THE
offer of a package of powers for Holyrood should have happened earlier, but at
least it has happened now, writes Brian Wilson
AS,
MERCIFULLY, the finishing line approaches, there is one phrase which stands out
in my over-loaded recollection of the Scottish referendum campaign. It came
from Pope Francis and he was not speaking specifically about Scotland, so much
as division of countries and peoples in general.
The
critical distinction he drew was between “independence for emancipation and
independence for secession”. In a more intellectually demanding age, every
nuance of the debate would have been measured against that yardstick. What
exactly are we being asked to liberate ourselves from, and at what human cost,
risk and precedent?
I
was reminded yet again of the Pope Francis test when Alex Salmond, chief
architect of division, this week drew an astonishing analogy between people
registering for the Scottish referendum and “the scenes in South Africa…when
people queued up to vote in the first free elections”. Here, surely, we were
listening to a man operating at the delusory limits of self-aggrandisement.
To
claim comparison between the suffering of South Africa’s black population, on
the basis of institutionalised racism, and the position of Scotland within the
UK is ludicrous and offensive. Disappointing though it may be to his followers,
Mr Salmond is not the Biko of Banff but a shrewd populist who is adept at
pressing buttons which would be best left unpressed and at driving wedges where
none need exist.
Having
wrapped himself in the flag that used to belong to all of us, Salmond wants us
to take sides between “Team Scotland” and “Team Westminster”. Within that not
very subtle code lies the insidious folly of what he is promoting. Everyone who
follows him is, by definition, in “Team Scotland” while dissenters are branded
as supporters of a hostile, alien entity.
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