Thursday, January 19, 2023

No, Mr Kavanagh, "decent nationalists" have not suddenly started rejecting independence and cheering on Tory rule in Scotland. You'll find that people who do that sort of thing are generally known as "Unionists".


Above is another incredibly revealing tweet, which presumably refers in part to Wings blogger Stuart Campbell's announcement two days ago that he no longer supports independence (or, to use his careful euphemisms, that he "is the least Yes he has ever been" and that his "conscience" would now prevent him from campaigning for independence - and presumably from voting for it).  It's not just Mr Campbell, of course, but many of the others in the same category are people he's led along like the Pied Piper of Hamelin.  It was absolutely fine to give voice to the concerns about the GRR Bill - it was a terrible piece of legislation and I opposed it myself.  But there is nothing inevitable, or even logical, about opposition to the Bill morphing into hostility towards Scottish independence or Scottish self-government.  What is unforgivable about Mr Campbell's role in this drama is that he's brainwashed a number of people - albeit mercifully only a tiny minority - into believing that cheering on the Tories as they trash devolution is somehow the only stance that is consistent with support for women's sex-based rights.

Which I think in turn has led to others with an anti-independence agenda (ie. "you can only be a 'decent' person if you oppose independence"), such as Dennis Noel Kavanagh, to overplay their hand massively.  They looked at Mr Campbell's passionate embrace of the Westminster veto, leaped to the conclusion that everybody else in Scotland must be reacting in the same way, and were emboldened to imagine they could suddenly say things out loud that they were previously too cautious to say, in case they alienated independence supporters who otherwise agreed with them on the GRR issue.  But the reality is that nothing has changed.  "Decent nationalists" still have no intention whatever of making a false choice between independence and women's rights, and thus they still passionately support independence - the clue is in the word "nationalist".  Mr Campbell - of all people - is not representative of "decent nationalists", because he no longer supports independence and is therefore not a Scottish nationalist of either the decent or indecent persuasion.  I understand that Mr Kavanagh is London-based and may not be well-versed with the vocabulary of the constitutional debate here, but surely if he'd taken a step back before posting his tweet, he'd have realised that a nationalist Unionist is a contradiction in terms (unless the nationalism in question is British nationalism).

Presumably with a name like Kavanagh, he's either originally from Ireland or has an Irish family background.  Which is somewhat ironic, because the Republic of Ireland introduced gender self-ID several years ago, and yet I doubt if even a single opponent of that law in Ireland reacted by saying "oh well, that's it, then, we'll have to let the Brits take over so they can overrule our democratically-elected parliament".  No, what they do instead is organise and campaign in Ireland with the hope of reaching a tipping point where at least one major Irish political party supports repeal - and once they get that far, they'll campaign to get that party into power.  That's how it works in a self-governing country.  That's the democratic process you support if you truly believe in self-government for your own country - if you're not, in short, what Jim Sillars called a "ninety-minute nationalist", who crumples and reverts to the comfort blanket of "UKOK" at the first sign of any discomfort or difficulty.  And good luck to anyone in either Ireland or Scotland who is daft and naive enough to think London rule is the answer to this problem, because in all likelihood we're only a year-and-a-bit away from a Starmer government which will impose self-ID across the whole UK anyway.  It'll be with a minimum age of 18 rather than 16, but it'll still be self-ID.

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I raised an eyebrow at some of the BBC's reporting of the veto.  They called the GRR Bill a "draft Bill", which is an incredibly odd way to describe a Bill that actually completed the entire legislative process with the sole exception of Royal Assent.  Presumably they did that to play down the significance of the veto.  And both James Cook and Chris Mason suggested the SNP's opposition to the Section 35 order was "complicated" by the fact that they voted in the Commons to pass the Scotland Act in 1998, knowing that Section 35 was in it.  I mean, what?  By the time the whole Act was being voted on, it was a take it or leave it package.  By voting against that package, the SNP would have been voting to uphold direct London rule in Scotland.  And yet if you buy into Cook's and Mason's logic, the SNP should have voted in favour of direct London rule in order to defeat Section 35.  It's a complete nonsense even by BBC standards.

I think what's going on here is that Cook spotted that the Tories had raised serious concerns about Section 35 in 1998, when they described it as a "Governor-General clause".  They also tried unsuccessfully to amend it to address those concerns.  Cook quite rightly pointed out that this potentially gives rise to a charge of Tory double-standards now, but seemingly he felt he could only get away with saying that by manufacturing a "false balance", which he did by suggesting that the SNP's position is also somehow contradicted by what they did in 1998.  It really, really isn't.

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11 comments:

  1. Usual BBC false balance which always results in unionist favour. Devolution dirty waters guaranteed to splash everyone in the "they're all the same" manner. Will Sturgeon still go ahead with court action against Section 35? Who'll be splashed the most? If she doesn't she'll be accused of leading pro indepence supporters up the hill and down again - again. Meanwhile independence is still suffocated by Westminster law and its adherents in the SNP leadership.

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  2. Good article once again James. We are plagued with two types of useless independence supporters. Britnats ain't the only people preventing Scottish independence.

    1. The useless type who say I ain't supporting independence any more because the SNP have done this or introduced this policy or not done something e.g. Campbell and others re GRR. Campbell perhaps should apply his conscience and think about all the other people adversely affected by Scotland being run by the tax dodging crooks in Westminster. A lot more are currently being adversely affected by Westminster now. If Sturgeon prioritised independence, indeed if she gave it any priority at all, she would have never pressed ahead with GRR and left it until after independence. It's hard to say how many are in this category but I feel safe in saying GRR will have increased the number.

    2. The WGD/SNP numpty types who are ultra loyal to Sturgeon and will just go along with anything Sturgeon says or does even when it is plainly not helping Scottish independence one little bit and often is to the detriment of independence.

    At least category 1 admit they are not helping independence and can clearly see that is the case. Category 2 seem to suffer from a sort of mental illness or mass hypnosis.

    With regards to Sect 35 Neale Hanvey said Salmond objected to it. More importantly, it shows up Labour for what they are and always have been colonial Britnats for whom democracy is only for England.

    Strangely enough I have developed a strong aversion to the surname Kavanagh.

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    Replies
    1. I'd take category 2 over 1 any day. Although perhaps deluded I'd take eternal optimism over eternal misery and when a vote does come, group 2 will at least be loyal. Group 1 will only support independence if it's the exact type independence they envision, otherwise the toys come out the pram.

      Group 1 aren't as upfront as you say. They won't call themselves unionists. They say, we must have x and y fixed first and THEN I'll support independence or I do support it, but I have other priorities that need to happen before I can fully get behind, yada yada..

      You either support it or you don't.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous - you clearly missed the part where I said group 2 accept actions "to the detriment of independence" e.g. Sturgeon keeps on year after year producing the massive propaganda gift to the Britnats called GERS.

      It wasn't my intention to ask for preferences between both groups - both are useless independence supporters. You seem to think Group 2 are optimists - nope just extreme loyalty to a political party combined with rank stupidity.
      " When a vote does come," The old Einstein saying comes in to play here - keep accepting year after year the same Sturgeon promise and expecting something different to happen is the definition of insanity. Or cuckoos and flying over a nest.

      " You either support it or you don't" - try telling that to the self declared "soft yes" person in Salmonds criminal trial.

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  3. Time for Humour as Grousebeater would say on his twitter account.

    WGD numpty and proven liar Dr Skier says:- " Mostly, I'm a campaigner for the truth."

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  4. Supporters of independence are not necessarily SNP supporters. there is only one goal for all of us - getting out of the Union. All the other stuff is just a distraction. If you don't like the GRR bill, then once we are independent vote for the party who will get rid of it. If you hate Nicola Sturgeon - who cares? As long as you keep your eyes on our ultimate goal - INDEPENDENCE, Stuart Campbell is not a stupid man and I followed Wings at the time of the first Referendum. I really don't know what has happened to him. There is just no sense in the stance he is taking if he truly believes Scotland should be free. Let him vote for Alba or even the Greens if he cannot stomach voting SNP. Very strange.

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    1. Alba would have to stand a candidate in Bath for him.

      Seeing how they missed my ward in Edinburgh, and much more of Scotland besides, that might be a bit of a stretch for them.

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    2. He can't vote for anything in Scotland he's lived in England for 30 years

      Delete
  5. Scottish Independence Voting Intention (undecideds excluded):

    NO: 54% (+1)
    YES: 46% (-1)

    Via
    @Survation
    , On 10-12 January,
    Changes w/ 24-28 March 2022.

    POLL: if the next General Election was a de facto referendum on Scottish independence, how would you vote:

    Westminster Voting Intention (Scotland):

    SNP: 43% (-1)
    LAB: 29% (-2)
    CON: 18% (+2)
    LDM: 7% (+1)

    Via
    @Survation
    , On 10-12 January,
    Changes w/ 22 Dec-1 Jan.

    SNP: 38%
    LAB: 22%
    CON: 16%
    LDN: 6%
    Undecided: 11%
    Wouldn’t vote: 4%

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  6. Another Survationn poll out?

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  7. He's a turncoat - traitor to our cause - fk him. That's what I think. Still, he's now irrelevant. Everything he does harms our cause, yet his cult-followers, who drank the Wos-aid, inexplicably believe he has some sort of secret plan. Newsflash - no secret plan - he's bitter, disgruntled and no longer importat.

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