Courtesy of an anonymous commenter on the previous thread, I've now seen Alex Massie's column in full, and it's even worse than I thought. It effectively contains a repudiation of the most fundamental principle of parliamentary democracy, which is pretty extraordinary from someone who imagines himself to be a traditional moderate conservative. The strength of parliamentary democracy, we're generally told, is that it's not rule by whim or rule by impulse - a party puts forward a manifesto containing a considered package of proposals, and voters give that party a broad mandate to implement its programme. The result of a general election is not then frivolously over-ridden by random opinion polls saying "yeah, but we don't like that bit of the programme, just leave that bit out, actually".
Massie is now elevating opinion polls above parliamentary democracy by saying it's inconceivable that the elected SNP-Green government should be allowed to honour its manifesto commitment of an independence referendum because there are purportedly ComRes or YouGov polls saying the voters aren't enthusiastic about a referendum in 2023. (In reality, the polling evidence on voters' preferred timing for an indyref is a lot more complicated and contradictory than he'd care to admit.) He apparently thinks the 'government by YouGov' principle is so self-evident that anyone who argues in favour of parliamentary democracy instead is being knowingly fatuous.
This really shouldn't need saying, but no country has introduced rule by opinion poll yet, and there are exceptionally good and obvious reasons why. First of all, polls can be inaccurate. They have a margin of error, but sometimes they're not even accurate to within the stated margin of error. Secondly, they can be easily manipulated with leading question wordings - the propaganda polls Survation regularly carry out for Scotland in Union are the most obvious example, but there are subtler forms of manipulation too. And most fundamentally of all, polls are throwaway affairs. Respondents are giving an instantaneous reaction to questions they may not have previously encountered or considered in any depth. By contrast, most voters in general elections will have thought about their decision carefully and at considerable length. Elections are a serious business, opinion polls are (relatively) disposable.
And, actually, the word 'serious' brings me to another of Massie's recurring themes. When Nicola Sturgeon was in "do nothing" mode, he used to praise her to the skies as a "serious" political leader, drawing an implicit contrast with "unserious" activists or politicians who actually want to take some kind of action to overcome Westminster's anti-democratic obstructionism of Scottish self-determination. Now that Sturgeon has - temporarily and/or superficially at least - moved to the other camp, Massie is of course blasting her for "looking unserious". (This is the Alyn Smith school of politics, where the main objective is to avoid at all costs "looking odd" when viewed through some sort of centrist dad prism.) Even more absurdly, he's claiming that "do nothing" would be a far better strategy for achieving independence, because for some fantastical reason he's never specified, he expects us to believe that Westminster will eventually agree to an independence referendum if we just wait for enough years or decades.
But let's imagine that Sturgeon had actually done what Massie thought she should do, or what he thought "a serious leader" would do. That would have meant that, having won an election on an unambiguous pledge to hold a referendum, she would then have said that obviously she can't honour her promise because Boris Johnson doesn't fancy the idea and mumble mumble something about YouGov. It's hard to think of anything that would carry a more fundamentally unserious look than that. It would be treating voters with utter contempt, it would be treating the whole process of democratic elections as a meaningless farce.
To be frank, the best that can be said for Massie is that he's making a set of mind-bogglingly stupid propositions look intelligent or defensible with the use of some elegant prose.
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It’s already been stated by the Westminster Speaker in writing and was witnessed by many that The Scottish people have a claim of right, source: Hansard.
ReplyDelete“That this House endorses the principles of the Claim of Right for Scotland, agreed by the Scottish Constitutional Convention in 1989 and by the Scottish Parliament in 2012, and therefore acknowledges the sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine the form of government best suited to their needs."
We do not require permission or a Section 30 order.
Thanks for stating the obvious. It seems to be beyond the wit and wisdom of many around here that it is up to the Scottish electorate to determine our future. I find it a tad hard to see why we are bending for one moment to Westminster. We would most obviously lose if the electorate was UK wide.
DeleteIt isn't. It is whomsoever has a right to vote here in Scotland.
My own reaction includes a sweary word and Westminster.
Disregard unionist propaganda and push on !
ReplyDeleteGoing to stick my neck out and say the SNP haven't dealt with Gradygate very well.
ReplyDeleteHow very bold of you Keaton. Try posting that on WGD and be very bold.
DeleteI see you worked up the courage to raise the matter on WGD but the numpties gave the expected response - it's all the Britnats fault. The usual head in the sand stuff. No Britnat forced groper Grady to carry out his offence. No one forced the SNP to then attempt a cover up. No one forced the SNP to abuse the victim further. The SNP provided the Britnats with an open goal. The numpties think the Britnats are at fault for taking advantage of the open goal. No wonder I call them numpties.
DeleteHouse Scots like Massie just cannot stand Field Scots making a bid for freedom as it threatens their elevated position working for their colonial master.
ReplyDeleteThere is something truly wrong with the WGD numpties. They continually go on about the lies and bias of the Britnat media but fail to ask why did Sturgeon call the BBC a key and valued institution. They also manage to blank out the large amount of money given by the the Scottish Government to the Britnat media. Of course Swinney could have stood his ground and insisted on the devolution of the media during the Smith Commission but did nothing. These are the actions of devolutionalists and therefore unionists. The SNP leadership garner votes by claiming to support independence but their actions refute this.
ReplyDeleteFor goodness sake even the Big Dug himself in his most recent post is moaning about the BBC being against independence and completely biased. Andrew Marr is a Unionist he tells us - no shit Sherlock. Next he will be telling us Johnston is a liar and not a very nice chap. Oh wait a minute - he tells us that every second Monday of the month but was happy to punt the Sturgeon message that Johnson will see sense and concede a Sec 30. Not a word in his article about why Sturgeon loves the anti independence BBC and why she gives money to the Britnat media and none to any independence media. For that I reckon the big dug is the biggest WGD numpty or a plain old charlatan.
DeletePS :- anyone remember the SNP launching its unit designed to pull up the Britnat media about its lies and misrepresentation. Another SNP damp squib that did nothing. Anyone remember who was in charge of this unit. Is this unit now got a big supply of red bull to get it recharged to tackle all the Britnat crap filling TV programmes and papers. No chance - it was just more carrots for the donkeys to keep them happy until they think up some other short term diversion.
Why is it only now that it’s been decided a section 30 order is not required to proceed with Indyref2?
ReplyDeleteEssentially if the Scottish Parliament pass the Bill. Then its the will of the people represented by the will of the elected parliamentarians. That's how democracy operates. Alex doesn't like it, but his argument is incoherent, contradictory and personal.
ReplyDeleteBoris Johnston says he is not going to change his character. It seems he expects others to lower their standards. It's already happening in England in large numbers and in Scotland you have Sturgeons gang and the extreme supporters on WGD who exhibit their acceptance of what decent people would have said was unacceptable behaviour. Standards not of the gutter but of the sewers.
ReplyDeleteThe mad liar Irish Skier says this should be part of a new independence slogan "end British dictatorship and restore Scottish democracy."
ReplyDeleteJust when was Scotland a democracy? What time are we restoring back to? Scotland has NEVER been a democracy.