tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post6934425500437177729..comments2024-03-29T07:14:55.029+00:00Comments on All That Is Solid ...: John McDonnell is Right about ScotlandPhilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-56575860632484737902019-08-10T19:47:22.253+01:002019-08-10T19:47:22.253+01:00These are dangerous times in which our United King...These are dangerous times in which our United Kingdom is threatened by just about everyone, especially right-wing "patriots".<br /><br />The breakup of the United Kingdom would be a total calamity; when I go to Scotland each year, see my family and friends in Edinburgh and plant trees with my fellow volunteers in Glen Affric, just imagine if I had to cross an international frontier each time?<br /><br />The racists who claim to be made to feel like foreigners in their own country want this to literally be done to me.<br /><br />I have noticed a dismaying trend towards Celtophobia in England; if there were to be seperation, plenty of blinkered and unthinking wealthy conservatives would welcome this as they'd find it an opportunity to pay less tax and have fewer "lefties" in the UK parliament, blind to the loss all of us would suffer.<br /><br />And even people who aren't right-wing, when they see that wretched Sturgeon on TV, seem to assume she is a spokeswoman for all Scots, and take a reasonable dislike of her into an anti-Scottish hostility that portrays Scots as whinging, self-absorbed and entitled, none of which is true of my Scottish friends, few of whom would give her the time of day.<br /><br />Yes, support for unionism is declining and I find I can't blame nationalists who want to vote against Al Johnson, Jake Rees-Bogg and Farridge, any more than I can blame 2016 Leave voters who wanted to vote against Shameron & Gidiot.<br /><br />It would be a disaster, and I find it dismaying that if things were done as they should be, the benefits of the union would be felt and almost everyone would be a unionist. But we liberal unionists struggle to make our case as we are conflated with reactionaries, many of whom are English nationalists.<br /><br />Brexit is only the latest in the wrongs inflicted on us by spoiled & selfish ageing rentiers and I don't know what is to be done.asquithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14246701347539264295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-16179001342798165252019-08-09T19:59:54.481+01:002019-08-09T19:59:54.481+01:00«elderly, affluent, Tory property owners who have ...«elderly, affluent, Tory property owners who have benefited from the astronomical bubble in house prices that were the biggest constituent of the Brexit vote!»<br /><br />They were one of the 3 main constituencies of the "Leave" votes, and they were also victims of "Project Fear"; deadly terrified of the EUSSR, afraid of bein taxed to penury by french trots and italian scroungers, scared by the idea of any government they cannot control via the Conservative Party, and thus eager to "Take Back Control" to minimize the risk to their wealth and their electoral power.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-42699515613798181612019-08-08T11:34:34.454+01:002019-08-08T11:34:34.454+01:00"The politics of "Project Fear" are..."The politics of "Project Fear" are clear: there has been a growing constituency who laps up fear, mostly affluent pensioners, who are frightened of everything, because they got theirs, and the rest of their life has no upside, to they obsess on fear of the possible changes."<br /><br />Except it was elderly, affluent, Tory property owners who have benefited from the astronomical bubble in house prices that were the biggest constituent of the Brexit vote! What bigger change, and one they should fear, as it means almost inevitably a fall in the Pound, rise in inflation and rise in interest rates, which will crash asset prices, could there be?Boffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-80891732508775236532019-08-07T21:13:17.537+01:002019-08-07T21:13:17.537+01:00«Instead of a positive case for sticking with the ...«Instead of a positive case for sticking with the UK, apocalyptic vistas and miserabilism were its preferred fare.»<br /><br />But "Project Fear" worked didn't it? And therefore every subsequent Conservative or New Labour campaign has been a rerun of "Project Fear". The main argument in june 2016 were "Fear the EUSSR" on one side and "Fear the Brexit crash" on the other.<br /><br />The politics of "Project Fear" are clear: there has been a growing constituency who laps up fear, mostly affluent pensioners, who are frightened of everything, because they got theirs, and the rest of their life has no upside, to they obsess on fear of the possible changes. Several political strategists seem to think that to get their vote a campaign must make them crazy with fear, so that they will compulsively vote for whoever promises to protect them from that fear.<br /><br />What can Labour do to counter that? Has any of the political strategist of the left even though about that problem or the "Sierra man" problem?. New Labour's solution has been to embrace the tory politics of fear and rentierism, I wonder if better can be done.Blissexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-35830735271937780752019-08-07T18:57:06.840+01:002019-08-07T18:57:06.840+01:00Scottish Labour needs to accept that it can never ...Scottish Labour needs to accept that it can never 'out-fleg' the Tories <br /><br />It must drop the neurotic obsession with the SNP - defeating the SNP, frustrating the SNP, jealousy of the SNP ...<br /><br />Scottish Labour are almost as bad as the DUP's self sabotaging obsession with SF, and that's <i>really</i> saying something. It's absolutely deranged, though it's improved in the past 12 months.1729torushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09262372962990418135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-30119808611062068312019-08-07T15:48:05.553+01:002019-08-07T15:48:05.553+01:00McDonnell is right. As Lenin put it, the duty of ...McDonnell is right. As Lenin put it, the duty of socialists in countries seeking to secede is to argue against secession, and for the need for unity, whilst the duty of socialists in the country from which secession is proposed is to emphasise the right of the other nation to secede.<br /><br />Emphasising the right to secede, is not at all the same thing as arguing for such secession, and Labour should continue to argue against independence. In fact, devolution was really a mistake too, and a federal Britain would be an even bigger mistake.<br /><br />As Engels said about the US, we should accept federalism only where a unified state is not immediately possible.Boffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-6139627035212603582019-08-07T14:15:21.372+01:002019-08-07T14:15:21.372+01:00And Michael aptly demonstrates some of the problem...And Michael aptly demonstrates some of the problems Scottish Labour has. Doesn't want to deal with the argument that was made, so makes another up and responds to that instead. Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-25508978743640812642019-08-07T13:36:04.940+01:002019-08-07T13:36:04.940+01:00Excellent analysis. It's quite rare that write...Excellent analysis. It's quite rare that writers from outside Scotland really 'get' what's going on up here, but this really does. Worth noting too that the recent Ashcroft poll which came up with a majority for independence also included the fact that 40% of Scottish 2017 Labour voters say they are in favour of independence. Party policy it may be to oppose it, but maybe not for too much longer.<br /><br />Two minor points to finish: whilst I would agree with you about ian Murray's politics in general, he is actually a very decent and hard-working constituency MP (he's mine) so possibly doesn't fully merit the soubriquet you applied to him. And 2), can you guess who delivered this quote only as recently as April this year: "a democracy fails to be a democracy if the public are not allowed to change their mind." Why, none other than our very own defender of the union...Ian Gibsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-72825238477717200692019-08-07T13:32:00.606+01:002019-08-07T13:32:00.606+01:00An actual independence referendum. That's what...An actual independence referendum. That's what there's to lose.<br /><br />It's all very well for you to pontificate on the SNP but you don't have to live with them and the consequences of their terrible politics. It doesn't effect you, so an even cursory investigation of their politics isn't needed.Michael Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16641927295643598230noreply@blogger.com