Wings Over Scotland

By the flowery nature of the prose. I hope he wasn’t under the influence of stuff up his nose! Twit.

Of course you have to allow for a short memory span. Most poor liars have that trait.

Gove won`t remember much about writing this guff,he was sh@tfaced on cocaine for most of the 90`s,

`The English Exchequer` jeezo what an uncle tam.

Just for fun, here is the text after being OCRed…

The English
are right: let
Scotland go

Michael Gove’s heart is in the
Highlands – but not his head

The cry for
St George is
no longer
restricted to
the terraces

As a former Sunday
school teacher, I never
thought I would find
the cross distasteful, but two
years ago I found it positively
disturbing. It was during the
1996 European Champion-
ships that the red bars of the
flag of St George emerged
from the protective embrace of
the Union Jack to flutter from
a thousand cabs. Seeing its
stark colours made me feel
much as I imagine the Sara-
cens did when they saw it on
Crusaders’ breasts. Scared.

As a Scot brought up to
believe that my parents in
Aberdeen and my Prime Min-
ister in London were the same
nationality, it was disconcert-
ing to find myself suddenly a
stranger in what I thought
was my country. Like a Rus-
Sian soldier left behind in
Central Asia after the collapse
Of the Soviet Union, I saw
myself as an alien. When I first
saw the English flag painted
on a fan’S face, I knew it was
the marking of a tribe of which
I could never be part.

Instinctively, I regretted
this; I felt it was supplanting a
British identity which was
tolerant, plural and rooted in
shared institutions. I detected
a raucous, exclusive and eth-
nic tinge to this new national-
ism. A Scot like
myself, a son of the
Commonwealth
such as Darcus
Howe and an émi-
gré from Eastern
Europe such as Isa-
iah Berlin could all
be Britons, but none
of us would qualify
as English.

I thought our
shared island story in Britain
was a seductive narrative.
Valour and compassion, the
Few and the National Health
Service, were values and epi-
sodes woven into the fabric of
a Union Jack. I thought the
stirrings of English national-
ism, at Wembley and in West-
minster, were summer storms
which a clearing of the polit-
ical air might end.

Two years on from Euro 96,
the flag of St George flies from
a million more windows and I
find my attitude subtly differ-
ent. I am still incapable of
being moved by it as my
neighbours are. Although I
want the Hand of Hod to
grasp the World Cup, it is
more because that would
make my friends happy than
delight me.

The difference now is that I
find it difficult, agonisingly
difficult, to make the case for
the Union to those disposed to
assert their English national-
ism. The cry for England and
St George is not restricted to
the terraces. Ken Livingstone
and Jeffrey Archer make com-
mon, and coherent, calls
against over-subsidised Scot-
land and their economic argu-
ments find an answering call
in the breasts of many Tories.

Now, when English friends
of a Conservative disposition
make the case for a velvet
divorce between England and
Scotland, their arguments are
brutally forceful. Why, they
ask, should English taxpayers
continue to receive less for
their money than Scots? Why
should Scotland enjoy smaller
class sizes and shorter waiting
lists? Now that the Scots have
their own assembly with its
own, albeit limited, tax-raising
powers, why should they be
guaranteed the same generous
subvention from the Treasury?
Scotland is, relative to Eng-
land, more prosperous and
less populous than ever, yet
the Barnett formula fixes in
perpetuity ten/eighty-fifths of
public expenditure for north of
the border. Indeed, because of
the way in which the public
spending round works immi-
nent cuts in defence and more
money for health and educa-
tion will disproportionately
benefit Scotland.

And although my English
friends continue to pay over
the odds for the pleasure of
this partnership, they feel their
generosity is repaid with rank
Ingratitude. An NOP poll at
the weekend suggested that 45
per cent Of Scottish school
pupils felt “a little” antipathy
towards England and 30 per
cent “a lot”. The English were
“arrogant, ill-mannered, ag-
gressive and untrustworthy”.
When England lost to Roma-
nia last week, it was to the
sound of Glasgow voices
cheering on Petrescu and re-
membering Bannockburn.

For my Conservative ac-
quaintances there is another
reason to seek separation. It
might be called the Westpha-
lia question. for it touches on
the way in which
sovereignty may
pass from the City
to Frankfurt while
England sleeps.
What would hap-
pen if Scottish votes
in a referendum
tipped the balance
in favour of a single
currency while Eng-
land voted against?

In a close-run contest, over-
whelmingly pro-European
Edinburgh might tip mildly
sceptical Exeter into monetary
union. Why should the Scots
have the right to abolish
sterling? If Paris was worth a
Mass. then the pound is worth
a divorce. Let Scotland become
independent so that England
can stay independent.

The final argument of my
English Tory friends
is couched more in sorrow than
in anger. They insist that they
wanted the Union to survive
but the Scots insisted on a
form of devolution which was
inherently unstable and un-
fair. As long as the English
Exchequer underwrites Scot-
land’s politicians they will
never be properly accountable.
Only if they have to raise all
the money they wish to spend
will the political culture ma-
ture, and a proper right-of-
centre party revive in
Scotland.

As I contemplate these
arguments, the despair
I felt when I first saw
the cross of St George grows
all the deeper; I now confront a
settled intellectual disposition,
and not just a passing restive-
ness. I will continue to defend
the Union. I hope that the
quiet decency of Donald Dew-
ar will bring my countrymen
to their senses and I pray that
the English nationalism of my
Tory friends will be stilled by
an appeal to shared traditions.
But I fear that my arguments
for the Union pitted against
the English nationalist case
are like the Scottish defence
facing Brazil. They are noble,
they stir the heart, but they are
simply overwhelmed.

Hello geeo

What do you think about this post by wings

It’s perplexing that Scotland’s English neighbours poured money into Scotland, and didn’t complain even more about it. Pooh, I just can’t get ma heid around that one!
Boo hoo, ‘the English were arrogant, ill mannered and untrustworthy’. Well who the fck knew eh! How ungrateful the silly Scots kids were, to feel that might be a teensy bit unfair, to be ridiculed, made fun of, sidelined, by your Britnat masters.

Bow to your masters, question nothing, be grateful, your English masters have kept you in such poverty! Just think how it could have been otherwise!

Gove was not just assimilated, he was always a trophy from the day he was born, a wee mascot, with ideas above his ability. Rewarded for service to the Britnat state, kept at forefront of media attention, like Davidson, but, fooling very few in Scotland now.

The Britants have their work cut out now, don’t they.

Very revealing to read this indeed!

He writes very well. Clear, lucid prose which conveys feelings of loss and alienation. He’s a stranger in a strange land.

It’s a pity his character is flawed. Arrogant and ignorant, it’s a fatal combination. With more humility he might strive to discover the facts of Scotland’s situation. Less ignorant, he would understand what a house jock he is. But events may well bring that home to him if his rival Boris is crowned.

Daily Telegraph has story about Rory Stewart being an MI6 spy which might explain why his expensive intervention on behalf of the NO campaign in 2014 got such extensive coverage by the BBC.

I see “Rory Stewart in No 10 boost after receiving David Lidington’s backing”

but

“Underdog candidate has built momentum but may struggle to meet threshold in second round of MPs’ votes”

link to archive.is

He was also made a member of the privy council by TMay in the last couple of weeks.

The Establishments choice to save their “precious”?

Sunday school teacher. Not just creepy. Double creepy.

Interesting that what shocked Gove back then was the rise of English nationalism. Of course, that isn’t an issue any more, so he can now be perfectly happy to stay in the UK.

=looks innocently skywards and whistles=

And he now insists on keeping all of us chained to England, even as he is acutely aware that we are increasingly desperate to get free.

What kind of monumental self-abnegation, or totally ruthless pursuit of the main chance, makes someone end up like that? An unctuous self-regarding toady. Someone surely with a gross surfeit of ambition and a substantial deficit of character.

Nemesis follows Hubris. And in his case, one hopes, very soon. Then he may rediscover how truly disposable he is to his “countrymen”, even if none of them have red crosses painted on their faces.

FFS.

I actually felt physically sick reading that JUDAS column , but actually having seen the antics of this amoeba over the years I question why I should be surprised

Let’s be honest he is ONLY an example of what we in Scotland have experienced for many years from the unionist parties of liebour, tolies and lib dumbs .

It has been said many times here on WOS that the biggest regret all of these tractorist barstewards have is that they were NOT born engerlish , it really messes with their heads that no matter what they do or how much they sell out their country they will NEVER attain that great engerlish exceptionalism naturally

Kangaroo @ 01:58,

See:

link to parliament.scot

Sunday School teacher – must be a pre-requisite for Tory wannabe Dictators – Truthless was one as well

Adds up to approximate £20Billion.

Scotland would be raising £80Billion. The same as Norway. Without the Westminster unionist imbecile wasters.

Sooner of later, there has to be a consequence for this flagrant dishonesty. I don’t mean through personal reflection or regret, but actual consequence, such as impeachment, or deselection, or some other form of effective disgrace.

There is something fundamentally unbalanced about a country which declares violence and theft illegal and punishable by fines or imprisonment, fines people for absent mindedness about their Road Tax or MOT expiry date, but yet allows certain people to lie through their teeth with absolute untouchable impunity.

It’s not just pond life like Gove or Carmichael, it’s a casual attitude to dishonesty that’s alive and well in our Local Authorities, turning them into impenetrable fortresses of bureaucratic sophistry. We have a real problem with honesty in this country… from the Government which takes Council Tax out your pocket to the TV which drips poison in your eyes and ears. None of them are worthy of automatic trust.

You wouldn’t dream of putting a perv in charge of a nursery, in fact you’d steel yourself to be alert to the heightened danger if anything. So why is it acceptable to allow a proven liar to present themselves as such a high profile candidate for public office?

‘A Scot like myself, a son of the Commonwealth such as Darcus
Howe…’

Really!!! FFS What planet is this twisted weasel on, that could even compare himself to that wonderful man.

Displaying an ignorant ‘intellectual disposition’. Our shared island story of Britain is a stolen narrative. The forerunner of universal health care (the NHS) was developed in Scotland by a local doctor in Ballachulish and the blueprint established in the north of Scotland.

link to en.wikipedia.org

link to ournhsscotland.com

link to ournhsscotland.com

link to hebrideanconnections.com

Gold. Comedy gold. His argument for Scottish independence boils down to ‘only if or because the English want it’. And therein lies the crux of it Govey!!!
I bet theres more nuggets to follow from this prize nugget.

Jinkies! Oh, that’s a beaut of an archive. 😀

Malky says:

This is an insight into the mind of a man who feels he was born in the wrong country.

Ah yes, self-identifing as English and in the midst of transitioning 😉

In other parts of this Disunited Kingdumb …

link to bbc.co.uk

It’s coming for aw’ tha’.

The Saudis are in trouble their economy is tanking. Sold off the Oil rights and trying to diversify. Not very successful. The RBS is bailing out their banking. A take over. No longer affordable. More likely to restrict them. Change or else. Illegal war no longer affordable.

Just listened to the final episode of Jonathon Sumption’s Reith Lecture on the constitution. Wings listeners will enjoy listening to this one for its host of British i.e. English examples of how much better the British i.e. English constitution deals with change.

He only slipped up once towards the end and used the E word by mistake.

Anita Anand managed to shoehorn in Mark Rekless (ex UKIP), who just happened to be in the audience, to talk about BREXIT at some length thus taking up valuable space in the question section.

Dear old right wing BBC.
link to bbc.co.uk

Come, come, Capella! 😉

You should be a bit more up-to-date. 🙂

Mark Reckless AM/AC is now a sitting Member and Leader (appointed by the Farago) for the Brexit Party in the National Assembly of Wales since 15 May 2019.

@ Welsh Sion – so sorry WS – I admit I don’t keep up with Mark Reckless and even spelt his name wrong. Fortunately for us, the BBC is right on the ball with BREXITEERS.

Give could well be another David Steel, lambast a Scottish parliament set up but gladly take a seat in it once he realises he is utter toast down South.

‘Let Scotland become independent so that England can stay independent.’

Become.

Stay.

Equal.

All villification aside, it’s an important article and an insight into the psyche of a ScotBut British nationalist and one that Wingers should be probably be paying close attention to and not for derision, though God knows it deserves it.

I’ve spent a ling time trying to get my head around them and work out why, despite best diplomatic efforts, debate used to fall on its arse. At it’s simplest it’s because they’re “British” That is their nationality and it’s how they were brought up and it is who they are. Forget for the moment the bit about ‘Britain’ the artificial nebulous construct and work from the principle that it is, to them, a solid reality. One is not debating with a Scot, one is debating with a ‘British’ person who was perhaps born and lived or lives in Scotland. Harsh? Yes, but true – Hence the phrase “I’m a Scot but..’ or better yet a “Proud Scot but..” – But British, I’m British.

Now, the well worn phrase ‘cognitive dissonance’ does apply; there have been deep rooted gymnastics at play to convince themselves, despite growing reality, that “Britain” is actually the Nation – the ‘Country’ of their birth and growth. Despite the Scotland around them. In a very real sense, to them Scottish independence does represent a tearing apart and seperation of their “Country”

The dissonance and gymnastics is observed in the article where the reality suddenly impinges on his psyche – England is “Britain” – but this quickly morphs into rogue Englishmen, identical to rogue Scotsmen, attempting to subvert “Britain”. Those English nationalists are every bit anathema as Scottish nationalists. The reality, is revealed – England can and has the power to destroy his “Britain” reluctantly and sadly, the rejection must be accepted. He will walk off to Scotland with his staff and knotted hanky, wistfully looking back.
The corollary and subtext is, that if there is ever to be a seperation, he could not accept it if Scotland did it – suddenly, in a very real sense to him, it’s all Scotland’s fault in the first place. Scotland caused English nationalism with its devolution nonsense (a big boy did it and ran away, it wasn’t Donald) Scotland caused his “Britain” to reject him. How he must hate Scotland.

His answer to the conundrum, we find today, is to double down to preserve his “Britain”. He has accepted the reality that England is Britain, but if only their nationalists could be persuaded to wrap it back up in “Britain” and the “Flag” then all will be right with his world. If Scotland could just forget the Independence nonsense which is so antagonising England. So much the better. It was all Scotland’s fault – Do be clear he is not one of those awful Scotsmen, drear me no.
Seperatist nationalists should be stamped out. He will lead the calls for Scottish nationalism to be subverted, but he will naturally avoid calling for English nationalism to be similarly curtailed. After all, it’s not their fault.

So how do you debate the merits of Independence with his ilk? Well, its to recognise that “Britain” is their country. They are not Scottish in the way you are Scottish. Scottish is not their nationality. That is the most important understanding and one should not attack that belief directly.
If you wish to persevere, then it must be to gently tease apart the threads and lead them slowly from the concept of being “British” to the concept of a family of seperate Nations. That England wishes to be a seperate nation and cannot be halted and how we will all still be ‘Britons’ if not “British”

It’s a bit like putting a child in nursery. See, here are new friends, see mummy is still here… See, mummy came back.
Has to be done a few times until they stop howling the place down and go and play without another thought – Though frankly it’s all very hard work and far too many snotters involved…

Anyway, thats my psychobabble for what it’s worth.
If my use of “Them’ is a prejudicial and subversive “Othering”, well they are indeed ‘other than me’ – most of humanity is to be frank and I’m fighting for something, so I’m unapologetic.

HandandShrimp says:
In the words of Bob Dylan

……. “I’ve suffered for my music…… now it’s your turn……..”

Sumption says of the FPTP system:……

apart from the england word slip up, this comment about the fptp system is correct.

the reason it is presently failing is because it has recently thrown up very small minorities or no majority at all. this is unusual but is due not only to the voters being split, or because the 3rd party, lib dems, crashing and burning, but also because we are at a turning point in history. the old certainties are about to change in england (scotland has already flipped) Old paradigms, the labour working class northern strongholds, the tory middle england shires etc are about to be consigned to the scrapheap.

it is this uncertainty which is scaring the establishment, their grip and grasp on public opinion is sslipping and they are powerless to do anything about it.

bdtt
🙂

i thought it was these guys

link to youtube.com

Neil Innes’ “Protest Song” (from Rutland Weekend TV) was released as a single, a copy of which I have in my hovelhold.

I also have a couple of Heebeegeebees, but the ointment keeps them at bay.

I read that the new Scottish Based Propaganda News Show- 9.

Has endured many evening with ZERO Viewers.

I would like to see Scotland have its share of TV License revenues
for making Scottish shows but Indy Supporters get more than their fill of blatant propaganda on the other BBC Channels, so they would only tune in if all other channels were off air and the gold fish stopped swimming around its bowl.

The Brit Nat Knuckle Draggers don’t really do news or facts as their future started and ended in 1690. Nothing happened after that so no point in them tuning in.

I look forward to finding the BBC announcement that Scots are too
wee,too thick and too stupid to have their supposedly “own” channel.

The Wings Fund raiser brought me some cheer but I think I notice
that there seem to be fewer posts at the moment, especially if you take out the Brit Nat’s contributions.

It really is a case of there is nothing left to say that#s not been said.

We wait on the Tory Ministers, who were part of May’s Brexit disaster, claiming that it was nothing to do with them, making King Boris their new leader and destroying Scotland’s economy.

Please God when this starts to seriously hurt people in their pocket our SNP Government can lead us to a referendum and freedom

Give poor old Govey his due! One of the best contortionists around,
Heart in Scotland, head up his arse as well as someone elses, while his nose is up another one as he stabs them on the back
Some doing, who says us Scots are too thick to multi task?

Now I’ve read all the various theories and ideas commented upon here and they are all fairly logical and true but there is somethings that legally trumps them all.

The first being that the union is without doubt an international treaty between only two equally sovereign kingdoms and thus the United Kingdom is legally neither a country nor is it a union of countries it is, and from 1 May 1707, always has been a united kingdom with two, equally sovereign, partner kingdoms.

What opened on 1 May 1707 was not the continued parliament of the three country Kingdom of England it was a united kingdom named, would you believe, The United Kingdom and, last time I looked, believe it or not, it was still called the United Kingdom.

Guess what? That means devolution is actually illegal as it is in breach of the Treaty of Union and for more than one reason. First of all the Treaty of union is a bipartite union of equally sovereign kingdoms and on 1 May 1707 the old Kingdom of England ceased to exist and the parliament legally became the union parliament but it has never been run as the union parliament but as the continued parliament of the Kingdom of England.

The evidence from Hansard shows that the last sitting of a legally elected parliament of the Kingdom of England put itself into permanent recess and there has been no one elected to the Kingdom of England parliament since that day.

The Treaty of Union was broken on the day it first sat and it has remained broken ever since. The United Kingdom has never been a union of countries and has never, itself, been a country.

Adapting … [With thanks to Robert Kerr for the idea].

I am British but I self identify as Welsh!
I am Welsh but self identify as a Cymro!
I am a Cymro but I self identify as European!
I am European but self identify as a Celt!

Of course he’ll do a Fluffy and deny he ever said it, and why am not surprised that he thinks Aberdeen is in the Highlands, after all he though Peterburgh and Fraserhead were North East fishing ports.

Well, look at the desperation of the concern trolls on here.

Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP are responsible for Scots having a lifeboat to independence,

Not Gove, not the blonde buffoon.

Our superb representatives of Scotland, the SNP.

Thry delivered in 2014, and when the No vote came in, did they give in and give up ?

Did they hell, they knuckled down, recognised the opportunity to get another referendum on the table, and took it .

And now, here we are, on the cusp of another opportunity to take Scotland back into OUR hands.

THAT is down to Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership, Reluctant Concern Troll, and that really eats away at you, doesn’t it ?

You attack her because you fear her, you try to demean her because you fear her influence, ironically, you probably secretly admire her, because she is the opposite of your fellow Britnat zoomers in unionist politics, in that she has a clear message, and pursues it with a passion which is missing in the insipid politics of tired and outdated unionism.

Loving your bitterness, it just shows us that we are winning and you are on the wrong side of history.

Not long now kid, not long now.

Frankfurt is in Hesse, not Westphalia.

Rory De Tory starting to come up on the rails?

From an indy perspective I think he would be our worst result although closely followed by Hunt.

“Let Scotland become independent so that England can stay independent.”

I wouldn’t have thought that even a bug-eyed unionist troglodyte like Gove could come out with a cracker like that – without it dawning on him that it was time for a re-assessment of his sense of self.

And he felt uneasy at and excluded by his fellow Britons waving England flags at a football match … Jeez, did he think it was O.K. back in the days when The English used the Union Flag and the Scots and Welsh used their own National Flags?

This clown must have spent his formative years in a sensory deprivation chamber.