Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

You could be forgiven for missing the poll on Britishness contained in this month’s Prospect Magazine .  It’s buried in a series of articles about the UK’s involvement in the European Union.  Yougov found that people in England who identify primarily as British are less likely to want to leave the EU, while people who describe themselves first as English are much more likely to want immediate withdrawal.  It’s hardly a startling revelation that nationalism often coincides with euroscepticism.  More eye-catching is the break-down in the number of people who identify first as British / English.  This survey suggests that over 60% of people in England view themselves primarily as English rather than British.  That compares to just over 40%, as recently as 2008. Again, you might say it’s hardly surprising in a post-devolution UK, with nationalist politics influential in Cardiff and dominating governments in Edinburgh and Belfast, that Britishness...

At Unionist Lite O’Neill looks at possible nationalist responses to the government’s deficit plans.  His assessment is that Plaid Cymru and Sinn Féin are beyond help in their analyses, but there is a chance that the SNP and SDLP could, to some degree, embrace opportunities to promote leaner enterprise economies for their respective regions. The SNP’s ’pork barrel’ tactics are, at least partially, a separatist irritant aimed at London.  So Salmond’s party has a decent opportunity to tacitly accept that Scotland’s economy will benefit from substantial rebalancing.  Although the SDLP has shown signs of original thinking on growth, its dependency culture is more deeply ingrained. Take Alex Attwood’s  response to proposed coalition welfare reform and its effects on Northern Ireland, where we have the highest level of economic inactivity in the UK. The government’s view, which will be developed in a report by Ian Duncan Smith’s Centre for Social Justice , launched...

The following piece appears in this morning's News Letter. The starting gun has sounded and the UK’s political parties are out of the blocks. Conservatives and Labour, determined to secure mandates, are anxious that May’s election should not produce a hung parliament. Yet the DUP, and various nationalists from the UK regions, are hoping for precisely that outcome. Most commentators agree with the main parties, that an indecisive election result would be to the national detriment. Why is there an overwhelming consensus that a hung parliament would be bad for Britain? Elections for the House of Commons are decided using First Past the Post. The merit of the system is that it most often produces a conclusive result and avoids the weak government which minority administrations or coalitions often produce. If there is a hung parliament following the next election it will be only the fifth time that that has happened in one hundred years. They have all been short-lived affairs. A...

The News Letter carried a lengthy interview last week , in which former communications director Alex Kane explained his departure from the Ulster Unionist party. Branching out, to speak about unionism more broadly, he declared its “vision, strategy and promotion … a mess”. One comment from Kane, which does not appear online, struck me as a very self-evident, but entirely pertinent piece of analysis. Contemplating the post Belfast Agreement landscape, Kane implies that the core of political instability in Northern Ireland, the reason that a ‘centre-ground’ is prevented from emerging, lies with nationalist parties. Both Sinn Féin and, more importantly, the SDLP, each view the Good Friday accord as ‘a staging post’ on the road to eventual dismantlement of the border. Well of course they do! Nationalism’s goal is a thirty two county Irish republic. A justifiable retort might point out that nationalist aspirations need not prevent unionism being confident and outward looking. Unioni...

Nobody would deny that ‘Flower of Scotland’ is a rousing anthem. Both football and rugby teams in Scotland now employ a song which is fairly explicit in its separatist sentiment. “But we can still rise now And be the nation again.” However, at least one figure, influential in Scots’ rugby, feels embarrassed by the nationalist and anti-English content of the lyrics. Jim Telfer, formerly Scotland’s coach and a renowned player, at international level and with the Lions, wants a more ‘mature’ anthem, according to the Scotsman . “Telfer said the song encouraged anti-English "chippiness" and should be replaced. Telfer – whose 1990 Grand Slam winning side was the first national team to adopt Flower of Scotland – said: "We need to stop defining ourselves through England, and it would be a sign of maturity if we got ourselves a decent national anthem.””

I’m afraid that I’m a day or two late on this, but it’s worth reading Alan Cochrane’s coruscating assessment of the SNP’s white paper on a separatist referendum. Alex Salmond hopes to introduce a confusing poll offering several options, one of which would be his favoured option of full independence. Neither of the three unionist parties is prepared to entertain any type of referendum in the foreseeable future, although Cochrane believes that the Lib Dems are most likely to be pliable. I am entirely in agreement with the article’s thrust. It is a disingenuous document, with important omissions and its timing is spectacularly selfish. However, I don’t believe that unionists should dismiss a referendum out of hand. A poll, held as the economy begins to recover, could kill separatism stone dead for a generation. The key is ensuring that the question is clear, unambiguous and demands a definitive answer. 'Do you wish Scotland to remain within the United Kingdom?'. Yes or No...

In an Assembly debate about north / south bodies yesterday, the UUP’s deputy leader, Danny Kennedy, raised an interesting paradox . Nationalists in general, and the SDLP in particular, have often invoked the Belfast Agreement as if it were infallible and permanent truth. Yet their professed aspiration is to use the accord as a starting point. They aim to gradually integrate Northern Ireland with the Republic. It is a contradictory position which could justify charges of hypocrisy from unionists. After all the accord is consistently cited in order to attack unionist positions on everything from the Bill of Rights to policing and justice. Mr Kennedy: I begin my contribution with a quotation: “all-Ireland arrangements are essential for nationalists who want to share the life of the rest of the island. Those balances are essential for unionism, too, in order that unionism has an agreed relationship with the rest of the people of this island. However, if one begins to pick and choose,...

Tomorrow is Armistice Day. Although commemorations are more commonly held on Remembrance Sunday, in the UK, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month is marked by two minutes silence, in memory, in particular, of those who died in the First World War. Hostilities ceased, on the Western Front, at that time in 1918, after four years of mechanised warfare had wrought devastation on a generation of young men. Yesterday, whilst recording an episode of Blogtalk NI , I was asked to consider the issue of remembrance and in particular controversy which often becomes attached to the simple act of remembering, in Northern Ireland. In retrospect, I am dissatisfied with the answer I gave and pre-emptively, I would like to add a few thoughts here. Slugger O’Toole provides a useful snapshot of febrile debate which can attend simple, reverential acts, such as wearing a poppy, or laying a wreath. If you have the time, and the patience, there are pages and pages of it. In additio...

Mr Ulster contemplates an absence of ‘civic nationalism’ in Northern Ireland on his blog, prompted by the promotion of its ethnic cousin in Scotland, by the SNP First Minister. He believes that politics in the Republic of Ireland have embraced a more civic interpretation of nationalism, whilst there is no equivalent movement to the north of the border. In contrast, Jason Walsh, writing in Humanism Ireland, argues that secularisation and diversity in southern Ireland would be boosted incomparably if the state were to absorb Northern Ireland’s populace. As a unionist, I accept neither argument, although I see the merits of each. Dublin, I admit, is liberal and cosmopolitan to an extent which cannot be claimed of Belfast. Disfigured by a recent legacy of violence and sectarianism, Northern Ireland’s politics are currently dominated, on one hand, by the Ulster nationalism of the DUP and, on the other, by the Irish nationalism of Sinn Féin. Neither party is interested in promoting a ...

Wouldn’t it have been a rare privilege to be the man, or woman, who, along with morning coffee, delivered to Scotland’s ‘Il Duce’ the news that David Cameron considers him ‘irrelevant’ to the result of the next general election? One can only imagine the look of indignation which must have contorted Alex Salmond’s smug countenance. Cameron is of course correct to point out that the SNP leader does not even intend to contest the Westminster poll. Although, if he is not a candidate, such is the personality cult which envelops Salmond, there is little doubt that he will attempt to turn each and every battle for a Scottish seat into a personal plebiscite on his own popularity. However, in previous general elections, Scots have always rejected the SNP in favour of participating in a national contest. Mr Cameron’s remarks were in response to Salmond’s suggestion that a hung parliament could follow a general election, in which case his party might hold the balance of power, and Westminst...

Tom Gallagher is not by temperament or inclination a unionist. His book, ‘The Illusion of Freedom’ , questions the effectiveness of the SNP’s leadership of Scottish nationalism, but does not reject, explicitly, the legitimacy of the party’s aim of independence. The author is critical of the personality cult surrounding Alex Salmond, his party’s cronyism and clientelism, its confused economic policies, the Anglophobia associated with its chauvinist doctrines, but Gallagher treats as axiomatic the assumption that Scotland, as a nation, must enjoy a high degree of political self-expression in order to flourish. If he eventually rejects Salmond’s separatism, it is because he believes it leads to an inward looking, socially conservative, centralist state, not because he subscribes to integrationist unionism. ‘The Illusion of Freedom’ consists of two parts. The first charts a fairly brief history of Scotland, stretching from the Act of Union in 1707 until the Scottish Parliament’s reest...

From teargas , sorry ‘léargas’, the virtual tree from which the wise old owl of Sinn Féin dispenses pellets of ‘insight’, “This blog travels to Wales on Tuesday – to Swansea – to speak to the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly. I will tell that forum that while Irish republicans want our rights, we do not seek to deny the rights of anyone else. We want justice for all and privilege for none.” A paragraph which teaches us, not only that the Provos’ president is scheduled to address BIPA’s latest plenary session this morning, but that Gerry Adams has taken to describing himself, in the third person, as a ‘blog’. ‘The blog’ has, in recent months, been on a veritable world tour promoting ‘Irish unity’. Slugger O’Toole has a preview of what he (it?) will say on the latest leg, other than, presumably, “HELLO SWANSEA!”. Two passages in particular jump out from amongst the leaden, Orwellian Shinnerspeak which ‘the blog’ intends to deliver. In deference to the ‘east-west’ sensibili...

Efrafandays reports the SNP’s unconvincing reaction to the news that the Orange Order, in Scotland, will encourage its members to vote for anyone other than a nationalist, in the forthcoming general election. Party sources are suggesting that comments from Grand Master, Ian Wilson, represent an embarrassment for Labour (and presumably the other unionist parties), rather than a blow to the SNP. Alec observes that Salmond’s party is not without its own bedfellows known for an intransigent take on religion. The Scottish-Islamic Foundation is intricately linked to the SNP and has received a full third of all ‘equality’ funding since 2007. Its spokespersons have advocated the introduction of Sharia Law to Scottish jurisprudence and championed state funded Islamic schools, despite evidence that such institutions can exercise a radicalising influence. Whilst the SIF is entitled to pursue its chosen projects, the SNP’s patronage exemplifies its approach to sectional interests. Rather tha...

Popular opinion on Nick Griffin’s scheduled appearance on Question Time divides broadly into two categories. First, the argument runs that extremism is nurtured in dark corners and the way to defeat it is through open, democratic debate. Second, it is recognised that an organisation like the BNP craves publicity, and, given that all reasonable and reasoning people agree that its views are abhorrent, it should be denied it wherever possible. Unfortunately it has been a bad weekend for those who subscribe to the latter view. The debate on BNP participation has already commanded many inches of newsprint. Whether one agrees with the BBC’s decision to include Griffin in its panel, or not, the path of least resistance must surely now dictate that he appears. If he were replaced at this late juncture it could not fail to nourish the erroneous sense of grievance on which his party thrives. In Northern Ireland we have seen the way in which extreme political views can be insinuated into th...

It is hardly every day that one feels compelled to defend Peter Mandelson. However, when he is accused of ignorance and obnoxiousness by a purveyor of sentimental Irish American drivel its hard not to feel a pang of sympathy for Labour’s ‘dark lord’. Niall O’Dowd criticises Mandelson’s conduct as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, endorsing Bertie Ahern’s contention that he hampered the peace process. If acknowledging the existence of a view which contradicted Republicans’ nationalist orthodoxies and recognising that Sinn Féin / IRA did not comprise a trustworthy group, comprised a road block to progress, then Mandelson erected that obstacle. Actually the former Secretary of State helped build trust between unionists and the Labour administration. But no doubt the Irish American view is that he was guilty of encouraging ‘false consciousness’ by listening to two sides, rather than one.

Vince Cable may have attracted acclaim for his musings on the economy, but I would suggest that constitutional issues are not his specialist subject. Addressing a fringe event, at his party’s annual conference, the Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesman delivered doom laden remarks, predicting a ‘constitutional crisis’, should Conservatives win the next election, and speculating that David Cameron could preside over the demise of the Union. Yes indeed. The Tory apocalypse is imminent. Britain will first become a hermit state at the edge of the European Union, and then dissolve, because one centrist government takes the reins from another. We’ll return to Dr Cable’s conference remarks, as reported by the Press and Journal , a little later. But it’s worth noting that the source of the former Glasgow councillor’s anxiety was a recent trip to the Scottish Highlands. The ‘gathering storm’ of Scots’ independence is a notion, then, that Vincent conceived in tranquillity , relatively recen...

The tendency to assume that devolution has begun a process which will inevitably result in the break up of the United Kingdom, Arthur Aughey characterises as ‘endism’. If its tenets have not become all pervading, they have certainly come to form a common thread in the nation’s constitutional discourse. Arthur, like Vernon Bogdanor, in his book ‘The New British Constitution’ , identifies a swathe of journalists, academics and even politicians, who have succumbed to endist logic, in print. They range from nationalists, for whom the ‘inevitable’ end of Britain is an aspiration (Tom Nairn), to gloomy unionists, prescribing irreversible wrongs which have been visited on a noble constitution (John Redwood). To the body of endist literature identified by Aughey and Bogdanor, we might add ‘A Useful Fiction’ , Welsh journalist Patrick Hannan’s superficial skate across the surface of modern Britain. I note too, that Ian Jack, the columnist whose elegant prose enlivens Saturday editions of ...

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of ‘The Illusion of Freedom’ , Tom Gallagher’s examination of the minority nationalist administration in Scotland, released later this month. Its author has written previously about links between the SNP and Islamist groups, particularly the Scottish Islamic Foundation, directed by Osama Saeed, a parliamentary candidate for Alex Salmond’s party in Glasgow Central. Picking up on an allusion to the SNP’s connection with radical Islam, below, Alec has pointed me in the direction of this excellent blogpost , which highlights upon some of the funding issues surrounding the SIF. Last month the organisation, which is intimately linked to the nationalist party, was forced to repay £128,000 of public money, granted to it by the Scottish Executive. Alec observes that the SIF, which was formed in 2008, managed to leapfrog pre-existing Muslim cultural and religious bodies in Scotland, in order to claim large injections of taxpayers’ cash. This despite its di...

Vernon Bogdanor’s survey of ‘The New British Constitution’ observes that most Scots voted for devolution, not because of any profound dissatisfaction with Westminster’s sovereignty, but for largely instrumental reasons. Their calculation was that regional government might allow Scotland to flourish, economically and socially, with representation devoted exclusively to its affairs. It would be foolish not to acknowledge that, ten years later, Scots widely accept that the institutions at Holyrood have been successful in this regard. However, impetus towards wider devolved powers, or indeed eventual independence, is still essentially dependent on instrumental arguments. Although a minority mandate has allowed nationalists to form an executive at Holyrood, their emotional and separatist messages have not gained significant purchase. Instead, Alex Salmond has proved skilful at attuning nationalism’s tactics to voters’ instrumentalist concerns and pursuing his wider aim of independence...

In a recent article , Simon Jenkins wrote about the ‘raucous child’ which inevitably accompanies history, ‘lessons to be learned’. Over the past few days I have been immersed in two separate accounts which attempt to portray this difficult infant, chaperoned by partial histories of terror campaigns. Richard English’s ‘Terrorism: How to Respond’ purports to take an essentialist approach to its topic, but it is a puzzling book, that stresses the importance of the unique context in which each terrorist group operates, yet attempts to apply principles which it derives from Northern Ireland’s experience rather widely. In contrast, ‘Talking to Terrorists’ by Bew, Frampton and Gurruchaga, consciously rejects the notion that a particular template can be exported internationally. Importantly, it contends that the Ulster peace process has in any case been misinterpreted, even as its purported lessons have been cited as a model that can help resolve conflicts elsewhere. English’s short book...