I WONDER if there is a filing cabinet deep in the British Library where they keep their hyperboles, because in these crazy times we are fast running out of hyperboles for a democratic deficit not seen since the days of the Rotten Boroughs.
We have no alternative if we mean to protect our current lifestyle than to remove ourselves from this abusive Union. The prospect of a government of national unity being floated by right-wing Labour MP Stephen Kinnock and other red and blue Tories, and the existence of the new Act of Union Bill being promoted by the Constitution Reform Group, are the ultimate existential threats to our nation, never mind their contempt of the preceding months.
And it might be closer than you think. On September 22 CND’s Nae Nukes Anywhere protest takes place at Faslane and god help us if a mad Unionist zealot acquires an RPG launcher and fires a tin of red paint at the nearest conning tower. Martial law at the drop of a hat throughout the Cowal peninsula, with identity cards for locals to go about their daily business. Fantasy? Well, we can only hope, but in this age of everywhere hyperbole who can know?
So onwards and upwards to indyref2 once the Supreme Court have decided for or against our parliament’s Continuity Bill. I had previously imagined that as a central plank in the British establishment they were bound to decide against us, with more grist to our over-worked mill. But hints are that if it goes against the English Westmonsters, they’ll just ignore it with Carry On Brexit in the best tradition of Sid James, Barbara Windsor and Co.
Unfortunately there are few lessons from indyref 1 which we can apply, for we are now pitted against BritNat fundamentalists with commitment and zeal for their cause in adversity. Even the Donald’s not the friend they took him for, and their Dunkirk spirit will be supercharged in their self-inflicted darkest hour.
They’ve already plundered our oil, and they’re coming for everything else now. To them the desperate Brexit outcome that most of us fear is a mere matter of dusting off their Dunkirk spirit and repelling foreigners, on the beaches if necessary. It’s all about a bit of stoicism and determination after all. Remember Goose Green and the plucky expeditionary force sent thousands of miles to see off the Argies? Think Iraq, on second thoughts maybe too much like a Brexit mess. But the BritNat is entirely capable of self-delusion when it comes to his/her place in the world and the power of jingoism.
So our strategy has to be based on ensuring that the Yes vote is holding up, that the previous soft No’s have standards of integrity shamed by Westmonster’s continuing duplicity, and the not-so-soft No’s are now consumed by the fear of the Great Brexit cock-up and the threat to their self-interest.
If that’s the strategy, what’s the tactic? Will it be a full frontal re-run of indyref1, a Dissolve the Union campaign now that we’ve reaffirmed the sovereignty of the Scottish people in the inner sanctum of Westminster only last week, or is there a third way?
With a re-run of indyref1 we will face a recumbent but cornered English lion which will fight unscrupulously to retain its sense of privilege over the troublesome jocks, and the full might of the mainstream media will be deployed to pressurise the tartan constituencies of the Daily Mail and Express from voting. The depressed turnout will discredit the result.
And don’t forget the No More Referendum Party with its bottomless pit of dark money. A dissolution of the Union is justified as in the past couple of months it’s been more honoured in the breach than the observance, but I’m reliably informed SNP thinking is that dissolving the Union is unlikely to win the undecideds we need. So the third way is a combination of the two.
A proposal: the referendum is held, but on a draft constitution put together once our SNP MPs have walked out of Westminster for the last time and given Notice of the Dissolution of the Treaty of Union to be ratified following the successful vote on the constitution. Rather than merely offer a binary choice of independence or no independence, this offers a positive choice. Make people feel positive about voting for the Scottish Health Service enshrined in the constitution, and for the end of nukes because it’s in the constitution. Let’s give hope to young people for a future in a fair and equitable country because it’s in the constitution. What’s not to like? Who in the electorate wouldn’t vote for that?
Iain Bruce
Nairn
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