Would you like to be shot with a red gun or blue gun, sir? That is the limit of the choice being offered the UK electorate as New Labour announces it will keep the Coalition public spending plans and the Coalition benefit cuts. Given it will also throw away £100 billion on Trident, and New Labour initiated the rampant privatisation of the Health Service, PFI, Tuition Fees etc., my point could not have been more eloquently proven that the UK electorate is no longer offered any meaningful choice by the neo-con parties.
It also of course demolishes completely the Gordon Brown argument that Scots need to stay in the Union to put New Labour in to power. Who carries out Tory policies is not the question; and why a nation should surrender its freedom just to make sure Ed Balls has a ministerial car and salary while he implements Tory policies, is not a question which to me has an obvious answer.
The only meaningful political choice any part of the UK population will have in the foreseeable future is the Scottish Independence Referendum. If Scots do not take their chance, all they have ahead is economic decline and the collapse of public services. The choice could not be more stark.
@Roddy MacDonald 11.41 PM re Your Comment “Left or Right have long been an unsuitable description of the 2 variations of the bought and paid for Neoliberal consensus”. Certainly I agree that left or right don’t make much sense anymore as a description of political issues. But I would disagree that we have had neoliberal politics here or elsewhere; instead what we have had is a mix of muddle-by, cronyism and neocon politics.
Neoliberalism surely believes in free markets where competition makes sense. But we haven’t had that; what we have had instead is crony capitalism that picks the winners from the well-connected and then awards them with huge subsidies, favours and government funded bailouts.
Neoliberals do believe in free trade, but they also believe in fair trade – and we haven’t had that either. Adam Smith and his confreres were not averse to countervailing duties with countries who, themselves, did not practice free trade. It’s our Neocons who have adopted this foolish policy of globalisation, without countervailing duties, even where the playing field is uneven.
And then there are all these Neocon foreign wars that are so profitable for our security/intelligence apparatus and their private friends and former colleagues. But since Adam Smith opposed the UK’s role in the American Revolution as costing the UK more than it was worth, it is hardly likely that true liberal’s would adopt the neocon war mongering policies in vogue today. Like an Empire, they may enrich some, but overall they cost more than they are worth.
Then there is a little thing called the rule of law which we seem to have forgotten about where establishment interests are involved. This is surely the cornerstone of Neoliberalism. Yet, there is my own case and many others, not to mention the Savile cover-up, where our security / intelligence apparatus are being used illegally as a secret police. Spies and Agents Provocateurs, once despised in the UK, are now seen as true patriots – what’s gone wrong with us. The pre-requisites for democracy are elections, a free press/freedom of speech, and rule of law. Without rule of law, the country cannot be a democracy, and certainly not a Neoliberal one.
The London establishment have crucified Britain through their greed and just plain incompetence. They and their institutions have lost the right to have any respect from the public whose economic future they have now mortgaged for generations to come. Scotland now has a change, perhaps a last chance, to remedy this and get away from them.
“Are you a non-Scot living north of Edinburgh or have your pronouns just got mixed up?”
There’s nothing wrong with my pronouns mate so start concentrating on what I say not where I live.
Either that or start asking Craig where he was born and where he lives.
“What evidence was demanded for all the other countries who freed themselves from Empire? What evidence did Americans need to put on the table to argue they should make their own decisions? India? All the others? To whom or what would this evidence you want be presented? The electorate? Westminster? The UN? The EU?”
I think your analogies are a bit strained, Scotland isn’t ruled by Britain, they are a part of Britain, they have plenty of say at Westminster.
Scotland leaving Britain would be more like Texas leaving the United States.
O/T
I am not shocked easily, but this kind of brutality left me aghast;
The above is to be found here, must warn you; Do not watch the videos..
What the fuck is going on in Mexico? The fact that none of the corporate media are paying any attention to the turf war that is raging across that country in the cartels war for gaining more territory .
La Guera Loca or La Wera Loka Herself since has been captured tortured and decapitated.
“The purpose of my above phrase was, essentially, to say that the centre of Scottish politics has the capacity to be left of the English centre. I think Scotland, for example, would not have invaded Iraq. Independence would permit them the ability to reflect what people in Scotland think (though, I should make it clear, I don’t think it is a magic democratic wand, and there would be still many hurdles to jump before Scotland may call itself a democracy in the genuine meaning of the word).”
But those are certainly not the impressions I get, although Scots tend to be anti Conservative with good reason I can assure you that there are plenty who are right wing.
I was talking to people in Scotland and posting to Scottish forums at the time we invaded Iraq and I would think that if a referendum had been taken at the time the majority would have been in favour. Scotland was rife with racist comments about towel heads and camel jockeys. Let’s not forget that both the leader of the Labour party and the leader of the Conservative party who supported the invasion were Scots, one from Glasgow and the other from Edinburgh.
Plus I find the left wing as frightening as the right wing, in particular the Scottish Governments decision to appoint a “Government Guardian” to every child in Scotland, like the parents can’t be trusted with their own children but the government can.
@Fred
First of all, I’m not your mate. Please don’t address me as such.
“… start concentrating on what I say not where I live”.
A declared interest in the outcome of the Scottish referendum (which you must have if you live there) rather than just an opinion from one who would remain unaffected would give your comments a certain validity no matter whether others disagreed or not. I find it strange that you might wish to hide this.
Finally, where Craig was born is a matter of public record … and he has never made any secret of where he lives now.
“First of all, I’m not your mate.”
Well you got something right at last sunshine.
So if you want to talk about the independence debate talk away, if you’re going to start talking about me expect me to start flaming.
2:58 Ben Yes, Komodo’s barrage balloons might have prevented low level Hi-cam microdrone surveillance.
With special thanks to the Green Bay, Wisconsin homebrewers who have provided an effective solution to counter these spies in the sky.
http://www.qsl.net/n9zia/
Fred, you imply that Blair and Cameron are representative of “Scots”, and yet you say “the people of Scotland and … England have been raped by the wealthy elite”. However Blair and Cameron are that wealthy elite, and so are hardly a good example of Scottish opinion generally!
Equally, you found some Scots that were racist – I don’t think however they are representative of Scottish opinion. Do you really think Scotland is a racist country?
We’ll have to disagree about whether Scots were in favour of the war. I don’t have any sources to hand, but when I read Scottish media (as corporate as they still are) over the last few years, there is still a sense of egalitarianism that is missing even from London “liberal” media – Guardian et al.
This is interesting, on the topic of the war. I wonder whether this has a chance?
http://www.scotsman.com/news/change-to-scots-law-could-put-tony-blair-on-trial-over-invasion-of-iraq-1-2514633
(Aside: I agree with Indigo broadly, but I concur also that it is unhelpful in debate to refer to someone as “friend” or “mate” if it is meant cynically. Let’s fight clean, please).
I would love to have your optimism Craig but seem to remember you were very keen on the LibDems before the last election and look how that turned out. I have a horrible feeling that power corrupts people and expect no less than whoever runs Scotland should it go for independence will take the same road.
“Fred, you imply that Blair and Cameron are representatives of “Scots”, and yet you say “the people of Scotland and … England have been raped by the wealthy elite”. You can’t have it both ways.”
Yes I can, the two are not contradictory.
BTW it was Ian Duncan Smith I was referring to not Cameron.
@Fred
At the risk of repeating myself …
If you’re not Scots and don’t live in Scotland although you may have an opinion on Independence it’s not worth a great deal. But …
if you do live in Scotland you have, by definition, an interest in it’s future and your opinion – whatever it may be – is a valid one.
This is not a comment about you personally, it’s a comment about where you live and if you can’t see that …
Mark @ 4:08
Too funny. Lockheed’s Skunk works never imagined technology could be used in such a treasonous manner.
@Indigo
It affects everyone in the UK as where they live, everyone is entitled to an opinion and everyone is entitled to speak it.
So stick to the subject not the people discussing it.
@ Fred.
It affects everyone in Europe if the UK leaves. Should folk in France have a say in wether thr UK leaves or not?
@Fred
Those who don’t live in Scotland are perfectly entitled to an opinion and to voice same – I never intimated differently – but it’s worth zilch because they haven’t got a vote.
Great piece Craig…hope your feeling ok today
Fred
i have never – i’m quite sure – met a right wing Scot… I’m not claiming there are none, but The racism you refer to, is most certainly the result of a Biased, propagandist MSM. Its very much the same re, the Iraq, Libya, Syrian wars
And dont ever forget that the MsM are doing it all VERY deliberately – just as was instantly the case with the Murder of Lee Rigby, and look what happened after that propaganda Bullshit by both The MsM, politicians – with evil blair popping up to claim prize yet again with the worst load of vile rantings
Tony Blair –
“there is a problem within Islam, “We have to put it on the table and be honest about it. Of course there are Christian extremists and Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu ones. But I am afraid this strain is not the province of a few extremists. It has at its heart a view about religion and about the interaction between religion and politics that is not compatible with pluralistic, liberal, open-minded societies.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/03/tony-blair-islam-woolwich-attack_n_3379251.html
So fucking causal about it Swine, and i see he is now an expert in all religions.
Jon
The chilling thing about your paragraph here, is how true it is
“It affects everyone in Europe if the UK leaves. Should folk in France have a say in wether thr UK leaves or not?”
Of course they should, everyone in France has a right to an opinion and everyone in France has a right to speak it.
“Where is THE WEBSITE, where people are presented with the EVIDENCE that will allow them to make an informed choice?”
Q: Where can you find a website that explains why running your own country is something best left to someone else, somewhere else?
A: Nowhere. Erewhon. Scotland.
That little wanker, set the wheels in motion for the current situation that we find ourselves in. The hate towards Muslims has become so matter of course and routine, that it is no longer challenged or checked.
The fuckwits busy promoting the “crusades/cultural clash/WoT” are relentless in their promotion of hatred against all things Muslim. It is fucking pitiful, to find such an obtuse, obscene and hateful discourse, that is taking place all in the name of “liberalism”, in short these tosspots have all come to be “good Germans of the
thirdfourth Reich” (no offence to Ingo). Shame on them all, how will these bastards’ excuse themselves, upon the conclusion of the fashionable hate period?If the change in Scots law comes about,then good for Margo McDonald and the Scots people.
Jon put the link up earlier.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/change-to-scots-law-could-put-tony-blair-on-trial-over-invasion-of-iraq-1-2514633
Part 2 of The Iraq War tonight is on BBC2 9pm
After the Fall
Episode 2 of 3 Duration: 1 hour
In After the Fall, part two of this three-part series, key insiders describe the chaotic aftermath of the defeat of Saddam Hussein. Dick Cheney and Colin Powell come to blows over America’s role as occupying power. General David Petraeus recalls the disastrous decision to disband the Iraqi army. The representative of Grand Ayatollah Sistani – Iraq’s most senior Shia cleric – tells how Sistani forced the Americans into agreeing to elections in Iraq. One of the greatest challenges came from Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi army. America and the new Iraqi government were able to defeat Sadr militarily, but it set the stage for sectarian war.
The producers in charge of the series were Norma Percy, Brian Lapping and Paul Mitchell, the team at Brook Lapping Productions who were behind the multi-award-winning documentaries Iran & the West, Putin, Russia and the West, The Death of Yugoslavia etc.
~~~
Other news
Petraeus, the media’s favourite general is joining the private equity outfit KKR.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-leadership/wp/2013/05/30/what-david-petraeus-has-to-offer-kkr/
WSWS: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/06/05/petr-m04.html
Agree Craig.Looking at what the 2 main parties has to offer in the way of leadership does tend to leave one leaning toward the whisky bottle. Balls is one of those horrible career excrement of labour types that would do anything to get into power. Not unlike his boss or the other side of the chamber however.
I hope that we do vote for full Independence,but there are millions more with an opinion too. Since there has yet to be any positive reasons given for staying I’m confident that it will be a Yes ! Isn’t it odd that the MSM constantly print and preach threats of the pain and pestilence to come should heaven forbid, the Scots say Yes ?? A year ago I laid out 7 concurrent issues of the Scotsman with a headline knocking Salmond and Independence.The Fascists Fred ,are the ones in control of the media and feeding Scotland pro Union propaganda. You are obviously swallowing it all.
“Q: Where can you find a website that explains why running your own country is something best left to someone else, somewhere else? ”
Doesn’t matter how many times you debunk the Nationalist myths they just keep repeating them.
Scotland have their own parliament, laws passed in Scotland affecting the Scots are voted on by Scottish MPs and only Scottish MPs.
Laws passed in England affecting the English are also voted on by Scottish MPs.
Apart from anything else even if Scotland were to be independent it would still be run by Edinburgh which is practically English anyway. The parts of Scotland which are actually ethnically different to England and are, incidentally, a lot closer to that oil Salmond is desperate to get his hands on than Edinburgh still won’t get a look in.
PFI started up ‘under’ the Tories (John Major), not ‘under’ New Labour, although it was expanded ‘under’ them.
That’s if we want to use language which keeps to the idiotic parliamentary-democratic fairy story that a ‘government of politicians’ decides stuff at the top.
Of course they effing don’t.
Like yeah, right. Tony Blair will be put on trial in Scotland, and a Scottish government will introduce sanctions against Israel and the United States etc. etc. etc. The Zionist consulate in Glasgow will be shut down until Arab land is returned, refugees allowed back, and reparations paid. Any politician or civil servant who takes a backhander will get his or her collar felt. Even the fiddles around the building of the Scottish Parliament will be exposed. The guilty people will be hunted down, prosecuted, and jailed. A further change in Scots law will ensure that anyone who tries to use freemasonic membership in the furtherance of a crime (such as corruption) will be handed an extra-long spell in Bar-L. Whether lodge meetings will be allowed to be held inside, or command structures recognised, as happened in the ‘H’ blocks in Northern Ireland, will be a hot topic of debate.
Especially in the Scotsman
FFS wake up!
It’s just convenient for nationalism in Scotland to be marketed as ‘left-wing’ for a while, that’s all.
Don’t trust politicians, ever. Fuck parliamentary democracy. Fuck all nations.
Maybe everyone here already knows this, but just in case someone doesn’t: Alex Salmond was once the chief oil economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland.
This is a most interesting and impassioned discussion. I have a question which might be answered by any constitutionalists amoungst you.
An independent Scotland will entail the creation of legal Scottish nationality, will it not? How will that be defined? By lex sanguinis or by lex solis? Or by both? Or by some sui generis law? Cf in this connection Irish or Israeli nationality.
The question is of some practical significance, inter alia as far as the possibility of standing for election to the Westminster Parliament is concerned: as you know, Westminster MPs have to have UK nationality (which, in the event of a future independent Scotland would mean, in practice, being English, Welsh or Northern Irish.
One must assume that future Scots nationals (however defined) will be ineligible – unless of course they have dual UK and Scots nationality. In which event, so much for Scottish independence…
——-
I must say that although not usually agreeing with Fred I do have a great deal of sympathy for his views on this matter. I also agree with those who view as illusionary the idea that Scottish politicians, and even the greater Scottish public, are somehow a different and more upright species than their English counterparts.
Finally, as far for the future state of Scitland, it will be faced with exactly the same problems as occasion so much ire on the blog when it comes to the current UK as a whole, ie, unlimited demand for public services, social infrastructure and so on on the one hand and finite public financial ressources on the other. To think otherwise is to live in cloud cuckoo land.
“Doesn’t matter how many times you debunk the Nationalist myths they just keep repeating them.”
Select a myth, and amuse us all with your debunking of it.
“Maybe everyone here already knows this, but just in case someone doesn’t: Alex Salmond was once the chief oil economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland.”
Or that the brother of Kenny MacAskill, Scotland’s Justice Secretary, is representative for Repsol, a Spanish oil company with extensive interests in Lybia.
Well, it’s a matter for Scots to decide, meaning Craig and I are out of the picture, but personally I would welcome independence as then both Scotland and England will move to the right. I would doubly welcome independence as we would not have to hear from Scots and Craig about a fixed ballot and media bias for the rest of eternity.
Also, I support the Shetland Islands’ claim to most of Scotland’s oil, to free the Islanders from the repressive imperialist Scottish yoke. 🙂
Cheerio Scotland!
O/T Just saw this. Some justice at last for these people after 60 years. Disgraceful. ‘The blood never dried’.
Breaking news British government to make Mau Mau apology
Mau Mau massacre papers revealed
Kenyans win torture ruling in UK
The government is expected to apologise to those tortured during the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, the BBC understands.
Compensation for the victims is also expected to be announced.
UK-based law firm Leigh Day is representing more than 5,000 Kenyan men and women who say they were tortured or otherwise mistreated by the British administration in the 1950s.