Here's Hoping

by Rab Bruce’s Spider

 

Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot

BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social

X/Twitter: @RabBrucesSpider

 

There was some encouraging news for Yesers from the latest poll reported in The National, with Yes still in the lead, and with the majority of young people supporting Scotland becoming a normal, self-governing country. Whether we will ever get the opportunity to exercise our democratic will remains to be seen. Personally, I am not confident that it is going to happen any time soon. Westminster will do everything in its power to retain control of Scotland because they know they need our natural resources, and the thought of paying for them rather than simply taking them is abhorrent from the Westminster viewpoint. I must also say that John Swinney’s claim that an SNP majority in the Holyrood elections next year seems like a political stunt. The chances of achieving that majority are extremely slim under the Holyrood voting system, and I fear that failure to achieve it, even by a single seat, will do little more than provide ammunition to the BBC and the rest of the UK media in Scotland to loudly proclaim that Scots do not want independence. Pointing to a Yes majority when the Greens are included will, I expect, be ignored by that same media.

 

However, let’s keep our fingers crossed that something does actually give this year and that more people in Scotland wake up to the exploitation our nation has suffered for the past 3 centuries, not to mention the contempt with which we are regarded by those in power in Westminster.

 

There is, though, one thing which irritates me about these latest poll results. Apparently, if Nigel Farage becomes PM (and I think it is a matter of when, not if), then support for Scotland becoming a normal, self-governing country increases even further. Now, while this is good news, it reminds me of some of the pathetic reasons some Scots gave for not supporting independence in 2014. “I don’t like Alex Salmond” was one of those reasons, but this was just as short-sighted as the current dislike of Nigel farage influencing this decision. Becoming a normal country is not like voting in a General Election; it is to establish the future of our nation. Individual politicians, while important, will not be around forever. They are more like symptoms than real causes. Like Boris Johnson before him, Nigel Farage is a symptom of the ever rightward march of English politics. Even if Nigel Farage does not become UK Prime Minister, his views are now mainstream in the media and the wider public, and it is difficult to see how that trend can be reversed. So, while I welcome the polling news, I do wish more people would take a longer term view of the reasons why Scotland needs to become a normal country.

 

As I said, let’s hope 2026 brings us the chance to put our democratic will into action.

 

 

 

  

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