I HAD a most disconcerting experience the other evening. I read Pinstripe’s column (“Johnson’s plan for tax cuts would be an exercise in economic stupidity,” Herald, June 24) and agreed with him. Now there’s a first!
His view is that the Conservatives want Brexit at any cost, which includes both abandoning Scotland and Northern Ireland, and trashing the UK economy. He writes in despair as the full impact of a right-wing Tory Party makes a Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the rest of the UK, and Europe as an afterthought. Pinstripe has become aware of the appalling debacle faced by us all as it has come into sharp focus with a “leadership” debate with no obvious plan for the future. I may add that I have not altered my perceptions and am pleased that Pinstripe has woken up to the peril.
Jim Lynch, Edinburgh
GORDON Brown has made a significant intervention when speaking to the Fabian Society in London about the future of the Union. He said that it is in greater peril than at any time in the last 300 years. His words should weigh heavily on us
We seem to be at one of those times in history when, as the poet said, the best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity. We have a kind of Brexit madness amongst the English Conservative Party, and gleefully plotting nationalists are to be found across the UK. If only we could go back a few years and address the arrogance and foolishness of David Cameron, who tried to buy off UKIP with a referendum, rather than dealing with the social, economic and regional injustices within our society.
We now face a likely Prime Minister Johnson. Perhaps his lack of principle will save the day after all. Only President Nixon could go to China; perhaps only Johnson can get an EU deal past the angry but perfectly confused Tory base.
If we do not agree a deal with the EU, and a smooth and calm Brexit, the Union could indeed start to unravel.One can feel it in the air. The current Conservative Party, at least in England, seems to be a threat to the very constitutional integrity of the country. I am starting to feel nostalgic for the days of Prime Minister Brown.
John Gemmell, Wem, Shropshire
ISN’T the English language a marvellous thing? Truly all things to all people. Replete with rhetorical devices: metaphor, oxymoron, synecdoche, alliteration, onomatopoeia, euphemism, personification, the pathetic fallacy...a figurative list-to-infinity of tools aimed at clarification and edification in all matters. Or just a variety of ways to dissemble?
In 1796 Edmund Burke wrote: “Falsehood and delusion are allowed in no case whatsoever: But, as in the exercise of all the virtues, there is an economy of truth.” UK Cabinet Secretary, Sir Robert Armstrong, re-utilised the notion during the Australian ‘Spycatcher’ trial in 1986 when asked to explain the “difference between a misleading impression and a lie.” Being “economical with the truth” was his reply. “Fake news” should require no further explanation but is yet common linguistic currency, as is Orwell’s ‘Newspeak’.
And now we have the putative next Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson, adding his bit to the clarification of language when he spoke to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssbergof solving the monetary problem in the ongoing Gordian Knot that is Brexit by what he called, “creative ambiguity.” The mind truly does boggle, sometimes.
Our very own Sir Walter Scott surely got it spot on in his poem “Marmion,” admittedly about the Battle of Flodden Field in 1513: “Oh what tangled webs we weave, when first we practise to deceive.”
Gerard McCulloch, Saltcoats
GORDON Brown says that “two divisive extremes, Nationalist and Conservative… threaten to blow the United Kingdom apart.” But the Scottish Government does not wish to dissolve the Union of the Crowns of 1603, only the Union of the Parliaments of 1707. It would be perfectly possible, and indeed highly desirable, for two, three, or even four nations each with an independent parliament also to convene in an assembly, each session to be opened by the reigning monarch, somewhere within these islands, and in a spirit of close friendship and cooperation.
But where is Abe Lincoln when you need him? “The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must think anew, and act anew.” Mr Hunt is a highly articulate and efficient functionary, but he has no new idea to bring to the table. Mr Johnson is the classic exemplar of the Emperor’s New Clothes, barely capable, despite the Eton-Oxford polish, of constructing a single sentence, while bearing the permanently puzzled look of George W. Bush. The essence of great leadership is the ability to conceive a plan, and then sell it not only to your own constituency, but to the Body Politic. During the run-up to the 2014 Independence Referendum, David Cameron hoisted a saltire above 10 Downing Street, and urged Scotland not to leave, but rather to lead, the United Kingdom. Very well. Given that the UK-EU border had better be in neither the island of Ireland nor the Irish Sea, let it be at Gretna. This would allow both Northern Ireland and Scotland to remain within the EU. This would certainly represent a material change in circumstances for both England and Wales, and they too might wish to reconsider their position.
Dr Hamish Maclaren, Thornhill, Stirling
PERHAPS Catriona Stewart (‘Irn-Bru is a symbol of Westminster’s Scottish disconnect”, The Herald, June 25) has managed to speak with everyone in Scotland this week in order to include us all in her usual crude generalisation, or perhaps she simply has the sadly now-standard smug Nationalist trait of claiming to speak on behalf of all our us in any opportunity to express her dislike and dismissal of all things English.
Neither I nor any of my friends were “irritated” by Jeremy Hunt drinking Irn-Bru. Secondly, some of us do want a third Heathrow runway, having rationally discussed it over dinner and in the office, as we can see the obvious economic benefit for connections with Scotland. Thirdly, on the occasions I may enjoy Irn-Bru, or any other soft drinks at home, I do use a glass, as do my children. Maybe that’s just a reflection on one’s upbringing. And finally, much as its taste is indeed “very pleasant”, Irn Bru stains are immovable, as a recent carpet renewal insurance claim of mine will confirm, so my sympathies lie entirely with Mr Porciani at Trump Turnberry. Irn-Bru is not remotely a symbol of anyone’s disconnect with Scotland. Blinkered rantings such as Ms Stewart’s are a symbol of the Nationalists’ disconnect with the decent majority of this country who do not wish to be associated with such persistent anti-English sentiments.
Steph Johnston, Glasgow
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