Tories and Labour...
...and why I could never join either of them. Apart from the fact that I can't swallow the beliefs of either party, there's this:
I'm a member of the Scottish Green Party. I follow their Facebook pages once in a while. I can't actually manage more than a couple of views a month, not because I don't believe in their aims and policies. I absolutely do:
The Scottish Greens favour environmental, social and economic justice. That means local control - independence is included in that - and radical participatory democracy. "We are committed to international co-operation and peaceful means to achieve our objectives."
I want independence so we can decide for ourselves how our country should develop. I want to see us use fuel sources that don't contribute to the destruction of our planet. I want fairness in the use of land in Scotland. I want all the people who live here to be treated fairly. I want, on a practical level, a citizen's basic income for all, free public transport and free education and health and social care. I want 'small government': the kind of Scandinavian-type government that gives people a say, instead of remote 'big government' that means large local councils which people feel they can't influence. I also want us to remain part of a larger society - the EU and beyond. I want peace: that means getting rid of nuclear weapons from my country.
So why do I avoid contact with some other members online? Easy: the Scottish Greens like every other political party attracts its share of what I can only call bams. I could engage with these people and we could talk endlessly about veganism, animal cruelty, foxhunting, the danger of wind farms killing birds, culling mountain hares - well, I could go on but you get the picture.
These are not people who would bomb your house for disagreeing with them. They wouldn't even give you a hard time on Facebook. But they want to use the party to further issues that are of great importance to them but - in my opinion - secondary to the main issues that I've outlined above.
So I keep quiet. I pay my dues. I make the odd extra contribution to Scottish Green funds. When I go onto Scottish Green websites and Facebook pages, I only click on the big issues. I leave the bams to do their thing. I suspect I'm not the only member that does that.
And that brings me to the Tories and Labour. What I'm describing in my description of how I operate around the Scottish Greens is loyalty.
I see little sign of loyalty among either the Tories or Labour.
The Tory Party seems to be made up of at least 3 different parties: the moderates (we are the traditional party of government - don't rock the boat), the extremists (we are the inheritors of Margaret Thatcher and we will take the UK as far right as we can go) and the loonies (we don't give a rat's arse what you the people want - we want power). I know where Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson fit in, although I'm not sure which of these parties Theresa May belongs into. How do you categorise someone who is in cahoots with a group as unstable and as distrusted as the DUP?
The Labour Party is just as bad: there's the Corbyn faction (solidarity with the workers, Old Labour, keep quiet about brexit in case we upset the people who voted leave and, whatever you do, avoid looking like an Opposition in Westminster) and then there's the New Labour faction (left over from Blair and Brown's time, incapable of coming up with any new ideas or of ditching the old Blairite ideas either and equally unable to offer an Opposition in case they upset brexit voters).
As far as England is concerned, these seem to be the only parties available. Yes, the Lib Dems do their best, as do the Greens, Plaid Cymru and Sinn Fein. I can see these smaller parties having a future if they sell themselves well to the electorate, but the two 'big' parties? Who in their right mind would vote for them, having seen what an absolute bourach they've made of the last 2 1/2 years?
If ever there was need of an argument for parliamentary reform at Westminster, the shambles of the EU referendum has shown why. But that's England's problem. They can solve it - or not - according to their needs. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland need to go with different solutions.
I'm a member of the Scottish Green Party. I follow their Facebook pages once in a while. I can't actually manage more than a couple of views a month, not because I don't believe in their aims and policies. I absolutely do:
The Scottish Greens favour environmental, social and economic justice. That means local control - independence is included in that - and radical participatory democracy. "We are committed to international co-operation and peaceful means to achieve our objectives."
I want independence so we can decide for ourselves how our country should develop. I want to see us use fuel sources that don't contribute to the destruction of our planet. I want fairness in the use of land in Scotland. I want all the people who live here to be treated fairly. I want, on a practical level, a citizen's basic income for all, free public transport and free education and health and social care. I want 'small government': the kind of Scandinavian-type government that gives people a say, instead of remote 'big government' that means large local councils which people feel they can't influence. I also want us to remain part of a larger society - the EU and beyond. I want peace: that means getting rid of nuclear weapons from my country.
So why do I avoid contact with some other members online? Easy: the Scottish Greens like every other political party attracts its share of what I can only call bams. I could engage with these people and we could talk endlessly about veganism, animal cruelty, foxhunting, the danger of wind farms killing birds, culling mountain hares - well, I could go on but you get the picture.
These are not people who would bomb your house for disagreeing with them. They wouldn't even give you a hard time on Facebook. But they want to use the party to further issues that are of great importance to them but - in my opinion - secondary to the main issues that I've outlined above.
So I keep quiet. I pay my dues. I make the odd extra contribution to Scottish Green funds. When I go onto Scottish Green websites and Facebook pages, I only click on the big issues. I leave the bams to do their thing. I suspect I'm not the only member that does that.
And that brings me to the Tories and Labour. What I'm describing in my description of how I operate around the Scottish Greens is loyalty.
I see little sign of loyalty among either the Tories or Labour.
The Tory Party seems to be made up of at least 3 different parties: the moderates (we are the traditional party of government - don't rock the boat), the extremists (we are the inheritors of Margaret Thatcher and we will take the UK as far right as we can go) and the loonies (we don't give a rat's arse what you the people want - we want power). I know where Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson fit in, although I'm not sure which of these parties Theresa May belongs into. How do you categorise someone who is in cahoots with a group as unstable and as distrusted as the DUP?
The Labour Party is just as bad: there's the Corbyn faction (solidarity with the workers, Old Labour, keep quiet about brexit in case we upset the people who voted leave and, whatever you do, avoid looking like an Opposition in Westminster) and then there's the New Labour faction (left over from Blair and Brown's time, incapable of coming up with any new ideas or of ditching the old Blairite ideas either and equally unable to offer an Opposition in case they upset brexit voters).
As far as England is concerned, these seem to be the only parties available. Yes, the Lib Dems do their best, as do the Greens, Plaid Cymru and Sinn Fein. I can see these smaller parties having a future if they sell themselves well to the electorate, but the two 'big' parties? Who in their right mind would vote for them, having seen what an absolute bourach they've made of the last 2 1/2 years?
If ever there was need of an argument for parliamentary reform at Westminster, the shambles of the EU referendum has shown why. But that's England's problem. They can solve it - or not - according to their needs. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland need to go with different solutions.
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