Carol Craig, New Labour lovie, in with the bricks West Coast Labourite and part of the Willie Ross / Donald Dewar clique published an erudite study into why there was a 'Scots - crisis of confidence'.
I have read the book a few times, looked at some of the source material and was left wondering after all the research required how could she, in her personal life, support unbridled Unionism when her own research pointed to the colonial attitude of Westminster to Scotland as one of the major problems holding Scotland back. Of course in 2003 when the book was first published, Dewar had been a leading light at Holyrood and on his way to New Labour martyrdom, the New Labour / Libdem succession looked assured with McLeish and Wallace and there was no hint of McLeish going 'native'. Within four years this New Labour Scotland was in decline, McConnell had behaved too clearly as Blair's puppet, the Libdems were on an increasingly shoogly peg as Blair's Scottish lap dog and Scots were looking for a party that would take their wish for a new fiscally autonomous relationship between Westminster and Scotland seriously. From 2006 the crisis of confidence was less and less on the Scots side and increasingly on the Westminster side. Ms Craig was geting increasingly getting het up, her isn't devolution wonderful and give us Scots confidence in the Union (public face) was being undermined by the academic research from her own book to such an extent if you point out all that is now happening is what she described needed to happen - removal of the dead, colonial hand of Westminster - you will be modded off her blog as a 'cybernat'.
Ms Craig is in denial of the real arguments her 'Crisis of Confidence' book raises because its discussion of the impact of the 'colonial attitude of Westminster to Scotland' rather undermines any proposition of the 'Union' being 'good for Scotland'.
I would suggest her political and academic imperatives are at cross purposes. Scotland as a 'colony' is at the heart of the problem of the disempowerment she defines, which was felt in Scotland during the 1980's and 1990's but one which the first decades of the new century are quickly resolving. Scotland increasingly ceases seeing itself as a colony of Westminster and, empowered by an effective government in Holyrood, sees itself as a nation, a view that is represented in the 60%+ vote for fiscal autonomy which has been the norm since 2006 and which Westminster turns a cloth ear to. The 'because' is important as it is to do with the increasing rejection of 'bullying' by Westminster as seen in the case of Megrahi at a political level, the independence referendum date, the challenge to the Supreme Court's right to have any impact on Acts and Laws of the Scottish Parliament under the Scotland Act of 1998 (Axa et al - the Supreme Court stated it had no power to overturn any Act or Law made by the Scottish Parliament as it was the expressed will of the (sovereign) Scottish People).
The process that is going on around us in Scotland is not complex it is very simple: once you stand up to 'bullies' you realise the power they hold over you is, actually, non existent. This is all the SNP are doing, standing up to the 'bullies'; the failure to do so was one of the reason's McConnell and New Labour were dumped in 2007 - he was too clearly Westminster's puppet. We like the SNP standing up to the establishment bullies, we feel better about ourselves, the Scottish nation moves on to better things and proves what the academic Carol Craig's book stated was in fact holding us back but tramples over Ms Craig's 'New Labour' political sureties because part of her (and many of us) 'knows' she is siding with the perceived 'bullies' and her identified cause as the basis of the Scots - crisis of confidence.
Is it any surprise she is a bit tense and unsure of her political argument, so resorts to her own form of name calling, censorship and bullying on her blog and web site - it is, after all, the Unionists' default state.
I have read the book a few times, looked at some of the source material and was left wondering after all the research required how could she, in her personal life, support unbridled Unionism when her own research pointed to the colonial attitude of Westminster to Scotland as one of the major problems holding Scotland back. Of course in 2003 when the book was first published, Dewar had been a leading light at Holyrood and on his way to New Labour martyrdom, the New Labour / Libdem succession looked assured with McLeish and Wallace and there was no hint of McLeish going 'native'. Within four years this New Labour Scotland was in decline, McConnell had behaved too clearly as Blair's puppet, the Libdems were on an increasingly shoogly peg as Blair's Scottish lap dog and Scots were looking for a party that would take their wish for a new fiscally autonomous relationship between Westminster and Scotland seriously. From 2006 the crisis of confidence was less and less on the Scots side and increasingly on the Westminster side. Ms Craig was geting increasingly getting het up, her isn't devolution wonderful and give us Scots confidence in the Union (public face) was being undermined by the academic research from her own book to such an extent if you point out all that is now happening is what she described needed to happen - removal of the dead, colonial hand of Westminster - you will be modded off her blog as a 'cybernat'.
Ms Craig is in denial of the real arguments her 'Crisis of Confidence' book raises because its discussion of the impact of the 'colonial attitude of Westminster to Scotland' rather undermines any proposition of the 'Union' being 'good for Scotland'.
I would suggest her political and academic imperatives are at cross purposes. Scotland as a 'colony' is at the heart of the problem of the disempowerment she defines, which was felt in Scotland during the 1980's and 1990's but one which the first decades of the new century are quickly resolving. Scotland increasingly ceases seeing itself as a colony of Westminster and, empowered by an effective government in Holyrood, sees itself as a nation, a view that is represented in the 60%+ vote for fiscal autonomy which has been the norm since 2006 and which Westminster turns a cloth ear to. The 'because' is important as it is to do with the increasing rejection of 'bullying' by Westminster as seen in the case of Megrahi at a political level, the independence referendum date, the challenge to the Supreme Court's right to have any impact on Acts and Laws of the Scottish Parliament under the Scotland Act of 1998 (Axa et al - the Supreme Court stated it had no power to overturn any Act or Law made by the Scottish Parliament as it was the expressed will of the (sovereign) Scottish People).
The process that is going on around us in Scotland is not complex it is very simple: once you stand up to 'bullies' you realise the power they hold over you is, actually, non existent. This is all the SNP are doing, standing up to the 'bullies'; the failure to do so was one of the reason's McConnell and New Labour were dumped in 2007 - he was too clearly Westminster's puppet. We like the SNP standing up to the establishment bullies, we feel better about ourselves, the Scottish nation moves on to better things and proves what the academic Carol Craig's book stated was in fact holding us back but tramples over Ms Craig's 'New Labour' political sureties because part of her (and many of us) 'knows' she is siding with the perceived 'bullies' and her identified cause as the basis of the Scots - crisis of confidence.
Is it any surprise she is a bit tense and unsure of her political argument, so resorts to her own form of name calling, censorship and bullying on her blog and web site - it is, after all, the Unionists' default state.
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