Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

" Edinburgh IMG 3994 (14732734838) " by Reading Tom from Reading, UK - IMG_3994 . Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons . In the final part of his survey of the SNP, Dr Phil Larkin looks at the party's future and concludes by emphasising the importance of Scotland to the rest of the UK.   The SNP’s Future? As any military manual will tell you, a salient, or bulge, into enemy territory is a dangerous position for an army to be in, since it can be attacked from three sides. The 56 seats won by the SNP in May constitute just such a salient. Had they won, say, 30-40 seats, it might actually have been better for them, since they could continue to enthuse their core support with the cry that there “is still more work to be done.” A victory of such a resounding nature means that there is only one direction for the SNP’s electoral fortunes to head, namely, southwards. The present UK Government, with its small but workable majority, is not beholden in any way to...

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has warned David Cameron not to ‘disrespect’ the Scottish people’s choice to return 56 SNP MPs at the election last May. Naturally, Ms. Sturgeon has a selective view of which election results should and should not be respected.  She doesn’t show much regard for the overall outcome of the general election and, just a year after the independence referendum in Scotland, her party is threatening to demand a re-run, so her ‘respect’ doesn’t extend to the 55% of voters who opted to remain within the UK for at least ‘a generation’ , either. The Conservative Party won a narrow majority of seats in the House of Commons in May 2015, but it’s clear that nationalists will offer a rolling challenge to the government’s authority in their nations, throughout this parliament. In Northern Ireland, for instance, Sinn Féin and the SDLP consistently claim that the Tories have ‘no mandate’ to impose welfare reform.  It doesn’t matter that the par...

It’s over four years since I last blogged regularly about constitutional issues in the United Kingdom.  During that time independence for Scotland was rejected at a referendum and we've had a Prime Minister who emphasised repeatedly his unionist credentials.   So is the Union in a healthier state in 2015 than it was in 2011? If you look at its prospects for the very short-term, the answer is probably ‘yes’. The ‘Better Together’ coalition managed to fend off a muscular movement for independence, in the Scottish referendum.  That campaign was polarising, ill-tempered and, at times, looked nail-bitingly close, but the Union between Scotland and England survived.  Whether it emerged from the fight unscathed, is another matter. In the afterglow of victory David Cameron told the UK that there would be “no disputes, no re-runs, we have heard the settled will of the Scottish people”.   Even the ever-pugnacious Alex Salmond, winded by defeat, app...

A nice column today from David Mitchell in today's Observer .  The comedian skewers a neglected issue raised by the spectre of Scottish independence.  How would us Brits feel, deprived of our country? When I appeared on an episode of  Question Time  broadcast from Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, the issue of Scottish independence came up. One of my fellow panellists, the SNP deputy leader, Nicola Sturgeon, was at pains to make clear that her party had nothing against England and were admirers of that country.   What I didn't say in response, what I've kicked myself for not expressing ever since, was: "Yes but you've got it in for Britain. You may be happily in cahoots with the morris-dancing English and the Eisteddfod-organising Welsh, but my country, the Britain of London where I now live, of Swansea, my mother's home town where I spent a lot of time as a child, and of Galloway, where my paternal grandparents lived, is something you want to destroy. I'...

Over at Nationalist Mythbusting sm753 is in great form dissecting Alex Salmond's claims to 'civic nationalism'.  After donating water during the recent crisis, Salmond explained that the Scottish executive was helping out because 'they' (that is us - the Northern Irish) are "blood of our blood, bone of our bone". There are two ways of looking at this statement.  sm753 is interested in the unrepentant 'blood and soil' ethnic nationalism which informs Salmond's choice of words.  At Unionist Lite O'Neill notes that the inter-connectedness of the United Kingdom's peoples is something which nationalists more often attempt to ignore.  The emphasis is usually on difference, rather than similarity. Either way, it would be churlish not to acknowledge an act of generosity on the part of the authorities in Edinburgh.  The supplies were no doubt badly needed. Sadly NIW, out of cack-handed incompetence , did not avail of all the help to whi...

I don’t suppose Ria Novosti , the Russian state news agency, is everyone’s idea of required reading, but if you enjoy good writing it's worth bookmarking.  The website has added two fantastic British columnists to flesh out its Opinion pages. Marc Bennetts wrote ’ Football Dynamo’ , a vigorous and personal book about soccer in Russia, and his articles just as lively.   The latest p onders recent events on the Korean Peninsula, vis a vis the prophecies of a long dead, blind Bulgarian psychic.  The author is currently working on a book about Russia’s fascination with the occult, so this singular topic is right up his ally. Daniel Kalder covered similar territory in his book ’Strange Telescopes’ and the cynical Scotsman’s weary take on the world is also carried by Ria Novosti on a weekly basis.  Kalder now lives in Texas and his columns form a series, ’Transmissions from a Lone Star’, which highlights some of the quirkier aspects of American and Russian culture. T...

It's beginning to look like there will, after all, be Conservative candidates contesting next year’s Assembly elections in Northern Ireland. Whether this first Stormont sortie can provide a solid base, on which to build for subsequent outings, depends not only upon support and resources proving forthcoming from CCHQ, but also upon the party mustering local candidates and a local identity with which to imbue national Tory politics. If the Conservatives in Northern Ireland are embarking upon a sustained push to raise their profile and attract voters, they would do well to learn from the lessons with which their counterparts in Scotland are currently grappling.  There the party is struggling to match its national revival and to come to terms with life ‘post devolution’. O’Neill highlights the Sanderson Report which is attempting to come to grips with the Scottish Tories’ difficulties. Throughout Britain the national parties are struggling to reconcile broader UK themes with...

In Thursday's Belfast Telegraph (not online) I argued that the Conservatives must not allow their deficit reduction programme to obscure more positive policies. David Cameron delivered a keynote speech to the Conservative Party Conference for the first time since the formation of a coalition government, at the ICC in Birmingham yesterday. The Tory leader was eager to emphasise his credentials as a Prime Minister for the whole of the United Kingdom, claiming that its four constituent nations are “stronger together, and together is how we must remain“. The Conservatives formally ditched their pact with Ulster Unionists this week, after a disastrous showing at the general election, but Cameron remains keen that Northern Ireland should play an active role in national debate. The Tories are unpopular outside England, and the Prime Minister knows that he cannot simply ignore the competing regional interests which devolution has unleashed, if the United Kingdom is to remain st...

With all the blanket coverage of the Pope’s visit to Britain it’s very easy to forget that the real story is how few people actually care.  In fact those who do care can be name-checked relatively quickly and easily. Some school children were persuaded to care by a morning out of the classroom.  They lined the streets of Edinburgh in order to scream and wave Scottish Saltires as the pontiff’s entourage swept by. Devoted Catholics care.  Yesterday they mustered in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, having travelled from across these islands and beyond.  Despite congregating in a venue with a much larger capacity, they numbered fewer than 70,000. Ian Paisley cares .  He gathered with a handful of fellow enthusiasts from the ’reformed church’ to record his opposition to the papal visit.  It’s fair to say that even he cares less these days though. Fellow Presbyterians have been subject to more vituperative protests by Lord Bannside in the past.     T...

The Scottish Executive’s flirtation with radical Islam has been highlighted before, on this blog , and elsewhere .  Now the Scottish Islamic Foundation, which has claimed a full third of ’equality’ funding in Scotland, since 2007, has been named as an 'entry level' Islamist group by anti-extremist think tank, the Quilliam Foundation. The group was set up by Osama Saeed, who stood as an SNP candidate in the last election.  Its spokespersons have advocated introducing Sharia law to Scottish jurisprudence and state funded Islamic schools. The Scotsman reports that the Quilliam Foundation, a brain child of former radical Islamists, recommends that ’local and central government should be wary of engagement with these groups’, citing a risk of ’empowering the ideology behind terrorism’.

There won't be too many posts on the blog this week, but I will briefly draw your attention to another Belfast Telegraph article , which considers the Megrahi mess.  The edit lost a little of the thrust of the original, so the text below is a little different to the published column.   I consider the chain of events which set in train the bomber's release and conclude: [It's} Hardly surprising that after the release took place last August, opponents alleged Labour was secretly delighted.  The party had secured its preferred outcome without getting its hands dirty.  A nationalist Scottish Executive, flexing its muscles and styling itself a ’government’, was more than happy to boast that it had reached its decision independently. When Kenny MacAskill appeared in front of the world’s press to deliver a crowing speech about the unique ’humanity of the Scottish people’, he didn’t expect that his ruling would cause the SNP to crash in the polls.  Nor could he an...

Unionist Lite investigates the think tank Policy Exchange’s latest report.  ‘The Devolution Distraction’  (PDF), suggests that Scotland’s ‘constitutional obsession’ has led to bad government.  Its author, Tom Miers, finds that an increase in funding has not been matched by the achievements of the Scottish Executive. The source of the failure is, Miers believes, a preoccupation with constitutional reform, to the exclusion of what we in Northern Ireland are fond of describing as ‘bread and butter issues’. “Only on constitutional matters is there any drive for change.  Yet the problems Scotland faces are political in nature, not constitutional. If the huge increase in ‘accountability’ that took place with devolution in 1999 did not improve matters, there is no reason to suppose that further constitutional change will help.” Holyrood, it is argued, already has the powers and the autonomy to get on with making Scotland a success.  The contention that it is hamper...

In Saturday's Belfast Telegraph I examined the prospects of Cameron's government, successfully balancing the interests of Westminster, England and the devolved regions (no link yet available - I'm not sure Saturday's opinion pages actually reach the website). The prime minister has promised that his new government’s relationship with the devolved regions will be distinguished by ’respect’.  He envisages an era of cooperation and communication between London and the executives in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh. ’Daveolution’ received a cautious but cordial hearing when Cameron toured the UK capitals.   However, the four First Ministers’ substantive response emerged at a meeting in Stormont last Monday.  There they discussed forming a common front against spending cuts imposed by Westminster and demanded a slice of London’s Olympic regeneration money.  Cameron is acutely aware that he will have to govern with sensitivity if he is to be considered a prime minister for...

Already there is a theme emerging in David Cameron’s treatment of the devolved regions.  The government is keen to allow the institutions in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales plenty of leeway, on the understanding that they take responsibility for their own decisions. The emergency budget has been announced and, naturally, each nation and region is expected to do its bit.  However, the new Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury, David Laws, has emphasised that the two devolved Assemblies and Scotland’s Parliament can defer any cuts. It is an ingenious and eminently fair solution which neatly sidesteps the argument that budgets for this year have already been set.  Although, as New Right points out , it also allows parties to avoid getting their hands dirty before 2011’s elections. David Cameron, as he had promised, quickly added trips to each of the UK’s capitals to the hectic schedule of establishing a new government.  He understands that devolution has c...

The SDLP released its election manifest o in Belfast yesterday. Despite the party’s stated commitment to a shared future, the document has a decidedly green tinge. Not only does Margaret Ritchie envisage northern representatives gradual integration into the Republic’s political institutions, she also champions a form of ‘Devolution Max’ which, she hopes, will prefigure a united Ireland. The irony is that the SDLP’s vision of a Northern Ireland Assembly acquiring fiscal levers currently held by Westminster, will probably appeal to some people who describe themselves as unionists. The DUP, in particular, is wont to describe every intervention by Westminster parties in this region, as unwarranted interference. The DUP presented devolution of policing and justice powers to Stormont as a boon for Northern Ireland, at the same time as Sinn Féin celebrated another prerogative wrested from London and ’repatriated’ to the island of Ireland. Although the UUP was steadfast enough to oppose t...

O’Neill has already highlighted the possibility of a ‘Celtic Bloc’ designed to extract nationalist concessions at Westminster, should the general election result in a hung parliament. Several newspapers have reported discussions between the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the SDLP and, yes, the DUP. At the SNP’s Spring Conferenc e the party set out its strategy, which is heavily weighted towards the possibility that a hung parliament might occur. Peter Robinson has also set out his stall , in similar fashion, highlighting the opportunity to realise ‘key strategic gains’ in the event of an inconclusive election. With polls steadying for Conservatives over the weekend a decisive victory is still very much achievable. However, almost all commentators agree, a hung parliament would be the worst possible general election result for the United Kingdom. Three parties committed to the dismantlement of the UK might be expected to aspire to that outcome, but the DUP is purportedly a unionist party! Th...

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.””

Speaking before the Conservatives' Scottish conference David Cameron has laid into the SNP, claiming that Alex Salmond lives in a 'perpetual episode of Braveheart'. The Tory leader also affirmed his determination to avoid boosting the argument for independence. "If Alex Salmond thinks a Conservative government is going to get in and run the United Kingdom in such a way that makes the argument for independence stronger he has another thing coming." All good stuff, although I hope that Cameron really has the measure of Scotland's First Minister and is mindful of the accusations of anti-Scottishness which each Conservative decision, however innocuous, is bound to provoke. The cultural kitsch so beloved of Salmond is surprisingly popular in some circles. As I remarked below : [In Scotland] nationalism has attempted to weld itself on to a vibrant cultural patriotism. Its response to the instrumental arguments of unionism is that they are unpatriotic, they ‘do do...

Later this month Belfast Salon hosts a debate at the Belfast Exposed Gallery asking whether devolution offers a peaceful future in Northern Ireland, or whether it fosters 'peace at any price'. I will be contributing alongside Forth editor, Jason Walsh. A series of taster articles will appear at Forth Magazine before the event. I kick off with a piece about Irish unionism, the nature of British citizenship and the conditions Alex Salmond is attempting to put on Scottishness. FOR NATIONALISTS it is often a working assumption that Irish unionism is defined and limited by reaction. Its genesis was simply a retort to Ireland’s burgeoning consciousness as a nation, from the 1790s on. And today, in the third century of its existence, unionism is understood to remain primarily a response to, and a denial of, legitimate national aspirations. John Bew has written a fascinating little book, the Glory Of Being Britons, challenging these foundational myths about unionism. He describ...

The Scotsman has a story which rather neatly distils the economic argument against Scottish independence and the SNP’s flimsy response. Confronted with hard figures which demonstrate that Scotland does rather well out of its membership of the United Kingdom the nationalists bluster about “anti Scottish propaganda” and take up their mantra of “Scotland’s oil”. On this occasion the Scottish Office has released figures which appear to demonstrate the Scotland has gained a £76 billion ‘devolution dividend’. The SNP is always quick to attempt to change the frame of reference to patriotism. If you believe the government’s figures then you are ‘doing Scotland down’, hence you are not a good Scotsman. It’s the type of reductionist, identity based politics we’re accustomed to in Northern Ireland. It also relies on a sense of entitlement to dwindling oilfields which the SNP is fond of claiming for Scotland. Of course, in the event of independence, the result would be a great deal more compli...