They were too extravagant to be buttonholes. The SNP’s MPs wore elaborate corsages. The unextinguishable impression is that they were going the extra mile in dressing up as particularly obsequious flunkies chuffed to be appearing before Her Maj, herself bedecked with the Koh-i-Noor and other jewels gained by the rape of conquered peoples, and enrobed in the furs of butchered rare animals.
Even if the white rose really were a symbol of Scotland – and a single allusion by Macdiarmid does not make it so – I would not want it used to make us look like the class creeps on a Royal visit. Much has been made of the battle for Dennis Skinner’s seat. But at least that awkward old man has repeatedly had the guts to make plain he does not approve of all the ludicrous flummery of faded but still vicious power – still vicious as the snooper’s charter and attacks on coastal Libya will shortly make clear. The SNP looked like a very determined set of entries for the toady of the year competition.
We should leave this loyalist monarchical crap to the unionists. An independent Scotland should not be a place where you dress like a florist’s advert before some fur-draped billionaire pensioner.
A pity they spoiled the not a piss take and blotted their copybook by clapping instead of braying like a scrumptious hee-haw.
In any case the White Rose is a symbol of Yorkshire whose menfolk have a hard won reputation for being like Scotsmen but with every ounce of generosity squeezed out of us.
..some fur-draped billionaire pensioner.. is of course the ‘meat and potatoes’ and why the many dream of such a reality. Royalty, celebs, drug barons, peerage, haut mande, agent Cameron, Tony Blair are our idols and our exit from the agrarian hand one is dealt with.
I would project the vision, the dream of drowning Anon1; however I have other more important preferences.
Are you saying Craig that no one should be allowed to scrub up good for a special occasion? Ladies’ make-up usually removes any natural beauty from their faces but the oriental traditions carried over centuries Westwards down the Silk Road demand that for Kurdish weddings all the ladies look like plastic dolls.
I haven’t a picture of the spectacle you are describing but I have a gathering of Gaelic chieftains in Asterix and Obelix in my mind. Good Gaelic Tradition sourpuss.
True, John.
Very true.
The Tories look unlikely to carry many of these measures unless Labour supports them, but of course they may well do that, being cut from much the same cloth these days.
It should be remembered though that the early period of a new govt consists mostly in hot air.
The Tories haven’t been in power in their own right for nearly 20 years.
You’ll remember that Nulab put in a similar display of hot air in their early days after their period in the wilderness.
Giyane
I am saying that if you think the opening of Westmonster by Lizzie Windsor amounts to a special occasion you are not a real Scottish nationalist.
Herbie
“The Tories haven’t been in power in their own right for nearly 20 years.”
The last time they held power they created such havoc that they would not ever have returned if it had not been for Clegg.
First day at school and they are trying to say that Scottish SNP MPs are not allowed to talk about English things. No Mr Speaker, your Unionist government repeated that Scotland is part of the Union and therefore it has an equal right to talk about English things as English MPs.
This is a very hollow victory for the Tories. None of their nasty legislation will make it through the commons because in the SNP you have a spirited leader in Nicola Sturgeon who has made it absolutely clear that they the SNP represent the left-wing constituency of England voters as much as New Labour MPs.
They had their day out and the Tories will adorn the walls of parliament like stuffed pole-cats. All teeth and no bite.
Craig, they are SNP MPs in a Unionist parliament. Why can’t they wear their glad rags same as Afghan warlords for a US occupied jirga? Mr Sour grapes.
Isn’t the white rose the symbol of the Jacobites? This too… http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/archivists-garden/index-by-plant-name/white-rose-of-scotland-scots-rose-burnet-rose
Gawd bliss you mom, for without you we would have a lot better prospects of employment, housing, food, happiness index, prosperity and may even have a written Constitution that is not made up on the fly as the moment calls for.
Who would want all that, when we have such a wonderful misery and we get all those tourists coming to our lands to see you mom. How could we then class these tourists as illegal immigrants and asylum seekers and hate them so much?
Those MP’s should have worn roses, and used rose suppositories too in case of losing control and breaking wind in your audience mom.
PS I am switching side, would I get me pay by the line or word or the frequency that I come pepper the place up with bullshit?
@David
Yup, the wild white rose is a Jacobite symbol, hence McDiarmid’s much more recent reference to it. There is a White Rose Day commemorating the birth of the Old Pretender in 1688 (thanks, Wiki). I thought the SNP buttonholes were quite fun, but it’s true that Robertson is well to the right of the party – he was the moving force behind the debate on NATO membership.
Craig
“..if you think the opening of Westmonster by Lizzie Windsor amounts to a special occasion you are not a real Scottish nationalist.”
Bloody hell. You call for real nationalism now?
Framing the issues of equality and justice in nationalist terms plays the establishment game, misrepresent the problems, and is playing with fire.
The return of the exploding parking meter
Afraid Craig still doesn’t see the true character of these flunkies.
True opponents of the system are very hard to find, and they usually die too soon, and unmourned.
If the SNP showed the courage of their convictions then they surely would refuse to participate in any royal ceremonial at the unionist Parliament. Does this not represent everything that they profess to disdain?
On the other hand, I recall that the SNP policy during the “Independence” debate was to retain the queen as head of state, and to retain the £ as the Scottish currency.
So we should not be surprised that they bend the knee to the Imperial powers whenever they are required to.
White wose.
A Jacobite symbol.
Are you sure?
Fred says it’s a fascist thing.
The SNP will hopefully learn from the fate of the Lib Dems and new Labour. If they lose their values and waste time with gestures they will lose our support as quickly as they gained it. We voted SNP to make a difference.
starnge how this story disappered from the independent and a 503 error is reproted instead.
Stamford Hill: North London Jewish sect ‘bans’ women from driving
I hardly think the wearing of a corsage constitutes,the embracing of the Westminster pomp and circumstance.
I will judge the 56 on merit not appearance,Im confident they’ll be a wonderful asset to Scotland and their constituents.
Works for me, Fedup, but here’s the original –
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/136878/stamford-hill-sect-bans-women-drivers
Nice to know the Belzers and Salafists have something in common.
Speaking of Jacobites, if there were a Stuart restoration in Scotland (the Bavarian and Catholic Wittelsbachs being the current heirs to the Stuart claim), I wonder if Ireland would also be willing to recognize Duke Franz of Bavaria. (After Duke Franz, the succession would pass to Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein.)
“I wonder if Ireland would also be willing to recognize Duke Franz of Bavaria”
What on earth for?
As payback for the Battle of the Boyne.
Yeah I don’t see the roses as a piss take. Plus or Eck was caught looking too pleased with himself on the front pages of the Glasgow Herald today. The 56 need to keep their feet on the ground. Pete Wishart would be a better example to follow rather than Angus Robertson.
My take on the white rose issue is that the 56 wanted to be seen as a unified block. I think it would have been even better to have used fairly large saltire lapel badges. However the whole opening ceremony as it is conducted is a pantomime farce. Who were the two ladies to the right of the Queen (her left) who looked as though something very nasty was stuck up their bottoms? And what was the hapless Charlie and his old nag Camilla doing there?
Payback for the Battle of the Boyne might more reasonably be found in the extinction of The Bank of England, her heirs and successors…
“As payback for the Battle of the Boyne”
Don’t be daft, Lysias.
The people who give a damn about the Battle of the Boyne are the Orange Order. Not your average
man and woman south of the border.
Good to see Craig providing the grit in the (parched pea &) oyster.
Any symbol can be assumed by different peoples or groups to represent very different meanings. The swastika, for example, was, apparently, for centuries, a very positive symbol,found in countries with very different cultures. Similarly, the rose grows in many parts of the world and for some it holds symbolic meaning. In Scotland in the 1700s, and beyond, it signified loyalty to the Jacobite cause. It was said a jacobite traveller seeking shelter would recognise a place of welcome by the white rose at the gate. For any Scot to wear a white rose at the opening of the UK parliament, in the presence of Royalty, is a statement on many levels. A wee reminder, at least, perhaps, that traditionally sovereignty in Scotland lies with the people. I interpret this ostentatious wearing of the white rose, enmasse, as profoundly and peacefully assertive and subversive – ditto the clapping. Good on them – Brilliant!
An innocuous, overt reference to ‘the fortyfive.’ A celebration of our mps presence as representatives of all Alba, bar three. A reminder we are a country in the union (- an equal partner). A signal we respectfully have our own, and civilized, way of going about things – to be respected also. – A class act!!
Well said Craig. No chance now of a peerage or knighthood though. Jewels from the rape of conquered people; fur from butchered rare animals; a billionaire pensioner. You’ll be lucky to keep your head attached to your neck at this rate.