Jon Stanley
Nationalists love to point to Scandinavia as their vision of sunny, snow-capped uplands, and of joining their dream team of small economies as part of a ‘Northern Arc of Prosperity,’ as Salmond used to call it.
However, we are never told how the journey will happen. Everything is sunny. There’s never any possibility of long detours, dangerous events, and dreich weather. Comparing Scotland to Nordic countries is simply a cheap trick that deflects from the reality of where we are now.
What if we didn’t get to Norway or Denmark at all. Given the reasons below I think it’s more likely we will end up, at the end of a long or short road, in Belarus or Ukraine: A divided satellite with no voice in the world, on the periphery of Europe, with an intolerant angry government, based on grudge and victimhood.
Independence
There is no such thing as ‘independence in Europe’.
Professor Mark Blyth makes it clear that, regarding Europe, you cannot be independent without your own currency. It is that simple. Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Denmark all have their own currencies. Some chose to join the German-dominated EU (with opt outs), others didn’t.
The United Kingdom chose to leave Europe despite Nationalist wishful thinking that Scotland voted against Brexit. Over one million Scottish Leavers, many of them SNP members, would say otherwise.
The EU Commision requires its member countries to follow the same rulebook for trade policy, and increasingly coordinates many of functions best carried out by sovereign states. No one in the EU votes for the Commission, or Council. You can argue for the EU on many grounds, but certainly not on political and economic independence.
Personal Freedom
Alongside its main aim to break up the UK, the SNP has made repeated inroads into our private lives. Whether it be the Named Person Scheme, or the upcoming Hate Crime Bill, or the failed Offensive Behaviour at Football Act, or the ban on buying alcohol after 10pm, or recently, the arbitrary imposition of lockdowns with minimal evidence of value, Nationalists have always, throughout history, made every effort to nationalise people.
Nationalists might say they want their Nation’s independence, but they do not trust the people of their nation with personal independence. All they seek is power for themselves.
Nationalists also do not respect our political decisions. Instead they waterboard us with constant threats to rerun a referendum they lost, and meaninglessly parrot that ‘Scotland voted Leave’.
They do not respect that most ancient right for a Scot to be left in peace when they say no? “Are You Yes Yet?” is not an inspiration. It is the desperate pitch of the fanatic, who won’t shut up and won’t change the subject.
Political Freedom
SNP Bravehearts never miss a chance to wave plastic swords and scream ‘Freeedooom!!’ but the political reality is far, far different. And oppressive.
No sooner had Westminster granted Holyrood emergency powers to deal with COVID-19, then the Nationalists abused that power to delay the flow of information to the public. Despite multiple attempts, I have still not been able to access NHS data over delays in treating those with blood cancers during the pandemic.
Humza Yousaf will not waste five minutes in attacking an opponent on social media, but if you want data that would show Holyrood is failing cancer patients, you’ll have to wait over two months.
This week’s inquiry on the dangers to women of sexual predation in Parliament itself is yet another example where Murrell Central appears to have reached out, and touched Linda Fabiani inappropriately, shutting down legitimate inquiry questions. Is this the freedom we want?
Press Freedom
Like many failed republics, The Scottish Government likes to threaten and harass journalists and broadcasters. David Torrance was attacked in party political broadcasts; Stephen Daisley chased out of STV by personal attacks; Sarah Smith forced to repeatedly apologise; and Neil Oliver was constantly attacked by The National newspaper, for the crime of having a Scottish accent and sense of British history.
Add to that, Sturgeon’s stage-managed spin on a pandemic she has handled disastrously. A daily free party-political broadcast, worthy of a dictatorship, with no follow-up questions allowed.
Our levels of press restrictions and control are far from the open society of Denmark, Sweden or Norway who consistently rank high in press freedom indices.
If all these freedoms are being eroded now, one can only imagine how much more we would lose in a one-party Scottish Republic that had no internal or external opposition.
Watch out! We are not heading for dreamy Scandinavia, but to restrictive Belarus, where your cries of ‘Freedom!’ will not be heard.
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