It's all about us. SNP minister preens his nationalist feathers in spotlight.

'In Scotland we are a people who pride ourselves on our humanity.'

So began SNP Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's statement, as he announced the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. He continued in that vein. 'Scotland' 'the Scottish people', their 'values', 'faith', 'beliefs', 'as a people we', and so on, ad infinitum.

It was a momentous decision, which will be strenuously debated and contested, yet, the SNP minister chose to to deliver it couched in preening, romanticised, nationalistic guff, rather than outline his reasoning clearly.

This was all about Scotland (or the Scotland which MacAskill imagines), it was all about nationalism, it was all about the SNP. How utterly risible. How utterly pathetic.

Comments

Timothy Belmont said…
I watched the Scottish justice minister on Newsnight 15 minutes ago and was less than impressed.

I feel for the victims of that outrageous crime against Humanity.

From my perspective, the minister's performance was not a great example for Scottish Nationalism, nor for devolution.
20 August 2009 at 23:12
Zeynep said…
oh get a grip... the Scottish cringe clearly distorts your vision.. How dare a Scottish Minister be making an important decision, eh? Doesn't he know his place? If Obama mentions American values do you have the same reaction? How is the scottish government supposed to talk about the scottish justice system? Should he make decisions like that without reference to values at all? Or would you prefer 'British values' from Gordon Brown? The guy did the right thing and took time to explain both morally and practically why he did it, so quit your silly outrage and grow up
21 August 2009 at 02:05
Dewi Harries said…
Hmm - I thought his speech was pretty welll judged (and to be honest I think the release is an error)
21 August 2009 at 04:04
Gareth Williams said…
Had to comment, just to say that you're quite right. Risible, pathetic. And conceited, deluded, repellent, self-aggrandising, a horribly cynical bit of grandstanding. It's staggering that people with such a shallow view of the world are in power.
21 August 2009 at 07:25
Owen Polley said…
How anyone, nationalist or no, could be happy with that statement is beyond me. I will emphasise that nay 'Scottish cringe' was purely inspired by the statement.
21 August 2009 at 11:49
Gary said…
In a way I'm glad it was a "Scottish" decision for IMO it was the wrong decision and morally indefensible. If the decision had been made on behalf of the UK as a whole I would have been ashamed to be British in this instance. Bravo SNP!
21 August 2009 at 12:39
Darren said…
With ‘Scottish’ troops engaging with terrorist elements on the now global battlefield, Scotland lets go a former Libyan intelligence officer, who no doubt, took his orders from the Col.

Really ashamed of Scotland today and thinking about, not only the families who lost in that bombing, but the many Scottish troops that are out there right now trying to prevent such sickening actions happening in the future.

Ooh Scotland the brave, this was a naive stupid decision from an immature Government.
21 August 2009 at 16:05
Anonymous said…
Just how much Lybian Oil has Britain agreed to?
21 August 2009 at 23:52
Bobballs said…
I heard him on Five Live earlier that afternoon. Utterly appalling.

It was glib sermonising lacking any understanding the impact his words might have on his audience. With so many families listening in to understand his motives, Kenny was stilted, scripted and, well, compassionless. When he got tossed an awkward one about Megrahi serving equivalent of 11 days per victim, he bypassed it to sermonise (again) on Scottish values and how the Scottish legal system is very, very old.

When Megrahi was weclomed as a hero in Libya, Salmond meekly described it as 'inappropriate'. Propriety has been in short supply throughout this whole exercise I'm afraid. Couldn;t agree more - this was all about the SNP. It really shouldn't have played out like this.
23 August 2009 at 00:23
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