A stinking hulk of hideousness

So.. I saw a clip today where a man complained that he only was able to afford one meal a day. So many people are in this position and worse. Some can’t afford any meals at all. This man compared himself to the asylum seekers who will be housed on a barge who will be getting three meals a day. He was angry about this but not with the Government. He was angry with the people on the barge. The asylum seekers apparently are the reason why he is unable to afford to eat properly.

In other news, a report out this week showed that only 55% of people think everyone should be able to afford a television. In the same survey, only 27% thought that everyone should be able to go out socialising and 40% of people surveyed thought that the poor, those less well off, in low paid jobs or long term sick should not have “seasonal celebrations” – birthdays, Christmas, etc.

The two things might seem separate, but actually they are one and the same.

The man who can’t afford food puts the blame on asylum seekers, and the people surveyed put the blame for poverty on the people who are poor.

None of them blame the Government and in refusing to do so, they absolve the politicians of doing anything about it.

The Conservatives have spent the last 50 years returning us to the Victorian attitudes that sees poverty as a moral failing. The progress we saw in the 20th Century, with the NHS, the Welfare State, Human Rights, Equality, is fading into history. The Uk Government is determined to keep the rich rich and the poor poor. The most effective way of doing that is to ensure that we blame others for being poor and therefore let the Government off the hook.

Never mind that housing is shit, never mind that benefits don’t cover the necessary basic requirements of life, never mind that inflation is sky rocketing whilst multi national corporations line the pockets of shareholders at the expense of the public purse. Privatisation is a racket. Subsidised energy/water/transport companies take public money to provide services. They do an appalling job whilst making millions in profits which end up in the pockets of shareholders.

Never mind any of that. If you can’t afford food or electricity, blame the asylum seekers. Look around you, that guy on Universal Credit has a Tv, a computer or heaven help us – a mobile phone! That asylum seeker gets to eat! How absolutely dare he.

This UK Government is sowing the seeds of division and hatred in order to keep itself in power. And racism. Let’s not beat about the bush here. This government is racist. It uses the language of the far right to encourage the blame culture I have been talking about.

This week Lee Anderson, the Conservative Party’s Deputy Chairperson said of those people being housed on a modern day prison hulk “If they don’t like barges then they should fuck off back to France,” Number 10 said they support Anderson’s comments.

This is no surprise. It was a fundamental part of Brexit, although coded and more subtle. Taking back control meant “fuck off” back to where you came from. Today it is said out loud by MPs because Brexit empowered those voices, gave them legitimacy and emboldened them to speak racist tropes with impunity.

This is the UK today. I’d like to think that this will end with the Tory Party’s defeat in the next General Election, but Labour are committed to the same appalling welfare policies, immigration policies, Brexit and the slow, insidious undermining of the NHS. The rhetoric might change, thank god, but there is little difference in the Labour Party’s policies or approach.

Except in Scotland. In Scotland the SNP and the Scottish Government are treading a different path. Labour and the Tory’s here remain tied to their UK party policies but the SNP has pushed Scotland away from the worst excesses of the post/Brexit bigotry. More compassionate, fairer, welcoming, here in Scotland, we have a choice to make. We can continue to shackle ourself to a stinking hulk of class ridden, racist hideousness or we can strive for something different. At the heart of the campaign for Independence is the hope of a better, fairer society. As we build up to a General Election remember that. Scotland is already doing things differently – we can do more with Independence. Otherwise God help us all, history tells us where this leads and it’s terrifying.

#IndyRef2 #YouYesYet

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A stinking tale of oil and gas

So, oil and gas, whisky, renewables? Scotland is apparently going to lead the UKs economic recovery.

Well, this is different. Not so long ago, we were told Scotland cannot afford to be independent. We were told that there isn’t enough of anything to make Scotland the vibrant, independent, forward looking country we want it to be. Repeatedly we were told that we need the strong arms of the United Kingdom to protect and guide us as we are too weak, economically, culturally, intellectually to stand on our own two feet in a world where Britain, Great Britain, is our only and best protector.

Don’t make me laugh.

In 2014 we were told that the oil and gas was “running out”. That there was no new work planned because the little bits that were left were inaccessible and we would be unable to get to them. The days of new licences were over. Whether we should continue the oil and gas industry was not the point. If those of us supporting Independence pointed out that we should be moving away from fossil fuels, we were told that we couldn’t do that either because (guffaw guffaw) there’d be no money, no smart people and the wind doesn’t blow every day.

I kid you not, “The wind doesn’t blow every day” was a comment from a hustings I was at by a red faced man who seriously didn’t believe Scotland had ANYTHING useful at all.

This weeks announcement blows that theory out of the water. Keir Starmer’s policy on renewables underlined how rich in energy sources Scotland is, as he announced that we will power the economic recovery of the entire UK.

The increase in duty on whisky is also an indication of how important Scotland is to the economy of the UK. 75% duty on a bottle of whisky from today, breaking their 2019 manifesto promise to support Scotland’s whisky industry.

Lies again.

We have heard them all. No oil and gas, no renewables industry and meh – whisky.

And yet here we have a bad tempered Rishi Sunak flying in on his private plane to exploit Scotlands natural resources because the UK is a basket case.

Aside from the economy, the UK Government is failing across every single measure of Government. They are sinking to the bottom of the cess pit they have created. The people who make money out of this oil and gas exploration will not be us. Those of us struggling with energy costs won’t see the benefit. Our bills are not going to be cheaper. The oil companies will make more profit, their shareholders will rub their hands with glee. Rishi Sunak’s father in law will make money. It is being widely reported that the company he founded -Infosys- signed a massive deal with BP just two months ago. The cess pit stench hangs over the North Sea. The rich get richer but of course – none of this will make Scotland a better fairer place for ordinary people.

The only way to do that is with independence. Independence will give Scotland the power over our own decisions, our economy, our environment, our industries. This UK government is undermining devolution, riding roughshod over the democratically expressed will of the Scottish People for a new referendum. Why? Because ultimately it wants to suck the wealth out of Scotland. The UK wants to leave us with the scraps, the leftovers, whatever we can beg off the Barnett Formula table, whilst Sunak and his ilk fly around in private planes, Chuck back the champagne in their subsidised bars and draw their dividend cheques.

Wake up folks. Better Together? If you believe that then you are fools.

#YouYesYet

#IndyRef2

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