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Monday, May 9, 2011

The State of the Union

Before the ink was even dry on the ballot papers, the losers of last week’s elections went into full panic mode and, as if as one, simultaneously unleashed a chorus of petulant screeching, demanding that an independence referendum be announced by dinner time and held by the end of the week. Their post-election comments were clearly written before an outright majority was considered a possibility as they sounded as if they thought they were speaking from a position of strength. Their media interface software was missing a crucial update, hence the compatibility issue between their imaginations and reality. The responses to events were as considered as those of a Venus flytrap, snapping at anything that disturbs their hair-triggers, unable to distinguish between a mosquito and an elephant. The snarling, hissing tenor of their argument is its own downfall as it amounts to accusing the electorate of being idiots who have no idea what's good for them and need protected from themselves. They kent wur faithers; we shouldnae get ideas ahead o' wursels.

Nothing can happen without a debate. What they quite wilfully fail to acknowledge is that the debate on independence has never been intelligently held in Scotland and, moreover, that this is largely because they themselves have consistently refused point blank to entertain it, as if to do so would be seen as dignifying some revolting slur. The idea of independence was beneath contempt. Nationalism was to be discussed only with held noses and closed eyes. For decades, defence of the Union amounted to "la la la, we can't hear you, la la la." They have to listen now.

The British Union’s track record on fighting on the back foot is not a good one. If they continue to behave as they have up until now, they’ll lose their argument as surely as they lost this election. Their main fear may well be that when they actually start to discuss the matter, there is a risk that a few of their own might go native. Many Scots previously entrenched in unionism have clearly bitten the bullet and done just this. It may be temporary and the massive swing to the SNP can't automatically be construed as popular demand for independence, but the unionists take the converse for granted at their peril. There are no defaults left in Scottish politics.  

To date, defenders of the union have treated the debate with such unthinking disdain that they don't even argue. They simply recite the same lines over and over, defending themselves rather than their case out of tribal instinct. They were not ready for this and they'll need to make this distinction soon if they are to stand a chance. Their contribution has not even served their own purposes: I think it would be fair to say that the return of a thumping SNP majority to Holyrood, contradicting the finely tuned mechanisms of their very own bespoke electoral system, probably goes down as both a failure of practise and a pronouncement on their stated purpose. If their practises change, their purposes might evolve. Who knows where they might end up?