tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post5496006880669237629..comments2024-03-29T11:33:09.697+00:00Comments on SCOT goes POP!: Nice try, Ed, but here's why independence would be a boost for progressivism beyond the borders of ScotlandJames Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01516007141763230886noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post-42071044653410020892012-01-31T11:19:12.045+00:002012-01-31T11:19:12.045+00:00James,
“His argument can only have any credibilit...James,<br /><br />“His argument can only have any credibility if he ditches his British nationalism and supports a single European or world state”.<br /><br />This is bang on the money. One of the many things that unites the Labour-Tory coalition at Westminster is that for generations their parties and politicians have prided themselves on defending and advancing Britain’s ‘national’ interest. The British Labour-Tory coalition are united in their opposition not just to a European state but even to more modest measures like the European single currency (long before the present crisis), EU fiscal harmony, the European Social Model and so on. <br /><br />It was Gordon Brown who, as chancellor, used to boast in his talks to the Royal Services Institute, about how much extra resources he’d provided to protect ‘Britain’s’ borders. Each of the five tests that Brown and the UK Treasury used to assess whether Britain should join the European single currency were all based on nationalist arguments, that is, were they in ‘Britain’s national interest’. A similar tale can be told about the Tories. The only minor difference between Labour and the Tories on this issue is that Labour has worked out that if they are publicly seen to be slightly less Eurosceptic than the Tories then they can increase the discomfort of the Tories on the European issue at Westminster. But even this is done for narrow domestic political purposes.<br /><br />The current line of Labour, that people in Glasgow, or wherever, have just as much in common with people in Liverpool or Birmingham as they do with people in Aberdeen or Dundee, only betrays Labour’s narrow British nationalism. The comparatives used are always English ones. In truth, people in Glasgow and Dundee have just as much, if not more, in common with people in Dublin or Donegal or Copenhagen or Amsterdam. And let’s be blunt, most people in Glasgow and Aberdeen couldn’t even locate Liverpool or Birmingham on a map (and vice versa) and they’d probably struggle to understand each other’s accents, on the rare occasions that they encounter each other fact-to-face.<br /><br />We also need to fully translate this ‘Scottish’ Labour mantra that ‘We’re stronger together, weaker apart’. What ‘Scottish’ Labour is really saying here is that ‘We’re stronger together with a Tory government at Westminster, weaker apart’. Now ‘Scottish’ Labour is entitled to tell us this, of course but, as we know, this isn’t what they tell us on the doorsteps at elections. When they’re looking for votes at elections, what they tell us is that the Tories are terrible, that Tory policies are not wanted in Scotland and that the only way to keep the terrible Tories out at Westminster is to vote Labour. The growing support for independence would seem to indicate that, at long last, the Scottish people have caught up with the hypocrisy and deception of ‘Scottish’ Labour. I’m just pleased that I’m alive to witness all of this because it’s been a long time coming.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post-5514206327362848832012-01-31T10:40:56.370+00:002012-01-31T10:40:56.370+00:00That's a thought I'd rather not entertain,...That's a thought I'd rather not entertain, Doug.<br /><br />I laughed out loud when I read what Miliband wrote over at Labour Hame (yes, Admin must be back in favour after the little faux pas).<br /><br />You can't take anything said by the leadership of the UK Labour party about progressive politics seriously when they presided over such a huge increase in the gap between rich and poor in the years of their government.<br /><br />I wondered if if was some sort of spoof. But no. He seems oblivious to the irony of it all. He possibly even believes that his policies are progressive.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-930120922627919768.post-75994439445193430102012-01-31T08:52:54.662+00:002012-01-31T08:52:54.662+00:00I'm not sure why, but I actually find Ed Milib...I'm not sure why, but I actually find Ed Miliband's little intervention even more insulting than David Cameron's. How dare this idiot, who is spearheading the demise of any semblance of a progressive alternative in English mainstream politics, come up here and lecture US on progressiveness when HE is the one who says "oooh, the government should be cutting slightly less than it is, and we'd charge slightly less for tuition fees."<br /><br />Labour are just lightweight Tories. There is not a progressive bone in this moron's body, and everything about him just screams out "I AM A DORK!!!!"<br /><br />He probably still tucks his shirt into his pants...Doug Danielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15017218581660887134noreply@blogger.com