It's frothy man

Today there is a very amusing article in the Daily Mail by Max Hastings entitled 'The terrifying prospect of the Scots ruling England is now all too real'.  Apparently this is a nightmare scenario.  The article rapidly descends into frothing-at-the-mouth madness and is quite funny.  It does, however, also reveal a few things about the Establishment which are interesting.

It starts by outlining how the No vote won the referendum and how polls are showing a potential tsunami of SNP MPs following the coming election, thus possibly leading to some sort of arrangement where Labour and the SNP form a majority.  Mr Hastings says

If this sounds a nightmare scenario for the English people, and indeed for everybody with a head on their shoulders throughout the UK, it is the way events could turn out if the polls are right, and the two left-of-centre parties emerge dominant at Westminster.

Firstly Labour is a left-of-centre party?  Many people would say that Labour have not been left-wing since the advent of Tony Blair and his hingers-on.  I suppose from a Tory point-of-view they are more to the left than the Tories.  But we shall let that one pass. More interesting is this.  During the referendum campaign we were repeatedly love-bombed, told that we were part of one big happy family and that it would be tragic if that were broken up.  Scotland voted No and remained part of the happy family.  Except there seems to be a hidden addendum.  We are part of the family so long as we're not in charge and just do as we're told.  In our case that would be to vote for Labour as our civic duty to maintain the (nominal) two-party state.

Mr Hastings continues:

Alex Salmond, almost a broken man last September following his referendum defeat, now intends to take a Commons seat because he sees himself as power-broker in the new parliament.

It is hard to imagine that the SNP, which espouses policies to the left of Miliband, would help David Cameron to remain in Downing Street, even if the Tories win more seats than Labour.

We thus face the bleak prospect of five million Scots determining the fate of almost 60 million people in the rest of the UK

Why bleak?  Aren't we all equal in the UK since we voted to remain in it?  Ah, we were supposed to shut up and get back in our box.  Somehow we seem to have missed the memo.

Nicola Sturgeon would name her price for supporting Labour, which would include a dumper-truck of English taxpayers’ cash to fund the Scottish socialist dream

Ah yes, have to shoehorn in a 'subsidy junkie' reference - it's not an article on Scottish politics without it.

How on earth has it come about, in a few months, that the referendum which was supposed to silence debate about the UK’s constitution for a generation, today appears instead to have triggered an avalanche?

A string of factors, some blameworthy and others mere accidents of our times, have come together. It was, of course, a mistake for Cameron to agree to hold a Scottish independence referendum

Really?  They want to silence debate about the constitution?  Isn't that a revealing turn of phrase.   And they accuse the SNP of being Stalinists.

Throughout the western world, electorates are fragmenting, becoming harder to manage or predict as voters abandon lifetime loyalties to big parties, and instead cherry-pick policies and factions that look pretty on that night’s supper table.

Hundreds of millions of European voters reject governments that promise them balanced budgets, affordable welfare systems, the politics of prudence.

In other words, electorates are just voting fodder.  No need for thinking, just pick your tribe and stick with it.  We know best, don't worry your pretty little heads about a thing.

They cling instead to past entitlements and established privileges, heedless of new economic realities. This is what has happened in France and Greece — and could happen to Britain in May.

 And there's the cherry on top of the cake.  Nice bit of transference there regarding past entitlements and establishment privileges.

 The Establishment are shitting bricks, and I make no apology for the phrase.  They can see their cosy way of life, based on a nod and a wink and the old boys network crumbling, and the prospect absolutely terrifies them.  We're obviously doing something right.