter-terrorism” and increasing surveillance. It has an economy dedicated entirely to the interests of very wealthy people in the City of London. Its wealth gap between rich and poor is massive and still growing. The UK has 100 billionaires, and malnourished children, living on a small island. It is dominated by corporations run on a low wage model and has systematically destroyed workers’ rights.
On balance, the government of the UK has become a force for evil in the world. not a force for good. To support it in full knowledge of the above is evil.
Stupid
Given the existence of the tremendous communications possibilities of the internet, and given the wide range of information available above all in Scotland where a new political consciousness has developed, there are few excuses for having been ill-informed in the referendum. The failure to inform oneself, given the resources available, was itself evidence of a lack of gumption.
Some people are Unionists not because they support the policies outlined under Evil, but because they fail to perceive them. This group overlaps heavily with those who do not believe the Labour Party is now a fully paid up neoconservative party subscribing to everything above, and with only a sham concern for social justice. Despite the Red Tories’ open pledges to be tougher on welfare reform and immigration than the Blue Tories, these stupid people believe social progress is possible within the UK under Labour. They also actually believed that The Vow on Devo-Max would be delivered. This group of Unionists are incapable of perceiving evil when they see it, even when it comes certified with membership of the Henry Jackson Society. These people are stupid.
Cowardly
I have added this last group. These are people who did perceive the evil of the UK, and thus weren’t entirely stupid, but were too scared of social change to abandon unionism. A substantial section of the cowards should in fact be grouped under evil, because the cause of their fear was entirely self-centred. They could see the evil the UK does, but cared rather more about their own pension, job, mortgage etc. than they cared about anything else in the world. This combination of selfishness and fear of social change is of course classically Tory. But not all cowards fell into the Tory category. Some were genuinely fearful that things might somehow get even worse for everybody. They would not have boarded the first trains in case their heads were blown off by the 30mph winds.
Conclusion
After four months of constant thought, I cannot think of any hypothetical unionist position which does not fall into one of those categories. I am grateful for the criticism which led me to realise that I had left out the cowards. Some of that criticism came from nationalists who do not like politics to be described in moral terms, and for whom national independence should rouse no more passion than a change in local council boundaries, being a simple question of the best technocratic management of broadly similar political systems. That is a position I wholeheartedly denounce. For me national independence for Scotland is a great ethical choice for good – and against evil.
Fortunately a great many of the stupid are realising their mistake – being slower on the uptake does not stop you getting there eventually. So now there is a definite majority, for Yes. I am pleased about this, and view Independence as absolutely inevitable in the near term. I shall certainly live to see it. I don’t see converting No voters as part of my personal mission in life. The Wizard of Oz could give the Coward a medal and the Stupid a diploma. I shall content myself with being the one who throws water over the Evil.
Finally, for those who cannot get their heads round the purpose, style and conventions of political polemic, plainly you don’t have to be a No voter to be stupid. I have No voters in my family and among very close friends, including some without whose assistance I couldn’t keep this blog going. An attempt to introduce intellectual rigour into political discussion and test positions as part of political debate in no sense equates to personal animosity. As I have repeatedly stated in the context of the hundreds of political issues this blog has debated over ten years, I do not choose my friends by their politics. Otherwise I guess I wouldn’t have any 🙂 !
Thanks for that O/T resumee, Ba’al, the fruit bat story was absolutely delightful, as for Pickles demonisation of legitimate concerns over Gaza, his support for Zionist trying to control Neturai Karta , a peaceful Judaic protest group, does resemble the sound of hobnail boots.
The fear of Jews in France, when it is Muslims that are attacked on a daily basis is a joke that is not funny. It goes some way to explain the continuous land stealing by Israel’s Zionist in charge to build houses for those who like to run away from Europe.
It also shows how Zionists have cornered the victim status, not just in the global Shoah museum circuit, but with terror incidents as just witnessed in Paris, whoever is attacked, they are the one’s in danger and in need of attention.
Where does Pegida in Germany come from? this article somewhat goes towards explaining. good to see that the German Government will not use this French terror attack to clamp down.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/origins-of-german-anti-muslim-group-pegida-a-1012522.html
I think Gideon Falter is a spook*, btw. He’s one of five shareholders in, and consultant to, a tiny property management company (ie letting agency for, possibly owner of, a few expensive flats, is my guess), turning over a few thousand annually, and is also with his family business which produces what must be extremely expensive facsimiles of ancient manuscripts – mostly of Jewish interest only. Similarly, not a high-profit enterprise. And he’s using the same gym as FCO staff? Interesting.
*Not one of ours.
Your namesake’s already got his sleeves rolled up, Craig.
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jan/14/al-murray-pub-landlord-stand-against-nigel-farage
I’d vote for him.
Mary @ 9.26 am – Thanks for that reminder of the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow. I can’t afford the trip to hear the 25 January tribute concert celebrating the music of Ewan MacColl, which can’t be done without also celebrating his radical politics. I’d be grateful if anyone here who goes to the concert would post an account of it.
In return I can offer a first-hand account of the “Wrap up Trident” mass demonstration the day before, 24 January. See http://www.cnduk.org/get-involved/events/item/2034-wrap-up-trident-mass-demo-in-london for details of buses coming to London for the demo. It starts at noon outside the MOD on Horseguards Avenue. If anyone fancies meeting up from 11.00 am in a nearby pub, email me at [email protected] .
[email protected] & 11.24- interesting stuff.
This CAA outfit appears to be doing subtly what PEDIGA is doing more bluntly- using the recent Paris atrocities for their own ends.
Your suspicions about Mr Falter may well be correct as well.
Ferocious winds, airborne garden sheds here, hang on to your hats. Hope all our nuclear installations are safe. These winds could whip surface water off open-air cooling pools of deteriorated fuel elements and the wind could carry it and deposit it hundreds of miles away.
Old Mark,
More work needed, watch this space. Very odd setup.
Thanks for the anti Trident demo info Iain. Afraid I cannot make it.
I was in a nearby town this morning and ended up in an ambulance being treated by the paramedics because I had breathing difficulties.
The shop I was in put out a call for a first aider. How serendipitous it was that a paramedic manager, who happened to be in the store, responded. He knew what to do and called an ambulance. I will be eternally grateful to the South East Coast Ambulance Service staff. They have saved me six times now. People are so kind and we should never forget that.
Gosh Mary, that was a close call, hope your breathing has improved. Can somebody else do your shopping for you I wonder?
The CND branch of the SNP are holding a sell out conference on Saturday, at the 300 seater Boyd-Orr Building at the University of Glasgow.
Its in aid of removing WMD’s from Scotland, before £100 Billion quid is spent to renew them.
And before any smart arse mentions it NO I don’t agree with SNP’s policy of remaining in NATO.
Worth reading Medialens on
“Charlie Hebdo And The War For Civilisation”
http://medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=783:charlie-hebdo-and-the-war-for-civilisation&catid=53:alerts-2015&Itemid=246
The real Jim Murphy.
………………
Murphy is widely regarded as a “deficit hawk” earlier this week he voted in favour, of the Conservatives, Charter for Budget Responsibility,which commits the UK to massive public spending cuts.
During Murphy’s 15 years at Westminster he voted ardently with the Tories to introduce ID cards, Murphy is also a strong supporter of Trident, and its well documented his resolution for war the in Iraq.
Infact Murphy was so dismayed at Ed Miliband opposition, of the UK providing military personnel,in Syria, that Murphy was demoted to the position of Shadow International Development Secretary, for protesting to much.
A caricature of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in Germany’s largest broadsheet newspaper shows anti-Semitism reminiscent of the Nazi propaganda, say critics.
The cartoon, in the liberal Süddeutsche Zeitung, depicts Mark Zuckerberg as an octopus with a hook nose devouring the world’s technology. It appeared in the Friday edition of the Munich-based paper along with the International New York Times.
The drawing of the 29-year-old Zuckerberg comes on the heels of Facebook’s $19 billion purchase of the messaging startup company WhatsApp.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/02/26/german-paper-ripped-for-anti-semitic-caricature-facebook-zuckerberg/
……………………….
So without either condemning or condoning, it would appear, freedom to criticise either sides caricatures is a onesided event.
Yeah. Since when has it been wrong to caricature octopi?
*ducks and covers*
RoS will love this octopus –
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/02/25/article-2567167-1BCDD54400000578-399_634x588.jpg
Guess we’d better call the US Ambassador in and get whining.
Pity Paul had to leave us before he could predict last years winners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFvrAdyFUJ8
“RoS will love this octopus”
Ba’al
Nice one Ba’al, I’m pretty sure though, I’ve seen that one somewhere before, but I can’t quite recall where.
The bloods not even dry yet in Paris, and Hollande is sending the aircraft carrier the Charles De Gaulle to the middle east, to join a coalition of western warships.
Hollande added that France might even carry out military maneuvers in Iraq.
The Paris incident is turning into an excuse on so many levels, but its to be expected, from corrupt western governments.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/01/15/393124/Paris-terror-justifies-new-warship-
Thanks for that link to medialense, Dreolin, looks to be a little list of free western libertarian countries who have a problem with free speech.
The hounding of Michael Moore is atrocious, despite his style he has done America a service, he is their alarm clock.
I’m pretty sure though, I’ve seen that one somewhere before, but I can’t quite recall where.
It’s American, 1881/2, and now, happily, all over the internet. Footnote: Who knew that John Bull, like the television, was a Scottish invention?
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/304946/John-Bull
“MickPork
I repeat, had party members voted to select someone else as a candidate, I would have been perfectly content. It is ridiculous for you to say that my actions suggest otherwise, when I was never given that chance. And the reason I was never given that chance, as you know damn well, is that I would have won on a vote of members, because fortunately unpleasant people like yourself are a minority in the SNP.”
While I will repeat that there were not only others who weren’t selected for the process just in the seat you wanted (you still seem to be having some trouble understanding that you are far from the only person not put forward to the next stage of the process which is the party member vote) but that was repeated up and down scotland with potential candidates not being suitable. I know of someone who has put his name forward and never got to the next stage for something like 15 years. The curious thing though is that he’s never had a hissy fit or stormed off cursing at the party he joined. He knew fine well that he wasn’t suitable and has always just shrugged it off and got on with working hard to achieve independence.
Not everyone is suited to being an MP in a political party. Simple as that. You seem to have confused being one MP in a party of many serving under a leader for a personal public platform in westminster. The bizarre thing is that everyone knows that you want to be another Galloway type figure at westminster free from the shackles and duties of a political party. The very obvious route to being such an MP is to stand as an independent MP. You can hardly have been so naive to think having a blog and speaking at meetings somehow meant you were certain to become an SNP candidate yet that is the impression you constantly give. Your apparent certainty that only you could possibly appeal to SNP members and were somehow certain to win if you got to the next stage is, at the very least, questionable.
As for your sneering at me for being unpleasant, well I can only point out that I have been working for Independence since I was a boy, have believed in it all my life and didn’t just pop up at the referendum in a blaze of publicity. Nor will I stop working for it as long as I am able.
The ONLY reason we had the referendum in the first place was because me and so many other dedicated activists kept fighting to get the SNP into a position to give the scottish public a referendum. We did that in good times and bad while others sneered at us for believing in the SNP and Independence. We are used to that by now and it will take far more than that to stop us. Needless to say the ONLY way the next Independence referendum will happen is if we in the SNP keep fighting for it.
If that makes me “unpleasant” in your eyes then I’ll take that any day of the week over your response to not becoming a potential candidate for a party you supposedly wanted to represent.
Can’t see how that cartoon is anti-semitic unless you defined any cartoon of anyone who is Jewish as anti-semitic, which would be pretty daft
and there’s nothing in the cartoon referring to him being Jewish
Mick: Some in your party will clearly not agree with you, as will many outside the party. You do have a rather supercilious tone, an air of superiority, I find rather terrifying. Your absolute presumption and conviction is that you speak for a whole ~80,000 members, and outside the party for however many voted for independence, when you are of course merely expressing your own personal opinion, one of many. Are you commenting in an ‘official’ capacity? If so you should say so, that we can weigh this when considering what you say.
Where did the SNP take this turn, or has it always been this way? That potential MPs, MSPs etc. should be conformists, emininently respectable, ultra-establishment figures, lawyers or similar. Is the quite bizarre and amusing idea that there are some who are born to be MPs and very many others, the sad luckless clowns, who are unsuited on some sort of hereditary/genetic basis, actual party doctrine?. Should MPs be merely clones based on someone’s unproven but probably half-baked ideas of what an MP should or should not be? People are or were voting for the SNP on the understanding they were something different.
Your argument is the ‘carpetbagger’ one, with a bit more emotion, all that out in the wind and the rain stuff earlier had many in tears.
Personally I think Craig Murray would be a quite terrible MP, he’d represent his constituents, fight for what is right according to his conscience, generally make a nuisance of himself, and do all sorts of other things that MPs simply do not, must not ever do.
Has the SNP ever made a mistake, took a wrong turn etc.?
” You do have a rather supercilious tone, an air of superiority, I find rather terrifying. “
It must come from living, canvassing and leafleting in some of the most poor and deprived areas of scotland. God only knows how arrogant and entitled I would appear were I to be groomed for a top establishment diplomatic job and proclaimed becoming an ambassador with a wee British flag on my posh car as the proudest moment of my life.
“Your absolute presumption and conviction is that you speak for a whole ~80,000 members”
Except it wasn’t me who proclaimed with absolute certainty the members would definitely vote for me. I definitely didn’t have the arrogance and presumption to do that. Campaigning even for decades certainly doesn’t entitle me or any other member to become a candidate to be an MP, MSP or even councillor.
“Where did the SNP take this turn, or has it always been this way? That potential MPs, MSPs etc. should be conformists, emininently respectable, ultra-establishment figures, lawyers or similar.”
You mean in your own head since that’s clearly straw man bullshit. Hard to say but you can believe whatever you like as when I attended hustings there were no conformists, emininently respectable, ultra-establishment figures, lawyers or similar, like say, former ambassadors.
” Is the quite bizarre and amusing idea that there are some who are born to be MPs “
Not quite as amusing as you confusing my simple statement of fact, that some are not suitable to be a party MP, with another lightweight straw man argument. One which for your own peculiar reasons you then take off on a nutty tangent as some kind of endorsement for hereditary MPs positions and nepotism. Riiiiiight, that’s exactly what I meant. *rolleyes*
“Your argument is the ‘carpetbagger’ one”
Is it indeed? Good thing there’s no evidence of Mr Murray previously trying it on with another party then, isn’t there?
“Personally I think Craig Murray would be a quite terrible MP”
Not necessarily as there is a history of independent MPs who can represent their constituents, fight for what is right according to their conscience, generally make a nuisance of themselves. Or maybe you think only Mr Murray woudl be the first person ever to do so? Pretty damn telling if you did. But as a party MP you’re clearly correct as they have to work together to achieve their aims as well as working hard to represent their constituents. You know, like the SNP has had to do for decades which culminated in the Independence referendun. We will do so again because we won’t be scared of years more of the hard unglamorous work of pounding the streets, delivering leaflets and speaking to scots to try and persuade them of the better scotland we know we can achieve.
“Has the SNP ever made a mistake, took a wrong turn etc.?”
Of course not since perfection was implicit in my every word and I swan about the fucking place in the schemes west coast of scotland flaunting my arrogant assumption that I was born to lead. LOL
Where did the SNP take this turn, or has it always been this way?
Can’t speak for always, but in the 70’s the SNP was full of committed hardworking activists who sank their mutual differences and worked all hours to get their core policies across. Anyone who did’t was a dilettante. Mick Pork evidently continues the tradition. Abrasiveness is a positive quality in this context, I hope he will forgive me saying, and a good indicator that bullshit won’t work. It’s not the same thing at all as arrogance.
I really don’t think, though, that Craig is after quite the same ends as the SNP, and there’s bound to be some mutual misunderstanding. The common ground is independence; but afterwards the Murray vision veers towards an uncosted anticapitalist utopia* while the SNP realises that a practical, working consensus of all Scots will have to be arrived at in order for government to be possible at all. That is, if you disregard the usual ebullient electoral propaganda.
Most people don’t want to live in interesting times…
*Which would certainly get my vote, if I didn’t think too hard about it.
“Abrasiveness is a positive quality in this context, I hope he will forgive me saying”
I positively welcome it as it kinda proves my point since the guy I was talking about (who keeps trying to get selected from Glasgow) shares that same tendency towards bluntness and a rough edge. He can also be extraordinarily charming and is a superb motivator for the ground troops but he knows perfectly well why he keeps failing to get through to the selection process. He accepts it and hopes a few more years will ease off the rough edges. I think they will myself. We didn’t get this far without an incredible amount of resilience and sheer determination and that’s something I still see plenty of even in the newer members.
Fact is we still have to pleasant, polite and always cheerful when we are out on the streets trying to persuade the folks. No easy task at times but we do it and we all know why we do it. I’m certainly not as skilled as some in the gift of the gab but I manage perfectly well when it’s needed and it’s needed now.
Since the membership explosion the hope always was that this wasn’t just a paper membership and sympathetic gestures or bandwagon jumping but a real motivated grassroots increase in our strength. From what I’ve seen so far I’m very glad to say it is. The meetings are very, very well attended. (we can remember when it was six guys and a dug in some places no aw that long ago LOL) There is real enthusiasm and all those people who lifted our hearts by walking in off the streets saying they want to help are still doing so. More than that they seem to be enjoying it! Some have never felt empowered or like they have had a voice but they do now and they aren’t keen to let that go any time soon.
Mr Pork. I am afraid you will have to get a new handle. 🙂
Oxford University Press bans use of pig, sausage or pork-related words to avoid offending Muslims
The Oxford University Press guidelines emerge after a radio discussion on free speech in the wake of the Paris attacks
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11345369/Oxford-University-Press-bans-use-of-pig-sausage-or-pork-related-words-to-avoid-offending-Muslims.html
The world is becoming potty.
Some have never felt empowered or like they have had a voice but they do now and they aren’t keen to let that go any time soon.
Way to go. That’s real progress.
‘Not everyone is suited to being an MP in a political party’
Well Mick, that is a little presumptuous of you, would you not agree yourself. In a FPTP system where main parties rule the roost ad finitum, I can’t see the SNP standing up, demanding a referendum on the voting system that includes a choice of PR voting systems for the poor Englanders in the last unreformed bastion of the empire, so its all about I’m alright Jack bugger the rest of you, is it not?
What plans for the devolution of powers to the regions has the SNP got in its policy coffers, now that they want to play at being labour in Westminster?
You are not the only one who has trodden decades of stairs and knocked on doors clad in flags, with Staffis snarling behind the owners when they finally open the door. I have worked for the Green [party for 33 years before my eyes were opened to the falsehood that is a centralised political spectrum, a spectrum that has nothing but control and power over others in mind.
All sorts of characters have become MP’s, at all times, there is a list of MP’s who have behaved criminal, I’m sure you have heard of some, you claim to have been in politics for a while so you should know. Some, such as the Zionist supporter Murphy, who loves NATO and Faslane, came straight from university, others because daddy was an MP and has sent him to the best schools.
Lets do some predictions here, the SNP will either become breakfast for the Labour party, should they manage the speed dating event that is called coalition forming here, or they will cause a fracas and end up costing us another 300 million to re-run the GE. Not surprisingly this is what civil servants are already planning for.
Your castigation of Craig, when he clearly has expertise the SNP currently lacks, is tantamount to the three monkeys, you might as well all sing nahnahnanana.
I hear your lamentations about the top down selection process, done by trusted members (meaning those who’s skeletons we know off and can deal with)
The difference is such that you will be entering parliament with a sharp knife short of a set, with no one, not Alex or Nicola, having any ideas on land or sea borders, on past negotiations, foreign affairs that involved you preferred Labour coalition partners, or how we can reform and rejuvenate the diplomatic services stale finance orientated relationships. Are you aware that the UK’s foreign policy is not its own anymore, that it is superseded by the wishes of non EU member states, that we have sat on the fence and put the boot into our so called partners in Europe on many occasions, dare I mention the Iraq war and the Falklands.
Craig is an excellent orator who speaks informed, who knows where the weak points are in any opposing party, he is a speaker who can appeal to his constituency voters as much as to MP’s.
I have no doubt that there are far more compliant candidates being selected who will be guaranteed to raise their hand when required, the qualification that seems to be most important.
That the SNP, so Independence loving, even considers to go into coalition with any of the main parties, when they could give their support on an issue by issue basis to whoever has the better solution to an issue, is beyond me. The SNP by their manner is already supporting a Westminster that has not a single MP in its midst which is elected by a majority of eligible voters.
I pity the SNP for its top down allures that deny its members the choice on candidates, who are more about controlling new members, almost frightened of them, to resort to the backstabbing ways they have, this will be a lesson to some new members.
I would and have asked Craig to stand as an Independent but I’m not on the ground and confess to know very little of the selection procedures that has rejected many candidates. I’m looking forward to see how many new members will actually be allowed to stand by the SNP hierarchy.
With this I shall go and do some digging in the garden.