Alan Henning

Alan Henning has been murdered so we must pray for him, his family and his murderers. What else must Britain do? The prime minister vows to use all necessary means to bring the murderers (and behind them ISIS) to justice. At https://www.facebook.com/robert.forsythe.39/posts/733428010064290 I quote a letter, the tenor of which is both: much of this conflict is totally ununderstandable but then even so the West is ultimately to blame. Two matters are present here, the complicated philosophy of causality and the urgent need of what to do. On causality the letter is very persuasive, ultimately however it is appeasement. These events take place on the border of a NATO member. They take place on lands where for a 100 years Britain or France has been deeply involved (and that is putting it simply). To fail to respond extremely forcibly to such murderous barbarism is to invite the movement to expand and ultimately work on our own streets. In the past this sort of insanity was present, it is not new. It happened in the 19th century. At those times we had the power to project. If you compare this to Khartoum, you would build a railway, assemble ships, march in a relieving force. It is hard to think Britain can do this now. ISIS essentially claim 8 Tornados "caused" them to murder Alan.

So what do I think needs to happen. At a deeper level we need to accept that the ease with which certain Islamicist groups resort to disproportionate violence has to be tackled. It has been there for a long time. To say that Salman Rusdie (himself with a Muslim background) was one victim is to hardly go far back in history. Islam says it is a religion of justice, its adherents (and I am sure many agree) must then insure all its member behave with great justice, and not pervert justice into barbaric inhumanity.


And since history suggests we are in this for the long haul. We need to re-arm, I think every military commentator I have heard, has said that only a well trained Western style army can get in there with any speed and wrest back the communities involved. It is a very unpleasant prospect and I assure you I would be the world's worst soldier despite my father's example. But if we will not do this and ISIS prevails, initially their barbarism will be both writ across the Middle East and as our own British nationals show, it will be exported back to us in person. The murderer was British. It is astonishing. Like the recent referendum this suggest deep unsettlement with our national British identity.


So the bottom line, if ISIS is to be consigned to history, expect an expansion in Britain's armed forces despite all the recent cost cutting. Not just to work in the Middle East but there is also the rather forgotten matter of the Nigerian girls, a former colony and one with a large British community with us. My brother is married to a Nigerian. We are responsible and we should act there too, if Goodluck Jonathan would let us.

The neverendum lives

Unfortunately its the neverendum again! Last week Salmond said he accepted the democratic verdict, that was it for a "generation" and he resigned his jobs. Possibly the laws of fecundity are different north of the Border but this week it is a different story. Buoyed by the most amazing recruitment success in history which followed the SNP defeat (not kidding) AS now announces how it all hinges on next May. Be certain that if the SNP "win" next May, they will succede. It is very simple, either the SNP are voted out next May by the Scots or the Union collapses. Sounds extreme, please don't take my word for it. I am sure the Nationalists who follow this will confirm it. In turn everything will hinge on the Labour party reversing recent performance. There's a chance they will do this. A lot of folk may feel the SNP are pissing them around. Gordon Brown may be back on the trail clunking fist and all. But just before anyone moans about the undemocratic nature of the SNP strategy, bear in mind how Devo Max landed in the referendum campaign. So in short whichever way you feel, it all hinges on next May and that is assuming Devo Max is clearly being delivered by then (and English MPs for English votes IMHO). Personally I hope the wise people of Scotland will realise what is happening and give the SNP an electoral drubbing, otherwise change the flag after all. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/scotland-could-leave-uk-without-4301740 

BTW the paper story is slightly different to the online and includes a tweet from Jim Sillars which makes the gameplan utterly clear as does the Facebook page 45 https://www.facebook.com/wearethefortyfive?fref=ts which now has 163,000 likes.

The Union Lives!

A night that has thankfully made me proud to be British. The true victors of the night are our democracy and the people. Reflect that the four nations of the islands were up for allowing one of the nations the process by which they might choose to leave peacefully. In a fantastic turnout in Scotland, one which leaves no room to dispute the clarity of the results, the Scots have clearly said that, notwithstanding the challenges we all face (and we in Northumberland know all about this), they do not wish to become foreign to us. We can remain British. Narrow nationalism, we go our own way, has no place in these islands and the Scots have reaffirmed that. Proud patriotism, proud to be Scots and British has been reaffirmed. Going forward there is an incredible task. Westminster will now have to rise to the challenge. No-one has yet said there needs to be a Federal capital on the Irish Sea! I anticipate much change still to come but I do hope I never need see an independence referendum again and I note the commitment by the SNP to accept the result. I also note and thank everyone from many viewpoints who have come forward and argued the case on my Facebook timeline in the last few months. And since I joined him on the campaign trail for a day, I pay tribute to our Guy Opperman MP who from the position of being a close Border neighbour worked tirelessly with his colleagues in the Yes campaign because his constituents did not wish to see their friends and colleagues in a foreign land.

Some links  http://wakeupscotland.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/ewan-morrison-yes-why-i-joined-yes-and-why-i-changed-to-no/   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scottish-independence/11090517/Rory-Bremner-on-Scottish-independence-Why-this-proud-Scot-has-a-very-big-but....html   Ewan Morrison use of the Trotsky parallel in his piece I found rather telling.

HMS Plymouth

Do you want to know why Britain sleepwalks (loud sort of sleepwalk) to dissolution? I have always been a maritime enthusiast. I grew up very literally with a Norfolk wherry called Albion (get it?), my sister was born on one. So when I hear of how Peel Ports has aided and abetted the destruction of a Falklands veteran which at public expense should have been lovingly retained and used as an educational icon of Britishness, then I cannot be surprised at what might happen next. Ship preservation is expensive. The Scots government last year offloaded from my old museum the clipper ship City of Adelaide / Carrick. But the costs are a bargain compared with destroying the union and the British brand.  http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/509185/Falklands-War-ship-save-scrapheap

Verge of the Vote

Very nearly there now #indyref. I am looking beyond a No vote. This situation did not happen overnight. Learning more about Thatcher and the SNP in 1979 has made clear to me, that the Union has been going astray for decades and that this is largely down to Londoncentric Thatcher values. Years before, Scotland had been a (different type of) Tory heartland.  The resulting erosion of British pride has led to the logical outcome: I am Scots alone and I vote yes.  The HUGE question if there is a No is whether this situation can be recovered. I don't think simple Devo Max does it (and it will lead to situations in England and elsewhere not yet really thought through, it has been a tactic of desperation from No). Are we all ready to face up to a true Federal solution for these islands and a new Federal parliament located on the Irish Sea in North West England? Here is my prophesy: unless we are, the Union will end sometime. And if I am wrong and Yes wins, it is finished tomorrow.

Nigel Farrage

Today Nigel Farrage is in Scotland. I am sure there will be howls of anguish. Indeed I find signing up to UKIP beyond me. However if you are concermed for fair debate, it is worth trying (if possible) to listen to this contribution broadcast on Radio 4 at 0710. I will try to summarise it. Firstly he acknowledged that UKIP's own policy has changed. He accepted they had made the Westminster mistake that every government has made since the rejection of Gladstone's Home Rule Bill for Ireland (well I lament the loss of some of Ireland to the Union). He set out his total support for devo max and for a federal settlement for the entire Union and made clear that devolution has to involve English regions (and that the numerically large number of English do need to be thought about). He then suggested that had Alex Salmond a sensible plan for an independent Scotland with its own currency there would have been a credible prospect to vote on and if the Scots wanted it, then Farrage could not stand in their way. However what is on offer is a breath-taking prospect of abandoning the core elements of independence by either allowing RUK to dictate Scottish financial policy (with no Scottish central bank or currency) or jumping over to the Euro. Switching one set of "governors" for another. And become a very minor member of Europe rather than having the negotiating force of the UK. I have to hand it to Mr Farrage. He can put the issues very clearly. He suggested that since the UK outside Europe will be just about its largest trading partner, it would be they who would have to agree a trade deal. Europe will need the UK whether the UK is being governed from Brussels or not. This whole debate is about the right level of government across nations. I remain as I have been throughout a staunch Unionist believing that our union of four nations across one geographical group of islands has been a great sucess (on balance, not perfect but Great). I am not going to buy the Anti Imperialist line and would remind everyone our Commonwealth Games came to Scotland this summer. I hope it will again whatever happens next.

Border Controls

Both Fiona and myself listened to the overnight news with some incredulity. If the next tactic of No is very late in the day to offer a "timetable", it hands the victory to the SNP. They either win outright or they can say narrow victory lads but look what we achieved, better luck next time. In the last 10 days of the campaign and No looks totally on the back foot casting around for an idea.

To both our minds, the SNP campaign has been marked by a whole string of lies and bullying (one tactic being to accuse No of bullying and lies). I hear today Sturgeon plans to campaign on the NHS! That which they have been responsible for since 1997.

It is probably a good idea we are not in any position of authority. A shock like the appearance of "trialled border controls" to emphasize how serious this might be? Or the deployment of a royal message? On my Facebook timeline  the Yes campaigners simply do not believe the reality of Fermanagh I experienced in the 1990s and which I evidence with maps and photos (Aghalane A road bridge near Belturbet 1995 is the photo).  21 Scottish border crossings would be much easier to manage.

All along Yes have said we will get our own way, we will have the EU, we will have the pound, there will be no border impediments, and now in the last length, No appears to be confirming just that with the "timetable"!  There is (as there was 300 years ago) a soft and a hard side to this. The south is a vastly larger economic entity through which most of Scotland's own economic activity has to pass or inter-relate (e.g. banking), if Scotland cannot see it needs to be within that in order to influence matters, then perhaps some evidence of the cost of separation has to be "seen".  The border controls.   However I can well imagine this will not be seen as a practical route and so as of this morning, I am very fearful ths UK is history. It is why months ago I was saying a real gamechanger is needed: Liverpool, new capital of a Federal British Isles. Leave Westminster for the English.