#generation yes

An article on the BBC about an upcoming show going into the Indyref.

I can see that this is going to cause some anger, because I could actually feel my blood pressure rise just reading the article, so who knows what state I'm going to be in when I watch the show.

It's on the BBC, and I'll be reminded of a certain phrase akin to "we investigated ourselves, and we found that we did nothing wrong."

But for anyone with even the smallest grasp of reality and critical thinking, the propaganda machine was in overdrive around that time. News segments either on the TV or radio would have their newscaster read out a sentence from the Yes campaign, but give a live reading or showing to someone on the No side.

And they admit this in the article. Alan Little, a BBC journalist of 30 years says "that our responsibility was to produce a series of pieces to demonstrate how foolish it would be to vote Yes".

So impartial.

Look at the article. No quotes from anyone associated with the Yes campaign, nor any images either. But somehow images of Ed Miliband, Ruth Davidson, and Nick Robinson and a few select quotes make the cut.

One of the few satisfying moments post-indyref was witnessing people cancel their TV licence, such was their disgust at blatant lies and manipulation.

Perfectly normal to feel that way, despite it occurring nearly six weeks ago. However, the question I put to you is; what are you going to do now? It’s an issue that you obviously feel quite strongly about, otherwise you wouldn’t have asked me and written that you feel such grief.

There’s a general election in just over six months time. Are you going to get involved with political campaigning? Perhaps you already are, I’m just making assumptions here. Maybe you’re one of the tens of thousands that have gotten active and joined the SNP, making them the third-largest political party in the UK? There are still meetings to be attended. Political and non-political. This grassroots activism is something that we need to keep pushing and campaigning with. Go search on the twitter or the facebook to see if there are any local groups that you want to help out with. A couple of hours here or there… what’s that in the grand scheme of things? Very little!

Keep yourself active.

Keep yourself educated.

Keep yourself informed.

Not by reading the mainstream media whose views and bias became apparent during the refrendum. But no, read outside these traditional sources.  Come the general election, some chickens will certainly come home to roost. Perhaps an appropriate choice of poultry metaphor given that Scottish Labour continue to operate like headless chickens. Speaking of which, what is the point in taking the top job at Scottish Labour? Lamont quit because of too much interference from London Labour. I had to buy a new irony meter since my current one went off the fucking scale when I read that. Second question; why did it take Ed Miliband a whole year to work out whether or not Labour should oppose the bedroom tax? A Labour leader that doesn’t know if opposing Tory plans is a good idea? Does that sound like an alternative leader? Certainly not. And not one to deliver any swift action. A whole year. Ridiculous.

Continue to wear your Yes badge with pride.

Continue to believe yourself and your compatriots.

That’s the second best question I’ve been asked today. Although to be fair the other question was “do you want me to come into work instead of you tomorrow?” and I basically jumped at the opportunity to have a lie in.

Which specific issue do I find the most interesting? It’s difficult to say that there was a single issue that I found to be the best or even the most interesting. There’s part of me that looks at the political implications of Scotland becoming independent. The British Empire… what did it stand for? Colonialism, imperialism, slavery. Sure, it made some people fabulously wealthy and it is true that Scots were part of that too. But only through becoming part of the Union were they able to access this part of the Empire. Forward onto the middle of the twentieth century and Europe was split between governments of differing ideologies as democracy (of varying standards), fascism and communism took hold. Fascism, thankfully, was defeated in Europe and the people of the UK voted for a socialist Labour government. Hurrah for democracy! For all of the praise that Clement Attlee got (and quite rightly too), it was a little strange for a socialist to believe in the Empire. However, he believed in the Empire of its early days and that it was a force for good. That said, he also believed that they should govern themselves. And so, decolonisation came about and so did self-governance for these countries. And not one of these countries said “actually England, can you continue to make decisions for us as we might be a bit shit at it.” Nope, they all took independence. Every one of them. And it was this opportunity to say “actually, we’re meant to be a wealthy nation that has vast oil reserves, natural resources, a skilled and educated workforce… and yet there are people out there that have to work 45 hours per week and still go to a food bank to survive… and there are pensioners that have decide between paying for food or paying for heating… there are still parts of Glasgow where 50% of the population live BELOW the poverty level… and there are those that are rich enough to avoid paying tax at all…. hmm…. do you think we could have a go at governing ourselves for a change as Westminster has done nothing.”

Gas and electricity prices continue to rise and yet the companies regularly post record profits. Of course, not that the Scottish government would go through a period of reversing the privatisations of the Thatcher governments, but still… I wouldn’t see Westminster doing anything different.

Military spending and involvement continues to rise. Ho hum. Meanwhile Iain Duncan Smith wants to tax disability benefits. Lord Freud, a fucking welfare minister, comes out and says that disabled people aren’t “worth the minimum wage” and suggests that they should be working for £2 per hour.

Does that sound like the sort of thing that a government minister should be saying, let alone a welfare minister? £2 per hour. Disgusting comments from a member of a disgusting party. Meanwhile, it gets revealed that Facebook paid nothing in corporation tax in the UK this year! But hey, it’s so much easier to bash the working poor rather than multinational companies, right? That, of course, wouldn’t have anything to do with certain tax-dodging companies giving money directly to the Conservative party in donations? Of course not!

So, the best, specific issue that I find the most interesting is… democracy. Plain and simple. We would get the governments that we would vote for every time. They’d actually have to listen to the views of the Scottish people, rather than being treated as second-class citizens. Hey David Cameron… it’s been over a month since the referendum… you haven’t been back to Scotland yet despite being Prime Minister of the UK… why, it’s almost as if you don’t give a fuck about us. Oh… you don’t.

The British Empire is finished. Look at the House of Lords. Look at the Last Night of The Proms. Look at Nigel Farage, the Daily Mail, the Daily Express. All clinging to a way of life that only serves one kind of people; wealthy, pompous, arrogant, stuck-up snobs with faces that you’d never get tired of giving a kicking. Look at them all and ask yourself if they represent you or what you stand for. Because they don’t. A dying empire that will come to a halt one of these days soon enough. The deficit and debt continues to grow. Funny that George Osborne is starting to sweat a bit when he realises that, hey, he might need to tax the rich folk at last to pay for this crisis. Nope, of course not… he’ll continue to keep with his reckless financial plans and it’s only a matter of time before it comes crashing down. At which point, he personally won’t care because he’s rather rich. And a cunt. A smug-faced rich cunt.

Seem to have divulged a bit too much into that so I think I’ll stop there!

Sunday Herald front page, 19th October 2014.

Meanwhile, a YouGov survey this week on voting intentions for the general election in May 2015:

SNP: 41%

Con: 21%

Lab: 19%

Lib Dems: 9%

UKIP: 6%

Green: 5%

*splutters* Labour now in third place behind the Tories?!!?

I realise that this is taken from a small sample size, but really, could you ever have imagined a day where the Tories would be more 'popular' than Labour? In Scotland?!!? Well... Scottish Labour... that is what you get for standing side-by-side with them on the issue of independence! You will not win the next election without the support of Scotland. Simple as that.

Alas, my knowledge of Welsh Politics is somewhat lacking, so I’m not entirely certain about the history of Plaid Cymru. I did visit Cardiff a number of times, and I was in North Wales last week… and I got asked about my Yes badge as well and had to go into political discussion too. So there’s that!

Alright, so, Saunders Lewis said some comments about supporting fascist Spain and Franco. Quite frankly, I find fascism disgusting, but it’s time for a history recap, since there are things that I do know.

At the time Lewis made these comments… it was the thirties… the battle of extreme ideologies, fascism and communism, were about to come to a head in mainland Europe. Let’s not forget the fact that Daily Mail openly supported Adolf Hitler. There’s a picture of Viscount Rothermere (owner of the Daily Mail then) when he flew to Germany to actually meet Hitler. The Mail was openly supporting the British Union of Fascists and Oswald Mosley. In 1938, Rothermere sent a telegram to Hitler after he annexed the Sudetenland… saying “I salute your excellency’s star which rises higher and higher.” Of course, the telegrams continued well into Hitler’s campaigns in Czechoslovakia and Romania… despite the slaughter of human beings, the Mail turned a blind eye to it.

By the same admission in the thirties, Winston Churchill was also complimentary on Mussolini and Hitler. At least on a personal level, that is, not for what he would then go on to do. However, Churchill was probably fearful of communism. Certainly the abolition of monarchy and private property must have sat uneasy with those ruling classes in Britain!

So should Plaid Cymru be punished for what one of their founders said four generations ago? By the same admission, should the Labour party be praised for their socialist principles they had three generations ago? Why, you only need to ask yourself where those principles have gone as Tony Blair moved the party to the right, where they offer no alternative to the Tories.

Your talk of an alliance is certainly something that the SNP wouldn’t ignore. And given how close the next general election may be, the chance for both the SNP and PC to get a good representation, any government may be forced to look to them for support. But would they get it in light of the referendum? Ahh… the wonder of politics!

Listen, if the good people from the republics of Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds et al wish to break away from the union, then I’m all for it. If Scotland were independent, I’d be delighted to welcome them in as part of a new Northern Union!