Today's video commentary below is in two parts. Firstly, I look at how Nigel Farage's complaint that almost one-third of Glasgow school pupils do not speak English as a native language marks out Reform UK, as never before, as an out-and-out far-right party, rather than merely as "right-wing populist" or as "radical right". The point is that there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to change their native language - Farage is therefore objecting to something intrinsic and immutable about the people themselves, rather than about a failure to learn English or to integrate. His unspoken implication is that the only "solution" to the "problem" is to deport these people, or to just barely tolerate their presence as less worthy people who should never have been here in the first place - which is pretty much indistinguishable from the Nazis' initial attitude to German Jews in 1933/34.
I also point out the irony that if Reform UK had been a far-right party rooted in Scottish nationalism, it would probably have regarded a declining number of school pupils who speak English as a first language as a good thing, because it would regard Scots rather than English as the indigenous language of Glasgow. So unwittingly Reform have not only identified themselves as far-right, but as a far-right party of another country trying to impose a "Greater English" culture on our own nation.
That gives me the convenient opportunity to respond to a video I stumbled across in the summer from the YouTube channel Metatron's Academy - a channel which features many videos comparing closely related Romance languages and showing how they have a high level of mutual intelligibility, while firmly stressing they are indeed different languages. But curiously, when the channel covers the speech of Scottish people and finds there is sometimes a greater barrier of intelligibility than there is between, say, Spanish and Portuguese speakers, it fails to join up the dots and recognise that this barrier means that the speech constitutes something other than the English language, rather than being just English in "a very hard accent to understand".
The Metatron's Academy video that I mention can be found HERE, while my 2021 interview with Len Pennie about the Scots language is HERE.
Did he mention if the wains in Glesga spoke Scots, Gaelic, mandarin, bbc English and other languages? The barons don’t care they just want to play with their pals and enjoy themselves. Sadly I was speaking to an neighbour who appears to support reform complaining about immigrants.She is Episcopalian and I said based on that approach she would ban Jesus or any of the disciples to these shores. Merry Christmas
ReplyDeleteBasically the right: If they come here they should integrate and learn the language. But they shouldn't learn it in schools or with English teachers.
ReplyDeleteWhich language? Scots? Standard Scottish English? Gaelic? Or would Del Boy prefer London English, and if so, which variety?
DeleteFools rush in...
Standard English, Greater England.
ReplyDeleteTo be unduly fair to those who use that phrase, they don’t call the language "British" at least. Clearly Scots weren't, aren't, and never will be truly native speakers of the master's language.
Now more than ever, the rich are buying power and bribing right wing politicians like Farage ( and Starmer) to get exactly what they want and by doing that they are getting even richer as taxes are either reduced or not levied on them properly.
ReplyDeleteWhereas the rest of us, who do not have that ability, get treated as afterthoughts and are made to accept 'difficult political decisions' which normally mean getting landed with more costs.
Morons like Campbell from Wings seem to revel in these facts and actually gloat about this elite funding of the Right, as long it is the SNP who do not receive those tainted, corrupt funds.
His twisted wee world is now so upside down.
There’s no Net benefit to being overtly racist. It repels as many folk as it attracts. The secret is to be subliminally racist. To work in racist dog whistles.
ReplyDeleteRonald Reagan was the master of this.
When he was confirmed as the Republican candidate for President, traditional was to give a set piece policy speech. Protocol was to have these events at one of the two media centres (New York, or Los Angles).
Reagan staged his speech at a county fair, in deepest, rural, Neshoba County, Mississippi, to the maximum inconvenience of the Press Corps. Neshoba County had only made tha national press once before. This was the real life setting of the fictionalised movie Mississippi Burning, where the local Police, and the Ku Klux Klan (a distinction without difference) murdered three civil rights activists.
Reagan got his message out to the knuckle dragging, racist scum, while maintaining plausible deniability. “I was merely reconnecting with our neglected rural heartlands.”.
Another trick is to send the message at one level removed.
The partner of Reform UK’s Deputy Leader, Richard Tice is Isabel Oakeshott. Oakeshott tweeted recently that it would be preposterous for her to be a Somali, just because she had been born in Somalia.
News to Ms Oakeshott. If you’re born in Somalia, the only thing you can say with any degree of certainty is that you’re a Somali.
Does Oakeshott think there’s a department of the Home Office sitting there thinking; “There’s a white baby with blonde hair been born in Somalia. It must be one of ours. Quick send citizenship papers immediately.”.
Oakeshott sends the deeply offensive message, and Reform UK get to shrug their shoulders and say; “She’s not an office holder in our party.”.
Australian bimbo actress Holly Valance is another example of that. Spouting a load of right wing tripe in interviews in support of Farage and Tommy Robinson.
DeleteShe's married to Reform treasurer, Nick Candy.
Oakeshott’s dog whistle is. “You’re not really British unless you’re white.”.
DeleteThis paragon of British patriotism, you’ll be astonished to hear, lives in Dubai.
why won't someone address the malicious idiocy of Susan Aitken in trying to create "sanctuary city" status for Glasgow. There was no need for that stupid virtue signalling. Then she had the chutzpah to complain about the housing budgets, then when people got angry, she said there was no problem and I expect - JOCK TAMSONS BAIRNS or some comforting bromide
ReplyDeleteJust back from Falkirk ?
DeleteA friend of mine used to call Judy Dench "Pubic Stench". You could say the same about Nigel Farage and his Union of English Fascists.
ReplyDeleteReform UK ... a FAR-RIGHT party: gosh, that's news :-)
ReplyDeleteI see Malcolm Offal, sorry Offord, has defected to Reform.
ReplyDeleteSh*t goes to sh*t.
I wonder if his intellectual powerhouse pal Fiona, also of Vote Nob Orders fame, will be joining him. There must be money to be made if he's sniffing around Reform.
DeleteHe ruled over us as a Lord because he couldnt get elected. Pretend democracy by the step mither of pairlements.
ReplyDeleteNo. As Offord (2014 vote NO BORDERS man who set up Acanchi) explained today - he was delivered into the Lords deliberately by Alister Jack so that he could be seconded to the Scotland Office and now he's claiming sacrificing his peerage so that he can stand up for Scotland as a candidate for Holyrood 2026.
DeleteSo thats a Yes. He governed without being elected
DeleteThe stinking racist and fascist contagion spread by multi-felon Trump and his pals like that fat turd Bannon, has now definitely spread to these shores.
ReplyDeleteThe powerful rich and elite are laughing at the rest of us in disbelief about just how easy it has become to get more and more 'working class' imbeciles to look away from them and their off-shoring of funds to avoid tax and the huge loopholes they use to further avoid paying what they should and instead focus all their anger on some of the poorest and most powerless in society.
Also helps that a heck of a lot of those targetted by that anger just happen to have a different skin colour to those angry imbeciles.
The way the UK is going, who would bet against 'No Blacks' signs making a return before too long and the media telling us not to worry as it doesn't really matter too much?
Was in Ireland recently or the north of Ireland to be precise. The Ulster Scots - mainly Unionist brit nats are absolutely clear that Scots is their official language but only it seems to distinguish it from eirish or Irish Gaelic. Don't they know gaelic crosses into Scotland too. Need to head off to watch old episodes of the White Heather Club to keep my lingo up. noww on bee bee cee won weee bring too yooo alll some scotchy type peepell from new town mearns and of course bears den.
ReplyDeleteNigel Farage: "Scotland needs Reform"
ReplyDeleteLike a hole in the head.
I see the next storm is expected to be a bit of a bloodsucker.
ReplyDeleteStorm Dracula?
DeleteSo according to Bbc, Peggie won a partial victory or is it she partially lost. Adding up the various points she lost overall.
ReplyDeleteThe next storm will be the Peggie case ruling Expect outrage from the Wings frothers.
ReplyDeleteMedia: "Sandie Peggie wins employment tribunal against NHS Fife - but not Dr Upton "
ReplyDeleteUmmm, Upton is not Peggie's employer.
Will Wings campaign to make 8th December a national holiday? Sandie Peggie Day?
ReplyDeleteIf you think he's angry about English language, just wait until he hears about which cricket team they support.
ReplyDelete