I don’t care. I’ve thought about it. I’ve tried very hard to think why I should care about the internal squabbling of the British parties in Scotland. But I can’t think of a single good reason.
Of course, I object to the way they treat the Scottish Parliament – our Parliament – with open contempt. I am appalled by behaviour. I deprecate their abysmal failure to perform the function of a democratic opposition. But I can’t bring myself to care about their bickering amongst themselves.
It’s increasingly as if the British parties have opted out. It’s like they have little or nothing to do with Scotland’s politics. Our Parliament and Government function despite the presence of British parties rather than because of any contribution they make. The Scottish parties – mainly the SNP – get on with the business of running the country as best they can given the crippling constraints of devolution and the need to constantly mitigate the economically destructive and socially corrosive policies imposed on Scotland by the British regime. Meanwhile, the British parties are preoccupied with their own petty concerns. At best, they are an irrelevant sideshow. At worst, a malign hindrance.
Over the last couple of decades, Scotland has developed its own distinctive political culture. The British parties are not involved. Not in any meaningful sense. Certainly not in any constructive way. They stand apart by choice. They choose to remain aloof from our politics. They decline to engage. They want to do British politics in the British way. They don’t really understand Scotland’s new politics. They want no truck with it and wouldn’t even if they were capable. They crave a return to the old ways. They hunger for the restoration of the old order.
The British parties are an ever more alien presence in Scotland. The more alien they become, the less I care about them.
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Peter A Bell 
Peter
Given Scotland’s AMS voting system…surely it must be time to have a 2nd independence party.
YES needs to stop just taking the distortions Westminster uses against them and step up their game. If there can be 4 London based “unionist” parties (helping them work the list system), then surely there can be multiple Independence parties.
Even if any new YES grouping sets its agenda to be a list party…similar to a second chamber party – there to keep Parties on track discussing YES issues.
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A second Yes Party would simply split the Yes vote and allow BritNationalist parties into power.
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I’m not sure how splitting the pro-independence vote helps anyone other than the British Nationalists.
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It only splits the vote if they stand in the first vote. Would it not be possible to be a second list only party?
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What is the point of all this? We have a ‘Yes party’. We have two, counting the Greens. What purpose is served by trying to create more? How does such a project fit into the necessary time-scale of independence? It just doesn’t seem to make any sense.
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Peter
I share your view that independence must be done before Westminster can activate its Brexit agenda. (I.e. Scotland must go before Brexit). I also hope the next Scottish election is as an independent country.
However, YES has no guarantee as yet that the SNP will pull the trigger. If another Scottish election is held before independence any continuing of the distinctive political culture Scotland has developed is almost predicated on an SNP permanent majority in a system deliberately designed to work against that.
The only reason the SNP is maintaining any tractions is that they are in Government and the media has to report SNP bad stories (by inference the SNP is mentioned). As soon as YES looses the majority the London based parties and the media will erase the SNP from any discussions.
This total blackout is occurring to SNP in Westminster. I am sick of hearing commentators and media statements: “no party stands up for freedom of movement” or “No party makes the case for Europe”…Its like the Westminster SNPs never existed.
YES must act for independence but have a backup plan.
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The point about UK Establishment blanking out Scotland is very relevant.
While BBC Scotland, both on radio Scotland, and Scot website, gave major prominence to the Edinburgh march today, there was not a single mention of it on the main Radio Four news at 6pm. Nor is it on the UK wide BBC website.
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The SNP in its current form is a great party of government. It’s done a lot to win hearts and minds, although it’s hard for joe pub to see this if he/she chooses to access news through the MSM. How does one objectively determine if bad Tory policies are being mitigated or services are being better funded/managed or that, relatively speaking we’re having it a little better? It’s very hard work and most just can’t be bothered finding out.
As a member of the Yes movement and the SNP I can see a disconnect which in its own way is both necessary and dangerous. The relationship is based on trust ie. the SNPs primary objective should be independence and Yes support depends upon that being the case. On the other hand it would be dysfunctional for any governments policy making or strategy to be at the whim of a disparate grass roots movement armed only with a single unifying objective. Balancing one against the other is the trick without losing sight of the prize. Unfortunately, to use the old adage, trust takes years to gain and seconds to destroy. It’s a fragile situation we find ourselves in.
The trust element is being tested by the lack of any meaningful retaliation or engagement by the SNP with the onslaught of propaganda and fake news that has been directed at us for quite some time. Even the moves by the establishment to lock us into a new union seem to have came and went without much visible notice. It has left the party open to accusations of being too comfortable etc, etc…
I can’t say if we need another Independence Party or not, there are plenty of folk on the Yes side more savvy than I am regarding the ins and outs of this. What I do think however, is that we need some mechanism to help bridge the disconnect between the political and the grass roots. A code of conduct, or a constitution for pre-independence. Something that will try to keep the politicians honest or at least not so corrupted by the temptations of power that they can sell us all out. Something that ensures independence remains our primary goal but still allows us to maintain the independence and integrity of the Yes movement. I’m not talking about more gaffers here, it’s more about arbitration or conflict resolution.If this already exists, been rejected as shite or been proposed in some form then I apologise, please point me in the right direction and I’ll have a look at it.
Wee trip to moo moo land over, hope to see ya’all in Auld Reekie for AUOB the morn.
Jeez, I’ve just commented on Mr Bells site. May the wrath of the Peter not descend upon me too horribly.
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I think we should start getting English SNP standing down South and start threatening WM in their heartlands. There are a lot of people who would vote for SNP if they stood South of the border. This could hit more seats from Tories and Labour if by a miracle we took enough seats we could be very troublesome to WM control. Time we stopped playing nice, we could have a English SNP along with our own Scottish SNP in WM……
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This should get the dander up
http://www.constitutionreformgroup.co.uk/act-union-bill-introduced-house-lords-lord-lisvane-9th-october-2018/
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