I thought at first that maybe it was a wind up. Surely yesterday’s Scottish edition of the obsessionally xenophobic and hateful Daily Mail was just up to its usual trick of stirring up the shyte when it comes to rubbishing the undeniable right of Scotland’s citizens to return to having a government of their own peers, and stop being controlled by a neighbouring country.
If the Mail’s report that henceforth the democratically elected First Minister of Scotland will no longer have access to the Prime Minister of the UK, the UK which apparently is supposed to be a partnership of nations (I decline to include the word equal in that sentence as equality has never at any stage been demonstrated in this partnership) in any way turns out to be true, then this is a step too far for London to take.
An unnamed Tory minister apparently advised the paper that from now on the status of the First Minister will be downgraded, in the London government’s view, to the level where any contact she has with the ruling power will require her to go through David Mundell, the Secretary of State for nowhere, whose remit simply requires him to spend considerable amounts of taxpayers money to promote British unionism in Scotland, and some other guy who was rapidly promoted undemocratically to the undemocratic pension supplementing home of retired Tory and Labour politicians, and party fund contributors, the House of Lords, because the citizens of the constituency where he was a candidate in the recent General Election did not consider him worthy enough to become their Member of Parliament.
Apparently the First Minister of Scotland meeting with the Prime Minister of England and the surrounding countries which England still rules gives false credence to the notion that a leader of a devolved democratic parliament in a country which has had an organised form of constitutional governance in place since before England became established as a country, is a leader of international status, and falsely misrepresents that prime Scottish government role as of an equal status to the Prime Minister of England and the remaining surrounding countries it still rules.
Looking at the current politicians who occupy both of these posts it is clear that in terms of ability alone the opposite is correct. In comparison to the First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, the Prime Minister of England and the surrounding neighbours it still rules, Theresa May’s abilities to communicate well, to empathise, to form strategic solutions to complex problems, and simply, to lead, are very poor, which may well suggest that the Mail’s report is correct. Denying Nicola Sturgeon contact saves May from one reminder of her many shortcomings and weaknesses, one of several.
Again, if it’s true, this decision is not just an insult to the government of Scotland, it is a slight on all of the people of Scotland. One more example of English rule over what it considers a region, not a country. Westminster is flexing its muscles.
It doesn’t do to knee jerk into a reaction on these things but as Gandhi made his salt I think the time is approaching when not eating Teacakes isn’t quite going to cut it, but always, always in the form of peaceful non violent protest. In 2014 all that was needed was make a mark on a slip of paper. We do like to make it hard for ourselves, us Scots.
itisintruthnotforglory 