I’ve been a bit surprised by the attention given to the launch of Alex Salmond’s new independence party; the media are loving it. It’s too early to tell whether Alba will flourish or flop – and that’s entirely dependent on the Scottish public’s verdict on one man – his fitness to lead – his motivation. I start from the position that Scottish Govt needs a shake-up – that the SNP looks burnt out; Kevin McKenna, more ‘in the loop’, views this more urgently; but I can’t see any likely replacement for Nicola Sturgeon – or how adding a ‘revenge’ party helps things.
Such is Salmond’s inflated self-regard that one is reminded of the similarly flawed characters of Trump and Johnson – their enormous egos, self-admiration, populist leadership. I’m not aware that our current use of the term ‘populist’ refers to any coherent ideology or set of principles – it’s more a methodology: i.e. focus on emotional appeals – rhetoric rather than considered reflection: most of all – get adversarial – the general will of the virtuous people (us) – against the scheming of greedy elites (them).
The kind of bombastic confidence which Salmond affects, suits him to populist leadership – and this is exactly where he would like to take us. But my present call, is that Scotland will say ‘no’ to Alba and to conflict within the Indy movement. The politicians and the media will stage their usual full-scale pantomime; but the electorate – the ‘soul’ of Scotland – is wiser than our politics.
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Boris Johnson told the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs: “The reason we have the vaccine success is because of capitalism, because of greed, my friends”, before adding, “actually I regret saying it”. Responding on the Al Jazeera website, Nick Dearden, Director of Global Justice Now, writes: “This is an incredibly revealing remark, showing how warped his understanding of this crisis is. We have a vaccine because of massive public investment of time and money……we’ve rolled it out because of our incredible NHS. Greed, however, drove big pharma to privatise this work and withhold doses from millions worldwide to protect their profits”. Johnson’s politics are clear – how we can remove him is less so.
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This Open Democracy piece argues that, after Covid, we need a new social guarantee whereby everyone can access the things they need to build a meaningful life. While the free market still postures (Johnson’s recent outburst) – a future Scottish Govt will be able to cite Universal Basic Services as its vision for our wellbeing economy.
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Until Johnson cleared them out, there were several sensible Tories in the Commons – this is an excellent short piece by John Major. He says that Scotland is perfectly capable of self-govt if it so chooses – and that refusing to sanction IndyRef 2 is more likely to provoke a break-up of the UK than prevent it.
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My nervous system’s response to stress, has disrupted my mental health during Covid. I found helpful this interview with clinical psychologist, Christine Runyan.
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It is now likely that majority of UK citizens have no connection to organised religion; interesting editorial in the Guardian asking if Britain could become post-secular as well as post-Christian. I consider ‘spiritual hunger’ to be integral to the human condition – and that it will always find outlets and means of expression.
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In 1990, when I had a brief sortie on the Camino de Santiago, in Spain – the number of walkers was small – by 2019, before Covid, they’d risen to 350,000. Another Guardian piece, sketches the significance of ‘pilgrimage’, both globally and historically – and explores why even non-religious people find it appealing.
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In Philip Larkin’s poem, ‘Church Going’ (one of his best), a cyclist stops to look inside a country church. A bored nonbeliever, he fools around at the lectern, but despite himself he is drawn into the church by the ‘seriousness’ of the place – which he respects: ‘It please me to stand in silence here.’ In the poem, Larkin assumes that congregations will disappear, but he acknowledges that churches serve a function that can never be obsolete. ‘Since someone will forever be surprising a hunger in themself to be more serious, and gravitating with it to this ground, which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in, if only that so many dead lie around’.
