Rishi Sunak's 'extremist' comment should not be surprising

There is an old saying in certain circles “know your enemy”. That includes another dimension of the state, identified by Antonio Gramsci, as one of the many repressive arms of the state, in this case the mass media.

The Daily Express ran a story on Tuesday, January 21, 2020, titled “Senior cops fears of summer violence on Scotland’s streets”. The text stated that a senior police officer (ACC Will Kerr) had fears that sectarian tensions combined with continued arguments over indyref 2 could have led to violence on Scotland’s streets in the summer of 2020. How well do senior police officers know THEIR enemy?

Another couple of points by way of conclusion. The “Scottish” Daily Express, a few pages in, changes to being described as the Daily Express on the top left-hand corner of the paper.

Many members of the Scottish independence movement dismiss the Scottish Daily Mail and Scottish Daily Express as “rags” and yet on my never-ending tour talking to ordinary people about indy, many of those people unconsciously quote the headlines of these publications almost verbatim.

The Unionist populist press should not be underestimated. They are extremely effective propaganda and can influence the winning or losing of referenda!

Finally, it has been pointed out to me that very few Scottish police officers reach the upper echelons of the force. Those who do are trained elsewhere in the UK.

Can readers guess where?
WJ Graham
East Kilbride

RISHI Sunak labels as “extremists” Scots who want to end the disastrous union with England.

This is classic gaslighting, a form of emotional manipulation that occurs in abusive relationships. The abuser misleads and lies to the abused, making it question its own judgments and reality. Gaslighting occurs over time. In Scotland’s case, it’s gone on for 317 years, embedding a chronic sense of inferiority and deficiency within its collective psyche – the “Scottish cringe” – resulting in dependency upon its UK abuser.

Colonial powers rely on gaslighting to subjugate their colonies, and the UK has had more experience than most other nations on the planet in perfecting this particular technique.

Gaslighting behaviours include: Lying habitually, telling the colony that it is too wee, too poor and too stupid to survive without its protection. It never backs down even when confronted with evidence that contradicts its lies.

Discrediting the colony, calling the colonised “extremists” who are undermining the superior values of the colonial power, when those “values” are domination and exploitation of the colony. It feigns concern but spreads rumours that the colony is unable to make decisions for itself.

Shifting blame, faulting the colony for faltering public services when it knows full well that the colony doesn’t have the power to create money, or control its resources or economic policy.

Using caring words as weapons – “the precious union,” “broad shoulders,” “better together,” “I’ll always be there for you” – to quell unrest and paper over the cracks.

And supplanting the colony’s history, hiding its constitution, removing its languages and suppressing its culture, imposing its own history, constitution, language and culture in their place.

The UK is the extremist and the sooner Scots wake up to this reality the sooner we can end this failing union.
Leah Gunn Barrett
Edinburgh

I JUST wish that someone in the SNP hierarchy would have the guts to tell Sunak that he is a liar, and the party’s MPs walk out of Westminster until he apologises.
John Muir
via thenational.scot

ANAS Sarwar (above) claims that the three Labour Party candidates from the south of England have some kind of connection with Scotland. In fact they live nearer to the Scottish Labour Party’s headquarters than any of the other candidates for Scotland.

READ MORE: Scottish Labour's newest election candidate is based in London

Perhaps Anas Sarwar can explain why the decision was made to register the Labour Party’s branch that it calls the “Scottish Labour Party” with the Electoral Commission at 20 Rushworth Street, London instead of at an address in Scotland.
John Jamieson
South Queensferry

DAVID Cameron (below) has retained his Tory brass neck attitude in order to preserve the Tory government policy of always being in the right and never wrong in its pronunciations.

This time it’s his accusation that Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t have a plan for protecting the Gazan people from the attacks made by the Israeli Defence Force, this time in Rafah.

Cameron has no plans made in order to call a halt to the UK manufacturing companies who deal in the arms business with Israel.

His only reference to why not is it not being a “wise path” whatever that might mean. He bases his reasoning on his government’s licensing system which, ironically, is based on the risk of human rights violations.

It’s okay for him to state that the UK arms business with Israel is less than 0.1% compared to America’s 1000lb bombs for example.

Of the UK manufacturers supplying Israel, BAE Systems supplies arms to Israel, including components for F-15, F-16, and F-35 fighter jets. In addition, there are already 28 existing and 28 pending licences for military equipment from the UK that may be used by Israel in Gaza.

The total cost of exports to Israel last year was more than £3 billion.

Make what you will of how much of that is for arms sales but it’s still a whole lot of taxpayers’ money involved.
Alan Magnus-Bennett
Fife