Wednesday 10 September 2014

Gordon Brown - Saviour of the Union

Complacent, smug and stupid, the Better Together campaign which has been run on a diet of fear and paternalistic ‘there, there my pretties, you go a worryin’ your fluffy little heads over these matters - just leave it to us experienced world statesmen to handle everything.' Which ignores the establishment's record in bringing the country to its knees. Unless, of course, if you are rich. 
The poll showing a slight lead for ‘Yes’ shattered the complacency and replaced it with panic. Send for Gordon ‘son of the Manse’ Broon. Not everyone is convinced.
“So now Better Together has brought in Gordon Brown, scattering bribes in a desperate, last-ditch effort at containment. They must hope the Scots have forgotten that he boasted of setting “the lowest rate in the history of British corporation tax, the lowest rate of any major country in Europe and the lowest rate of any major industrialised country anywhere”. That he pledged to the City of London “in budget after budget, I want us to do even more to encourage the risk takers”. That, after 13 years of Labour government, the UK had higher levels of inequality than after 18 years of Tory government. That his government colluded in kidnapping and torture. That he helped cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands through his support for the illegal war on Iraq.
He roams through Scotland, still badged with blood, promising what he never delivered when he had the chance, this man who helped unravel the social safety net his predecessors wove; who marketised and dismembered public services; who enriched the wealthy and shafted the poor; who pledged money for Trident but failed to reverse the loss of social housing; whose private finance initiative planted a series of timebombs now exploding throughout the NHS and other public services; who greased and wheedled and slavered his way into the company of bankers and oligarchs while trampling over the working people he was elected to represent. This is the progressive Prester John who will ride to the rescue of the no campaign?
Where, in Scotland’s Labour party, are the Keir Hardies and Jimmy Reids of our time? Where is the vision, the inspiration, the hope? The shuffling, spineless little men who replaced these titans offer nothing but fear. Through fear, they seek to shove Scotland back into its box, as its people rebel against the dreary, closed future mapped out for them – and the rest of us – by the three main Westminster parties.” Monbiot, Guardian 10/9/14
Some saviour eh!
Today the ‘Three Amigos’ head north to shore up a faltering campaign. What an uninspirational trio of lightweight cyborgs in suits. They dare not make one false move so the whole thing will be choreographed to within an inch of its life. No chance of genuine engagement - a series of photo opportunities - hopefully avoiding Milibeans bacon butty fiasco. 
The paucity of talent on show representing our governance and which has been responsible for so much that is wrong with our society, it is little wonder that so many Scots are heading for the exit.




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