Signal fires for Scotland’s possible future

There is no such thing as a new old friend, and this global pestilence has reminded me of that fact.

Late last night, I had a long and hugely enjoyable chat with a pal from my SNP days in the 1980s.

He is now an elected representative (therefore I will not name him) of that party and was a card-carrying member long before it was a route to a comfortable sinecure in Edinburgh.

Consequently, he is my go-to-guy when I want an authentic take on how the SNP grassroots view the current situation in Fair Caledonia.

He graciously told me that he had enjoyed my piece on the valued pallet burning community of Narne Arne.

I remarked that Scotland was indeed fortunate not to be culturally enriched by this manifestation of hatred.

Alba does have a long history of anti-Catholic hatred and anti-Irish racism, but it does not have to contend with this seasonal outbreak of genocide Lego.

The apologists for this annual festival of hatred argue that it is a harmless expression of a culture.

Really?

KAT  falls under the definition of  “eliminationist rhetoric”.

Once that has taken hold in a society, then it rarely ends well.

It is a matter of historical record that Orangeism originated in the northeast of this country in the last 1700s.

It then migrated across the North Channel in the 19^th century.

I remarked to my pal that the xenophobic worldview of the Ibrox klanbase was worryingly similar to the Westminster Zeitgeist.

This could be a very toxic alignment as many in Scotland push for IndyRef 2.

Boris had won his stunning electoral victory across Labour’s northern heartlands by mobilising nativist resentments, imperialist nostalgia, and English nationalism.

Xenophobia was the heady elixir that Boris was selling to his Trumpian base in Hartlepool and Sunderland.

In a very real sense, this is a Famine Song government.

For example, the new legislation on people seeking asylum is based on a very nasty narrative.

It is being steered through the legislative process by the delightful Ms Patel.

I fear that as the reality of Brexit bites after the cloud of the pandemic has lifted, then blaming immigrants will be a useful deflection tactic for the current British political elite.

As immigration is a  reserved matter, the Holyrood Parliament has no say in this appalling law.

That is why the scenes at Kenmure Street, when ordinary people thwarted the operation of the UK Border Force, were so iconic.

That it happened the same week at the Klan’s rampage in George Square was too contrived for the plot of an intelligent novel.

In one weekend last May, there were two possible futures on display in Glasgow:

Solidarity or fascism.

I think I know which one is preferable to Perfidious Albion.

What is undeniable is that there is a readily available cohort for anyone in Westminster who wants marching feet in Glasgow to stamp out any pro-independence presence.

When the original Rangers died in 2012, the well-meaning  CEO at the SFA, Mr Stewart Regan, was reported as fearing “social unrest” if there was no Rangers at all.

Well, allowing the new ersatz Rangers into Scottish football didn’t seem to make the social unrest go away.

Mr Regan’s country plays Italy tomorrow night at Wembley.

As the Ingerlund fans are in Wembley, Narne Arne will be getting ready for the Twalth by lighting their bonefires.

Both events will be imbued with historical illiteracy and sinister nativism.

The former group are addicted to a fantasy view of Britain’s role in World War Two and the latter group are living in a 17th-century snuff movie.

Apparently, this putative celebration of Bradaish kulchurr appears to need an Irish tricolour to make it just so.

Here it is from another angle.

The fire station is the red brick building on the right.

So, depending on which way it topples, then the firefighters might not have too far to go!

It is worth remembering that it was the Prime Minister of England who so outrageously lied to them about the impact of Brexit on this island.

This is a subculture that does not reward self-reflection.

Even when their elected representatives try and do some PR for this hatefest they get it stunningly wrong.

Meanwhile, Fair Caledonia must deal with the reality that there is still a nexus on Edmiston Drive for an uber British racist subculture.

My SNP buddy often refers to the Ibrox klanbase as a “ fifth column” opposing Scottish independence.

I, of course, couldn’t possibly comment.