THE most chilling, frightening statement from Boris Johnson yet when he barked back at Angela Eagle, in Westminster. After 41% of his MPs failed to support him in the vote of confidence, Johnson said: “Absolutely nothing and no-one, least of all her, is going to stop us with getting on with delivering for the British people”. The chilling bits: “Absolutely nothing and no-one ... is going to stop us.”
This is yet another step down a staircase to a dungeon. An insidious creep in the direction that the brilliant Mhairi Black described on May 28.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson risks backbench rebellion over plan to rip up Northern Ireland Protocol
Consider the following things. Peaceful protest can now turn into a criminal record, via the Policing Bill, which also affects the Traveller community. The UK Government now control the Electoral Commission. The Elections Bill requires voters to present ID to polling staff and the UK Government can decide what counts as “fair campaigning”. In recent time the UK Government have stripped people of their citizenship, easier now because of their Nationality and Borders Bill. The Brexit Freedoms Bill will remove the 1998 Human Rights Act from the statutes.
Recently our Holyrood Parliament passed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Bill into Scottish law (the UK Government has been under obligation in international law to comply with this since 1991, but they have not). The UK Government took us to the Supreme Court, where it was decided that some sections of the bill are outside the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament. All of this has shades of legislative roads taken during the 1930s, and when Johnson supporters blame different groups of people for the problems, all of us are dragged deeper.
READ MORE: Brexit impact causes successful Scots firm to end all international trade
The UK Government is sliding around on thin ice like a skating champion with crutches. As predicted, the mess of Brexit is diminishing the standards of living of us all. Workers are in the panic that inflation causes. So unions threaten strike action – they know worker supply is short, and commodities and consumer goods have been choked off. The government blames the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Blame is a word that never sits comfortably with me, but if we are looking for scapegoats, those who support the 211 Tory MPs who said they have confidence in Johnson could be a place to start.
All this, and more, causes challenges for Kate Forbes, our Finance Secretary, who yet again has to explain to Conservative MSPs that the Scottish Government cannot have debt. We give Westminster a muckle o’ revenue and they return a wee bit for us to survive off. Various news reporters try to evoke the idea that Nicola Sturgeon and Kate Forbes drive the trains and empty rubbish bins when they knock off from Holyrood each evening.
Then there are the cursory comments about inflation in the rest of the world and how things are just as bad, if not worse, over in “they foreign bits”. I noticed a tweet from Ruth Richie on May 28, when a litre of petrol then was just under £1.70 from a supermarket here, Ruth was sunning herself in the Canary Islands, where the same amount of fuel was £1.40. She reminded that the Islands have to import all, yet here in Scotland, with a sea full of the stuff … I had to paid £1.98 a couple of days ago.
READ MORE: 'Starting gun' must be fired on indyref2, says Alex Salmond
The UK has no way out of this spiral, there is no way back to European Union. The Tory government dragging back the failures of Margaret Thatcher and the sale of council houses – a policy which, it could be argued, has caused much homelessness.
Ncuti Gatwa, the fine Scottish actor who was born in Rwanda but whose family fled from the 1994 genocide when he was just two years old, will climb aboard the Tardis and a great future as the new Doctor Who, just as Priti Patel starts sending asylum seekers to Rwanda. At the same time, or maybe a different time altogether, Boris Johnson and co continue to travel back in time.
For anyone who is in favour of this is the surreal, dystopian set-up, I will mix the sci-fi. Scotland is about to move onward and upward away from the chaos and to a future of independence: “make it so”’.
Cher Bonfis
via email
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here