Quite a decent opinion piece by leckie in the paper. Worth a read, sums up how the last few days have actually panned out. IT’S BEEN the week when Eck urged Yes voters to grab a granny. And the No camp responded by grasping at straws. Quick, hire a train. Commandeer a fleet of buses. Drag drivers out of their cars on the M1. Fill every seat, luggage rack and boot with the faithful. Tell Nigel to sit on Gordon’s knee if need be. Just get as many bodies Up There and sort those damnable Jocks out before they do something stupid. So here they come — Cameron, Miliband, Clegg, Broon, Farage. Danny Dyer, Ray Winstone, John Inverdale, Churchill the dog. Charging north so fast they’re still buttoning their flies, flunkies handing out Saltires to them like marathon runners grabbing a mid-race Lucozade. Raising their flags from the nearest lamp-post to tell the natives they come in peace. Which, to give them the benefit of the doubt, they maybe do. But if so, they’ve come too late. Because if Scotland IS to vote for independence, there is not one single thing any of Dave and his No Team can do to stop it. They’re bleary-eyed householders, stumbling around at two in the morning, searching for a noise after it’s already gone ‘Bang’. Too arrogant, too complacent, too damn dense to realise whatever happens now, one thing’s for certain. That wherever Scotland’s headed, we ain’t ever going back to where we’ve been. See that empty bottle lying there on the pavement? Chuck it in a recycling skip, fill it with your loose change, stick a candle in it and pretend it’s 1978. Just don’t expect the genie to ever, ever go back in it. Even if Scotland votes No a week from today — and it’s still a definite possibility — we cannot and will not return to how we were before this campaign began. Doesn’t matter how much you WANT things to stay the same, it’s just not possible. Too much has been said that can’t be unsaid. Too much has been learned that can’t be unlearned. Too many bridges have been burned. Scotland the way it used to be is no longer available on your Timeline. It has been deleted. For me, Cameron knows it. Broon knows it. Miliband, Clegg, Farage and all the rest know it. Even the London media are waking up to it, now that they’re realised the referendum’s actually happening. (Here is the news: You know that daft vote-thing they’re having somewhere above The North and that we used to have as our funny And Finally item? Well, now it’s REALLY, REALLY SCARY AND WE’RE TAKING IT REALLY, REALLY SERIOUSLY! ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!) And all they can do now — politicians and pundits alike — is make noises, wave flags, mumble half- a**ed promises. They’re charging in and out of us, trying to cause as much confusion and doubt as they can. They come across as desperate and not a little ridiculous. Few come across as more so than Gordon Brown, a man who as Chancellor of the Exchequer and then Prime Minister could have used his power to help make Scotland stronger within the Union any time he liked, but who instead waited until seven days before Doomsday. The common description of his arrival on the scene has been that “he was parachuted in”. For me, this would have been far more impressive had he LITERALLY been parachuted in, clutching The New Powers like a guy dropping into the centre circle on Cup Final day to deliver the match ball. Except the wind catches him and he gets blown towards the floodlight pylons, where he dangles by his cords, shouting about Increased Fiscal Autonomy while the crowd sings: “What the f***ing hell is THAAAAT?” But it’s Cameron who really takes the biscuit. He’s the boss, he’s meant to be the brightest of the bright, the man with the plan. Yet the miserable truth is that on this most pivotal of issues, this poll that could cost him his job, he’s been as bright as a blackout. Last week, when I wrote about switching from a No to a Yes, I criticised those in the pro-indy camp who’ve tried to change the opinions of those around by yelling and haranguing. You’d have thought the PM and his cronies might have looked at these tactics and used that superior public-school education of theirs to work out that what was needed at a time like this was clear heads, cool thinking and reasoned argument. Then again, that would credit them with intelligence their positions would seem to demand but which their actions often bely. When I interviewed the Prime Minister the other week, the phrase that really stuck in my mind — not to mention craw — was the one about how post-independence his Scottish grandfather would be “buried in a foreign country”. That says far more about him than it does about is. I for one won’t be thinking about England, Wales or Ireland as foreign countries if it’s a Yes. If a Frenchman lives next door to me, he’s not a foreigner, he’s a neighbour. Sadly, though, this is the attitude Dave and the No Team have brought with them on their UN-style peace mission this week. That they don’t want to “lose” us, like we’re a possession. That they don’t want us to become foreigners. That it’s not too late to save us from ourselves. It just shows you how little faith they have in the democracy Britain is so proud of. If Scotland votes No, it votes no and I will play my part in making the future work. But if Scotland votes Yes, no amount of promised powers and passive-aggressive bullying will change the fact that it is what Scotland wants. For that to happen, the Yes campaign need to carry out Alex Salmond’s orders to win over the older generation they way Obama did to turn the USA from Republican to Democrat. Whether he and they can do that in time for next Thursday is anyone’s guess. But I’ll tell you this for nothing. He’s got a far better chance than Cameron has of convincing half the country to settle down and be good little subjects. Because the genie’s gone, Dave. And if you ask me, your bottle’s gone with it.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 10:01:08 +0000
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