The timing of today’s announcement
of a new UK coin celebrating the fantasy world invented by Lewis Carroll is
very apt, coming as it does on the heels of yesterday’s announcement
by the Queen of Hearts Michael Gove that Scotland can have another
referendum on independence when it becomes the ‘settled will’ of the Scottish electors.
In true Wonderland style, that ‘settled will’ is a matter for the exclusive
determination of the UK government using criteria which they will neither
explain nor justify, but which absolutely definitely excludes counting the
results of any elections held to date or which might be held in the future in
which supporters of holding such a referendum win a majority, and which will be
found to have arbitrarily changed whenever they are in danger of being met. As
Carroll put it:
"When I use a word,"
Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I
choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
"The question is,"
said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different
things."
"The question is,"
said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master—that's all."
What appears at first sight to be a change
from the UK Government’s anti-democratic position that a referendum will never
be permitted turns out to be little more than a re-statement of the same answer
in terms which eliminate all possibility of logical counter-argument. At least
Lewis Carroll knew that he was writing fantasy; it’s doubtful that Gove
understands the difference.
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