Why we aren't talking about the missing referendum bill

Anybody 

spotted a

referendum 

bill in

there? 

Gerry Hassan speculates about the missing referendum  bill in his blog. Of course we have an explanation for the delay - the SNP government wanted to get the budget sorted first. Gerry has various other theories as to why it failed to appear on Monday. His most perceptive observation is that there was very little public or political argument about its non appearance. No outcry anyway. Surely this is because public discourse in Scotland is in the wrong place. Who would stand up and demand that the bill be brought forward as promised, to give the Scottish people their democratic right without delay?  It is inconceivable. The grounds for our national debate are narrowly defined by an intelligensia and media which has British unionism written into its DNA.  Each political development is viewed through a prism of cynicism and safety first. When a story breaks we SHOULD ask, how does this take Scotland forward, promote our interests, raise our profile and project our national voice? Instead we ask: Is this picking a fight with London? Is this anti English? Is this parochial? Is this another example of the SNP pursuing its own agenda? Will it cause division in the ranks or anger the London leadership of this party or that? Does it overstep the powers of the parliament in Scotland?

In any other country in the world there would be a passionate discussion about how best to move ahead and put our own best interests first. The centre ground would be occupied by gradualist nationalists v more fundamentalism nationalists, as it is in Catalonia. No other national press would campaign against a government offering its people a choice in a referendum. That's not even in the interests of the press itself, which sees sales rise when the public is engaged politically. Even the new online paper, The Caledonian Mercury, which I recently welcomed, sticks with the sam old paradigm. It's too preoccupied with process. The passion and diversity of Scottish opinion is reflected better on the blogosphere. On Facebook this week I posted a link to The Caledonian Mercury. On the same day I also posted a link to  Power and its Minions  which has a splendidly uncompromising and detailed polemic on why Scotland continues to display all the traits of a colonised country.  Guess which link got more clicks and generated the most lively debate? Not everybody agreed with Powers Minions. It was startling to see such views expressed, without apology, in writing and with considerable lucidity. Yet the Powers Minions analysis of our constitutional position is not an extremist view.  You will hear it with regularity in pubs, at dinner parties, in school debating halls and of course online forums. The vast majority of Scots want the Edinburgh parliament to have more power in order to progress our country. They are not taking to the streets and the internet to demand aka Calman that we "make the union work better" When did you hear a real person - as opposed to Labour/LibDem/Tory politician - raise that as a real concern?

Having said all this, it's great to see Rab McNeil getting a platform in The Mercury - you need a laugh when most discourse is so dull.

Comments

[peter1958]

Joan, you are 300 years and 12 generations behind the times. The Union is written in my DNA and yours too probably. And I can assure you, I am a real person with children born in England and Scotland, whose parents were born in Aberdeen and died in London, whose grandparents were also Aberdonians but who died as Australians. The point I make is that the nations of Scotland and England are now imaginary lines on a map. Mere historical terms. The Union is not just a political reality its a genetic one too.