Taking It All in Stride: The Scottish Unity Summit
Politician's Unity Summit Questionable, Given Party's Reputation for Fostering Division – As Assessed by Jonathan Brocklebank
I've tried to take the last 18 years with a grin and a bit of humor. When that didn't work, I've attempted to partition politics, shielding it from the good in my life.
At the eleventh hour, as Scotland headed to the polls in 2014 to answer the independence question, I even managed to find solace in the idea that the answer might be the wrong one, saving the UK from dissolution. Democracy, after all, proved us right.
This week, I've been trying to laugh off the fact that First Minister John Swinney called for a cross-party summit on unity, supposedly "safeguarding Scotland's democracy". It should have been a breeze, considering it's pretty amusing.
It was a lopsided, cross-party get-together that welcomed the far left, as the Greens are pals, but frowned upon the "far right" because they're... well, repugnant. Swinney refers to this unappealing fringe of thought as the politics of Reform UK.
Indeed, his was a cross-party bash exclusively reserved for parties ideologically leaning to the left, hell-bent on shunning the one party tipped to garner a significant vote share in next year's Scottish elections.
So, what's the big deal? Isn't it about ensuring Scotland's democracy remains intact? I had never contemplated that expressing democratic preferences could threaten our democracy, provided they're not palatable to Swinney.
The summit becomes all the more comical when one considers that the party set to gain the most from a Reform surge at the polls is none other than the SNP.
You might wonder if the entire spectacle in Glasgow on Wednesday, attended by more than 50 political, civic, and faith leaders, was a cleverly crafted charade designed to do the exact opposite of what it purported to accomplish.
Sure, laughter should be within reach. A summit on unity is convened by a man whose party thrives on division.
There was a time for unity, when Scotland's future was democratically decided in 2014 after long, tear-inducing campaigns that scarred the nation's soul, shattering bonds that had lasted lifetimes. But unity was not on the SNP's agenda.
Instead, we got rage against democracy. The fragmentation continued. Disunity became the norm. It remains our national default setting.
The summit promised to kickstart a process to tackle dissatisfaction, inequality, disinformation, and low participation in politics. But after 18 years of governance, one might question if this long-awaited "process" is actually an admission of failure.
Scotland is in disarray. Everywhere you look - health, education, transport - is chaos. Waiting lists are out of control, classrooms are war zones, universities are going bankrupt, ferries are the laughingstock of the world, the justice system is about freeing prisoners early, and the police force is about not tackling crimes.
Our councils are near bankruptcy, public services are waning, and the roads are a mess, while libraries are closing. Our countryside has been traded away to heavy industry to produce green energy beyond our needs. Our high-achievers are penalized, while shirkers are rewarded. As each problem weighs on our tolerance threshold, we are left to contemplate our apparently unresponsive government leaders, stuck on the question of defining a woman.
The summit attracted protests from Reform supporters who felt it was undemocratic. Might just a little of this address the dissatisfaction that Swinney claims plagues us?
Inequality? Such as the attainment gap that former boss Nicola Sturgeon promised to close but failed to do so?
Disinformation? It's the SNP's stock-in-trade. It's why their former chief executive - Sturgeon's estranged husband Peter Murrell - resigned, caught disseminating false information.
In this era of disinformation, of deliberately deceiving the public, nothing epitomizes it more than a giant shell of a ferry - years away from completion - launched on the Clyde, complete with painted-on windows and plastic funnels, as a beaming First Minister declared it a proud day for Scotland.
The low participation in politics is indeed a pity, but sometimes it's the only solution, a last resort for preserving our sanity. It seems Sturgeon has finally discovered the charm of public service, though she has a year left to serve as an MSP in Glasgow.
The "process" that Swinney plans to initiate 18 years late can only rationally be understood as a promise to mend what his party has destroyed. Yet, he doesn't want us to see it that way. He wants these problems he promises to rectify to be squarely laid at the feet of an enemy he knows couldn't possibly be responsible.
Who were the Labour and Lib-Dem leaders Anas Sarwar and Alex Cole-Hamilton supporting at the summit? Did they express disapproval at the SNP's tanking of their country while voicing concern for the far right?
Reform will not govern Scotland following the election. I'd rather they concentrated their fire on their greatest fear - the party they think will.
Among the party leaders invited, only Scottish Conservative Russell Findlay emerges with any dignity, having elected to stay away from the summit. "The Holyrood bubble went on tour and, as usual, accomplished nothing for workers and families across Scotland," Findlay said. "Scots will see it for what it is - a grandstanding distraction from the SNP's 18-year record of failure."
I'm afraid my optimism is misplaced. Two decades in, with all we know, too many of us still can't see the unifying force we should rally around to lift our country out of the mess - the realization that the SNP is keeping us in it.
- The Scottish Unity Summit, in an attempt to address dissatisfaction, equality, disinformation, and low participation in politics, could be seen as a reaction to the current state of affairs in Scotland, marked by chaos in health, education, transport, and justice.
- The summit, organized by the Scottish National Party (SNP), raises questions about its motives, given the party's reputation for division and failure to deliver on promises, such as the attainment gap in education.
- Amidst the political posturing, criticism of the SNP's tactics and policies, such as continued fragmentation and disunity, have been voiced by political leaders like Russell Findlay, who chose to stay away from the summit.
- The summit is also surrounded by controversy, with Reform supporters protesting against what they perceive as undemocratic practices, while some question if this "process" is actually an admission of failure after 18 years of SNP governance.
- In the realm of business and policy-and-legislation, the summits' impact on Scotland's economy and future direction remain uncertain, with some expressing concerns about the country's growing debt and reliance on green energy production at the cost of local industries.
- Meanwhile, the issue of war-and-conflicts and general-news has largely been overshadowed by internal politics, with little attention paid to international affairs or major events, such as car-accidents and crime-and-justice.
- Despite the gloom, some find solace in the hope that the summit might be a turning point, spurring a genuine effort to unite Scotland amidst its myriad challenges, rather than another exercise in political manipulation.
- As the Scottish elections approach, the political landscape remains fractured, with numerous parties vying for power, each carrying their own ideas and agendas, making the future of Scottish politics an interesting and uncertain prospect.
