The wacky japester
Is it even worth us pulling apart Ruth Davidson’s speech(es) to the Conservative Party Annual Rally in Birmingham yesterday? For one thing, no media outlet appears to consider either of them significant enough to have recorded them and put them online. Not even the Scottish Conservatives’ own website has bothered to publish a transcript of either speech, which is moderately astonishing.
For another, Davidson herself was frantically distancing herself from her own words on the evening’s political shows, blaming the Scottish Parliament Information CEntre (SPICE) for providing accurate answers when she asked it the wrong questions. For yet another, the Guardian has already done a pretty decent job of annihilating her figures, as have numerous others.
But most tellingly of all, the entire attack on public-sector employment as a drain on “wealth-creators” is so laughably hypocritical coming from Davidson – who as far as we can tell has NEVER had a job anywhere BUT the public sector – that it can’t possibly be taken seriously. (She’s currently lucratively employed by the taxpayer as an MSP, following another well-paid job in the public sector working for the BBC).
Because if Ruth Davidson genuinely believed that all public-sector employees (you know the sort – nurses, teachers, firemen, civil servants, binmen, lollipop ladies and the like) were worthless parasites sponging off the 12% of heroic entrepreneurs who bring in all the bacon, she’d put her money where her mouth is and resign. Until she does, we can only assume that everything she says is some sort of ironic Situationist prank, and avoid falling for the joke by dignifying it with analysis it doesn’t deserve.
She does bring a new meaning to the word “airse”.
I expected the online chip wrappers to be destroying her today. Not much at all though and nothing I can see from her new bestie Johann about this disgusting slur on her own people.
Was it really worth it to play to the Middle England gallery? Sadly she probably thinks so. And this is who the Labour party will be standing shoulder to shoulder with in the referendum campaign? Surely a Yes is now a done deal???
I assume that she aspires to be First Minister one day, yet she has no idea how a national economy works (or blatantly twisted the figures) and went to England to traduce Scotland in front of the rabid right.
The ‘Scottish’ Conservatives are not what they seem, they do not believe in self improvement and fiscal independence, they believe in self loathing and dependence on another state.
She is a fool and should resign.
The only thing I found of note in her speech was her begging Tories from SE England to help save the union. How this conflates with the concept of sponging jocks was lost on me though.
There are two types of Scots.
The Vichy Scots, and the Free Scots.
@Scottish Skier
Skier, this speech would fit right in with your thesis (which I don’t yet wholly subscribe to, but I can see the logic) that a deal is being done behind closed doors and this type of inflammatory drivel from the Tories is one of the presentational gambits calculated to cement that deal in the public domain in the lead up to 2014.
What a tragedy it would be if a deal were being done and Scots still lacked the courage to vote against the status quo..
@ Training day
If I was a Tory with a cunning plan, Ruth would be the last person I’d involve in it.
Probably why she always seems to have no idea what Dave’s latest thoughts about Scotland are. Certainly, it’s not as if she’s involved with the negotiations…
@Scottish Skier
“Certainly, it’s not as if she’s involved with the negotiations…”
Indeed, but give her a script and she’ll dutifully read it out, regardless of content. A bit like her fellow Tory Lamont..
I don’t know what theory SS is forwarding, but I guess it’s regarding the all party orchestration clearly taking place with virtually 100% support of the MSM and BBC and STV.
So much for the UK notion of democracy on their terms only and Lamentable’s call for “mature debate”, which she absurdly trashes at every opportunity.
I have no idea what the SNP plan to do to counter the Union propaganda machine that’s ramping up, be it prematurely or otherwise, but they must get the facts of the situation into every Scottish household about what’s in front of us, if a “YES”, is not returned at the referendum.
Need it be said, the more strategically planned and pointed that information delivery is the more effective it will be. One thing is clear, the SNP and YES campaigners are content for now to stand back and watch the others disappear up their own backsides, but that will be too passive when the time comes for hearts and minds.
Fingers crossed!
Wee ruthie is just playing to the party faithful in the hope that she will be parachuted into a safe seat down south . As others have said, next to mizz lamont she is the best recruiting agent that the Y.E.S camp have .
David Torrance thinks she took a brave principled stand. I agree – she single handedly reminded the majority of Scots why it is they don’t vote tory
First post. Ruth Davidson is a disaster. Yes campaign must love having these Better Together politicians around.
I must stand up for Ruth and say that this culture of dependency must end.
Vote YES for Independence.
@Barontorc
“I have no idea what the SNP plan to do to counter the Union propaganda machine that’s ramping up, be it prematurely or otherwise, but they must get the facts of the situation into every Scottish household about what’s in front of us, if a “YES”, is not returned at the referendum.”
I too was worried for a while, but what I see now is that the pro-dependency parties/campaign is wildly thrashing about hoping that mud will stick./ But they are far too early! AS has been playing them like a price salmon (pun intended!). They will try to keep this negativity up for two more years, but the law of diminishing returns will kick in soon, and their efforts will be seen for what they are.
Meanwhile in the intelligent world, the SNP government will release a “White paper” on Independence which will have ALL the answers neatly presented in easily digested parts. There will be a campaign then about what the referendum vote is actually for – hint, it’s NOT a political poll, or a vote on a government. AND, best of all, the Con/Dem austerity plans – ably supported by the ConLab party – will be affecting every household in Scotland. A ‘perfect storm’ of information and reality checks.
I have become a believer in the SNP strategy.
Aplinal “Meanwhile in the intelligent world, the SNP government will release a “White paper” on Independence which will have ALL the answers neatly presented in easily digested parts.”
Yes, quite. All being worked on right now; people didn’t think we’d be voting for the ‘complete unknown’ did they. You only end up in that sort of situation when you are fighting your way out with guns and stuff.
As part of what’s being worked on right now, we’ll find out that the EU says we’ll still be part of it (they won’t state their position until UK and Scottish Governments have agreed their own deal internally, although the latter two know what the EU position is) and the rUK government are happy to have us in the 3-zone. We’ll be defended from the outset due to remaining within NATO, at least initially, and so on…
Will all look sort of devo max or FFA-like, but without Tories still running some things from Westminster.
Hold on there,I want to know whether I am in the 12% contributor elite category or the 88% dependency category. Where can I get the formula to calculate my status in Tory society? I do expect the calculation to be extremely complex as surely it must take account of an individual’s lifetime costs and contribution to society and not just a snapshot of “today”.
I’ve never thought of society in the monetary terms expressed by Ruth Davidson, and having now thought of it i find Ruth Davidson and her “analysis” disgusting.
What is so disturbing about the last week of Labour and Tory conferences is the growing convergence between the two parties, even putting aside, for the moment, their coalition in the Better Together campaign.
Both Labour and Tory parties are united in their resolve to implement austerity programmes, they are also both invoking ‘national’ unity against internal and external enemies, both are wrapping themselves in the union flag, with supportive rhetoric, to demonstrate their British nationalism, and they both seem determined to continue with their forced labour programmes. Both are also going to be ‘tough’ on immigration, and they are continuing with their agenda to promote the pernicious distinction between the ‘deserving’ and the ‘undeserving’ poor.
These are some of the same conditions that led to the rise of Hitler’s NSDAP (Nazi’s) in Germany in the 1930s. History may not repeat itself but it’s clear that, over the next decade if not beyond, England is going to become an increasingly hostile place for the working and non-working poor, the dispossessed and ‘foreigners’. Watching both the Labour and Tory party conferences over the last week, I wouldn’t have been surprised to have heard either of them call for the re-introduction of child labour. It’s about the only reactionary right-wing policy that’s been missing so far.
In an England in which, already, the north of England is becoming a foreign country to the south of England, I have watched the Labour and Tory conferences over the last week and, as a Scot, I’ve been amazed at the number of times I’ve found myself asking the question: do they mean us?
What is happening here, almost by default, is that, as in the 1980s and 1990s under Thatcherism, we are being co-opted into a British nationalist project that we neither voted for nor desire. If anything, the consequences of this new British nationalist project will be even more devastating for Scotland than those of Thatcherism, if we remain in this union. We urgently need a Scottish government that will offer a coherent alternative agenda to the Labour-Tory coalition. This is what 2014 is about and it’s on this basis that we can win this.
It’s been said about the Tories before – they know the cost of everything but the value of nothing. Ruth just proved this wrong – she doesn’t know anything about the cost either.
@YYY
These are some of the same conditions that led to the rise of Hitler’s NSDAP (Nazi’s) in Germany in the 1930s.
At the risk of invoking Godwin’s law: “One Nation … One Nation … One Nation”
“Ein Volk; Ein Reich; Ein …” well you know the rest.
Aplinal – totally agree, the unionists don’t seem to realise that we are all in a ‘phoney war’ type situation at the moment. I am quite convinced that there is much preparation going on at SNP HQ (as we write) finalising every detail on independence. The really important thing is, that at the right moment, that information is released on a massive scale to everyone in Scotland. The unionists are not keeping their powder dry at the moment, in fact come six months before Referendum Day, it is debatable whether they will have any powder left, dry or otherwise!
SS – I think you are right on the money with your back room deal (for want of a better expression). May I ask two questions 1) Do you think that the offer will be a) FFA with defence and foreign affairs being left with NATO/Westminster in return for no Scottish MP’s at Westminster? 2) Any thoughts on how THE QUESTION will be worded?
Cheers Bill
I think the problem with the Conservatives is that they wish everything was back in Victorian times.The days when they had downstairs maids .cooks and butlers.That is why they destroyed our industries,so that we would become used to a service economy,and that is one step away from making a lot more of the people accept their place, in their minds.
Too many people rely on government assistance,really! wonder why that is,could it be that the wages are kept low so as to ensure not too many can climb out poverty?
If there was a proper wage structure and a REAL LIVING WAGE I doubt if any of us would need to ask for help,from our own tax money and/or our insurance contributions.
Now about those of us that are pensioners,and like me have had an accident at work,cant work we have contributed into the system unlike a lot of the parasites that now think that they are better than better folk,and yes I mean people like Ruth Davidson,full of criticism but no real answers.
The Conservatives and Labour have been getting closer ideologically for the last twenty years. Labour’s failure to win in 1992 meant that they effectively decided to move further to the right. I think they tried to mask this to their core vote by including devolution, minimum wage, rises in benefits etc. However, there is no doubt that they embraced the core of the Thatcherism Conservative agenda. Presently that difference has narrowed. It does not look like Labour want more devolution as they are already worried about their M.P.s voting on English issues and how that affects the English electorate. Therefore Labour=Conservative or Conservative=Labour and it is only tribalism that really differentiates them. Hopefully, Lamont’s recent speeches will eat into Labour’s core vote in Scotland and the Labour for Independence group can make inroads into this element of the electorate.
@Muttley79
“The Conservatives and Labour have been getting closer ideologically for the last twenty years.”
Indeed, as I think the RevStu wrote on another of his blogs, “The voters looked from Labour to Conservative, from Conservative to Labour and back again, and could no longer see a difference” (With apologies to Animal Farm)
O/t I’m at Glasgow airport just about to fly out, me and the missus bought a bottle of water, they are giving you a free copy of the torygraph, that will get the circulation figures up a bit. Needless to say it went straight in the bin.
I was just reading something on LPW that got me thinking…..
It’s fairly clear there will be one question in the referendum and both sides are gambling on a win/lose basis. And though it’s possible we may lose…. there’s more than one way to skin a cat.
According to the polls there’s a clear majority in favour of more powers…..so what would there be to stop us having a referendum each year on a different individual power that we want, say in 2015, we have a referendum on transfer of Air Passenger Duty; in 2016, (if the SNP win the Holyrood election) control of the crown estates …and so on. This would still have to be approved by the Westminster Parliament, but it would be hard for them to keep saying no. If they say yes, we gradually get more powers. If they say no, it stokes up support for a further independence referendum.
I know, it’s a crazy plan, but if we don’t get independence (I think we will), it might just work.
Bill,
The extent to which the Tories might support Scottish independence is of course debatable; Scotland remains however a pain in the behind to the rUK in many ways, particularly the Tories. Economic stability is needed right now too; not some real political/economic battle between Scotland and the rUK.
However, when people will be voting, they will know exactly what they will be voting for; or at least what Scotland will look like in the immediate years after independence. This will be for Scotland to be independent within a £-zone (which George and the BoE will want desperately) and monarchy UK, remaining in the EU, within NATO and probably some sort of joint defence pact with the rUK while Scotland builds its own suitably sized defence force at least. To all intents and purposes, it is going to look like Devo Max/FFA.
Once the main issues; EU, defence and currency are sorted out – and they must be as you could not seriously hold a referendum if they were not – then the actual wording of the question becomes largely irrelevant so long as people can see clearly how to answer yes or no / agree or disagree.
If you wanted to express the new status of Scotland in the wording of the question specifically, you might ask something like:
Do you agree that Scotland should become an independent, sovereign state within the monetary and monarchical union of the United Kingdom?
The whole ‘will Scotland be in or out of the EU’ is soon to be shot down in flames. As will the £ issue. Once the terms of the referendum and what happens in the immediate aftermath of yes vote are agreed internally within the UK between the Scottish and UK Governments, the EU can then state its position openly, which will be both are successor states (due ultimately to the nature of the Treaty of Union, which also prevents Westminster challenging Scotland’s right to independence legally). George and the BoE will simultaneously confirm that it is the interests of the rUK that Scotland remains in the £-zone. Likewise, NATO membership will also be confirmed….
While the whole ‘it’s all up in the air as to what happens if you vote yes’ is a great argument for the unionists right now, this only works until the deal is agreed and we now have a clear ‘what independence looks like’ vs not so clear ‘what staying in the UK means’. In a way, it’s sort of win-win for the Tories. If Scots vote no, then they can use Scotland’s revenues for a few more years, maybe also finding a short-term solution to the WLQ. If Scots vote yes, well at least it sorts things out sooner than later and they can get on with ruling England without the jock tail continuing to wag the dog.
Hi Stu,
Just as an fyi, the transcript of the speech is on the Scotsman wesbite
link to scotsman.com
Hi Muttley79
Welcome aboard.
It’s hard to believe that a Tory member of the Territorial Army would knowingly count “our troops” among those who are shiftless non-contributors and a drain on the state. But she did. It’s kind of wonderful, in a way.
Surely she is going after a future safe seat in England, having realised that the Scottish Tories will not exist after 2014 – and if they somehow survive that then 2015 will end them anyway.
@scottish_skier
Hi Muttley79
Welcome aboard.
Thanks for that. I have been a lurker (sounds dodgy) for months and thought I would start posting on here.
A warm hello to you, Mutley 79
Correct! Dignifying the repellent views of this spokeswoman of ein Volk Konservatismus with reasoned analysis and comment is a waste of brain time. She belongs in the existential sphere of the Scotch cringe, the North Brit underling. Unfortunately, as we have seen recently, there are many like her all to happy to kow tow before the shabby imperial myth of Britishness and fart in the face of a native electorate sadly inured to the stench of rank cultural self-loathing these pathetic specimens express.
Why not try satire then,
link to bbc.scotlandshire.co.uk
Hi SS, thanks for the time and effort you put into that very comprehensive answer. I agree with a lot of your analysis. I think Europe will be a done deal and if the question is worded similar to what you suggest then I think we will achieve 60+% in the Referendum.
I have thought for many years that outright independence could never be achieved in one single vote, it was always going to be a series of votes, Devolution being a process and all that. My gut feeling is that defence might be more of a sticking point than most folk realise, hence remaining in NATO and a defence pact with the rUK might be major plus points in getting a YES vote. The idea of a monetary and monarchical union of the United Kingdom would also allay a lot of fears.
Scots are by nature canny folk and I don’t think the one the leap and we’re free type argument was ever going to work.
Hopefully you are right and some sort of deal is being done as we speak. No doubt we will find out in the next few weeks.
Thanks again and all the best.
In regard to the Conservative attitude to Scotland, I think it is complex. The Scottish Conservatives will probably be strident in the referendum campaign, like Scottish Labour they could well get very nasty. In contrast, I remember reading ages ago that Osborne regards the referendum as a win-win situation, if there is a Yes vote; no more Scottish Labour M.P.s, making it obviously easier to win UK general elections. A Yes vote would be embarrassing for a while but I doubt Tory backbenchers will be angry with their leadership, and although they would lose the oil revenues they would save the block grant money. So it is a very difficult to say how they really view the referendum.
BBC Scotlandshire. I can’t comment on your site, but thanks a million for the best belly-laughs in the blogosphere.