To fail to plan is to plan to fail

By Panda Paws

I’ve not written for a while but Tris’ mentioning that MR might be in jeopardy compelled me to churn something out. I’d set up one of those online petitions to save Soppy Sunday if I knew how. Luckily we are cursed to live in interesting times so there’s lot to chew over.

So you know those people who are so sharp if they fell over they’d cut themselves, who think they are such great strategists but actually fail to see the obvious?

Well they’ve just taken the UK out of the EU. A power play about who would succeed Cameron and be heid bummer of the Nasty Party whilst keeping their ultra right wing happy and out of UKIP, has blown up in their faces in a way that made the Big Bang seem like a disappointing sparkler out of the pound shop. After years of telling folk their ills were not due to neo-liberalism, but foreigners and the EU, they seemed completely surprised that more of the electorate believed them than not.

Yes, England and Wales, in a fit of pique, voted to save the country the money it contributes to the EU and in doing so crashed the pound so hard it had the third largest one day drop in value of ANY currency in history. Excellent work! 

The working class voting to protest against the elite by voting for equally elite but more right wing bunch. Not so much turkeys voting  

for Christmas, as them turning up on Bernard Matthews’ doorstep and prostrating themselves.

Meanwhile Northern Ireland voted 'in' – and have certainly reacted to the Brexit result in a very clear manner.

Lots more people are showing an interest in genealogy these days in search of the Irish grandparents they now hope they have.

At the Leave leaders' press conference on Friday Gove and Johnson looked like rabbits caught in headlights. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. It was supposed to be a narrow Remain but enough to damage Pig Lover and bring in someone even more Thatcherite. 

"Bugger!”

Clearly they had no plan going forward. What do we want? – to leave the EU. When do we want it? – whenever. However the EU and particularly the six original members are in no mood to mess about. Get article 50 in next week and be gone, they said.

It just goes to show you how clueless our so-called betters are. For all their Eton and Oxbridge education they didn’t plan for one of only two options. FFS. But somebody did plan; they planned for every eventuality and how best to stick up for their country and its 

people. The daughter of an electrician and a dental nurse from the playing fields of Greenwood academy. Brought up in a council house and the first in her family to go to university – Nicola Sturgeon. 

And yesterday and today she demonstrated her qualities of statesmanship and leadership. The first thing she said was reassure EU citizens that they were welcome and valued. EU citizens who two years ago were a demographic that voted no and broke her, mine and a hell of all lot more hearts. 

But there were no recriminations – just a hand of friendship. She then said she’d do all she could to keep us in the EU and ALL options are open. She and her advisors have planned for every eventuality. It wouldn’t surprise me if in a bid to give England and Wales the “finger” the EU fall over themselves to accommodate a Scotland that voted so clearly on the 23rd to be an outward looking modern 

European country. 

There were narrow minded nationalists in 2014 and 2016 but they 

weren’t on Yes or Remain’s side. Unionists seem to be under the mistaken impression that British nationalism isn’t actually a

nationalism. Well denial isn’t only a river in Egypt – which is a foreign place full of Muslims so they wouldn’t like it. 

Not everyone who voted Brexit is a narrow minded bigot but 

most who are narrow minded bigots voted Brexit and that’s company I wouldn’t like to keep.

Much though it pained me at the time, I wonder if the No vote in 2014 was necessary. It gave us a chance to normalise the idea, it gave Westminster the opportunity to prove itself utterly deceitful in its promises and Thursday’s leave vote demonstrated beyond doubt that

Scotland and England have irreconcilable differences. We can fix the mistakes of the last time and it MAY be that the MSM wouldn’t be as universally hostile as previously if  the headline in the Daily Record is anything to go by. People are going on twitter to say that they’ve changed their minds and will now vote Yes. Mike Dailly of Govan Law Centre, a No voting Labour activist, was so rude to me when I spoke out for Yes in 2014 at a public meeting that people I didn’t know came up to see if I was okay. Today he tweeted this.

The EU will likely be much more amenable than in 2014 in order to give Westminster a bloody nose and we’ll get the independent Scotland we wanted, just a wee bit later. 

Until then Saor Alba Gu Brath.