smallnation

thnx

2007-03-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

Holyrood Belle has a fantastic knack for images !! this from her "World of Jack" blog.

all change for small nation

2007-02-04T06:36:00.000-08:00

Yes we've now moved to our new expanded site over on http://www.smallnation.org/drupal come and visit!!!! This blogger account will gradually fade, I'm afraid, but the new site will keep growing. Visit it for selected RSS feeds, polls and discussion. Podcasts are being recorded and edited so watch out for those!

Please adjust your RSS subscription and click the subscribe option on the new site.

Brown turns purple whilst swathed in red, white and blue.

2007-01-13T06:48:00.000-08:00

Oh dear. The chancellor, who in case you haven't realised it, has been in power for almost a decade now and who has shaped the current state of Britain as much as Blair, is now getting tetchy about some annoying little northerners with a plan that might scupper his career and retirement plans. Like the absent landlords before him, he fulminates in rage against the irritating peasants on his estate that are getting ideas above themselves. He snorts with derision as they say, "hang on, wouldn't it be fairer if we just took care of our own problems ourselves?" Bloated after years of state dinners and metropolitan soirees, sycophantic grovelling at the feet of the capitalist class, smooching with celebrities and exhausted by the strain of pygmalion-like accent supporession he's finally woken up to the fact that some people have sussed that the Britain he has created is an economic, moral and environmental failure.
Now he's been hoisted onto St George's horse and, bow-legged, it staggers North to quell the rebellion, like some latter day Don Quixote, ranting and raving with delusions of grandeur in a completely fictitious dreamworld of union jacks and bulldogs.

Well, let the battle commence, but don't be taken in by his press cronies who are doing their utmost to somehow disassociate him from the worst past excess of Blairism. Let's not forget that this has been a partnership between the two of them and he failed the moral test completely they day he endorsed the Iraq war. That could have been a turning point if he'd taken a stand, but he didn't, not out of fear, but simply because he too suffers the same delusion of the crusading christian vision of 'democracy' based on middle class values, personal aggrandisement and free markets.

Nice to see also he appreciates, respects and admires Margaret Thatcher. Seems keen to constantly tell us all this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6258089.stm

tittle tattle as the answer becomes obvious

2007-01-07T09:17:00.000-08:00

Ah, the chattering classes have emerged from their hibernation abuzz with speculation as to whether this 300th anniversary of the Union will mark its end or not (1,2,3). It's perhaps (?) not particularly likely (until there is an even stronger poll showing) and, contrary to some correspondents' remarks, we have been here before with all the talk of independence and SNP gains, etc, but somehow at the last minute there's a lurch back. But perhaps this time is a little different in that we've dipped our toes into constitutional reform via the Scottish parliament and although its not all been rosy, neither has it been a disaster. Indeed, the most negative aspect of the whole experience is just how limited the parliament's powers (and the executive's imagination) has been. Sure, the smoking ban is great (another lesson from an indpendent neighbour, over here), but what about a ban on weapons of mass destruction? Potentially, we could save a lot more lives that way!

The truth of the matter is that the reason that small countries like Ireland are successful and Scotland lags behind, is that they do not forsee limits on their ability to steer a future course. There's no need to constantly ask "have we inadvertently stepped into a reserved matter?" or "but this is different to the Westminster party's line". Imagine how much freedom of imagination there would be if we could just set ambitious targets and aim for them with all our resources (human as well as financial) instead of being constrained both in terms of the constitution and in fear of difference or awaking desires for more power. Of course, the other fun thing about independence is the responsibility that goes with the freedom and that's where the politics gets messy, but having noone to blame except your own politicians is in itself liberating. When you realise that politicians in all countries have a common thread of mediocrity and that if you want the job done you need to take them on, campaign and challenge, then you've reached the level of political maturity that's largely missing in Scotland at the moment.

But it's interesting to note the contributions this week by two rich men (albeit in different leagues). One, setting up his unionist "common sense" party which for some reason will do the job properly if elected (don't all parties say this?)but doesn't have policies (who needs them?) or candidates yet (4). Whilst the other, Tom Farmer, saying something a bit more sensible about ambition and aspirations, even though he doesn't go so far as to take the argument to its logical conclusion, that the qualities he's looking for are unlikely to be found in a nation that doesn't yet want to be a nation (5).

Oh, don't get me wrong, terms such as "nation" and "ambition" are all heavily loaded, but what is surely what most of us would want is the "civic" form of "nationalism" (an ugly word with even worse connotations in a British context). It's not an argument based on culture, tribalism, tradition or any of those things, simply a focus on the most democratic and constitutionally clean solution. And, furthermore,in terms of economic impact, its even evidence-based, if you bother to look at Ireland, Norway, Iceland, and the rest of the small nations of Europe.

References:
(1) Iain Macwhirter
(2) Comment is Free
(3) Observer article
(4) Eejit party
(5) Tom Farmer's comments

The campaign is on...

2007-01-06T07:08:00.000-08:00

As soon as the (cancelled)new year festivities faded, the campaigning for elections in both countries started in earnest. In Scotland we have Labour moving into their traditional fear and negativity claiming today, for example, that the SNP will sack 5,000 teachers if they come to power (1). All complete nonsense of course, but they do this moving from sector to sector to try to strike fear into those professions or social groups that would be most likely to switch from Labour to the nationalists. Sad to see that the same old pattern is being repeated, but then it has worked every time in the past so who can blame them for giving it a go again.

The problem lies in the desire for power and to hold on to it at all costs rather than more lofty ambitions of transforming society and, this is the scary part these days, facing up to the challenge of climate change. I don't mean inventing new taxes on travel, since that shows the paucity of political intelligence these days, but really changing lifestyles and economic models to reduce carbon emissions. Tax schemes and carbon credits are all about buying your way out of actually doing something and passing the responsibility down the financial food chain.

Here in Ireland, for example, there is a major national programme of road building to bring the infrastructure up to a comparable level of other countries, the fact that this is based on a 1980s/90s model of a rampant capitalist economy drunk on fossil fuels and chucking waste left, right and centre doesn't figure in the planning process. More roads equals more traffic equals more pollution equals lower quality of life. No mainstream politician wants to jeopardise their career prospects by taking a radically different stance, yet ironically it would be more realistic given what is happening out there in the world of wind, rain and storms rather than in this idealised "second life" of contemporary politics and media. We've cocooned ourselves into an abstracted world of "free markets", competitiveness, acquisitiveness and career. Shame, since one day reality will hit us, when its too late and the money's been spent.

Ah well c'est la vie - while it lasts!

Over in Taiwan, meanwhile, they've at least almost completed a huge new bullet train route, linking the two major cities (2). big improvement on motorways, even if the project also involves a 30 year despoilation of countryside along the route by turning them into economic "development" zones.

Back to our own little parishes. The Ryanair counter-claim to the UK environment minister's accusation (3,4) of them being a polluter is based on more fuel efficient planes, but of course ignores the fact that the number of planes and routes, and hence the absolute level of emissions (ie the total per year) is on the up. Oh and let's not forget the extra carbon cost of travelling from the airport to the supposed actual destination city.

Nice to see the Irish Times (5) today take further note of the constitutional issue in Scotland with an article on the Lord Chancellor's fears for the ultimate break up of the UK into several constituent nations. Doesn't dawn on him that this might be a more equal arrangement and actually far from being a problem for Northern Ireland, might actually help speed along an appropriate constitutional solution.

References:
(1) Scotsman article
(2) BBC news item
(3) BBC news report
(4) BBC news report
(5) Irish Times (subscription link)

A new year toast to "the union dividend"

2007-01-01T06:57:00.000-08:00

From a wind and rain battered Atlantic coast, "happy new year!" Not that out local celebrations were cancelled, there never were any in the first place. It is one of the strangest aspects of living here after so long in Scotland, that the whole New Year thing is very underplayed. No concept of folk visiting each other or staying up for the bells. Still we did our ex-pat (strange phrase that for Ireland) best by tuning into BBC Scotland around midnight and cracked open the chilled Irn Bru.

Nevertheless, it looks like an interesting year ahead for Ireland, with an election coming up in May, although as I mentioned in an earlier post, the polls seem to show the likelihood of Fianna Fail continuing in government, but Garret Fitzgerald countered that in his recent, regular, column in the Irish Times (can't link to it online since they charge membership/access fees). The Green Party is celebrating its 25th anniversary and interestingly will be holding its forthcoming national conference here in Galway. Fine Gael and Labour are trying to present a united front as part of a pre-election coalition deal, gradually releasing joint policy documents. The Progressive Democrats, the "junior" coalition partner, has a new leader in the shape of the justice minister, Micheal McDowell, and of course, Sinn Fein are focusing for the present on the issue of recognising the police force in Northern Ireland.

Still haven't heard of anyone here catching on to Jack McConnell's "union dividend." It's frustrating how an external perspective can shed so much light on the situation. I guess that's the old Burns adage of seeing ourselves as others see us, and in the case of citizens of other small nations looking at Scotland it probably can be summed up in "bemusement" at the bizarre arguments against independence that seem to hold sway. If any of them were true, none of these little countries would exist, never mind be doing successfully on many measures.

Don't get me wrong, living here, I am well aware of the drawbacks of Irish society and government. The lack of a decent public healthcare system, a legacy of underinvestment in education, public transport and other social provision (although much is being addressed with recent monies from the booming economy), but that is the fault of the political parties (and the electorate) and their priority setting, rather than a consequence of the constitutional settlement.

Wouldn't it be great if Scotland had noone to blame for its problems other than itself? Isn't it about time we took on the responsibility, rolled up our sleeves and got down to work?

New Year message for online community

2006-12-31T07:25:00.000-08:00

Alex Salmond, as reported in some of the press, is the first Scottish political leader to broadcast his New Year message on You Tube. You can watch it here.

moving: step by step

2006-12-29T12:09:00.000-08:00

In response to a couple of comments, you can have a sneak preview at the rather basic front end currently set up for the new version of "small nation" if you visit http://www.smallnation.org/drupal. As you can see there are various RSS feeds and the new site will also have our own podcast series, discussion fora, polls, membership (free) privileges and guest articles. Keep your eyes peeled in the early New Year for the "official" launch.

open democracy? open question

2006-12-29T10:13:00.000-08:00

As you'll see from the links on the right hand side, I'm a keen fan of Open Democracy, the Web based comment and review magazine. In the predictions for the coming year, Neal Ascherson hints at the very real chance of the SNP winning the election in May, but argues that a convincing majority in an independence referendum is not necessarily probable.

Last month, Jimmy Reid, Christopher Harvie and Alasdair Gray, used the same web site to argue for independence and you can read their article here.

As for Ireland? "Teflon" Bertie, as he is becoming increasingly known, looks like he'll keep his lead in the polls. In normal circumstances one would add a rider to a sentence like that such as "unless a major scandal erupts", but if the past year is anything to go by, scandals boost his poll rating for some bizarre reason....

where are all the blogs?

2006-12-28T10:17:00.000-08:00

On Radio Scotland today there was a curious little item about the apparent lack of Scottish political blogs compared with the situation in Westminster. I'm not sure how true that really is, perhaps its more of a lack of influence rather than a lack of actual blogs themselves. I suspect that many folk have yet to cotton on to the potential value of blogs in helping to influence (rather than just snipe on) the Scottish political cultural context. It's a bit of a two way process, though, with a bit of give and take on either side, bloggers have to decide on who their potential audience is, as much as politicians have to decide on the value of seeking wider comment from the online community.

As one of the contributors to the piece mentions, the upcoming Holyrood election will give an excellent opportunity for us to put paid to this criticism. On this humble little blog, some behind the scenes work is being done in terms of hosting, ancillary resources, and...wait for it..audio/video materials. An announcement about all of that will be posted here soon, with a launch date for the extended small nation in January 2007.