ONE of my Facebook pals always signs off “You know the story, never trust a Tory. Lang May Yer Lum Reek.” I have never, could never, will never vote Conservative.
All my adult life the Tories have been going further to the right in politics, and that is not where I think the world should go. I can see how the free market has its place, but it does not and cannot solve all of humankind’s problems. Left to its own devices the free market produces the “haves” and the “have-nots”. In my Utopia the society does well and so everyone does well. I think that that kind of idea goes down well with many of my fellow Scots. Not all of them, but I am only looking of a majority. I think an independent Scotland could be the ideal growing ground for my Utopia.
READ MORE: BBC to host final two Tory leadership candidates in live TV debate
We have to become an independent country. If you have not yet worked that out, look at the choice of candidates for a new prime minister of the dis-United Kingdom. You can see from that list how far to the right things have gone. The candidates reflect the view of the Conservative MPs currently elected to the Westminster parliament. You can see that Tom Tugendhat has had to drop out, and that tells you that the “kind of reasonable sort of Tory”, if there is such a beast, is far from being in the ascendant.
Liz Truss claims she has a record of success in making trade deals – really all that has happened is that agreements which were once apart of the benefit of being an EU member have been flipped into place as individual deals between various countries and the UK. She stood there on the TV debate echoing the clothes of Thatcher but with not a fraction of the gravitas. Remember she also spent half a million pounds hiring a plane to take – how many people was it? 14? – to Australia and they came back (don’t forget that bit).
READ MORE: Just three candidates left for PM as Kemi Badenoch crashes out of Tory race
Penny Mordaunt to me comes over like a school headmistress: “Do it my way now and it will be fun ... oh and by the way, there is no other choice available. I have it all worked out and everything has been costed but I am not dealing with that now.”
Then we come to the frontrunner, Sunak. I cannot find any warmth towards him either. I have Shakespearian characters flitting around my dendrites. Is he a Julius Caesar or Macbeth or Hamlet or was he just looking for a pound of flesh? Sunak has obviously planned his move and got his publicity made before he stabbed Johnson in the back. He has got one thing going for him – he did stab Johnson in the back. We have to ask ourselves is that really a good enough reason for putting someone in the driving seat of a country? The other question is, if he does win this rather truncated election for the person who becomes ship’s captain, would it be possible to get him to live up to his assertion in 2017 that the timing of indyref2 should be pushed back until Brexit has passed?
READ MORE: Scottish Government updates front page of 'Why not Scotland?' independence paper
On the positive side: the UK Government’s exertions to have the Supreme Court throw out the request from our Lord Advocate to examine whether our parliament has the competence to make decisions our population voted for time and time again over the past few years. Oh, just remember that those were real voters in real elections where all our registered voters in Scotland had a chance to register their choice. We voted for the party that offered a referendum on the future of our country and we elected our First Minister. OK so some people did not vote for Nicola, but the majority did and that is how it works.
When you hear the Tory cry “we have a huge mandate” – they do not; that was Johnson’s mandate. He is gone (I hope – although I still wonder if he will come back) and with him the mandate. By rights there should be a General Election and the SNP should make it a one-issue competition about our independence.
Cher Bonfis
via email
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel