Tuesday, 17 November 2020

Disasters and blessings

 

Yesterday, Boris Johnson was reported as telling Tory MPs that devolution has been “a disaster north of the border”. This has been widely – and not unreasonably – interpreted (particularly given his additional comment that devolution was “Tony Blair’s biggest mistake”) as an indication that he is opposed to devolution. However, it was a form of ‘devolution’ which also gave us the post of Mayor of London, a post which as I remember gave a wholly undeserved boost to the reputation of a certain Boris Johnson. It appears that his remarks should not be interpreted as opposing that as well. It’s hard to tell what his real opinion is on the principle, largely because he is a man without an ounce of principle in his body. It would be reasonable to suspect, however, that his real objection is to any form of devolution where what he considers to be ‘the wrong people’ can be elected. The real ‘disaster’ north of the border is the elimination of his party as a significant political force: but his ‘disaster’ looks more like a blessing to most Scots.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

His disaster may be a 'blessing' to most Scots. But what about all those folk living in Scotland who are not Scots, do not wish to be Scots and never will be Scots?

I doubt many will be thinking it's a blessing for them too.

We've got the same problem here in Wales. A sizeable proportion of the population are not Welsh and do not wish to be Welsh, they just want to be able to go about their living happily here in Wales no matter from where they hail.

Do you think they have any rights too?

dafis said...

Boris is only blurting out what other conspirators are working on. The hard core Unionist elite will not surrender gracefully. If you think Trump's antics are bad you watch these goons obstruct any kind of move to liberate Scotland.

John Dixon said...

Anon,

You seem more than a little confused between nationality and statehood and I'm not entirely sure what point you are trying to make. Stating that there are people living in Scotland and Wales who have no wish to be Scots or Welsh is factually true, but so what? I'm not going to tell everyone in Wales that they must identify as Welsh if Wales becomes independent - why would I? That would be as silly as demanding that all Welsh people identify as British if Wales remains part of the UK. Identity and statehood are two completely different things.