Wednesday 1 October 2014

From drama to farce


There was certainly something very dramatic about the way the leaders of the three unionist parties dropped everything and took themselves off to Scotland following one opinion poll showing a lead for the yes campaign.  And the spectacle of a revitalised Gordon Brown coming over the hill like the seventh cavalry was not without its own touch of drama.
Solemn vows were made, irrevocable and guaranteed, they all said. 
But the whole thing descends into farce when the front man (or perhaps that should be fall guy) for the vows has such faith in the rest of them to deliver on the promises that he made that he’s now calling for 100,000 Scots to sign a petition demanding that the three not-so-wise men keep his promises.
The thing that struck me was this.  There were 2 million who voted for further devolution and against independence (although some of them may foolishly have thought that they were voting for the status quo – an option removed from the ballot paper by the Prime Minister).  Why does he only want 100,000 of them to sign his petition?  Could it be that he’s not overly confident that many more than that will follow him a second time?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've read that Brown only attached his name to this petition when it had already reached 80,000 signatures (Wings Over Scotland blog.
Robert Tyler

Anonymous said...

The two million plus that voted NO did so in accordance with the question on the ballot paper. Nothing more, nothing less. It's plain daft to try to pretend otherwise.

What's so surprising is how well the YES's have taken the result. It seems we really are a United Kingdom after all.



Anonymous said...

John

Not a robot

You are right but note that 38degrees have asked people in Wales to respond to petitions relating specifically to the NHS in England

There are devolved powers but let us not forget that the continual flak we receive over the NHS in Wales has a strong anti Devolution element and there is a hidden agenda in most things

Health is a bottomless financial pit

38 degrees can be manipulated and allegedly has been in the past

John Dixon said...

Anon 17:05,

"The two million plus that voted NO did so in accordance with the question on the ballot paper."

Of course. And what they voted 'no' to was clear. What was not so clear, and was made even less clear during the course of the campaign, is what the outcome of a 'no' vote would be. I think that's a fair point to make.

"What's so surprising is how well the YES's have taken the result."

It's only a surprise to those like you who see malicious intent in anyone who disagrees with you.