Waiting for a better nation to arrive…

Strange days indeed in Scotland, waiting as we do for Alasdair Gray’s better nation to arrive. I’m waking up early each morning, reaching for the phone and despairing at the latest revelation. Sure, there are the comedy camper vans, the titivating tents, the ill-advised First Minister one-liners, like improvised rehearsals for The Thick of It or Veep. But most of all, I feel sorrow. And shame.

Yes, nationalist pals, even as a Labour councillor, despair and sadness, because although the temptation for some  is to go on party political attack, I think any Scot feels terribly upset that in the eyes of the world, our leaders and the dominant party of the past two decades are in a kind of fumbling freefall, pulling faces and juggling empty drinks cans as they plummet inexorably towards an unforgiving earth. You can tell the opposition parties’ hearts just aren’t in it as, gloves on, they circle warily, making aghast noises and murmuring about contempt of court. Already committed wholesale, notably by journalists who might be expected to know better.

I’m a former SNP member. I joined the party in the wake not of the independence referendum, but the Brexit one. I felt betrayed by a Westminster government consumed by graft, greed and the worst instincts of insularity. Labour seemed irrelevant.  I didn’t last as a nationalist, despite the pandemic’s confirmation of Nicola Sturgeon’s consummate communicative skills and ability to appear empathetic. The much-trotted-out litany that the SNP administration in Scotland had been in place too long and was, in its desperate alliance with the Greens’ youth fellowship pseudo-politics, threadbare and stumbling, was confirmed by the leadership election. 

(And I don’t think anyone in the central belt political bubble really understands how huge the failure of Scotland’s ferry services is for folk in the Highlands and Islands. The grotesque embarrassment of the Fergusons Fiasco is one thing, but calling in the Ministry of Defence to get folk to and from Ardnamurchan? Using pedalos? And then there’s the HPMA/Irn Bru tins/alcohol branding sagas. Don’t even mention the NHS.)

Hell’s teeth, that leadership election. I never bet. Not ever. Well, except for Eshaness in the 1993 Grand National, which you may recall, finished first. Except without a rider attached. I did however, put a voteless tenner on Kate Forbes to become our new First Minister. Note – OUR First Minister, which is what she would have been and Humza is. Leader of Scotland, like the party or not. The one who’ll come and visit you in hospital when you single-handedly and at great personal injury save that schoolbus from driving through the road closed sign and over a cliff. There was a diversion due to technical issues with Calmac. Stromeferry/no ferry…

Even without the subsequent revelations, it looks like Kate had the leadership yanked from beneath her by the outgoing regime’s shenanigans. It was an internal party election with massive implications for the whole country. And outside of the SNP, the money, including mine, was on Kate.  I mean, come on, a ferociously intelligent, economically brilliant, articulate young mother (baby in the background during interviews!) with an absolutely unashamed moral standpoint? A really convincing and able finance minister? From the Highlands? Gaelic speaking? Rode a motorbike when she was (even) younger? Committed to social justice and the alleviation of poverty? What’s not to like? Oh, I hear you say, what about the Wee Free Calvinist stuff  –  gay marriage, abortion and gender recognition? Right. Those elements of belief she said she would always recognise as subject to democracy within party and parliament? Because she’s a democrat who says what she means? 

Anyway, I lost my stake and I couldn’t quite believe it. Because Kate may be many things, but she’s credible, convincing and she is most definitely not the ‘continuity candidate’. 

Continuity, to be charitable, being the last thing the SNP needed or needs. I liked the idea of her as the First Free Kirk Queen of Scotland. She came very close despite the sabotage, and of course it could still happen. Is likely to, though I won’t put any money on it this time in case God decides to punish me (and Kate, and the country) for gambling. But hey, that’s Calvinism! Anyway, she’s currently Queen-Over-The-Highland-Line.

Meanwhile, the Comedia del Camper Van Cantata continues (see the various songs posted here for a mordant take on that all-driving-lessons-lead-to-Uddingston affair) and who knows who will be arrested next? Well, we probably do. The big questions surely are, will charges ever be brought, and will the SNP either be declared insolvent or auditors refuse to become involved? What happens then? 

A Holyrood  election might provide  a necessary cleansing. In that eventuality, Labour will do better than before, the Greens will be pretty much wiped out but under a forthright Forbes, I ,(and the latest polling from Professor Curtice and co) expect the SNP to remain much the largest party. 

Yeah, I know, I’m an official Labour councillor and ought to be a firebreathing campaigner for the excellent Anas, Jackie and our other cohorts. Kate would – will – be a far more formidable opponent than Humza. But just at the moment, seeing her as First Minister would be a relief.  I’m sorry, but this is embarrassing us all. And dangerous for Scotland, with the sulphurous southern opponents of  devolution circling, baying with rabid glee.