I FIND it ironic, highly ironic, that in this day of multiple media platforms people still try and push their own unsubstantiated agenda on social media. They do this paying very little attention to what is said when they are challenged by a very large and very politically savvy independence movement.
Some comments have not moved on from 2013/14, indeed some have not moved on since 1690, such is their deeply entrenched dogma.
Since 2014 we in Scotland have witnessed a slow erosion to the foundations of the imperial way. There was the now infamous “Vow” in the press, Gordon Brown’s “federalisation” promise, and of course the cold-call scare stories as spread by activists of the London-registered parties – stories that have all been exposed for the wretched and vile lies of the establishment.
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This is not just any establishment, this one is scared, very scared of losing its cash cow and to be honest the quickest of glances at history reveals the treatment that the voters of Scotland experienced to be similar to that of every cash cow the empire has lost.
Since the vote of 2014, instead of the independence movement collapsing we have held firm in our support, and indeed step by step we have gathered converts from No to Yes. As this has been happing the unelected head of state has had her family rocked by yet more scandals. The question of why we need religious and temporal lords debating legislation at great expense to the public purse is one that has not gone away.
Then of course we have had the conduct of the elected administration in Downing Street, Cameron’s reneging on the Vow and the heavily diluted Smith Commission, then Cameron’s EU referendum. This was then followed by the complete disaster of Theresa May’s government, which at its end witnessed her departure and Johnson’s arrival.
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The pandemic crisis has tested every government worldwide and there have been good policies and poor policies with all of them, but I am fairly sure the Johnson administration has had one of the most disjointed responses to this crisis. In my opinion it is all about leadership. Any country that has had strong, decisive leadership has taken a hit but is rebounding, and any country that has had poor leadership – well, their future is still very dark indeed.
Unfortunately for our little North Atlantic archipelago, England’s leadership has been at best absent and at worst negligent. This will undoubtedly have a knock-on effect with the other countries within this island chain, and I have a strong suspicion that we are not out of the woods yet.
Hancock’s interview on TV on Sunday morning has done nothing to raise my confidence in the Downing Street clowns. Here I hope that I am so wrong, but listening to the Cabinet minister it would appear they are changing their own rules to suit the opening up of London, get the south-east moving again! Surely they could not be so callous that they are prepared to sacrifice many regions outside of the south-east to get their pound signs moving again. As I said, I hope that I am wrong as I have no wish nor desire to see anymore families blighted by this virus.
Scotland needs to stand ready to meet the challenges of the post-pandemic world. We should not allow that weak administration in Downing Street to dictate the agenda; no longer shall they bully us Scots to their self-serving ways. Personally, once it is safe to do so I think the Yes movement needs to hold the mother of all marches and rallies. Here I lean on the organisational skills of others that are so very good and so very much appreciated. These events are now attracting a worldwide audience.
There is clear water opening up between the political desires of Scotland and our neighbour south of the Rio Tweed and just think, all they had to do was honour a vow!
Cliff Purvis
Veterans for Scottish Independence 2.0
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