Apparently, old 'Whatsisname' Salmond has had a life-long ambition to gain independence for Scotland. That said, he's also a true believer in the European Union and the Euro. His very compelling, if somewhat laughable and even lunatic arguments, would have Scotland being freed and reborn as a super-efficient economic nation within the EU. What planet does this cretin inhabit ?
Salmond loves to ignore reality in favour of his own highly restrictive approach to this matter. He seems to believe that Scotland is an economic dynamo waiting to be unleashed, rather than being the backwater that it is; he ignores the fact that Scotland was a centre of major engineering until the Scottish Trades' Unions destroyed this power base in the period between 1950 and 1990. He ignores the fact that Scotland's history is littered with failure rather than success and the fact that Scottish enterprise and innovation ended many years ago. He blames its failures wholly and squarely on its inclusion within the United Kingdom and on the 'unfair' way that it's been treated and ignores Scotland's inherent weakness.
Salmond is quick to blame such matters on the politicians who have ruled in Westminster for the last 300 years, without acknowledging that every Socialist administration in the last 100 of these years has been in power, at least partly and sometimes wholly, due to the votes of Scottish socialists. For the 48 years since 1964, Labour has been in power for 24; Salmond ignores this or, at least, ignores the fact that every Labour Government relies heavily on its Scottish support.
The United Kingdom was created in 1707 and attempting to unravel it today would be next to impossible, as well as being completely stupid. There is little real support for independence in Scotland, after all, the country hasn't been truly 'independent', since 1603; in fact, it hasn't existed as a separate entity since 1707 and the Act of Union. If Scotland did secede from the United Kingdom, how would it survive ? Salmond has few, if any, real and substantial answers to this simple question.
Salmond also happily ignores the most pertinent of all questions, that of the rights of the rest of the people of the United Kingdom. If Scots do want to be separated from the rest of us, that has a profound impact on those remaining in the Union; surely, therefore, they should also be entitled to a say. Equally, who does, in fact, have a say in Salmond's proposed referendum ? 'Scots' as a nationality, do not exist; identifying those who are entitled to vote is, therefore, another nightmare. Do English, Irish and Welsh, plus all others who live in Scotland have a vote ? What about Scots who live abroad ? How do you define who is a 'Scot' ?
The whole notion is ridiculous and yet it seems to have political credence. Why ? How ? Is the UK Government really so weak and pathetic that it can't tell Salmond where to go ? If so, what does that say about the "State of the Union" ?
No comments:
Post a Comment