Somethin that's been botherin me o late, an it wis brocht tae ma mind again by the post fae Bonningtom Mill jist roond the corner fae me yesterday, lookin at the creaky an frankly undemocratic apparatus o the dyin state we find oorsels in, is a thocht ah've lang been mullin ower anent oor representation in the Palace o Fools oan the Thames. Anne lays oot the lie o the land perfectly an so ah'll no repeat her. She refers tae oor representation as bein 59 oot o 650 MPs, or 9% oot o the entire Hoose o Commons, roughly in line wi oor population share. But that only tells half the story...
See, back afore the war, Scotland sent 74 MPs tae Westminster, oot o a total o 615. By ma reckonin that's 12%. That fell efter the war tae 71 oot o 630, or 11.2%, 72 oot o 659 in 1997 or 10.9%, then doon tae the 9% it is noo. The plan wis tae further cut that tae 52 oot o 600, or 8.6%, a plan currently abandoned, but mark ma words if we say nae they'll be back at that again gied half a chance, they, an ah mean ony an aw o the three anti-independence parties, 4 if ye count UKIP, they wid aw love tae cut Scotland's numbers further. Noo, ye may say 'Weel, that's cos we've got Holyrood where we didnae afore' an ah can see where ye're comin fae an aye, Holyrood's daein great an the mair powers tae it the better, takin the hit oan the chin o sendin less MPs doon tae London, weel we'll jist hae tae manage an onyway they figure less in oor minds noo onyroads, an they'll hae less tae dae, jist the reserved powers really, that cannae tak aw their time, so they're really jist part-time MPs (ah nearly said party-time MPs there... D'oh!) in fact we'll jist club them aw th'gither like hale-time equivalents an cut yer numbers slap bang wollop...
But that's Defence... That's Foreign Affairs... an Welfare... an the Economy... an the 'Constitution'...
That's big issue stuff, real man-the-barricades stuff... an we've let oor representation in the Mither o Parliaments, that's bound us in sic a lovin an big-bosomed embrace fer 3 centuries, we've let oor representation oan aw the Great Matters o State faw fae 12% tae 9% in the last century (that's a decline o 25%, ah'm gettin guid at this eh?) at a time when we're supposedly #bettertogether?
Are we hell...
A representation of zero is what I'm aiming for.
ReplyDeleteI take your point Sophia, but let's face it, these people vote the way they are told to. It doesn't really matter if we have 12, 10 or 8% or 4%, what England wants is what we get.
Our little number of MPs managed sod all against the evil empire of Mrs Thatcher... they might as well not have been there. Feeble was bumming them up.
Anyway...how are you?
Ah'm fine ta tris, daein away, ye ken... still tryin tae shake thae wee men aff ma shooder, the wee buggers...
ReplyDeleteAh'm no disagreein an ah'm no takin away fae Anne's original point o the inequality inherent in the Union, it's no fixable, it nivver wis, an fowk need tae ken how... an fowk that tell us the Union's better need tae tell us how exactly...
My latest post is a challenge to someone from Better Together to lay out what it is exactly that is better.
ReplyDeleteIt's a genuine offer to let someone write a guest post on Munguin's republic telling us what it is we would lose out on if we left and why we should stay...
So far no offers.
Hope you are well, Sophia, and getting there. What you and tris apparently forget is that we have David Mundell to represent us in the government! Oh, I see what you mean.......!
ReplyDeleteHiya John, ah widnae want that man representin me, even if it wis the Best Wee Jobby in the World competition...
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, Sophia, my wish for you is caught perfectly in the song "My wish" by Rascal Flatts! XX
ReplyDeleteAw that's awfy sweet o ye John, ah had tae go an look that yin up cos ah'd no heard o them afore, but whit lovely lyrics, that'll set me up fer the day jist nicely...
ReplyDeleteAh'll try tae keep ma dreams big (but mibbe no the yins ah had last night, cos they were frankly bizarre, an onyway if ma feet were really that big ah'd nivver get ma baffies oan!)