The Sunday Post’s lobby reporter James Millar noticed today that all the parties have submitted their nominations to sit on the Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster.
As has already been noted, the majority of the committee – seven from 11 – are MPs for English seats (list below). But one name in particular caught our attention.
We didn’t notice this piece in Scotland on Sunday three weekends ago, because we were on holiday and, well, it was in Scotland on Sunday. But it seems odd that nobody (including SoS) has picked up on its ramifications at the time or since, because if it’s true then it would officially and conclusively mark the complete abandonment of the “vow” all three Westminster party leaders made to Scottish voters prior to the referendum, just 10 days after Scots voted to believe that vow.
Don Paterson is a celebrated Scottish poet, writer and musician. The essay below comes from a new anthology of Scottish writers called Irish Pages: Scotland, and is reproduced with his permission.
Remember The Vow? Most of us have tried to forget it. This was Westminster’s Hail Mary as polling day approached in the 2014 referendum; a vote that Yessers – people tend to forget this part too – initially had no real expectation of winning, until an inspirationally positive campaign saw the polls draw neck-and-neck.
Then lo! There it was, splashed across the Daily Record: a fancy-font promise from Westminster party leaders that if Scotland voted to stay within the UK, we would enjoy new devolved powers. There was some other waffle about defence and opportunities and having an equal share in the UK’s prosperity. But the message was clear enough. We would be listened to.
On 15 October 2012, I signed the Edinburgh Agreement with David Cameron to secure the independence referendum of September 2014.
On the same day Peter Kellner of the polling company YouGov wrote one of his condescending commentaries from London dissing any hope for the Yes campaign.
Kellner’s view was almost universal, and not just among the London pack of journos and politicians. Most, if not all, of the Scottish media agreed with him.
However, by September 2014 things looked very different.
Every now and again you’ll go to clean them up and find something that you’ve been meaning to write about in a quiet moment, and this certainly counts as a quiet moment in Scottish politics, so let’s do this one now.
Because the story above is from March, but we don’t think we’ve ever seen anyone anywhere talk about just how weird it is, or what it tells us about the 2024 SNP.
The Unionist media in Scotland (ie all of the media in Scotland) usually keeps up a pretty united front when it comes to the subjects of independence or the SNP. So it’s been fascinating in these last couple of weeks to see a genuine schism develop between them on the subject of the party’s leadership election.
(For the avoidance of doubt, we do not include Holyrood Magazine, whose splendid front cover image that is, in “the Unionist media”.)
Right back at the start of the contest we highlighted The Times’ full-on love-in for Kate Forbes, but most of the Scottish press has now made their preferences clear. And you’ll never guess who they really, really DON’T want to be the next First Minister.
When the Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts died last month, the first of their songs that popped into my head, for no particular reason, was “Under My Thumb”, a mildly controversial 1966 album track the band never released as a single in the West.
Its most infamous place in history, though, is this.
Until Watts’ death I was only very broadly aware of the events at Altamont Speedway in 1969, a free festival at a racetrack near San Francisco at which four people died in scenes of malevolent chaos and which is widely regarded as the grim headstone of the hippy era.
But on seeing the extraordinary footage above for the first time on the day of Watts’ death – taken from “Gimme Shelter”, notionally the official movie of the show, although the first two-thirds of it are actually a mundane travelogue of the preceding tour dates – I did some proper reading up on it.
And as I did, a horribly familiar feeling started to unfold.
The weekend just past saw a convulsion as big as any we can ever recall witnessing on Yes social media, triggered by a series of tweets by Nicola Sturgeon which caused an extraordinary negative reaction out of all proportion to their ostensible content.
The reason was that the First Minister – who had remained silent about countless episodes of hideous misogynistic abuse aimed from her own side at MPs and MSPs like Joan McAlpine and Joanna Cherry – had chosen to suddenly leap into action in defence of the toxically divisive horror that is Glasgow councillor Rhiannon Spear after Spear had been widely criticised for making blatantly false claims in a video promoting her attempt to be selected as the candidate for Argyll & Bute.
(Sturgeon had no such public condemnation for the torrents of abuse the SNP Twitler Youth then unleased on Kirsten Thornton, the female SNP activist and Generation Yes founder who’d pointed out Spear’s untruths.)
The move sent the party’s woke and sane factions into a frenzy of bloodletting which in itself will have little if any impact on the wider electorate, but nonetheless threw into sharp relief the life-and-death battle currently going on for the SNP’s soul.
And since that’s related to what we’ve been writing about on Wings for the bulk of this year, it seemed worthwhile to get some things down on the record once and for all.
It is with the heaviest of hearts, readers, that we must report to you that Gordon Brown has done an intervention again.
With a new book to sell, the purposeless former Chancellor and Prime Minister who led the UK into a catastrophic financial crisis that’s now entering its second decade has put on his hindsight goggles and made a whole series of bewildering proclamations after the event, which have – naturally – been dutifully received and repeated by the fawning Scottish press like God handing down the Ten Commandments to Moses.
Dan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “FFS, I’m pro-Scotland returning to self-governance, why the fuck would I vote NuSNP. Scotland doesn’t need to host the Edinburgh…” Jul 25, 13:27
DaveL on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Moan whinge cry…you must be one of those ‘special’ people, “I want everything now!” Special. 20 seconds for an answer,…” Jul 25, 13:19
willie on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Honking maggot ridden carcase you describe the SNP as Fearghas. One of the most accurate descriptions of the SNP I…” Jul 25, 13:18
Captain Caveman on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@Dave “L” plates ‘… So what do you expect your question to achieve?’ A: Clarity in terms of exactly who…” Jul 25, 13:17
sarah on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@ 100%yes: Well done for thinking and talking about how to regain Scotland’s independence. I’m not sure that Corbyn’s new…” Jul 25, 13:11
Captain Caveman on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “‘… Here is all the Info you need to be educated.’ Nope, no mention of supportive international “legal experts” and…” Jul 25, 12:44
Sven on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “agent x @ 12.06. My initial thought was “Mhairi who ?”. However, doubtless the SNP’s loss may prove a gain…” Jul 25, 12:35
DaveL on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “‘…I’m not expecting an answer to my question (lol). So what do you expect your question to achieve? You find…” Jul 25, 12:15
agent x on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: ““Former MP Mhairi Black announces she has left the SNP.” I thought she was a dead cert as future FM?” Jul 25, 12:06
100%Yes on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Here is all the Info you need to be educated. https://liberation.scot/legalbase.html” Jul 25, 12:02
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “There are many uncertainties. But one thing for sure is that the SNP is now a honking maggot-ridden carcase blocking…” Jul 25, 11:55
Captain Caveman on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “20 seconds to do for the person making these grandiose (unsubstantiated) claims, you moron i.e. not me. Don’t worry pal,…” Jul 25, 11:51
Captain Caveman on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “‘… Caveman: gimme this gimme that, I want all the info, I want it now, get me the deluxe file!…” Jul 25, 11:25
100%Yes on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Dan, It doesn’t matter who you vote for that’s your choice no one is going to take that away from…” Jul 25, 11:22
DaveL on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Caveman: gimme this gimme that, I want all the info, I want it now, get me the deluxe file! Now!…” Jul 25, 11:10
Captain Caveman on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “‘… it’s a bit strange that 100% yes missed the part where the C-24 committee rejected the petition outright as…” Jul 25, 10:45
Dan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “If you think Corbyn is the answer for Scotland, then you’ve asked the wrong question. Aye, I’m sure if he…” Jul 25, 10:38
Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@Captain Caveman – it’s a bit strange that 100% yes missed the part where the C-24 committee rejected the petition…” Jul 25, 10:23
Captain Caveman on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “‘… International Response: The submission has drawn support from legal experts and human rights organizations, who emphasize the need for…” Jul 25, 09:57
100%Yes on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Scotland UN C-24 A significant development has occurred in Scotland’s campaign for decolonization, with a petition submitted to the United…” Jul 25, 09:32
100%Yes on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “How important is Scotland becoming an independent country to you and what would you do to secure that goal? Next…” Jul 25, 09:04
Xaracen on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@Stuart; “The Treaty was entered into without limitation of time and some articles express quite plainly that they were intended…” Jul 24, 22:27
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “For general info, here is a link to PROF ROBERT BLACK KC’s presentation about the UNION: Professor Robert Black KC…” Jul 24, 19:33
Stuart on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Xaracen. 2:14 How wrong can one man be? Well in your case very. Your argument (feeble though it is) re…” Jul 24, 18:43
Northcode on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “When their buttons and switches and knobs – and they have many – are pushed or flicked or twiddled… they…” Jul 24, 18:40
twathater on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@ Lorn you said “I believe implicitly, that those men who transgress the rules of normal, decent behaviour have a…” Jul 24, 18:14
Dan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@ Lorn at 4:15 pm It’s definitely okay to blame the Scots for the prevailing Union, and jist ignore things…” Jul 24, 18:02
Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@Dan – I mean the cost per MwH quoted as £150, Hinckley Point see originally struck at c.£85. Yeah I…” Jul 24, 17:59