This week’s revelation that Charles Windsor gets to see Cabinet Memoranda that some Government Ministers don’t even get to see got me thinking that we might have the vote but that’s about it.
What has really changed since the days of the monarchy and the land owners running the country, not a lot?
We see the media being part of the establishment; the banks decide policy, the established order, as we saw in the Carmichael case, look after their own. If you toe the line and achieve nothing, but do the establishments bidding, you get to go into the Lords, if you play the party game, you get a safe seat in Westminster, if you go to the right school and university, you get to lead a political party or be a so-called top journalist at the BBC and in the Newspapers.
The SNP are even playing the media establishment game now as Derek Bateman noted this week regarding the journalists Christmas soiree at the taxpayers expense. Now given the lies, the fear mongering, and the undermining of our illusional democracy during the referendum I would not piss on these people if they were on fire. The people who should have been invited were the bloggers, Rev Stuart Campbell, Newsnet, Bateman, Murray…The ones who fought to bring the facts and the truth to the masses, those are the ones the SNP should be courting.
I am beginning to wonder what the SNP, like the Liberals and Labour, are actually for these days. I agree with Craig Murray, are the SNP even fighting for independence anymore? Craig argues that the SNP are becoming over comfortable with the trappings of government and its institutions, and that I fear just leads them to becoming like my own party the Liberal Democrats, a party of the establishment, maybe more left but no different from the rest when it comes to the established order in the UK. Will the SNP just fight for the federalism that the Liberals are supposed to believe in yet campaigned against in so many ways during the referendum.
As we have all seen in recent years, but pretty much for the whole of our lives, the rich get richer, the politicians become the new entitled class, the Windsors are as powerful as they have ever been, lording over us quietly in the background, but with little or no challenge from the media and the politicians we thought were there to protect us. The politicians are really only protecting themselves while we get poorer and poorer, our influence is non-existent and the services we rely on are disappearing by the day.
So when the Liberal Democrats refuse to change, when the SNP are becoming a part of the very things that many of us voted YES to get away from, when Westminster pretty much does what it has done for the last 400 years, when we are getting poorer, when we have to scavenge for ourselves while the ones who rule take what is ours and make it theirs……..
What is the point in even having a fucking vote every few years!
grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com 
I share your concerns. At this time I think it is too soon to accuse the SNP of this pitfall, but it does no harm to let them know they’re being watched.
They occupy one strand (a fairly staid one) in the movement towards indie, and as important as that strand is, by it’s very nature it cannot be seen to wear other hats. By that I mean the joyous yes movement hats.
What they could do, and what I can see no excuse for them not doing, is pick one topic – ie defence, or the scottish economy – and bombard Scotland with info about it for months at a time. Give Scotland the info it needs to make informed decisions, and do it now. If they wait for indie 2 to do this they will run out of time and loose to the MSM again.
If it provides any reassurance, I do see, this slowly, slowly, safe and steady approach getting no voters on board. Although the presence of an opposition of any ability would severely dent this.
Robin McAlpine said, don’t wait for indie ref 2, campaign now. So, with that in mind, I still try to convert my one no voter at a time, just like Margo said, and my car is my billboard and wings over scotland provides the posters.
Not going away, not giving up, one bit of decency at a time. Aye yes for aw that.
Bravo Daisy.
The SNP isn’t the only game in town, but it is probably the best bet from independence.
I suppose when you are the government it is very difficult not to be a part of the establishment.
Frankly I have no idea whether an early referendum is a good idea or not. Yes, as Craig says, will we ever have as many SNP representatives again?
As completely shit as they are, Labour is bound to eventually pick up a few seats, and even the Tories in Scotland are apparently gaining votes as people sickened by Labour but utterly dependent on the UK transfer their vote to them. Then will we be able to have another referendum?
On the other hand, if we go for it now, what will happen if we lose? We can forget it for 10-20 years… and what does that mean for some people? They’ll be dead by the time it happens.
I wish I could think more clearly about it.
Daisy/Tris
The reason for the post was that I watched PMqs/FMQs/Holyrood etc etc this week and just came away disappointed, add on the Charles Windsor revelation and I just thought we are just serfs to these people. Has anything really changed since we got the vote!
Now I am not a member of the SNP and really do think that overall they have certainly been better than previous administrations, but I also agree with Derek Bateman and Craig Murray in that there is a serious risk of them becoming a part of the establishment. They were going to shake up Westminster but really all they have done is accept the customs and the bollocks of that place when I had hoped they would challenge at least that.
Overall though, when I look at our politics it is all so uninspiring to say the least, and overall we are really suffering and our own apathy is making it worse. Maybe I need a break from politics watching, my own party, the Lib Dems, are even worse and I never thought they could get any worse.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
What is independence?
In an independent Scotland there will be governments I do not vote for and policies I vehemently disagree with and I will feel as impotent and powerless then as I do now with the power and our assets being squandered in London…. Except, except…
Indie ref was a sprint, a pressure pot, urgent need to take this fundamental issue, that was never mentioned, and show it the light and the air, and there was a finishing line, clearly seen.
Then came no. And now, now we have a marathon, with no finishing line in sight, how to train for that, how to pace yourself.
I choose to breath, to smile, to appreciate the good, and acknowledge the not so. I see my fears, and I act anyway, I stand and I walk as if we won. I am not bowed and I do not bluster, there is no need. And I make choices, where there is no money, I volunteer, where I can I donate, when criticism is needed I stand up and am counted, because today is the day when we build foundations, one bit of decency at a time.
And that is independence. The rest is politics.
Daisy
I admire your enthusiasm I really do but I am not sure we have the time to take the long view, I really don’t. If it doesn’t get done soon it never will, we will be made even more dependent on the poverty conditions delivered to too many that people then the people will be too afraid to act for fear of losing what little they have and that is what the unionists want. My feelings are that if the SNP take a too cautious road then they will lose the good will and optimism of the YES movement, and that will really damage the cause.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Thanks for all your articles Bruce, and for the fact that you care. Best wishes for now, take it easy.
Hi Bruce and a Happy New Year, well we can hope. I just found this article so I am a bit late. I am not comfortable at times with what the SNP do, I left once and may do so again but right now they are the only ones we can rely on. I believe though that if they fail to keep to their first policy which is Independence then they will find themselves out in the cold. Now when we come to the Establishment, yes I fear them, I fear the poison they emanate. They managed not without help to reform the Labour Party from the Party which was supposed to represent the poor end of our society into another one which looks after the Middle Class. This same Middle Class which already had parties looking after them. Right now they are trying to destroy the SNP with the assistance of that other arm of the Establishment the Papers and TV. Their problem here is we, those of us of the Indy sort are all aware of what they are up to. It is those who were fooled during the Referendum they are still addressing.
I would much have preferred if the SNP had done the same as Sinn Fein and not taken their seats, but they have, but I want mischief made, give the Establishment grief, god knows they have given us Scots enough over the past 308 years.
hektorsmum
Happy New Year. I agree with you on the SNP, they are by far the best party in Scotland right now and that is not going to change anytime soon. I left the party last year, although was never directly involved, because I was never really comfortable in it, I didn’t agree with the all women short lists, as I don’t with Willie Rennie trying to force the issue with the Scottish Lib Dems, I didn’t agree with the named person thing, the centralisation that was going on and a few other things, but mainly I considered myself a Liberal. However, as I noted all women short lists in the Lib Dems will see me seriously consider my position, I cannot stand that kind of politics and the selection of cnadidates should always be up to the members and no one else.
I definately fear the establishment that is our so called betters, and the unionist parties. I just have little trust in them and as we can see with the Tories they are doing a power grab in England with EVEL which means Labour could never really govern and there would never be a Scottish PM etc. The fact that people are meekly excepting this tells you a lot about people in this country and their total blindness to politics and all that is done to them. The unionist parties have definately subjegated the populace in the main now. What a country.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Bruce on the subject of women only lists I am of the opinion that the SNP hardly need to do this. They have by far more competent women in their ranks but shall I say that as someone who like so many in Public Service, was passed over for further promotion so that the best mate or club mate of one of the bosses could get the job. If you look at the number of women who are in the higher echelons you will realise the problem. It should not be necessary if there were people higher up who were not biased but sometimes you have to break the problem This may not be the total answer, I am also aware that in Scotland if you are not a member of the many clubs and organisations, men also linger at the bottom. The SNP aka me and hubby have chosen candidates and will continue to do so in as fair a method as we can.
This country will turn into a medieval shit hole given time and the Tories, we need to get out of this Union and out of the past and into the future.
hektorsmum
I could accept 50/50 lists for balance but I would never be a member of a party that was telling me that I can only vote for a candidate from the list that they supplied and that they had excluded men from the list on the basis of their sex. Like you I have never voted for a candidate on the basis of their gender, but if the Liberals go down this road then I will probably leave. I cannot stand discrimination of any kind. I grew up with it all around me and I hate it, I was discriminated against for being poor, as were my friends, my brother was discriminated against for being disabled. I just can’t stand it in any shape or form, even alleged positive kind.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce