Part Two of the BBC Scotland referendum debate - 25th January 2012 - Burns Night.
Johann Lamont MSP - Leader of Scottish Labour Party
Nicola Sturgeon MSP - Deputy First Minister of Scotland
Lord Wallace of Tankerness - Advocate General of Scotland - UK LibDem/Tory Coalition
Lesley Riddoch - journalist, broadcaster and commentator
Note: The Advocate General is the British Crown's legal representative/watchdog in Scotland. It is a political appointment.
Jim Wallace - Baron Wallace of Tankerness - is a former LibDem politician who was in coalition with Labour in the Scottish Parliament. He is currently an unelected Lord, represents a party with 5 MSPs in Holyrood, and the junior partner LibDems in the UK Tory-led, Tory-dominated Coalition Government.
If a UK general election were held tomorrow, the LibDems, deeply discredited and unpopular across the UK, would be wiped out as they were in the 2011 Scottish election.
The Scottish Passport question - asked genuinely by a member of the audience - is actually one of the other scare stories of the UK - borders, checkpoints, Hadrian's Wall, and passport problems. At least the panel recognised the irrelevancy of this point.
Two members of the audience tell it like it is - on unionist negativity and scaremongering, and the centrality of the nuclear questions and WMDs.
"He looks like a relic, he talks like a relic, he doesn't talk like young people - and they want an end to this" Addressed to the hapless Baron of Tankerness, who did himself no favours with his lamentable performance in this debate.
I feel sorry for Jim Wallace - branded as "a relic" at 58 years of age. I'm a helluva lot older than he is, but I hope I'm not a relic, and if I am, I hope I'm still a relevant relic to young people in Scotland, because they own the future.
Saor Alba!
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Well done Peter. I was just behind the lad who called that clown Wallace a relic! I didn't realise he was only 58 - unbelievable!
ReplyDelete24th August1954 - he's still 75!
ReplyDeleteI forgot you were there, Alex - are you visible? I had the same experience many years ago at a regional Question Time in Meadowbank, with John Swinney. I was in shot from the neck down briefly - maybe just as well.
That was the beginnings of my slow, painful move to the SNP.
regards,
Peter
"""""""""He looks like a relic, he talks like a relic, he doesn't talk like young people - and they want an end to this" """""""
ReplyDeletePeter - this man was born a relic.
That fellow - as pleasant a face of British nationalism as one could imagine - captures the death of the weepy emotional empire in as perfect a prism as can be found... except he lacks the unscrupulous facets of the meek of intelligence and strong ire Cameron, Osborne and Clegg.
Peter - age is irrelevant. He was born a dinosaur, as was Cameron, Clegg, Osborne et al.
We are starting a new age, a new country, an example to the world.
At its helm, Salmond who has more than earned the moniker, The Mighty Eck.
We are the people.
Just watched the last extract - Lamont seems determined to reduce her positive arguments for the union to negative personality attacks.
ReplyDeleteShe is a chip off the old Iain block - I predict she will make that chap seem like a model of sober balanced thought by the end of the referendum. She already has a rather unpleasant track record and she's just in the job.
I'm afraid you're right, Stevie
ReplyDeletePeter
He's also a lawyer and a Lord, Stevie. Remember that and be prudent.
ReplyDelete