Commentary

I have spent most of my life as a soldier. I served six tours of duty in Northern Ireland between 1975 and 1995 before retiring as Regimental Sergeant Major in the Black Watch. I have seen a country tear itself apart before and I fear that we, as all who fail to learn from history, may find ourselves repeating it. I know that nowadays marches and large public gatherings seem like a distant memory, but those days will come back and with it, possibly, may come the start of our repeated history. 

The SNP’s obsession with being perceived as morally superior is the glue they collectively sniff before composing any public messaging. No matter the issue, rest assured that it cannot possibly be the SNP’s fault. Gone are the days of accountability, gone are the days of owning up to something and the days of transparency are but a faint memory.

Following the resounding ‘once in a generation’ 2014 referendum defeat, what did the SNP do? They schemed: what would be the best way for us to make the numbers up and get Indy over the line? They landed on the quagmire of identity politics —  using people’s identities as political weapons — a foray that now threatens to destroy them. 

The story goes that in 1787, as Russian Empress Catherine the Great travelled in the Crimea, her minister Grigory Potemkin erected fake portable villages along her route as a façade to hide deep-seated poverty in the region.

The Potemkin Villages, as they became known, were the means by which the gilded monarch was persuaded that all was right with the country under her gaze even though the truth was the opposite.  

Like many of us who now find ourselves locked inside for most of the day, I have been watching more movies than usual. A few nights ago, one struck me with its resonance to current Scottish politics. It was about an aircraft that, mid-flight, suffered a catastrophic malfunction to its tail assembly, causing it to roll over and enter a steep dive that inverted all of its controls; actions that would have previously lifted the nose of the aircraft would only push it down further. As the pilots fought the controls, a clear but plaintive mechanical voice repeats, "Pull up. Pull up," as the plane hurtles to the ground, as if the pilots hadn't already realised the situation which they were now powerless to stop. 

There is a parallel universe where the SNP respects democracy.

In this alternative world in 2014, post referendum, Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon acknowledged that two million people in Scotland had voted for Scotland to remain part of the United Kingdom and that the 10% winning margin —  which meant 24% more people voted NO than YES — was clear and decisive. 

To show their acceptance and heal the wounds of the divisive, “once-in-a-generation” referendum, three days after the referendum, they attended the service of reconciliation which the Church of Scotland had organised at St Giles Cathedral. Salmond and Sturgeon then returned to the Scottish parliament vowing to devote all their energies to the public services of Scotland, to demonstrate the competence of the SNP in government. They spend the next six years on ‘the day job’ improving Scotland’s health, education and economy.

Nationalists, the world over, love to think of themselves and their causes as unique, special and a product of their own "glorious" history. Still, as always, reality is far from their fevered imaginations.

For example, Separatist claims that "independence is normal" are easily dismissed by pointing out that many of the countries they claim to admire are, in fact, political unions, often far more recent than the UK.

As time goes on, and their desperate cries for secession are revealed as a gargantuan political squirrel, I am reminded more and more of other Separatist movements that have done exactly what the SNP have done and got just about as far as the SNP will. 

Do you remember, just a few months ago, when statues were being toppled around the world? Men who had been venerated in their time were now exposed as having profited from slavery or other ignominious acts. What was surprising was how quickly it all happened. One day nobody cared; the next statues were being pulled down. How quickly times change.

The esteemed German sociologist Max Weber says leaders, in the past or today, derive their authority from three different sources: legal authority, traditional authority, and charismatic authority. 

In a recent conversation with a dear friend of mine, politics came up. I have known this man most of my life. We have similar political perspectives. We are employed in very similar fields; in fact, this man is almost identical to me, as many have noted, except he is English and I, Scottish.

As we discussed the state of the nation, he turned to me, and with a sigh, said: "I've really had enough of all this bitterness, it may just be for the best for Scotland to go". This man is not in any way a nationalist, far from it. Still, he has become a thriving subject in the SNP's ventures into foreign policy.