I set off to write a blog about Gay Marriage. In the process I made a surprise discovery so I might blog about that later. But first, my originally intended discourse.
I was led to this subject by the fact that two of our most senior political commentators cover this territory in their columns today. While I agree with their ultimate conclusions, that Same Sex Marriage should be allowed in Scotland, I feel both are not sufficiently sensitive to the Scottish tradition of the separation of Church and State.
For all practical reality we already have Same Sex Marriage in Scotland since the introduction of Civil Partnerships. It is not simply that Civil partners have exactly the same legal status vis a vis each other as is enjoyed by traditional husbands and wives. I don't know anybody who has ever referred to going to a gay "Civil Parnership Ceremony." The common usage is a gay wedding, or even to a wedding with the gay added as an afterthought. Equally, after the event, most gay people, of my acquaintance at least, refer, not to their "Civil Partner" but rather to their husband or their wife or occasionally, their spouse. I recently even had a fellow family lawyer referring to dealing with their first gay divorce. It wouldnt have crossed their mind to have cited the matter as relating to the dissolution of a Civil Partnership. That sounds more like a job for a commercial lawyer!
But the word marriage has two different meanings. One, the one at use in civil society, refers to an exclusive commitment by two people one to each other, with certain legal consequences. For that purpose it does not matter whether the actual establishment of that status takes place in a Church, a Registry Office or even a garage in Las Vegas. And, in relation to that civil understanding of the word, the married state, while intended to be permanent on its foundation, can nonetheless be brought to an end if the wishes of one or other participant changes. These circumstances in Scotland being as simple, in certain circumstances, as one year's voluntary non cohabitation.
The second meaning however has a religious significance. In this context, the married state is of a more permanent nature and is at least intended primarily for the procreation of children within a particular family environment. (I pause only to observe that even the most strict of religions departs in practice from this when it approves marriages involving those long past child bearing age or deathbed ceremonies). I am no theologian but I accept that for those of certain religious belief, such Unions are nonetheless peculiarly blessed by God.
The problem with the religious opposition to Gay Marriage is that by the same logic one should be opposed to those current marriages solemnified in a Registry Office and one should certainly be opposed to divorce. Now, I accept, some of those opposed to gay marriage are consistent in their views in that regard but they've come to live with the inconsistency between their own religious views and the Law of the Land.
But, and there is a but, why then is the current proposal from the Scottish (and, incidentally, British) Government causing such outrage? Partly, and cynically, as I say, because some of the opponents would probably be opposed to civil marriage and/or divorce were the Government proposing to introduce these one time innovations for the first time. But also because some on my side of the argument have failed to make it clear that they respect religious space.
If the Catholic Church is free to refuse to remarry divorcees in Church, then surely they are free to maintain a similar opposition to same sex unions? I might not agree with them but then I don't agree with the Catholic Church about a lot of things. That's why I'm not a Catholic.
This is, of course, the position of the Governments both sides of the border and it is a position supported by the European Convention on Human Rights. Its enemies, who may, in reality be more illusory than real, are those who are assumed at least to seek to impose supposed civil rights on the territory of legitimate religious dogma.
It would be a fatal error for either the First Minister or the Prime Minister to retreat in the face of a vocal minority to the Same Sex Marriage proposals. It might however do no harm for them to make it clear that they are concerned with civil rights rather than state intereference with religion. A resistance to the latter is, in Scottish History at least, just as important as the promotion of the former.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Second go
I wrote half a blog earlier on today, pressed the wrong button and consigned it to the dustbin of history.
It's been a pretty boring weekend. Saints didn't play; England got beat but so early in the morning that it felt inappropriate to be unduly ecstatic; Scotland won, but even the most blinkered patriot would find it difficult to be overenthusiastic about scraping a result against Lichtenstein.
And as for politics............................
The Sunday Herald ran a "story" about Christine Grahame. Apparently, somebody she has sacked has made complaints to the Police, The Corporate Body, The Standards Committee, and.....................failing anybody else paying the slightest bit of attention, the Sunday Herald.
Now, I don't particularly like Christine Grahame. She is an SNP politician of long standing and she is, in my opinion, a bit of a crank. But I have no reason to think she is a crook. She's just somebody I disagree with politically.
The Herald however seems to be seized of the idea that all politicians are bent. Two or so weeks ago it was a disgruntled employee of Frank McAveety who had made a complaint to the Police, via the Sunday Herald. Further back still, it was David McLetchie who had, we were told, questions to answer.
All of these stories, of course, actually come to nothing. Indeed, in a much less prominent way the Herald reported on Saturday that the Police have absolutely no interest in Frank, as they didn't have in Mr McLetchie, and as I'm sure they will in due course indicate that they have nothing to investigate regarding Ms Grahame.
The problem however is that our political class haven't worked out that in feeding these stories (and I use the word story deliberately) they damage not just their political opponents but democracy itself. Some, unnamed, "Labour Party Spokesman" is quoted as demanding answers from Ms Grahame, just as some unnamed SNP Spokesman was alleged to have demanded answers of Frank and, no doubt at some point in the past, unnamed spokesmen for one or other Party (or both) demanded answers of Mr McLetchie. Answers to what? Unspecified allegations from people who have lost their jobs as a result of their own alleged inadequate performance would appear to be the only conclusion.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will rule on the legality of Damages (Asbestos Related Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009. There is a widespread view that this legislation will be struck down as incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. This will be a big story. It would, if Scotland was a remotely sentient democracy, lead to questions as to why nobody in the Parliament raised the question of this being retrospective legislation at the time. More probably, it will lead to another spat between Salmond and the Supreme Court and a somewhat awkward tutorial being required for those Labour MSPs who should not have allowed their hearts, and, regrettably, their election expenses wallets, to rule their heads when they supported the legislation in the first place. On any view it will have major implications for whether the SNP can actually conduct their much trumpeted Referendum within the current constitutional settlement. Given the amount of ink already expended on this latter subject, and the fact we are assured it is the only real issue in current Scottish politics, one might have thought that the same journalists who have written so much of this might have been paying attention.
That's not, however, really my point. This was not the story that the "political" desk on the Herald chose to run today. To do so might have involved some actual research, indeed some actual journalism. Why bother with that when a disgruntled employee of a minor politician provided them with so much easier copy?
And who the f... authorised an "Labour Spokesman" to legitimise that?
It's been a pretty boring weekend. Saints didn't play; England got beat but so early in the morning that it felt inappropriate to be unduly ecstatic; Scotland won, but even the most blinkered patriot would find it difficult to be overenthusiastic about scraping a result against Lichtenstein.
And as for politics............................
The Sunday Herald ran a "story" about Christine Grahame. Apparently, somebody she has sacked has made complaints to the Police, The Corporate Body, The Standards Committee, and.....................failing anybody else paying the slightest bit of attention, the Sunday Herald.
Now, I don't particularly like Christine Grahame. She is an SNP politician of long standing and she is, in my opinion, a bit of a crank. But I have no reason to think she is a crook. She's just somebody I disagree with politically.
The Herald however seems to be seized of the idea that all politicians are bent. Two or so weeks ago it was a disgruntled employee of Frank McAveety who had made a complaint to the Police, via the Sunday Herald. Further back still, it was David McLetchie who had, we were told, questions to answer.
All of these stories, of course, actually come to nothing. Indeed, in a much less prominent way the Herald reported on Saturday that the Police have absolutely no interest in Frank, as they didn't have in Mr McLetchie, and as I'm sure they will in due course indicate that they have nothing to investigate regarding Ms Grahame.
The problem however is that our political class haven't worked out that in feeding these stories (and I use the word story deliberately) they damage not just their political opponents but democracy itself. Some, unnamed, "Labour Party Spokesman" is quoted as demanding answers from Ms Grahame, just as some unnamed SNP Spokesman was alleged to have demanded answers of Frank and, no doubt at some point in the past, unnamed spokesmen for one or other Party (or both) demanded answers of Mr McLetchie. Answers to what? Unspecified allegations from people who have lost their jobs as a result of their own alleged inadequate performance would appear to be the only conclusion.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will rule on the legality of Damages (Asbestos Related Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009. There is a widespread view that this legislation will be struck down as incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. This will be a big story. It would, if Scotland was a remotely sentient democracy, lead to questions as to why nobody in the Parliament raised the question of this being retrospective legislation at the time. More probably, it will lead to another spat between Salmond and the Supreme Court and a somewhat awkward tutorial being required for those Labour MSPs who should not have allowed their hearts, and, regrettably, their election expenses wallets, to rule their heads when they supported the legislation in the first place. On any view it will have major implications for whether the SNP can actually conduct their much trumpeted Referendum within the current constitutional settlement. Given the amount of ink already expended on this latter subject, and the fact we are assured it is the only real issue in current Scottish politics, one might have thought that the same journalists who have written so much of this might have been paying attention.
That's not, however, really my point. This was not the story that the "political" desk on the Herald chose to run today. To do so might have involved some actual research, indeed some actual journalism. Why bother with that when a disgruntled employee of a minor politician provided them with so much easier copy?
And who the f... authorised an "Labour Spokesman" to legitimise that?
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
A Few Points of Clarification
Usually, I like my blogs to follow a certain pattern.
I start with a anecdote or at least a reminiscence. I then ask, rhetorically, what the possible relevance of this anecdote/reminiscence might be? I answer my own question and then move on to develop an argument based on that answer. And then I reach a (by now) obvious conclusion.
Now, I would like to claim this to be a unique form of discourse but I suspect that all three of my followers have already long since that it is worked out from lessons (of a different sort than those intended) learned through a youth spent listening to sermons preached in the established Church; the only difference being that the starting point there was/is not a personal reflection but rather a Biblical Text.
In the USA, where religious affiliation is not a heritage to be disowned but rather an essential precondition to elected office, they merge these influences brilliantly. The President most brilliantly of all.
Tonight however I do not have time for such devices.
My blog, yesterday appears to have stirred up a (very minor) internet storm.
Brevity has never been a fault of mine so I hesitate to admit that I may have unduly restricted my previous remarks for lack of space.Nonetheless, it appears that I may have left scope for misinterpretation of my earlier hypothesis regarding there actually being an Independence Referendum.
I am in no doubt, both morally and legally, that the Scottish Parliament can call and indeed conduct, in terms of financial appropriation, an advisory referendum on any subject it likes. The moral right is simply a matter of politics but the legal right does, in the end, turn on whether one accepts that Whalley v Watson represents the decided law of Scotland and thus supersedes McCormick v The Lord Advocate. I don't, even if, somewhat bizarrely the SNP do, at least in terms of their last public utterance on the subject.
I've already commented on that anomaly however so that is not my objective tonight.
Suffice to say, not every lawyer shares my opinion on the legality of a referendum. Any legislation "enabling" an Independence Referendum is thus likely to be subject to legal challenge and that challenge will take, at least, months, more likely years, to grind itself through the judicial system.
If then one was a First Minister with a solid Parliamentary Majority determined to hold such a Referendum in 2015 or 2016, would not the sensible course be to introduce the enabling legislation now? Of course it would. Any legal challenge would then be well out of the way before the actual intended event. And, assuming the legal challenge was seen off, there would then be legislation permitting the referendum sitting on the Statute Book, simply awaiting a Statutory Instrument being made by Ministers fixing the actual date.
Why, indeed, would any calculating individual, determined on Independence, choose to proceed otherwise? Unless of course their calculation was aimed not at having a Referendum but rather in not having one. Aimed at not asking the question because one already knew (and didn't like) the answer.Aimed at finding an excuse to avoid a humiliation.
So, let me ask a simple question. If the SNP are determined to have a Referendum, at any point in this Parliament, why haven't they introduced enabling legislation?
I start with a anecdote or at least a reminiscence. I then ask, rhetorically, what the possible relevance of this anecdote/reminiscence might be? I answer my own question and then move on to develop an argument based on that answer. And then I reach a (by now) obvious conclusion.
Now, I would like to claim this to be a unique form of discourse but I suspect that all three of my followers have already long since that it is worked out from lessons (of a different sort than those intended) learned through a youth spent listening to sermons preached in the established Church; the only difference being that the starting point there was/is not a personal reflection but rather a Biblical Text.
In the USA, where religious affiliation is not a heritage to be disowned but rather an essential precondition to elected office, they merge these influences brilliantly. The President most brilliantly of all.
Tonight however I do not have time for such devices.
My blog, yesterday appears to have stirred up a (very minor) internet storm.
Brevity has never been a fault of mine so I hesitate to admit that I may have unduly restricted my previous remarks for lack of space.Nonetheless, it appears that I may have left scope for misinterpretation of my earlier hypothesis regarding there actually being an Independence Referendum.
I am in no doubt, both morally and legally, that the Scottish Parliament can call and indeed conduct, in terms of financial appropriation, an advisory referendum on any subject it likes. The moral right is simply a matter of politics but the legal right does, in the end, turn on whether one accepts that Whalley v Watson represents the decided law of Scotland and thus supersedes McCormick v The Lord Advocate. I don't, even if, somewhat bizarrely the SNP do, at least in terms of their last public utterance on the subject.
I've already commented on that anomaly however so that is not my objective tonight.
Suffice to say, not every lawyer shares my opinion on the legality of a referendum. Any legislation "enabling" an Independence Referendum is thus likely to be subject to legal challenge and that challenge will take, at least, months, more likely years, to grind itself through the judicial system.
If then one was a First Minister with a solid Parliamentary Majority determined to hold such a Referendum in 2015 or 2016, would not the sensible course be to introduce the enabling legislation now? Of course it would. Any legal challenge would then be well out of the way before the actual intended event. And, assuming the legal challenge was seen off, there would then be legislation permitting the referendum sitting on the Statute Book, simply awaiting a Statutory Instrument being made by Ministers fixing the actual date.
Why, indeed, would any calculating individual, determined on Independence, choose to proceed otherwise? Unless of course their calculation was aimed not at having a Referendum but rather in not having one. Aimed at not asking the question because one already knew (and didn't like) the answer.Aimed at finding an excuse to avoid a humiliation.
So, let me ask a simple question. If the SNP are determined to have a Referendum, at any point in this Parliament, why haven't they introduced enabling legislation?
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
A strategy for Labour whether led by Tom, Johann or the other excellent candidate
Tony Benn used to repeat ad nauseam that it is not about the personalities, its about the issues.
And somebody else, I can never remember if it was Marx himself or only, much later, Eric Hobsbawn, observed that all history is economic history.
It was certainly Marx who, in the "18th Brumaire" most decisively turned the left against the "great man" theory of history, while at the same time, and more tellingly, warning against its dangers.
Nonetheless, the best observation in this sphere belongs not to any political theorist but to the Bard:
"There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune."
Sometimes a set of circumstance, economic or otherwise, conspires to provide a situation conducive to decisive leadership: Lenin at the Smolny Institute; Napoleon on joining the Army of Italy; dare one say it, Caesar himself on crossing the Rubicon. Sometimes circumstance is not enough, leadership is required for real change.
I am an amateur student of the Risorgimento. I even once spent an entire holiday in Marsala partly so that I could see the very point where the Thousand first stepped ashore.
But for all the efforts of the Red shirts, that delirium of the brave; for all the life work of Mazzini; the brilliant manouvering of Cavour or even the stoic determination of Victor Emmanuel, it is impossible to imagine the unification of Italy, even at 150 years distance without the contribution of that singular heroic figure, Giuseppe Garibaldi.
He didn't create the idea of unification but he embodied it.
The idea of leadership is not a bad thing in itself; the evil is when it leads in the wrong direction as it would subsequently be by Garibaldi's mini-me, Mussolini.
So, for not the first time, I disagree with Marx. Gramsci gets it much better but that's for another time.
But what, if anything, you might ask, have any of these ramblings got to do with current Scottish politics?
Is this lunatic about to compare Tom Harris to a latter day Garibaldi? Not, I reassure you in any sense.I doubt he has ever owned a red shirt, although I don't rule out the possibility that, like Garibaldi, he might at some time be shot by his own side.
No, rather I want to talk about the First Minister. He is a would be great man of history and, frankly, he is up to that task.
People talk about Labour bringing in a "big beast" to take him on but, to be honest, even our current big beasts are pretty small in comparison. Donald could and did; so could John Smith; so could have Robin Cook or, had he not broken himself on the wheel of higher ambition still, so could Gordon. But they've all got one thing in common: they're all deid, except the last, who I fear is fatally wounded. Those who are left will, at best, have to follow the strategy of another hero of antiquity, Quintus Fabius Maximus, and await the all conqueror overstretching himself.
The problem is that I don't know if this latter day Hannibal is going to overstretch himself in the way we currently expect. I return to my starting point and to my Gramsci if not my Marx.
There are circumstances in which other incohate forces are susceptible to decisive leadership. These incohate forces have however to exist in the first place.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, seriously thinks Scotland would vote for independence in a properly held and clearly worded referendum. Not a single serious activist privy to the private polling in the higher reaches of any of the political Parties; not a single opinion former among the intellectual class; not a single newspaper; nobody. Not even the cybernats who keep insisting that such an eventuality is imminent while defending the decision not to hold such a vote "quite yet",
There is however an assumption nonetheless that such a referendum will take place.
So let me into a secret.
Alex Salmond has no intention of holding a single question referendum for, if he can't win the actual vote, what could he possibly gain from such an exercise?
It's aftermath would almost certainly split his Party between the realists and the irreconcilables; any cards those still in the game might once have held in their game of bluff with Westminster would have been shown to be a busted flush; most importantly of all, the First Minister's own career would be over. There might still be some honour in departing the stage as a tragic hero but, somehow, I don't see Eck as personally wanting to play that role.
Clearly his original strategy was to use minority government as the excuse for being unable to stage such a vote.
That obstacle having been removed, there now appears no doubt that his first fall back plan was to trick the devolutionist forces into coming up with some sort of second option (any second option) which might have allowed the SNP to claim some sort of partial achievement (any sort of partial achievement). Unfortunately for him, even our leadership, such as it is, have not proved to be quite so naive (although what Willie Rennie might yet do is anybody's guess).
I suspect therefor that the SNP's revised fallback plan is for late legislation introduced in the reasonably certain knowledge that a legal challenge will prevent the actual vote taking place before the 2016, at which election the SNP's backwoodsmen will be kept happy by blaming the Judges or at least those shortsighted enough to have brought the challenge.
So here's therefore what I suggest we do. Ignore them. Let's say to the Nats that we take them at their word. If they think there is no need to discuss Independence before 2015, or 2016 or whenever, then let's tell them we're quite happy to agree.
And let's get on with scrutinising the day to day government of Scotland while we wait.......................and wait...............and wait. Like Quintus Fabius Maximus.
And somebody else, I can never remember if it was Marx himself or only, much later, Eric Hobsbawn, observed that all history is economic history.
It was certainly Marx who, in the "18th Brumaire" most decisively turned the left against the "great man" theory of history, while at the same time, and more tellingly, warning against its dangers.
Nonetheless, the best observation in this sphere belongs not to any political theorist but to the Bard:
"There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune."
Sometimes a set of circumstance, economic or otherwise, conspires to provide a situation conducive to decisive leadership: Lenin at the Smolny Institute; Napoleon on joining the Army of Italy; dare one say it, Caesar himself on crossing the Rubicon. Sometimes circumstance is not enough, leadership is required for real change.
I am an amateur student of the Risorgimento. I even once spent an entire holiday in Marsala partly so that I could see the very point where the Thousand first stepped ashore.
But for all the efforts of the Red shirts, that delirium of the brave; for all the life work of Mazzini; the brilliant manouvering of Cavour or even the stoic determination of Victor Emmanuel, it is impossible to imagine the unification of Italy, even at 150 years distance without the contribution of that singular heroic figure, Giuseppe Garibaldi.
He didn't create the idea of unification but he embodied it.
The idea of leadership is not a bad thing in itself; the evil is when it leads in the wrong direction as it would subsequently be by Garibaldi's mini-me, Mussolini.
So, for not the first time, I disagree with Marx. Gramsci gets it much better but that's for another time.
But what, if anything, you might ask, have any of these ramblings got to do with current Scottish politics?
Is this lunatic about to compare Tom Harris to a latter day Garibaldi? Not, I reassure you in any sense.I doubt he has ever owned a red shirt, although I don't rule out the possibility that, like Garibaldi, he might at some time be shot by his own side.
No, rather I want to talk about the First Minister. He is a would be great man of history and, frankly, he is up to that task.
People talk about Labour bringing in a "big beast" to take him on but, to be honest, even our current big beasts are pretty small in comparison. Donald could and did; so could John Smith; so could have Robin Cook or, had he not broken himself on the wheel of higher ambition still, so could Gordon. But they've all got one thing in common: they're all deid, except the last, who I fear is fatally wounded. Those who are left will, at best, have to follow the strategy of another hero of antiquity, Quintus Fabius Maximus, and await the all conqueror overstretching himself.
The problem is that I don't know if this latter day Hannibal is going to overstretch himself in the way we currently expect. I return to my starting point and to my Gramsci if not my Marx.
There are circumstances in which other incohate forces are susceptible to decisive leadership. These incohate forces have however to exist in the first place.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, seriously thinks Scotland would vote for independence in a properly held and clearly worded referendum. Not a single serious activist privy to the private polling in the higher reaches of any of the political Parties; not a single opinion former among the intellectual class; not a single newspaper; nobody. Not even the cybernats who keep insisting that such an eventuality is imminent while defending the decision not to hold such a vote "quite yet",
There is however an assumption nonetheless that such a referendum will take place.
So let me into a secret.
Alex Salmond has no intention of holding a single question referendum for, if he can't win the actual vote, what could he possibly gain from such an exercise?
It's aftermath would almost certainly split his Party between the realists and the irreconcilables; any cards those still in the game might once have held in their game of bluff with Westminster would have been shown to be a busted flush; most importantly of all, the First Minister's own career would be over. There might still be some honour in departing the stage as a tragic hero but, somehow, I don't see Eck as personally wanting to play that role.
Clearly his original strategy was to use minority government as the excuse for being unable to stage such a vote.
That obstacle having been removed, there now appears no doubt that his first fall back plan was to trick the devolutionist forces into coming up with some sort of second option (any second option) which might have allowed the SNP to claim some sort of partial achievement (any sort of partial achievement). Unfortunately for him, even our leadership, such as it is, have not proved to be quite so naive (although what Willie Rennie might yet do is anybody's guess).
I suspect therefor that the SNP's revised fallback plan is for late legislation introduced in the reasonably certain knowledge that a legal challenge will prevent the actual vote taking place before the 2016, at which election the SNP's backwoodsmen will be kept happy by blaming the Judges or at least those shortsighted enough to have brought the challenge.
So here's therefore what I suggest we do. Ignore them. Let's say to the Nats that we take them at their word. If they think there is no need to discuss Independence before 2015, or 2016 or whenever, then let's tell them we're quite happy to agree.
And let's get on with scrutinising the day to day government of Scotland while we wait.......................and wait...............and wait. Like Quintus Fabius Maximus.
Friday, 30 September 2011
Well here we are
I now, somewhat spookily, am being followed on twitter by Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister.
I don't know if this is in the hope of some insight into the future of the Scottish Labour Party; if it is I urge her not to waste her time. The Labour Party has never listened to me; quite right too given the unparalleled progress they have made in Scotland since 1997 without the benefit of my counsel.
Unless I am misjudging matters, this may be a curse that I am about to bestow on Tom Harris. He is a terrible right winger; he even voted for the Iraq war! When the Party this last week booed Tony Blair, I sighed at the own goal being scored but I still booed along silently inside. Tom, on the other hand, might well have hit somebody. (For the avoidance of any doubt, cybernats, I mean this metaphorically and not as a suggestion that Tom might actually be given to physical violence. Outwith the Labour party, at least.) He's even in the Herald today suggesting tuition fees are inevitable in Scotland. He's right, of course, but he didn't need to gloat about it.
I'll come back to Tom. First a bit more about Nicola.
I am so old I remember Nicola before she was famous. I ran across her as a lawyer when she worked at the Drumchapel Law Centre. Having passed some vaguely favourable remark to my pals at the time about her legal ability, I remember being pulled up by the question "Did I know she was in the SNP?"
Now there were a number of subtexts to this remark but they amounted to essentially this:
Could I possibly be saying something positive about anyone's legal ability despite the fact that their Party affiliation established them, by definition, as a bit of a lunatic?
That mindset has too long beset the Scottish Labour Party. Essentially, "These people are not quite the full shilling."
Well, as we prepare to choose between Johann and "the other excellent candidate", I increasingly worry about who are the idiots here.
I joined the Labour Party between the February and October General Elections in 1974.
It was, how shall I put it, an institution not without faults. Nonetheless, it was an institution with an agreed direction of travel: not on the route; not on the pace; not even on the ultimate destination but, nonetheless an agreed general direction. And that was a general direction agreed upon with the people of Scotland.
Towards an end to the Scotland where neither the Sunday Post nor the Scottish Sunday Express was the voice of the nation; to a Scotland where "what school did you go to?" was not a loaded question at any interview; to a Scotland where things would be "fairer" (which none of us would know until we saw it, and some of us even not then).
It was a pretty odd journey with a pretty odd group of companions: John Wheatley; Leon Trotsky; Franklin Delano Roosevelt; Antonio Gramsci; Robert Burns; St Ignatius Loyola; Marshall Zhukov; Martin Luther King; above all perhaps Clement Attlee, all joining the route at one point or another.
And in the current struggle: Communist Miners; west end intellectuals; reactionary bishops; Tamany Hall Councillors; careerist Trade Union officials; any number of other participants. All with virtually nothing good to say about each other but all nonetheless engaged in the same project and convinced by the secret companion, Joseph Stalin, lurking well back in the shadows, that if you were not with us you were against us.
So that was the mindset with which we first met the modern SNP. Either they were actual Tories, engaged in a machiavellian plot to split the working class vote, or they were willing dupes, unaware of the extent to which their naive beliefs were being manipulated by the forces of reaction to serve reaction's objectives in the wider class struggle.
Oddly enough I still have some time for the first assumption; not that they are secret partisans of David Cameron but that rather that no Party defined by loyalty to a flag has ever been a force for progress. It is however the latter assumption which is, for progressive opinion, the more dangerous one. These people are not, for the avoidance of any doubt, idiots. The extent to which they have forced a concept, Independence, to the forefront of public discourse while being unable, even themselves, to define what Independence actually means is not a mark of their idiocy, it is a mark of their genius. That they might seriously suggest that Scotland and England might, as sovereign states, maintain joint armed forces over whose deployment each might have a veto is a construction of such intellectual lunacy that only the truly brilliant could have persuaded anyone to consider it without bursting out laughing. That......................I'm sorry, at this point I was intending to say something about their position on an Independent Scotland's currency but every time I start to type I end up rolling about the floor.
But this brings me back to the Labour Party. It also takes a different sort of genius to have lost to these people. Or a ridiculous degree of hubris. But, like the Bourbons, it appears we have forgotten nothing and learned nothing.
"The SNP are idiots; we only need to get our act together and they will be blown away. Indeed, they are such idiots that we don't even need to get our act together; half our act will do.....................no, never mind half.................a quarter!"
Either Johann or even the other excellent candidate will be more than up to such a simple task.
Clearly they can't be held responsible for last May's debacle, they weren't involved!
(Well, mibbee as Deputy Leader Johann was a bit involved, but experience is a great teacher; and mibbee nobody asked the other excellent candidate for his opinion because......................better not say any more than that).
I keep coming back to Tom Harris. The extent to which it has become common media parlance that he is obviously the best candidate is becoming a bit embarrasing, not for him but for the Labour Party who would appear to have little intention of electing him.
He gets the SNP. They are not Tories but they are nonetheless our political enemies. They are not lunatics but they are most certainly dangerous, to us and ultimately to Scotland. And they are not going to go away voluntarily no matter how much we would like them to. They require to be driven from the field.
I wish he was a bit more left-wing but you can't have everything. He is that greatest of all attributes, a Labour Man. And he could actually get elected as First Minister. That will do me.
I don't know if this is in the hope of some insight into the future of the Scottish Labour Party; if it is I urge her not to waste her time. The Labour Party has never listened to me; quite right too given the unparalleled progress they have made in Scotland since 1997 without the benefit of my counsel.
Unless I am misjudging matters, this may be a curse that I am about to bestow on Tom Harris. He is a terrible right winger; he even voted for the Iraq war! When the Party this last week booed Tony Blair, I sighed at the own goal being scored but I still booed along silently inside. Tom, on the other hand, might well have hit somebody. (For the avoidance of any doubt, cybernats, I mean this metaphorically and not as a suggestion that Tom might actually be given to physical violence. Outwith the Labour party, at least.) He's even in the Herald today suggesting tuition fees are inevitable in Scotland. He's right, of course, but he didn't need to gloat about it.
I'll come back to Tom. First a bit more about Nicola.
I am so old I remember Nicola before she was famous. I ran across her as a lawyer when she worked at the Drumchapel Law Centre. Having passed some vaguely favourable remark to my pals at the time about her legal ability, I remember being pulled up by the question "Did I know she was in the SNP?"
Now there were a number of subtexts to this remark but they amounted to essentially this:
Could I possibly be saying something positive about anyone's legal ability despite the fact that their Party affiliation established them, by definition, as a bit of a lunatic?
That mindset has too long beset the Scottish Labour Party. Essentially, "These people are not quite the full shilling."
Well, as we prepare to choose between Johann and "the other excellent candidate", I increasingly worry about who are the idiots here.
I joined the Labour Party between the February and October General Elections in 1974.
It was, how shall I put it, an institution not without faults. Nonetheless, it was an institution with an agreed direction of travel: not on the route; not on the pace; not even on the ultimate destination but, nonetheless an agreed general direction. And that was a general direction agreed upon with the people of Scotland.
Towards an end to the Scotland where neither the Sunday Post nor the Scottish Sunday Express was the voice of the nation; to a Scotland where "what school did you go to?" was not a loaded question at any interview; to a Scotland where things would be "fairer" (which none of us would know until we saw it, and some of us even not then).
It was a pretty odd journey with a pretty odd group of companions: John Wheatley; Leon Trotsky; Franklin Delano Roosevelt; Antonio Gramsci; Robert Burns; St Ignatius Loyola; Marshall Zhukov; Martin Luther King; above all perhaps Clement Attlee, all joining the route at one point or another.
And in the current struggle: Communist Miners; west end intellectuals; reactionary bishops; Tamany Hall Councillors; careerist Trade Union officials; any number of other participants. All with virtually nothing good to say about each other but all nonetheless engaged in the same project and convinced by the secret companion, Joseph Stalin, lurking well back in the shadows, that if you were not with us you were against us.
So that was the mindset with which we first met the modern SNP. Either they were actual Tories, engaged in a machiavellian plot to split the working class vote, or they were willing dupes, unaware of the extent to which their naive beliefs were being manipulated by the forces of reaction to serve reaction's objectives in the wider class struggle.
Oddly enough I still have some time for the first assumption; not that they are secret partisans of David Cameron but that rather that no Party defined by loyalty to a flag has ever been a force for progress. It is however the latter assumption which is, for progressive opinion, the more dangerous one. These people are not, for the avoidance of any doubt, idiots. The extent to which they have forced a concept, Independence, to the forefront of public discourse while being unable, even themselves, to define what Independence actually means is not a mark of their idiocy, it is a mark of their genius. That they might seriously suggest that Scotland and England might, as sovereign states, maintain joint armed forces over whose deployment each might have a veto is a construction of such intellectual lunacy that only the truly brilliant could have persuaded anyone to consider it without bursting out laughing. That......................I'm sorry, at this point I was intending to say something about their position on an Independent Scotland's currency but every time I start to type I end up rolling about the floor.
But this brings me back to the Labour Party. It also takes a different sort of genius to have lost to these people. Or a ridiculous degree of hubris. But, like the Bourbons, it appears we have forgotten nothing and learned nothing.
"The SNP are idiots; we only need to get our act together and they will be blown away. Indeed, they are such idiots that we don't even need to get our act together; half our act will do.....................no, never mind half.................a quarter!"
Either Johann or even the other excellent candidate will be more than up to such a simple task.
Clearly they can't be held responsible for last May's debacle, they weren't involved!
(Well, mibbee as Deputy Leader Johann was a bit involved, but experience is a great teacher; and mibbee nobody asked the other excellent candidate for his opinion because......................better not say any more than that).
I keep coming back to Tom Harris. The extent to which it has become common media parlance that he is obviously the best candidate is becoming a bit embarrasing, not for him but for the Labour Party who would appear to have little intention of electing him.
He gets the SNP. They are not Tories but they are nonetheless our political enemies. They are not lunatics but they are most certainly dangerous, to us and ultimately to Scotland. And they are not going to go away voluntarily no matter how much we would like them to. They require to be driven from the field.
I wish he was a bit more left-wing but you can't have everything. He is that greatest of all attributes, a Labour Man. And he could actually get elected as First Minister. That will do me.
Sunday, 25 September 2011
It's many a mile from here to there
There is a very wise observation that a four day golf tournament can't be won on day one, but it most certainly can be lost.
The same in many ways applies to Party Conferences in the early days of a new Parliamentary Term.
Labour could have a model conference this week. Enlightened and perceptive discussion on the fringe if not in the hall (no Party offers that nowadays, its too dangerous); Great speeches from our major players; a mesmerising address from Ed and a general atmosphere of fraternal bonhomie and common purpose.
And do you know what? It wouldn't matter a jot come the next election. Other than Ed getting elected I can't remember a single thing that happened at last year's Labour Party Conference and I am, how might I put it, more interested in the internal politics of the Labour Party than most people.
But Conferences, even at this distance from the polls can certainly make a major contribution to defeat.
Since I started with a sporting cliche I make no apology for repeating the political cliche that oppositions don't win elections, Governments lose them. That is true but it is equally true that most Governments have the additional advantage that they are the Government. Other than in the most extreme of circumstances that has at least proved that under their existing stewardship the Country functions on some basis. Accordingly, even when the Country is not functioning very well, seldom are the other side swept into power unless they have demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Country that they are capable of doing a better job.
That's why the elections of 1974 and 2010 proved so indecisive and why that of 1992, for us, proved such a disappointment. The Country wanted something better but they were not convinced that was on offer. To that extent, Party Conferences are important. They put the alternative under the spotlight and, if it holds up, invite the electorate to return to it when the time is right.
But a good conference this year counts for nothing if next year's is a disaster. On the other hand, if this year's is a disaster then the danger is that minds are set against paying future attention. That's why the disastrous Conferences of the eighties took so long for Labour to recover from.
Conferences are however important in another less public way. They make the Party rules and the effect of that can have a slow burn for good or ill. The farcical compromise reached on the electoral college is just another fix to put off the eventual decision that the only viable way for any party to elect its leader is by one member one vote. The very, very small toe dipped in the water of registered supporters the start of a long process that will eventually, one day, lead to a Primary system to elect our candidates. The frustrating thing is that both moves are so.......................conservative and the need for something bolder so obvious to everyone except the Party itself. If fortune favours the brave then it looks like we can look forward to a fair amount of bad luck.
The general public don't pay any attention to such matters but they do to the results they produce. "How did he/she end up as Leader?" they will ask in time. Or "How could you possibly expect people to vote for........?" in a Constituency context. If the only answer is that this was in accordance with our rules they are unlikely to be mollified. Much more likely they will conclude that if these are your rules then it's no wonder nobody votes for you.
There is however a very imporant and enlightened change likely to go through the Conference this week and that is the rule change which will, at a different Conference in late October, allow the Scottish Party to make its own rules. Unfortunately there is a strong body of opinion that sees this simply as an opportunity for us to decide to have the same rules as the Party in England. It would however be a serious error for that to be what happens.
Sometimes, just sometimes, having a row at a Party Conference, is actually the best thing to do. It was when Kinnock denounced the Militant or Blair announced the revision of Clause 4. Such rows are only justified when the status quo isn't working and that a row is the only way to show people that some, at least, realise that.
This October, it's time for a row. For the May 2016 Election can't be won in October 2011 but it can certainly be lost.
The same in many ways applies to Party Conferences in the early days of a new Parliamentary Term.
Labour could have a model conference this week. Enlightened and perceptive discussion on the fringe if not in the hall (no Party offers that nowadays, its too dangerous); Great speeches from our major players; a mesmerising address from Ed and a general atmosphere of fraternal bonhomie and common purpose.
And do you know what? It wouldn't matter a jot come the next election. Other than Ed getting elected I can't remember a single thing that happened at last year's Labour Party Conference and I am, how might I put it, more interested in the internal politics of the Labour Party than most people.
But Conferences, even at this distance from the polls can certainly make a major contribution to defeat.
Since I started with a sporting cliche I make no apology for repeating the political cliche that oppositions don't win elections, Governments lose them. That is true but it is equally true that most Governments have the additional advantage that they are the Government. Other than in the most extreme of circumstances that has at least proved that under their existing stewardship the Country functions on some basis. Accordingly, even when the Country is not functioning very well, seldom are the other side swept into power unless they have demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Country that they are capable of doing a better job.
That's why the elections of 1974 and 2010 proved so indecisive and why that of 1992, for us, proved such a disappointment. The Country wanted something better but they were not convinced that was on offer. To that extent, Party Conferences are important. They put the alternative under the spotlight and, if it holds up, invite the electorate to return to it when the time is right.
But a good conference this year counts for nothing if next year's is a disaster. On the other hand, if this year's is a disaster then the danger is that minds are set against paying future attention. That's why the disastrous Conferences of the eighties took so long for Labour to recover from.
Conferences are however important in another less public way. They make the Party rules and the effect of that can have a slow burn for good or ill. The farcical compromise reached on the electoral college is just another fix to put off the eventual decision that the only viable way for any party to elect its leader is by one member one vote. The very, very small toe dipped in the water of registered supporters the start of a long process that will eventually, one day, lead to a Primary system to elect our candidates. The frustrating thing is that both moves are so.......................conservative and the need for something bolder so obvious to everyone except the Party itself. If fortune favours the brave then it looks like we can look forward to a fair amount of bad luck.
The general public don't pay any attention to such matters but they do to the results they produce. "How did he/she end up as Leader?" they will ask in time. Or "How could you possibly expect people to vote for........?" in a Constituency context. If the only answer is that this was in accordance with our rules they are unlikely to be mollified. Much more likely they will conclude that if these are your rules then it's no wonder nobody votes for you.
There is however a very imporant and enlightened change likely to go through the Conference this week and that is the rule change which will, at a different Conference in late October, allow the Scottish Party to make its own rules. Unfortunately there is a strong body of opinion that sees this simply as an opportunity for us to decide to have the same rules as the Party in England. It would however be a serious error for that to be what happens.
Sometimes, just sometimes, having a row at a Party Conference, is actually the best thing to do. It was when Kinnock denounced the Militant or Blair announced the revision of Clause 4. Such rows are only justified when the status quo isn't working and that a row is the only way to show people that some, at least, realise that.
This October, it's time for a row. For the May 2016 Election can't be won in October 2011 but it can certainly be lost.
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Budget Day
I didn't envy Richard Baker's task today.
Labour has to get its head round the fact that no matter what we think of the SNP's position on the constitution, in day to day Government, they are broadly social democratic. That may, I concede, be for tactical reasons; their true colours may indeed be shown by their stated desire to cut taxes on big business if given the chance or indeed their continued support for a Council Tax freeze benefiting mainly those (the rich) who pay most Council Tax.
That's not however really the point. Today, John Swinney was faced with trying to balance the books against a financial settlement from Westminster which involves significant fewer resources at his disposal. It doesn't matter that we (possibly more sincerely than him) regard the scale of these cuts as unneccessary. If, by some miracle, we had won in May we would still have faced the same challenges.
So what would we have done differently?
It must be the case that faced with a choice between freezing public sector pay and compulsory public sector redundancies we would have made the same call.
The "Tesco Tax", if it works, is surely a good idea, even if the money raised is pretty small beer (sorry).
The decision to prioritise capital expenditure is classic Keynseianism and even the decision that if the Scottish Government can't borrow then Local Authorities might do that for themselves is one that, faced with the initial premise, we would probably also have arrived at.
The commitment to the Christie report is a commitment to a report written by....................eh.............Campbell Christie, hardly a running dog of capitalism.
Even the jiggery-pokery surrounding the likes of Legal Aid or FE expenditure is only the sort of jiggery-pokery all governments engage in.
And, finally, the decision not to spend money on a Referendum on Independence is in accordance with long term Labour Party policy (even if I don't agree with that policy myself.)
No, the only real controversy is in the treatment of Local Government, and here there is a lesson for us.
There is no doubt that the budget involves very real cuts in the resources available to local councils. There is however no reason to think that this will be unpopular, even if properly understood. Just as there is no evidence that the council tax freeze is unpopular; indeed that policy is so unpopular that in a panic move Iain Gray saw fit to adopt it.
The electorate understands what local councils do. They appreciate the importance of education; roads and lighting; refuse collection; child protection; planning controls and any number of other essential functions. But the electorate believes that all of these functions could be delivered in a more cost effective and less bureaucratic way; that the purpose of local government is to provide services and to provide employment only so far as necessary to do so; and that "local" accountability, outside the cities, might just as well be provided by one Council than the two, three or four as we have at present. And the electorate is seldom wrong.
Lots of my social circle are Labour Councillors. I'm even on reasonable terms with some SNP Councillors and I once met a man at a Party who claimed to be a Tory Councillor (although, admittedly that was in Edinburgh and, even then, he may have been joking). But, even when talking with these more articulate specimens of the class, I am reminded of the story I was once told by one of the Labour Ministers trying to persuade Glasgow City Councillors to agree to stock transfer. "If the stock transferred" she was asked in all seriousness, "could the Council still have a Housing Committee?" Assured that it could, his support was secured.
There is far too much bureaucracy in Local Government: Too many Committees; too many Councillors; too many Councils; and, above all, too many employees with either undefined roles or at least too many duplicated roles.
The problem with John Swinney's settlement is that it doesn't address this at all. In consequence, the cuts will not fall on that layer of lard but rather on the food on the plate.
But while Labour won't address that we are left with the proposition that more money for Councils must mean less for Higher Education; curtailed free personal care; higher Council Tax or an end to the eye catching free bus travel or free prescription charges. In relation to the latter three, I would have other priorities, but I regret it would not be more central government money for Local Government in its present incarnation.
Thank goodness I'm no longer interested in getting a Labour Nomination. And, sympathies, once again, to Richard Baker.
Labour has to get its head round the fact that no matter what we think of the SNP's position on the constitution, in day to day Government, they are broadly social democratic. That may, I concede, be for tactical reasons; their true colours may indeed be shown by their stated desire to cut taxes on big business if given the chance or indeed their continued support for a Council Tax freeze benefiting mainly those (the rich) who pay most Council Tax.
That's not however really the point. Today, John Swinney was faced with trying to balance the books against a financial settlement from Westminster which involves significant fewer resources at his disposal. It doesn't matter that we (possibly more sincerely than him) regard the scale of these cuts as unneccessary. If, by some miracle, we had won in May we would still have faced the same challenges.
So what would we have done differently?
It must be the case that faced with a choice between freezing public sector pay and compulsory public sector redundancies we would have made the same call.
The "Tesco Tax", if it works, is surely a good idea, even if the money raised is pretty small beer (sorry).
The decision to prioritise capital expenditure is classic Keynseianism and even the decision that if the Scottish Government can't borrow then Local Authorities might do that for themselves is one that, faced with the initial premise, we would probably also have arrived at.
The commitment to the Christie report is a commitment to a report written by....................eh.............Campbell Christie, hardly a running dog of capitalism.
Even the jiggery-pokery surrounding the likes of Legal Aid or FE expenditure is only the sort of jiggery-pokery all governments engage in.
And, finally, the decision not to spend money on a Referendum on Independence is in accordance with long term Labour Party policy (even if I don't agree with that policy myself.)
No, the only real controversy is in the treatment of Local Government, and here there is a lesson for us.
There is no doubt that the budget involves very real cuts in the resources available to local councils. There is however no reason to think that this will be unpopular, even if properly understood. Just as there is no evidence that the council tax freeze is unpopular; indeed that policy is so unpopular that in a panic move Iain Gray saw fit to adopt it.
The electorate understands what local councils do. They appreciate the importance of education; roads and lighting; refuse collection; child protection; planning controls and any number of other essential functions. But the electorate believes that all of these functions could be delivered in a more cost effective and less bureaucratic way; that the purpose of local government is to provide services and to provide employment only so far as necessary to do so; and that "local" accountability, outside the cities, might just as well be provided by one Council than the two, three or four as we have at present. And the electorate is seldom wrong.
Lots of my social circle are Labour Councillors. I'm even on reasonable terms with some SNP Councillors and I once met a man at a Party who claimed to be a Tory Councillor (although, admittedly that was in Edinburgh and, even then, he may have been joking). But, even when talking with these more articulate specimens of the class, I am reminded of the story I was once told by one of the Labour Ministers trying to persuade Glasgow City Councillors to agree to stock transfer. "If the stock transferred" she was asked in all seriousness, "could the Council still have a Housing Committee?" Assured that it could, his support was secured.
There is far too much bureaucracy in Local Government: Too many Committees; too many Councillors; too many Councils; and, above all, too many employees with either undefined roles or at least too many duplicated roles.
The problem with John Swinney's settlement is that it doesn't address this at all. In consequence, the cuts will not fall on that layer of lard but rather on the food on the plate.
But while Labour won't address that we are left with the proposition that more money for Councils must mean less for Higher Education; curtailed free personal care; higher Council Tax or an end to the eye catching free bus travel or free prescription charges. In relation to the latter three, I would have other priorities, but I regret it would not be more central government money for Local Government in its present incarnation.
Thank goodness I'm no longer interested in getting a Labour Nomination. And, sympathies, once again, to Richard Baker.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)