I had to chortle at the latest news coming out of that ancient dusty monument to ersatz democracy, the cradle of the mythical ‘Precious Union’ (the greatest one-sided swindle since Scotsman Gregor MacGregor (con)vinced several hundred British and French investors in the first half of the 19th century that throwing huge piles of cash into government bonds and land certificates for a fictional Central American province he’d made up was a splendid idea).
This was news of serious import indeed, of Speaker of the House, wee John Bercow, he of the sacred “Order! Order!” getting his goony in a twisted knot over the silky keepie-uppie skills of SNP MP for Livingston Hannah Bardell, and a couple of her cross-party colleagues, having a wee kick aboot in the Commons Chamber.
Wee John, who doesn’t shout at his staff apparently, reckons ‘Our historic chamber should not be used for this type of activity.’ Seems a bit harsh to me that, particularly when he doesn’t seem to have a problem with the guffawing offspring of landed gentry and I didn’t get where I am today without kicking a sleeping homeless yob in the street and paying my workers under the odds on zero hours contracts self-made types, (not the type much driven to philanthropy) baying and spitting fury at the democratic representatives of the people of Scotland.
He doesn’t have an issue with said self-entitled types advising Scottish MP’s to commit suicide, or suggesting that Cromwell deporting Scots to the plantations was a great solution to a constitutional problem, or screeching loudly at the mention of reports detailing crippling poverty created under Tory mismanagement, trying to drown out debate, or even in the case of a former SNP female MP, he wasn’t that bothered about choruses of wolf-whistling every time she took to her feet to make a point. No, he’s not got a problem with any of that.
Nor even did his colleague, the Deputy Speaker, the other week when a Scottish MP was forced to continually repeat his question during a debate because the Tory opposite to whom he was addressing the question apparently couldn’t understand a clearly spoken Scottish accent. In the end the suggestion which came from the Speakers nest was that the Scot puts his question in writing. How crass and cringe-worthy is that?
I’d say these footballing ladies efforts are a refreshing change from the normal unruly child-like behaviour of the majority of the grandstanding attendees of that chamber, a place so far removed from the 21st century that, as Mhairi Black once described it, if there’s a problem during a vote, a miscount or somebody is deliberately delaying the process, they send for a guy with a big sword to sort it out.
I’m surprised they ever actually get anything of any worth done. It’s certainly never been a place that has made decisions that put the people of Scotland’s views at the top of its list of priorities, and as such will never be an appropriate forum to promote Scotland forward into a modern progressive self-reliant nation. Scotland needs to leave Westminster behind. Leave them to their pantomime squabbling, to their dreams of the past, in a tired museum to a greatness that for the most part never really existed.
The sooner that change comes about the better. Let’s do it.
itisintruthnotforglory 