The unionists were worried that the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn might remind Scots of their national history. So they brilliantly have co-opted the MOD to counter any possible effect on popular perception, by holding British Armed Forces Day in the same location on the same date as the celebrations of Bannockburn (28-9 June 2014).
Armed Forces Day is held every year at Edinburgh. It has never been held on the site outside Stirling before. Suddenly to move it there, on the same day as a long-planned event already attracting tens of thousands of people, can hardly be a coincidence. I just watched a live broadcast of a session of a committee of the Scottish Parliament where officials of Stirling Council refused to answer questions as to who took the decision to hold the same events on the same day. They did so on the grounds there will be an independent audit of this ludicrous decision. Evidence given to the committee said that the late addition of the MOD event had caused ticket numbers for the Bannockburn event to be cut by over half.
STIRLING COUNCIL IS RUN BY A NEW LABOUR AND CONSERVATIVE COALITION of unionists aimed to keep the largest party – the SNP – out of power. A more interesting question is the decision making process in the MOD that led to this gross abuse of the army for political propaganda purposes.
This demeaning of the commemoration of Bannockburn is yet another Bitter Together initiative that will backfire spectacularly. Nobody in Scotland was going to base their vote on a battle that happened seven hundred years ago. But the banding together of Labour and Tories to attempt to downplay the sacrifice and cause, to offer a gross and deliberate insult to the memory of those who fought and died for their country, is going to upset an awful lot of people.
Who in their right mind wouldn’t vote for independence from the corrupt venal warmongering UK? I will be voting YES.
Kathy^
Indeed :.)
Please sign and pass it on,
http://act.freepress.net/sign/internet_fcc_break/source=FPblog
“If I were Trowbrige, I’e probably tell you that the Yanks have been beaming down gamma rays on them from one of their killer satellites (they were meant for you but missed).”
Hah!
“Who in their right mind wouldn’t vote for independence from the corrupt venal warmongering UK? I will be voting YES.”
People who are more swayed by reason than fanaticism.
“Nobody in Scotland was going to base their vote on a battle that happened seven hundred years ago. But the banding together of Labour and Tories to attempt to downplay the sacrifice and cause, to offer a gross and deliberate insult to the memory of those who fought and died for their country, is going to upset an awful lot of people.”
Agree entirely. I hate nationalism and flag waving of all types. The 2012 Union Jack fest really turned me away from the NO camp, and I had slight worries a similar attempt from some on the YES side to make capital out of Bannockburn might turn me off them as well.
Instead, this action by the Labour-Tory coalition to effectively drown out a planned, and perfectly reasonable, commemoration of a major part of our history with UK military jingoism has made me angry at them, and at the UK. So much so I’m actually thinking of going along to the Bannockburn thing for the first time ever, possibly with a Saltire to wave.
I only hope, for the sake of those who want to enjoy Bannockburn AND for the soldiers and families for whom armed forced day means something, it doesn’t turn into a competition or fight between the two. That is not in anyone’s interests, and is an insult to all who’d died in wars whatever their politics and beliefs. It was an utterly stupid and vile decision.
@Cath
You do need to read between the lines a bit when reading Craig’s blog. He says that Stirling council is run by a Labour Conservative Unionist coalition which it may well be for all I know but he didn’t say that it wasn’t the council who asked the MoD to hold Armed Forces Day there, it was the Provost, without it being put before the council, he didn’t know what day it would be on till later.
Also “Armed Forces Day is held every year at Edinburgh” actually means Armed Forces Day is held in a different town each year but it was held in Edinburgh in 2011.
So the only question is if somebody in the MoD knew about the Bannockburn event and deliberately put Armed Forces Day on the same date or not. No evidence either way but somehow I doubt it.
Armed Forces Day is always held on the last weekend in June wherever it’s held; so no deliberate conspiracy to schedule it to overshadow the Bannockburn events.
Fred
The Bannockburn event was scheduled with the Council eight months before the Armed Forces day event. As a result of a late decision to put the Armed Forces Day event in the same location the Bannockburn event was forced – by the council which is the licensing authority – to reduce tickets from 40,000 to 15,000.
The Provost is the leader of the council, a New Labour fucking councilor. So “it wasn’t the council it was the Provost” is a stupid bit of bollocks even by your standards. Kempe, nobody claimed they changed the date.
“…by holding British Armed Forces Day in the same location on the same date as the celebrations of Bannockburn (28-9 June 2014).”
and
“..Suddenly to move it there, on the same day as a long-planned event already attracting tens of thousands of people, …”
might certainly have given the reader the impression that both the venue AND the date had been changed.
You would have to be very naive to think that it is just an innocent coincidence rather than a sinister attempt to overshadow the Bannockburn commemoration and is directly connected to the independence vote. It shows a total disrespect to Scotland and will only increase the yes vote. In fact, you would think they wanted independence as all their actions just stir things up. Either that or they are very very stupid and behaving like colonialists with no regard to the sensitivities of the colony. Time to take action I think and end this unequal union.
Matthew Paris thinks that if there is a Yes vote, Cameron will resign and call an election. If the union is broken, his badge of honour is broken. Anyway, jolly good if he pushes off.
If it’s a ‘yes’, they’ll be after Cameron’s head
Matthew Parris
April 26 2014
He agreed to the Scottish referendum, after all; but it was a brave decision and the question has to be settled
Imagine. It’s the second day after Scotland votes to leave the union. The first day has of course been about the shock of the result; but now we’ve had 24 hours to think further.
What will be on the front page of this newspaper? No, let me put it in Daily Mail terms: “How dare he carry on? Cameron faces calls to resign.”
You may not be thinking about this yet. But count on it:David Cameron must be.
~~~
And the CBI are rowing backwards blaming their officers for joining the Better Together brigade.
Scottish independence: CBI reverses referendum stance
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-27159618
Naughtie, speaking from Scotland on Radio 4 this morning, described the SNP as ‘having the wind in their sails’. This follows a memorial for Margo McDonald at which her husband Jim Sillars spoke.
Sillars: Margo wanted ‘unity of purpose’ no matter referendum result
‘http://news.stv.tv/east-central/272870-jim-sillars-says-margo-macdonald-wanted-unity-after-referendum/
Given that the Battle of Bannockburn happened on the 24 June – it does beg the question as to why the current celebration/commemoration was not held on the weekend nearest to that date so as avoid a clash with the pre-existing date for the Armed Forces event. I suspect that are some Scots who would have liked to attend both.
and anyway Craig you are banned
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/organisers-next-years-battle-bannockburn-1927029
Of course in 2012 the celebrations were the weekend before – why was the date switched so as to clash with the Armed Forces date?
http://www.thesocietyofwilliamwallace.com/bannockburn2012.htm
Very interesting article.
It’s been a while since I visited and on seeing Fred’s
nonsensical, myopic ramblings I remembered why.
And to think, in his world, we have self-determination
with the current system…
Why argue?
Craig 23 Apr, 2014 – 11:55 pm
“So you think Polish independence and the fall of the Iron Curtain were bad things, to give but one of many examples?”
To argue that Polish independence resulted from nationalism ignores other factors. To then argue that such examples are evidence that nationalism is a good thing ignores the history of horrors resulting from nationalism. It is transparently fallacious bollocks.
Yes, we notice all the horrors resulting from British nationalism such as the Iraq War for example.
Kathy 26 Apr, 2014 – 3:15 pm
“Yes, we notice all the horrors resulting from British nationalism such as the Iraq War for example.”
Bloody horrible wasn’t it.
Kathy, you won’t find me defending British, English or any nationalism and as much as I have an opinion I prefer a yes vote. However, a country born out of nationalist drivel runs the risk of being just another pro-NATO, elite-loving European war machine led by the same old ruling classes.
“The Provost is the leader of the council, a New Labour fucking councilor. So “it wasn’t the council it was the Provost” is a stupid bit of bollocks even by your standards. Kempe, nobody claimed they changed the date.”
If the council had been consulted then it would be the council. They weren’t, the Provost did it without asking them, therefore it was the Provost. When he invited them he did not know what date it would be on and did not find out until after it was accepted. Just a mix up in my opinion, they happen all the time.
Simple logic, your blaming it on council members Labour or Conservative is the bolloks, it’s down to the Provost.
Just as ““Armed Forces Day is held every year at Edinburgh” was bolloks.
“You would have to be very naive to think that it is just an innocent coincidence rather than a sinister attempt to overshadow the Bannockburn commemoration and is directly connected to the independence vote. It shows a total disrespect to Scotland and will only increase the yes vote. In fact, you would think they wanted independence as all their actions just stir things up. Either that or they are very very stupid and behaving like colonialists with no regard to the sensitivities of the colony. Time to take action I think and end this unequal union.”
So who do you think are to blame? The council members like Craig? Well the Labour and Conservative councillors did nothing which the SNP councillors didn’t do and they make almost half the council.
Everyone but a fanatical few seem overjoyed that Armed Forces Day is to be held in Sterling, most see it as a great honour for Scotland. But the people of Scotland can have their say, they can choose for themselves which event they wish to go to.
“It’s been a while since I visited and on seeing Fred’s
nonsensical, myopic ramblings I remembered why.
And to think, in his world, we have self-determination
with the current system…”
First, who in the world, or in history have had more self determination?
Second should Scotland become independent what radically different system of government would they be using to give the people more self determination?
Can’t Nationalists do anything but chant mantras? Do they never come out of their deluded belief system into the real world.