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Terminological inexactitude

Posted on October 06, 2012 by

We’re confused again, readers. At its forthcoming conference the SNP will debate whether or not to change its policy on NATO membership, in full public view. After the debate, a vote of the party’s membership will determine what the policy will be. This wholly open and natural political process is of course variously described by the Scottish media as a “split”, a “U-turn”, an “internal battle” and a source of “rebel fury”.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats refuse to allow the YesScotland campaign to take a stall at their conference, and when some members offer dissent, leader Willie Rennie angrily castigates them in a letter describing their actions as a “disrespectful stunt”, on the grounds that the media might have covered the stall’s presence.

(Great work keeping it out of the press, Willie. Just the three stories in a week, then.)

We feel we must have somehow misunderstood the meanings of the words “liberal” and “democratic”. Can anyone point us towards a more up-to-date dictionary?

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DougtheDug

Since the Lib-Dems are a hard line unionist party the fact that they don’t want a Yes Scotland stand at their Scottish regional conference is quite understandable.

The odd bit is that many of their Scottish members, including these five in the Herald, don’t seem to recognise that they are in fact members of a hard line unionist party.

The strangest thing I take from the incident is Willie Rennie’s statement, “It is the clear wish of members that we promote our vision of a federal UK.”, because I’ve looked and looked on the Lib-Dem website and I’ve not found a policy which refers to a federal UK yet.

Morag

I wonder what would happen if Bitter Together applied for a stall at the SNP conference?  Talk about a cat in a dog suit!
 
I suspect, let them come, then point and snigger.

tartanfever

Good point Morag, there may well be a stall for them. Wonder if we can find out.

Personally I’d like to set out a stall at the Lib Dem conference. It would be called the ‘Home rule stall’
Looking rather battered and dilapidated, (picture an old wooden greenhouse with all the windows broken, peeling paint and weeds everywhere) it would be manned by a skeleton sitting in a rocking chair, cobwebs everywhere and every few minutes tumbleweed would roll across. Accompanying this scene would be the haunting soundtrack of bleak, windy landscape and the squeaking of a rusty hinge. 

James McLaren

Tartanfever
 
 
and a Rye Cooder track

Morag

Oh, I don’t seriously think they’d show up.  But I’m not convinced the SNP would deny them entry if they did.

Davy

“Tartanfever”
That sounds more like the lib-dem conference it’s-self. 

tartanfever

Sorry Morag, didn’t read your post properly, I was thinking that the Bitter Together campaign would have a stall at the Lib Dem conference, not the SNP conference.

A ‘bitter together’ stall at the SNP conference would be great – I’d love for them to answer the   positive case for staying in the union ! What a hoot that would be.

Richie

Hopefully they’ll try to get a stall at the tory and labour conferences too.

Steve Syme

Us Labour for Indy folk are thinking about a stall/ stand at Labour conference.

We’ll be as popular as a fart in a spacesuit. 

muttley79

@Steve Syme
 
How is your campaign going?  What have you made of the events of the last month?  A lot seems to have happened since the march last month….


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