Tuesday 15 January 2008

A Parcel of Rogues

Wendy Alexander, Annabel Goldie and Nicol Stephen, the respective leaders of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties at Holyrood, are meeting at Westminster today to consult with their London-based parties on how to undermine the SNP Scottish government. Its highly successful rule in Scotland since Labour lost the last Scottish elections has led to repeated defeats of the Labour regime's Westminster policies - the latest being the prevention of the siting of nuclear power stations anywhere in Scotland.

The Scottish government has set in motion large sections of the Devolution legislation which had never been made operative during the decade of Labour rule, and has initiated policies for the further devolution of areas of government policy, that had been held back under earlier legislation, on fiscal policy, environment and future resources-exploitation, and the future of naval bases in Scotland. The possibility of a referendum on the European Union Constitution has not been ruled out by Scotland's rulers.

"It's critical at the moment for the Unionist parties to work together to demonstrate the fact that the settled will of the Scottish people is for devolution", said a mouthpiece for Des Browne, the part time Defence minister and Westminster Scottish Secretary. It is hoped by pretending to undertake 'constitutional discussions' on devolution, Scotland's resources and its people can continue to be placed at the service of the Labour state and it maintenance in power in England. Gordon Brown continues to regard Scotland as a fiefdom temporarily mislaid, in the province of North Britain.

Fareweel to a' our Scottish fame,
Fareweel our ancient glory!
Fareweel ev'n to the Scottish name.
Sae famed in martial story!
Now Sark rins over Salway sands,
An' Tweed rins to the ocean,
To mark where England's province stands --
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

What force or guile could not subdue
Thro' many warlike ages
Is wrought now by a coward few
For hireling traitor's wages.
The English steel we could disdain,
Secure in valour's station;
But English gold has been our bane --
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

O, would, or I had seen the day
That Treason thus could sell us,
My auld grey head had lien in clay
Wi' Bruce and loyal Wallace!
But pith and power, till my last hour
I'll mak this declaration :-
'We're bought and sold for English gold'--
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

4 comments:

Newmania said...

I noticed that and I also recall it was predicted a while ago. Very little coverage though

hatfield girl said...

Labour never wants to talk about Scotland as anything other than North Britain. There's never any mention of Northern Ireland either. Both places have better holes to go to, and they can take their politicians with them.

How kind of you to comment on a piece with Burns in it; I thought it so famous and suspect he thought it would be too, that it is written comprehensibly for all of us.

Sackerson said...

"North Britain"! I must read more about John Wilkes.

hatfield girl said...

It's Willie MacRae I'd like to read more about S. There seem to be an awful lot of offings concerned with the governance of the provinces. The Britain of the Nations and the Regions does death quite regularly. Ireland is the most obvious of course, but the others too, including England.

'Scotland's chief prosecutor has been asked to say if the SNP activist Willie MacRae was under surveillance prior to his mysterious death in 1985.
Fergus Ewing, the MSP for Inverness West, Nairn and Lochaber, has called for the meeting with the Lord Advocate in the wake of new claims that MacRae - who died in the Highlands 20 years ago last week - was being tailed by the security services.

MacRae, a Glasgow-based lawyer and prominent Scottish Nationalist, was found dead near the A87 Invergarry-Kyle road at Loch Loyne.

He had been travelling to his holiday home in Kintail on April 6, 1985 when his car left the road and plunged 50 yards down an embankment. He had been killed by a gunshot wound.

Although the authorities ruled at the time that the death was a suicide, many in the Highlands have disputed the official account, claiming that the place the gun was found - in a nearby burn 20 metres away - and the lack of fingerprints meant the verdict of suicide was not credible.

Last week, a retired Glasgow policeman, Donald Morrison, said that he had seen evidence that MacRae had been under surveillance.

Ewing said: "I want the Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd, to respond to the allegations which have been made by the retired police officer that Mr MacRae was under surveillance. I want him to confirm or deny this."

The MSP said he also wanted the Lord Advocate to review the decision by the chief constable of Northern Constabulary to withhold the publication of the police evidence that they have in the form of a number of witness statements.

He added: "Here’s a policeman who has made quite specific allegations that Willie MacRae was being tailed. It is one of the most curious deaths that have occurred in the second half of the 20th century in Scotland."

A spokeswoman for the Crown Office said that the department had not yet received any communication from Ewing, and said that the local procurator fiscal had investigated the matter fully at the time.
(the Scotsman).