A Tangled Web

Swinney down the Swanny



Separatism is like a cancer. If it is derided and robustly attacked, it will wither on the vine. If it is nurtured and appeased, it will grow in vitality. For proof of this look no further than the announcement by SNP leader, John Swinney, that he is resigning his post due to the poor electoral showing of Scottish separatism in the recent European elections. Successive governments have gone on the offensive against separatism is Scotland in a manner Ulster's pro-Union people can only gaze at wistfully.



There is a lesson for we Unionists here. If the government of the United Kingdom had applied the same standards of constitutional defence across all four nations of our country, would we have seen invigorated Irish Brownshirts declare their political hubris in front of the world's media? It is highly doubtful - for Irish nationalism has no demographic or economic growth dynamics. It is encouraged by appeasement and submission granted at the behest of a government with no concept whatsoever of the sacredness of British identity. Until such time Irish separatism realises that it cannot break the Union, we will be subjected to the sort of arrogant triumphalism we witnessed last week. I suspect, accounting for New Labour's stewardship of UK Plc, we will be in for the long haul.