Silence from the party which never shuts up.

It just occurred to me today that we have heard nothing from the SNP about Greece's debt problems, the downward spiral of its economy and the resultant suffering of the Greek people.  This is curious, as the SNP usually has an opinion about everything, and the party's activists and trolls will publish it everywhere and ad nauseam.

You would think that nationalists in one small European nation would have every sympathy with the oppressed people of another small European country.  Of course, part of the explanation is that the SNP aren't really nationalists at all, unless, of course, you view Europe as one nation. Ah, but there are rather bigger reasons for the SNP's silence. 

The SNP don't want to publicise what happens in the euro-zone to small countries that step out of line.  Their democratic governments are replaced by technocrats acceptable to the German Chancellor, the French President and the European Commission.  Also, they are prevented from taking the actions necessary to ensure national economic survival (ie defaulting, decoupling and devaluation).  Clearly, the SNP are hoping that we don't notice what a disaster the euro has turned out to be, especially for small peripheral countries, after all the party's desire to be in the European Union and adopt the euro is well known.

If the SNP's activists have lost their voices for once, then clearly all those of us who love Scotland should make every effort to ensure that the cautionary tale that is the suffering of the Greek people is not kept secret from the Scottish people.

Sense from Sillars on the global-warming scam.

 It is encouraging to see sense being written about the whole global-warming scam in the Edinburgh Evening News of all places. Jim Sillars' article covers all the main bases – the dodgy science, the thick political leaders, the public bodies & NGOs promoting this nonsense and the corporations & landowners profiting from it.  The only thing he misses out is the propaganda being fed to our children in schools.

For those with a less than encyclopaedic knowledge of Scottish politics, Jim Sillars is a former Labour & subsequently SNP MP, a former deputy leader of the SNP and the husband of the only independent MSP, Margo MacDonald, who was herself formerly in the SNP.  Thus Mr Sillars’ left wing credentials are impeccable, which will hopefully mean that his views will carry some weight in SNP and Labour Party circles.  Unfortunately, hell will freeze over, before Alex Salmond admits he was wrong to cover Scotland in wind turbines.

Of course, this same pattern of pathology of radical ideology, dodgy research, promotion by public bodies & NGOs and then public sector & corporate interests profiting from it has been repeated endlessly in Britain and all the other welfare states.  Usually, of course, the dodgy research is by social scientists rather than hard ones.  I will come back to this point in future postings.

What the wedding cake photo reveals about Scottish democracy

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and the one the Scotsman published the other day of four Scottish “opposition” party leaders standing behind a mock up of a wedding cake to declare their support for the SNP’s same-sex marriage legislation certainly is.  Quite unintentionally the picture highlights the gap in attitudes and the gulf in priorities between the political class and the general public.   

On the one hand, these leaders view the issue of gay marriage as of such importance that they are putting aside their party differences and  treating it as being above party politics.  On the other hand, for most Scots the economy is the pressing issue, whilst equal-marriage is entirely marginal.  Nor is this state of affairs unusual.  On every social and moral issue our political and media class is united in its adherence to political correctness and Frankfurt-school Marxism.  At the same time, their useful thoughts on economics could be written on a postage stamp in large capital letters with generous spacing.

Ordinary people, however, display a very wide range of opinions drawn from their experience of life and varying personal beliefs;  A diversity that the politicians in Holyrood are unwilling to represent.

For example, which party will put forward traditional Christian views on marriage, assisted suicide or anything else for that matter?  Indeed, who is there for a Christian, a Muslim or a small “c” conservative to vote for?

Similarly, is there a single Scottish politician putting forward libertarian views on individual liberty and the state being the root of the problem rather than the solution?  (I wouldn't be so naive as to ask for a whole party.)

Given that all the Holyrood parties are politically correct and that non-PC views are effectively excluded, Scottish democracy can only be fairly described as little better than a sham.

Laura Dekker - an inspiring young woman

It is all too easy when writing a politically orientated blog to create an endless series of depressing posts about the latest idiocies from our political class.  There is certainly no shortage of material in the papers, on the net and out here in the real world to write about.  So it is really nice for a change to come across an inspiring news item.

The news that on Saturday, 21st January 16 year old Laura Dekker arrived on the island of Sint Maarten in the Carribean and thus became the youngest person to sail solo around the world is just such an item.  To sail singled-handedly around the world is a stern test of both character and seamanship for an adult;  How much more so for someone so young.  You can read more on Laura’s blog.

This news is all the more sweet, as Laura triumphed not only over the oceans of the world, but also over Dutch social services, who had wanted take her in to care.  Amazingly, you can read a bit about this on the BBC’s news website.

Lobbyists for Looters

"Another report from the lobbyists for looters who believe they have more right to my hard earned money than I do."

Over at Samizdata John Galt created a brilliant expression in the comment thread to a piece titled "Digital Divide" with the phrase "lobbyists for looters".  As with nearly all pieces on Samizdata, the comment thread is worth reading.

An exercise for the reader: Next time you read the paper, watch the TV news, listen to the radio, or surf the net for current affairs, count how many of these lobbyists for looters you notice.  You will find that rather like love in the old song they are all around.

There won't always be ...

I start this blog with a quotation from a speech that Robert A. Heinlein gave at the Third World Science Fiction Convention in Denver in July 1941:

 “There won’t always be an England – nor a Germany, nor a United States, nor a Baptist Church, nor monogamy, nor the Democratic Party, nor the modesty tabu, nor the superiority of the white race, nor aeroplanes – they will go – nor automobiles – they’ll be gone, we’ll see them go.  Any custom, technique, institution, belief, or social structure that we see around us today will change, will pass, and most of them we will see change and pass.”

The world has changed greatly, since Heinlein spoke these words a few months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.  The Third Reich, the British Empire and the USSR among other major powers have all passed in to history.  Japan is now a pacific democracy.  China is once again a major power.  The European Union has arisen, appears to have reached its zenith and faces its nemisis in the unravelling of the Euro.  Well over a hundred former colonies are now independent states.

The social changes in these seventy years have been every bit as profound.  Many of these changes such as political correctness and multi-culturalism have been driven by the ideas of the Frankfurt School Marxists. Their approach has become that of all progressive / left wing / socialist politics.  It is broadly a revolutionary attempt to ensure that every prior custom, law, belief and institution passes, regardless of its history, wisdom or utility.

To take a current Scottish example, the SNP and other progressives are seeking to undermine the institution of marriage through legislation enabling same sex marriages in churches.  When taken together with other equality legislation, the result will be that before long churches will not be enabled but rather compelled to perform such marriages.

Once they succeed in that, one wonders how long it will be before the SNP come back with proposals to legalise polygamy?  After all they will have bridges to rebuild to Scotland's Muslim community, a community that they have so keenly courted in the past, and what better way to please the more conservative elements in that community.  Look again at Heinlein's prophetic words; He predicted the passing of monogamy.