Monday 21 April 2014

Apocalypse Aye!

The Scottish opinion polls show the gap between yes and no camps in the independence debate narrowing ever more - the latest from ICM shows 52% against and 48% in favour of ending the Union with nearly five months to go to the September referendum.

The "Better Together" campaign (against independence) has seen its commanding lead slide over the last few weeks and its response has been criticised as increasingly negative; from the three Westminster parties "ganging up" to make clear their joint opposition to the SNP's preferred option of a currency union, to warnings about shipyard closures, membership of the EU and even what you will be able to see on TV in a new Scotland.

But a couple of weeks ago, things took a more sinister turn when former Labour Minister "Lord" George Robertson went to the USA and spoke against Scottish independence in the darkest and most hyperbolic terms imaginable. A Yes vote would, it seems, usher in a new dark age:
"What could possibly justify giving the dictators, the persecutors, the oppressors, the annexers, the aggressors and the adventurers across the planet the biggest pre-Christmas present of their lives by tearing the United Kingdom apart?"

Acknowledgement to The Point
Independence would be cataclysmic, his Lordship decreed, and the loudest cheers would apparently be heard from the forces of darkness.

Now, we know that First Minister Salmond is not liked by Robertson and his colleagues, but to imply that Wee 'Eck is in league with the Wee Man has to be a first. How long perhaps before Better Together, who are still to explain their name, start issuing their leaders with broad-brimmed hats and instruct their minions to drag pro-indy campaigners towards the horrors of the Comfy Chair? After all, isn't it self-evident that, with the Crimea in the bag, Bad Vlad Putin is eying up some real estate around Cumbernauld for his next dacha? And Assad is already packed for the Pitlochry Festival.

The Dark Arts are clearly alive and well. Yet the scent of sulphur seems somehow stronger in the hissing steam around Unionist supremo Alistair Darling and his increasingly shrill followers in their Project Fear than in the winds of change issuing from the increasingly confident independence camp.


Secret Footage from Better Together HQ 



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