We hear a lot about the bile spewed by ‘CyberNat’ trolls and I have experienced it myself. What I didn’t realize is that the union side of the debate has its counterparts. They have been called “BritNats” or “BritYoons”. They seem to hate Nicola Sturgeon far more than they hate the independence cause she stands for. It is a phenomenon that women politicians face much more than men. Mrs Thatcher had it in spades, and in a very short time, Liz Truss probably will too. My mistake was tweeting that Nicola Sturgeon was one of the most impressive politicians I had ever interviewed. Almost immediately, the wrath of the ‘BritNats’ fell upon me. Instead of explaining why I was wrong, it was just a stream of insults – but nothing compared to what the Prime Minister has to put up with every day. The milder criticism I received questioned why I didn’t squeeze it into the SNP government’s failings on drug deaths, energy and ferries. Well, I did. But obviously I should have yelled at her and been unfairly rude. What the last week has brought home to me is that the divisions in Scotland over independence run far deeper – and are far more poisonous – than most commentators in England realise. It’s Brexit all over again, and then it doubles down. Any journalist writing about Scottish politics should do so carefully. I don’t think it’s possible to be fully informed about what’s going on in the independence debate without actually spending time there – and in my case nine days wasn’t enough. Ms Sturgeon’s less abusive unionist opponents of course have plenty of perfectly legitimate material to use against her. She may be a formidable politician and she certainly remains the mistress of all her investigations, but despite being in power for almost eight years, she has precious few domestic policy achievements to her name. The SNP has not improved the quality of education or reduced drug deaths and its administrations are plagued by allegations of corruption and incompetence. The First Minister must be praying that she can get the Scottish independence vote. Otherwise, her legacy could turn out to be an almost total failure.
Sir Keir’s energy problems
I’m told there were some very ugly faces in the Opposition Leader’s office early last week when Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey announced the same cost-of-living crisis policy that Labor had developed for Sir Keir Starmer to start when he returned from his holiday in Majorca. “What the hell do we do now?” was the general mood. Plow and pretend the Lib Dems hadn’t stolen their clothes, seems to have been the answer. Listening to Sir Keir explain his big announcement yesterday morning, we were left with the impression that it was all a bit wet, but it would cost a huge amount of money and fuel further inflation in the long run. The aid promised by Labor is not targeted, with rich people getting the same level of support as someone on the production line. Even Liz Truss apparently cringes at the thought of dumping taxpayers’ money into the bank accounts of the comparatively rich, but Labor seems to think it’s too hard to target. To be fair, its policy of forcing energy companies to charge pre-paid meters like normal customers sounds good, until you find out it will only benefit users by £46 a year. Yes, a whole £46. But Sir Keir faces another problem. Labor hardliners – by which I mean the most left-wing supporters of the party – are furious. Sir Keir promised to nationalize energy companies during his leadership campaign but has now scrapped the policy. And if the winter is really going to be as bad as everyone says, its approach will look like a joke to the Left, compared to all the things the Corbynites are coming up with: nationalisation, minimum wage rises, property taxes etc. .
Failure of responsibility
As an owner of two dogs, I am horrified by the increasing number of people who are now abandoning their pets. Many will have gone through agonizing times before deciding they could no longer care for Rover or Tiddles, but too many people got an animal during the lockdown without thinking about the consequences. Owning a pet is a huge responsibility, and the decision to get a dog or cat, or even a snake, is similar in my view to the decision to have a child. It is a crime to abandon them on the streets.
